November 10, 2019: Homily for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Year (C)

Readings: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 7, 9-14; 2 Thes.2:16 – 3:5; Lk 20:27-38

Christ’s Resurrection is Our Hope

Our Christian faith has its foundation in the death and resurrection of Christ. His resurrection is a guarantee that all those who died in Christ will be raised at His second coming. St. Paul captures this powerfully thus: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless; indeed, we are shown up as witnesses who have committed perjury before God, because we swore in evidence before God that he raised Christ to life. For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people.” (1 Cor.15:14-19). Many Christians suffered martyrdom in this world, with the hope, that one day, they will see God face to face, and share his glory in eternity. Christians believe that, though their life began on earth, it will not end here.

The belief in life after death had been expected, hoped for and accepted long before Christ. Because of the hope in the resurrection, people down through the ages, suffered persecution with the hope of a better life after death. St. Paul said “…and if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.” (Rom. 8:11). The Preface for Christian Death prays: “…In him, who rose from the dead, our hope of resurrection dawned. The sadness of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality. Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.”

It is the hope of the resurrection that is portrayed in the first reading from the Book of Maccabees today. During the reign of the Greek king Antiochus IV, a law was promulgated that made it a crime, punishable by death, for the Jews to practice their religion. Circumcision was forbidden, copies of the law were burned. They were prevented from following their dietary laws, neither were they allowed to celebrate their feasts. They were mandated to worship and offer sacrifices to the Greek gods and goddesses. This brought great distress and persecution to the Jews. Many derailed and offered sacrifices to the pagan gods; they stopped circumcising their sons and ate pork, forbidden by law. Those who disobeyed the king and held on to their faith were put to death.

The book of Maccabees documents those terrible times and the struggle to remain faithful to God in the face of egregious persecution and distress. The first reading describes, in detail, the torture of a heroic woman and her seven sons. They would only worship the living God and refused to obey the king. The hope in the resurrection strengthened their faith. “…We are prepared to die rather than break the laws of our ancestors.” (2 Macc.7:2). To die for their faith was a welcomed invitation to embrace the new life of heaven. They gave reasons why they would die rather than disobey God: “Inhuman fiend, you may discharge us from this present life, but the king of the world will raise us up, since it is for his laws that we die, to live again forever.” “It was heaven that gave me these limbs; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.” The mother encouraged her dying sons to be courageous in the face of death: “…prove yourself of your brothers, and make death welcome, so that in the day of mercy I may receive you back in your brothers’ company.” This family preferred death to a life of shame. They disobeyed the king and chose death so that they may be with God in eternity.

In today’s Gospel the Sadducees confronted Jesus with the question on the resurrection. This was a group of wealthy religious set, like the Pharisees. But unlike the Pharisees, they did not believe in the resurrection from the dead, angels or spirits. For them, only the first five books of Moses was considered as Scripture. They confronted Jesus with a levirate law argument, that states that if a man dies childless, his brother must marry the widow and raise children for the brother (Deuteronomy 25:5). With this law, they demonstrated how ridiculous the concept of the resurrection was. Since seven brothers married a woman and died childless and the woman also died, at the resurrection, who will her husband be? Jesus confounded them with his answer. He met them on their turf, using their argument against them. The life of the resurrection will not be the same as life on earth. We will be like angels. There will be eternal happiness, hence, there will be no need for procreation. Jesus pointed out that from the burning bush, God said: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God Jacob” (Exodus 3:1-6). God is God of the living and not the dead. Though Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were dead, they were alive with God in heaven.

Christ stressed, in His answer to the Sadducees, that marriage and procreation are only for this life and not in the life of heaven. It doesn’t matter whether one is married or single, what matters is our life of devotion to God and of service to one another. How I live today will determine where I will be when I die.

St. Paul, in the second reading, prays “…May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.” We are men and women of the resurrection: our homeland is heaven, where God our Father dwells. If we are to spend eternity with God, we must look up to God for a sense of direction. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above; not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” (Col. 3”1-4).

Points to ponder:

·      Are you a person of hope?

·      What have you given up for the sake of heaven?

·      What principles do you live by and be prepared to die for?

·      What are you prepared to sacrifice for the sake of heaven today?

·      You are not alone in your spiritual struggle. You have the Church, the sacraments, the support of one another and a host of angels and saints to pray for you. The Holy Spirit will always guide you to live as God directs.

·      Finally, let us intensify our life of prayer so as to remain resolute and committed to our Christian discipleship. May we persevere till the end so that we may enjoy a life of eternal bliss with God in heaven. Amen.

“And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day” (Jn. 6:39).

