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Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Prov 9: 1-6; Eph 5: 15-20; Jn 6: 51-58)

REFLECT: Know God, the Wisdom and learn God’s wisdom ….

Dear friends, we are in the 20th Sunday of ordinary time and the liturgy of the Word invites us to look deeply into God, the wisest of all and learn from God’s wisdom to live life meaningfully and purposefully. In a world of love and hatred, we love to do so many things and love so many things that we like. We love nature, love the living creatures on earth, love human persons etc.  Do we love God? The answer is ‘Yes.’ We love God. At the same time there are people who do not love and believe in God. And the one, who loves God, will love the Eucharist in all authenticity and one who loves Eucharist will definitely live the Eucharist and bear witness to the Eucharistic Lord. That’s the wisdom that God gives us to discern what God wills and wishes. Ultimately, we do what God wishes and wills. So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflections:

1.     Know the Wisdom:

We hear in the book of proverbs, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding,” (Prov 2:6). Yes, it is God who is the source of wisdom, he gives us wisdom to discern and choose only what is good and right. So, what we need first of all is to know that Wisdom is God, learn from God, who is all-wise and all-knowing to live better and be on the brighter side of life. The first reading from the book of Proverbs give us clear cut picture of what wisdom does or the work of wisdom in human life. The chapter 9 of proverbs begins and ends with an invitation to eat. The one invitation to eat is given by wisdom and the other is given by folly or foolishness. In this 9th chapter of proverbs, wisdom is personified as a lady, giving a feminine character. However, the first reading from the book of proverbs helps us to abandon foolishness and go in the way of understanding.

That’s what we hear at the end of the first reading from the book of Proverbs, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, “Come, eat of my bread.  And drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding.” Yes, although, both the options are placed before us, the reading very clearly counsels us to choose wisdom and understanding in order to avoid foolishness. Because foolishness or folly will deviate us or dissuade us, whereas wisdom would enable us to discern and choose what is right and good from wrong and bad. Therefore, it is an invitation for us to turn away from all foolishness and folly and turn to God, who is wisdom and source of all wisdom.

What sort of wisdom the Lord expects from us in not fearful or forceful rather reverential fear that arises out of reverence and respect for God. That we have in the 9th Chapter of Proverbs in the next few verses of today’s first reading in Prov 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom.” Yes, the fear of God is reverential and respectful on account of who God is for us. The reverential and respectful fear of God helps and enables us to be God’s children in a worthy way. Therefore, saying ‘yes’ to wisdom is as equal as saying ‘yes’ to God, because wisdom is God himself. The ‘yes’ to the wisdom is our obedience to God; the ‘yes’ to wisdom is to leave behind all the unnecessary things that deviate our focus and attention towards God; the ‘yes’ to wisdom is as equal as being guided and directed by God himself

That’s what Pope Francis while speaking about the Gift of the Holy Spirit, very beautifully points out the importance and significance of wisdom saying, “And wisdom is precisely this: it is the grace of being able to see everything with the eyes of God. It is simply this: it is to see the world, to see situations, circumstances, problems, everything through God’s eyes. This is wisdom.” Yes, to know or to have wisdom is to see the things in and through the eyes of God. Most of the times, we look at the events, situations the way we want; we give new explanation and interpretation, without understanding the context and content of the event. Such wrong notions and perspectives arise due to selfishness and improper understanding of the events and situation. Sometimes, it is due to jealousy, pride, and vengeance that we fail to see things in and through eyes of God. So today, we need to know that God is wisdom and is the source of wisdom. The one who obtains God, obtains wisdom and for which we need to be deeply rooted in prayer and be in close union with God asking God like King Solomon for wisdom to govern the people and to understand the events and situation of life.

2.     Be wise by God’s sprit:

All of us wish to be wise and all are not wise. Our capacity to understand events, situations, concepts in life vary according to the caliber or potency one has. To be wise means to have knowledge or experience to make good and sensible decisions and judgements. The book of Proverbs very beautifully describes what the wise persons achieve, “If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, you will bear it alone,” (Prov 9:12). It is the spirit of God, which makes us wise and to discern right things and decisions in life. The wise men or women know which way they should walk in order to obtain life devoid of suffering and pain; the wise one’s will be able to discern what God wants of him or her in life; the wise person would be clear about his or her roles and responsibilities, purpose and preciousness of life. Something similar we find in the Second reading of the day, where St. Paul in his letter to Ephesians reminds Christians of Ephesus to walk carefully as wise persons walk and not like the unwise. The one concrete way of being a wise is to understand the will of God in life.

That’s what St. Paul tells us in the second reading in his letter to Ephesians, “Do not be foolish but understand what the will of God is. Do not get drunk with wine but be filled with the spirit of God, singing and praising, thanking and acknowledging God’s help always.” The reason why St. Paul exhorts the Christian community of Ephesus is that the gift of time, which is not to be wasted; the coming days are evil and need to be careful and watchful; there are chances to get drunk and be deviated from the direction of God. Therefore, St. Paul advises them to be wise. Yes, to be wise would mean that we understand in our lives what God’s will is; to be wise means to be completely immersed in the spirit of God. Therefore, for St. Paul to be wise does not mean that one has knowledge of the whole world rather knowing God and doing God’s will, knowing the spirit of God and abiding in the spirit of God. Such knowledge about God and his spirit will enable us to be wise to differential between the worldly and the godly. That’s why St. Paul would tell us in his letter to First Corinthians, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men. God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,” (1 Cor. 1:25, 27).

