Archive for February 12th, 2022

Trusting God

February 12, 2022

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

Trusting God is simply a belief in His Love and His Goodness. He has the power to help you, and He wants to help you. Christians are called believers, but many times, we are more like unbelieving believers. We trust our friends, the bank, the stock market, or the government more than we trust God and His Word. Lot of people go to church, hear what they should do and then go home and try to do it on their own. They usually end up desperately telling God how hard they’re trying to do what they need to do, and they’re leaving Him out! God wants us to put Him first in our lives. He wants us to put our confidence and trust in Him, all the time, in everything.

In the first reading, the Prophet Jeremiah explains the benefits of placing one’s trust in God rather than himself. Then he compares the wicked to a barren bush in a desert and the just to a well-watered tree growing near a running stream. In essence, this “beatitude” teaches us that if we choose God as our hope, our security, and our happiness, we will be blessed, truly happy. On the other hand, if we choose human standards for our guidance, self-sufficiency and the meeting of our own needs and desires as our happiness, we will find ourselves living in increasing misery and confusion, that is, in woe. Jeremiah tells us that the only source of lasting happiness is trust in God and hope in His promises.

In today’s second reading, St. Paul writes that trusting hope in the Resurrection of Jesus is the basis of our Faith. Through Jesus’ death and Resurrection, believers are now welcomed into a new relationship with God as His sons and daughters, and with each other as dear brothers and sisters who have Jesus as our Elder Brother and Redeemer. This means that all the blessings of the Beatitudes are now available to us, provided we choose to follow them.

In our Gospel today, Jesus did not say that poverty, or hunger, or sadness, or hatred is a blessing but these conditions of need and dependence make us rely on God. When we rely on God humans in relationship with God our creator. So the poverty, hunger, sadness, hatred, or whatever the cross can be an instrument to draw us closer to God. Whatever cross we have in our lives is there for a purpose, to bring us closer God. In that sense, our cross is also our blessing.

We have a long way to go to make it a reality. It is not God who is to be blamed; rather it is for all of us to hang our heads in shame. Jesus expects us to perform the same acts of goodness that he did for the poor, the alienated, the sick, the deprived, and the oppressed. Our trust should be in the Crucified and Risen Christ, the Savior and hope of the world. May we trust in God, not in human power, to lead us all into His kingdom and to keep us on His path.

Posted in Homily, Sunday Homilies, Trust | 1 Comment »

Jesus Invites You

February 12, 2022

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

When we come before our Lord for the Holy Mass it is good to prepare ourselves. Greet Jesus present for us in the Tabernacle. Ask his help so that you may also be fully present and worship well. Also before Mass, form Mass intentions; choose which persons or problems you wish to be especially blessed by the graces which will flow from this Sacrifice on the altar. Having a Mass intention helps ward off distractions because you will not be merely a spectator—just watching the priest pray—but an invested, active-participant in offering his sacrifice and yours, for the needs of many. If you have prayerfully prepared for Mass and there’s still a few minutes remaining before it begins, perhaps look over the day’s readings printed in the missalette.

There’s a feature in our missalettes you may or may not have noticed: for each Sunday, the readings are preceded by an introductory reflection. The entry for this Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time begins with an illustration which struck me: “How would you feel if you received an invitation today to a simple but free meal, maybe a plate with beans, some bread, and a tall glass of cool water? If you are wealthy, you would likely refuse, for you know you could afford a much more sumptuous meal elsewhere. But if you are having difficulty putting food on your table and your family is starving, this complimentary meal would be a godsend.”

Would I go to attend that meal? If the invitation to this meal were addressed to everyone in the general public rather than a personal invitation specifically to me, I can easily imagine myself staying at home, most likely to enjoy some reheated leftovers. But what if this invitation came from the Lord Jesus himself, wishing to be our host and companion at his simple meal? Then who would attend? We would like to think everybody would, yet how many people skip Sunday Mass for other activities instead? It is very possible to overlook or to undervalue the invitations of Jesus Christ.

Unlike the famous Sermon on the Mount (with its eight “blessed” Beatitudes recorded by St. Matthew), this morning’s Sermon on the Plain recounted by St. Luke features four blessings paired with four woes. “Woe” was the cry of Israel’s prophets (such as Isaiah, Amos, and Habakkuk) who warned people of impending distress. Jesus says:

“Woe to you who are rich…
  Woe to you who are filled now…
  Woe to you who laugh now…
  Woe to you when all speak well of you…”

The danger is, if we’re comfortable, satisfied, happy, and at home in this world, we may imagine that we don’t need God or may refuse to make personal sacrifices we’re called to make for him. We can easily ignore the needs of other people, if we decide not to care. We can distract ourselves from the reality of our own mortality, sometimes up until the very end. We can dismiss our impending judgment by the holy, righteous God and refuse to change our ways. The poor, the hungry, the suffering, and the mistreated are blessed, in part, because they more easily see that all is not right with this world. They more readily recognize, they are more open to accepting, that our flawed hearts and sinful cultures need the Divine Savior, Christ. And that openness is a blessing.

You accepted Jesus’ invitation to his meal here today, and that is very good, but in what areas of your life do you still decline him? The thing about even a free meal of beans and bread and water is that this menu seems unappetizing, unappealing. Many good things Christ wants to share with us feel like that at first. We have plenty of free time for the internet or television, but do we want to spend more time with the Lord in prayer? If we take home $30,000-a-year after taxes, our individual income is greater than 95% of people on earth, but do we want to share as generously as Jesus calls us to? We see the needs of our neighbors, near and far, but do we want to offer penances and acts of service for them, serving Christ within them?

The season of Lent is only two-and-a-half weeks away. To what new engagement with himself is Jesus personally inviting you? Blessed are you who respond to him, for this is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who share his simple table, for he promises you will be satisfied. And blessed are you who accept Christ’s invitations, for your reward will be great in heaven.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Culture, Homily, Jesus Christ, Mass, Money, Sunday Homilies | 1 Comment »