“Don’t forget to pray today because God didn’t forget to wake you up this morning”

November 03, 2019. Homily for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year (C)

Readings: Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2; 2 Thes.1:11 – 2:2; Lk 19:1-10

God Calls us to Repentance

God calls us to communion and friendship with him. Jesus said: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…” (Jn.15:16). Even when we are not faithful to God’s covenant of love, He never abandons us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Jesus calls to conversion. This call is an essential part of the proclamation of the kingdom. ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’ In the Church’s preaching this call is addressed first to those who do not yet know Christ and his Gospel. Also, Baptism is the principal place for the first and fundamental conversion. It is by faith in the Gospel and by Baptism that one renounces evil and gains salvation, that is, the forgiveness of all sins and the gift of new life.” (1427).

The first reading of today states: “But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.” We are special before God; no one is loathsome before him. When we sinned, God does not abandon us. He rebukes “offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O Lord!”

Since we are so loved by God, do we feel His love? If we are special to Him, do we love who we are? Are we willing to acknowledge our sins and go to Him for mercy? These questions are answered in the Gospel reading of today. Last week we read of two men who went to the temple to pray. We reflected on the Pharisee as he prayed to himself. He had no need of God. The tax collector, on the other hand, found mercy and was justified. His humility showed his need for God. Today we are presented with another tax collector, the chief of them all – Zacchaeus. He was a Jew, a son of Abraham and a member of God’s chosen people. In spite of his exulted status, his profession as a tax collector, brought him indignity and notoriety. It reduced him to a public sinner, nay, the enemy of the people. He was wealthy but lacked recognition and respect. He was looked down upon, despised and ridiculed. His being small in stature was more than a physical appearance. He was nobody. He had money but no salvation. He yearned for fellowship but found none.

And, so his search began. Zacchaeus might have heard about Jesus and his love for the poor, the rejected, the nobodies, the despised, the tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. On hearing that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, passing through Jericho, Zacchaeus was anxious to meet Him. But then there was the crowd. The crowd could represent so many things. It could be the barriers that could prevent him from pursuing his goal. It could be fear of what people might say to others about him. It could be fear of rejection, of not being good enough, fear of his height, his background, his race. Oh, the fault-finding crowd; the finger-pointing crowd, the unforgiving crowd, the self-righteous crowd. There were people in the crowd who wanted to take revenge on him, those who felt he had betrayed their race by working for the Romans. Others felt that Zacchaeus’s riches deprived them of their wealth; and just wanted to punch him in the face. Yes, this was intimidating crowd in deed! But Zacchaeus was determined to see Jesus. This was his only chance, nothing and nobody will prevent him. So, Zacchaeus climbed a tree, away from the crowd, just to catch a glimpse of Jesus.

Lance Wallnau relates a story of the fight between an eagle and a snake. “The Eagle does not fight the snake on the ground. It picks it up into the sky and changes the battle ground, and then it releases the snake into the sky. The snake has no stamina, no power and no balance in the air. It is useless, weak and vulnerable unlike on the ground where it is powerful, wise and deadly. Take your fight into the spiritual realm by praying and when you are in the spiritual realm God takes over your battles. Don’t fight the enemy in his comfort zone, change the battle grounds like the Eagle and let God take charge through your earnest prayer. You’ll be assured of clean victory.” Zacchaeus took his fight up the sycamore tree. He changed the battle ground, and the Lord Jesus found him up there and made him an offer he could not refuse: “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house…Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.” (Lk. 19:5-9).

One can only imagine the joy of this sinner who found favor with the Lord. Zacchaeus may have been one of the reasons Jesus Christ passed through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. He had unfinished business there, to seek and find he who was lost. Christ always searches for the lonely, the sick, the sinner, and those who have no friends; to restore them to their rightful state in life, to give them the grace they so desperately need. He knows our weakness, He understands our faults, He sees our hearts and knows those who seek Him with a sincere heart. He thirsts for our love and calls us to a new life. Today Salvation has come to this house. There is joy in Heaven over a sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine who have no need of repentance. (Lk. 15:7).

Despite the grumbling of the crowd, that Christ dared to enter the house of a sinner, Zacchaeus renounces his possessions: “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” Can anyone really prove that he had extorted anything from them? Is it possible that he could have been rich without stealing from people? Regardless of what the crowd thought of him, he came clean and made restitution. He needed Christ more than material wealth, and so I will give it all away just to have Christ my Lord. He showed his gratitude to Christ by accepting to live like Christ. “His public confession shows the sincerity of his repentance. As part of his repentance, Zacchaeus wants to right his wrongs. Biblical repentance always goes hand-in-hand with restitution because conversion is a radical life-changing event.” (Fr. John Pichappilly – Kindle Your Spirit).    

Christ calls on us to repent of our sins and embrace His life of grace. We may be confronted by the crowd of our lives, but Zacchaeus has shown us the way. Take your fight away from the crowd, change the battle ground and allow Christ to find you. Accept His invitation and welcome Him to your house and allow Him to eat with you. “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20).

Questions to ponder:

·      Do you know that you are loved personally, specially and intimately by God?

·      Do you know that He wants you to enjoy a life of grace with Him?

·      When did you go to confession last?

   

“And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day” (Jn. 6:39).

“Don’t forget to pray today because God didn’t forget to wake you up this morning”