Yes, God’s understanding of wisdom is different from our understanding. We have obtained the meaning of wisdom in a worldly way but God’s ways of understanding wisdom is always in close union with him. Sometimes, we may consider some options or plans as best as ever possible, but in the sight of God it could be an utter waste. Because, we don’t think and understand the way God thinks or understands. Therefore, we need to know the mind of God and understand God fully by being closely united with God. Most of our foolish acts or faults arise, when we do not abide in the spirit of God. When we don’t abide in God’s spirit, we won’t be able to understand God’s will in life. When we don’t understand God’s will in life, we will not be able to move in the right direction of God. Today, we need to be wise by seeking God’s will in our lives, Today, we all have the tendency to feel or claim ourselves as wise men and women, because we have knowledge about the wider world of variety. But the true wisdom is in knowing God’s will and doing God’s will by being completely absorbed in the Spirit of God in our lives.  

3.     Love wisdom:

To love wisdom I mean to love God, because God is all-wise and he is wisdom himself. It is not the human knowledge that’s obtained about the universe or thoughts of various philosophical perspectives or technological advancement that make us wise but loving God and his ordinances would make us love God himself. The concrete way of loving God is given to us in the Gospel reading of the day. The Gospel speaks of the Eucharistic Lord who broke the bread and shed blood for us as a ransom. That’s why Jesus says, “Those who eat my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever. Jesus says, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” It shows Jesus’ incarnation, the divine person becoming human person like us except in sin. Today we still experience the presence of Christ in and through the Eucharist which Christ has given us in memory of Him. How can we repay the goodness of the Lord? It is by believing the Eucharistic Lord and his presence, living the Eucharist in our lives.

Firstly we need to believe that Eucharist assures the presence of Jesus. We hear people say several times, “God is Omni-present.” It is true and God is substantially present in the Eucharist in the form of bread and wine, transforming it into the body and blood of Christ. It proves us the love of God for the entire world. The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist has to be looked with an eye of faith and not with reason. The assurance of the God’s presence will be experienced only by people who believe in the Eucharist and its power to relieve us from all pains and sufferings.

Secondly, we need to believe that Eucharist Inspires. Many people have inspired us with their sell-gift of life. But we have great admiration for Jesus, the founder and leader of Christianity who sacrificed himself to break the walls of selfishness, narrow mindedness, ignorance, suffering and pain. Today Jesus still inspires many to follow him through the power of the Eucharist. Let us not become Sunday Christians or Friday Christians or feast day Christians rather Christians who can live the Eucharist every day to liberate oneself and the world. Therefore, our mere participation in the Eucharist would not suffice to build our lives in profound faith rather we need to go even more beyond that in bearing witness to Christ, cheering all with a word of healing and comfort, prayer and financial assistance and help in whatsoever way possible for us. The Eucharist does not end when a priest says, “Go the mass is ended,” rather it is the beginning, calling us for an action-oriented life, vibrating our lives with the values of the Eucharist. That’s why it is said by someone, “The Eucharist should not become an object of veneration rather it should become the subject of imitation.” So we pray that we do not merely partake in the Eucharist rather we live the values of the Eucharist, imitating Christ and commiting to the cause of it.

Thirdly, we need to believe that Eucharist binds. We are all unique and different from each other in several ways. But the Eucharist does not divide us rather it has a binding force, where the differences and divisions are accepted and appreciated. We are all different, young and old, good and bad, family of various setbacks and backgrounds but we are here together as a family in the name of God around the Eucharistic table. And that is the binding force of the Eucharist. But today, we experience a lot of alienation and divisions in the society based on caste, color, religion, region, clan and culture. It is there that our lives become counter-witness to the Eucharist that we participate, live and love.

Yes, Jesus at the end of the Gospel reading of the day says, “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers at and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.  Being fed by Jesus is nothing but being full of Jesus ourselves in character, attitude, approach and values. So that we become Christ-like in all things we do or say. That’s what certainly, the Eucharist that we participate and believe would make us. Somehow, knowingly or unknowingly, we create divisions or have become cause of divisions in the world, society, family and in an institute. But Eucharist assures of Jesus’ presence, inspires everyone and binds us as one family, provided we believe in it and understand the significance of it. Today, we need to understand that the wisdom of God is manifested in fullness in the Eucharist, where God himself gives his life, so that we live forever. Today, we pray that we realize the importance and the value of Eucharist in our lives. Let us become aware of the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Let us inspire others by our self-gift. Let us be bound as one family of God by his grace and blessings.

RESPOND:

Do we know that God is source of Wisdom and wisdom himself and seek after God for true wisdom in life?

Do we choose to be wise in life by doing the will of God and being absorbed completely by the spirit of God?

Do we love wisdom, God himself, who manifested in the Eucharist \ assuring his presence, inspiring us by self-gift and binding us as one family?

Let us know and seek God, the true wisdom, be wise in doing God’s will and love the Eucharist in which the wisdom of God is manifested in fullness. Amen. 

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968