Homily Thirty-first Sunday Year A
Homily
Thirty-first Sunday Year A
Reading 1:
The last two Sundays, we heard the prophet word of God to the Old Testament
people: “I am the Lord, your God, there is no other God besides me.” Today, the
reading begins “A great King, am I, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be
feared among the nations.” In this context, what is God’s charge against the
priests of the Old Testament? God, through the Prophet, chastises the priests
of his day. You do not listen to my word; you do not lay it to heart; you do not
give glory to my name. Instead, you have turned away from my word; you do not
keep my ways.
In another
words, you have broken your covenant with me and have, by your example, led the
people under your care, away from me. “You have caused many to falter by your
instruction.”
This applied
not only to the priests of the day but to the other leaders of the people.
Gospel: The
Gospel connects the dots with the lay religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They were not priests but lay people who acted
superior than others in religious matters. They too knew how to preach to
others but didn’t practice what they preached.
In their
misplaced zeal to be meticulous about the various precepts of the ritual laws,
they failed to authentically integrate the faith they professed with the lives
they led. They felt that to be holy they had to separate themselves from the
common folk by upholding every precept literally in every minute detail.
Jesus is
addressing the attitude of their hearts. They were prideful, putting on airs to
impress others about their own righteousness. They saw themselves greater than
the common folk. In reality, they lacked true humility.
What is
humility? What does it mean to humble oneself? Basically, it means to know the
truth and to live in the truth. What is the truth? It is seeing all things as
God sees; appraise all things as God does. It means not to see oneself greaten
than another but to recognize that who I am is by the grace of God.
Jesus was
not opposed to calling people teacher, Father, leader. What he was opposed to
was assuming these titles on one’s own and demanding that people treat them
differently because of a title not because of relationship.
What is the
attitude of our heart? How do we see ourselves? Do we embrace the truth about
ourselves so that we are true to God, to self and to others?
Reading 2.
Paul in the second reading continues his ministry to the Thessalonians. In
contrast to the First Reading and the Gospel, Paul acknowledged how the people
heard and acted on the Word of God. In the last two Sundays, in different ways,
he affirmed that they received the Gospel he preached, not because of any
eloquence on his part, but with the conviction that comes from the Holy
Spirit. Here he says: “We too give
thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us,
you received not a human word but, as it truly
is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.
In other
words, they humbly heard the word of God, accepted it as truly the word of God
by grace, and acted on in by the way they lived. They were not only hearers of
the word, but doers as well.
This is what
we are called to do. In that way, we live out our baptismal covenant and give
true glory to God who does marvelous things in our lives.
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