Fr. Adolphe Khasa
SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
The church edifice of our parish here in Mongo Bendugu is small and located in the middle of the town; so also is the Christian community in this village. We are just a handful of men, women and children amidst people of other religions, mostly Muslims. It reminds us of the small Christian communities in the past when Christianity started. We can think of the seven letters written to the seven churches in the book of Revelation or the letters of saint Paul as he was addressing Christian communities located in a given cities such as Corinth as we just heard in the second reading today or Rome, Galatia and others. Each church, let us say, is bound to a particular city and Christians are just a small group of people in that given city. Needless to say, in the past most of the cities were surrounded by fenced and the church and its members were within the city so also is their mission related to that particular city, village or town. It is the same for us here in, our mission or our task to spread the good news is related to this particular area.
Two weeks ago we heard (in the gospel of Matthew that we are reading along this liturgical year A) that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. As light, we are called to shine and as salt we are highly enjoined to keep our taste. How are we to be the light and salt of the earth? It is through our life witness, or our daily living of the gospel. To give but just an example, last Sunday the Lord Jesus told us: “You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery';
but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” We must immediately add also that every woman who looks at man lustfully; she has already committed adultery with him in her heart. Before we thought of men only but now the life has taught us that neither woman are blameless in this matter. Let me be allowed to say: only if some of us remained merely on the “look”, the expression single-mother would have been a no-sense. It has become commonplace to see a teen girls bearing pregnancies. In fact, Christians and Muslims both value virginity and teach that marital act is reserved only for married couples. But both Christians and Muslims fall and fail miserably. This is one of the areas where our light is ignominiously off and our salt flavorless.
If someone asks one of us: are you a Christian? For sure, the person will rashly answer, if not instinctively, yes. Show me how? One can say: well, I got baptized, I receive communion, I never missed the Sunday Mass, etc. Good! There is nothing wrong with all of these. But these are not enough. To be truly a Christian, one has to practice what he/she hears in the Mass or better what Church teaches. Otherwise, some are Christians but only during the Sunday Mass but not in ones’ house, farm, school, etc.
In this way, we will not be surprised to notice that the one who attends the Sunday Mass or even the daily Mass is the one sometimes promoting trouble in the football field; trying to take revenge over a fellow player who stepped on him, maybe mistakenly. The game needs to be stopped for a while; consequently a handful of persons need to come in the field in order to cool him down.
The one singing cheerfully during the Mass may be a violent person in his/her house. In the family when the father and mother fight; children need to hide themselves in tears. The husband will violently beat his wife and the latter throw on the former anything concrete thing that happens to be at her disposal in guise of self defense.
Youth or children some of them serve at the altar can also be notorious fighter in their respective schools, their houses or during games as I mentioned earlier.
When I was growing up in my neighborhood, it also experienced it, that children (two or even more) can find themselves playing together and the end, they start fighting. One will go back home crying. The parents will ask: “why are you crying, what happened to you?” “My playmate, let us say, has slapped me”, a child can answer. Parents sometimes can rebuke the child: why don’t you fight back? You do have hands as your companion. Sometimes, adults can quarrel because of this. Children forget easily. Few minutes later – even while the eyes are not yet dry with the tears that have been streaming on cheeks – they can play again. It is a shame on adults who have just been put into confusion. Some might have even brought out things that were not supposed to be spoken in public.
With this, I went to school with the injunction from my elders that when somebody fight me, I need to fight back. If my opponent is bigger or stronger than me, I need to use a concrete thing to defend myself. That is the way things are done. When my teacher noticed me once punching back my companion, he asked: “Why did you punch him.” I answered: “He was the first one to punch me.” As anyone might have expected it, the teacher rebuked my classmate. “Why did you punch him first? Next time, don’t punch him again; otherwise, he will punch you back.” Our teacher didn’t have any inkling of saying to me: why didn’t you forgive him after he had punched you? No! This is not the way people are supposed to react to violence, one might have retorted.
This hints at the wisdom of this world as Saint Paul has just instructed us in the second reading. Anyone who refuses to respond to violence with violence is rebuked; for he/she has displayed some signs of foolishness. The dictate of common sense and reason tells us that when one insults you, you have the right to insult back. When a person harms you, you are right to harm her/him back in order to save oneself from disgrace. To tell the truth, suffering or pain inflicted on the other by way of vengeance is likely stronger than the one endured by the first.
Jesus advices us today to renounce the right to react to avenge by retaliating without expecting anything in return for the sake peace and for the goodness of our “enemy” that we are enjoined to love and pray for. Imagine if each one of us had to pay back one’s opponent with all the wrongdoings done to her/him, where will the world end up? We will be fighting each other and, at the end, we will burn the whole world and ourselves within. They were telling in catechesis: when somebody says harsh words to you, or insults you; do not insult back. Instead, smile at the person or say to her/him thank you. This will help us transform the hearts of people who think that the use of power and violence is the most advantageous and even humanly speaking the most rational policy.
This is a challenge that our Christian faith throws to all of us and each of us is expected to take it with oneself. Our Christian faith is not meant to remain on the tip of our lips but it is intended to sink deep in our hearts and to be put into practice. The best place to practice it is this village of ours where we spend most our time: be it in the school, farms, football field, etc. Otherwise, what is the use of attending the Mass and receiving sacraments if our lives are just like others?
By the way, at the end of each Eucharistic celebration the priest sends us: the Mass is ended, go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Put otherwise, the Mass is finished, go and practice what you have just heard in your daily dealing with people around you. If we practice this, our Church will be a shining light and the salt that keep its flavor in the middle of this village. Therefore, our Christian faith will be attractive to our fellow brothers and sisters around us.
Amen!
SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
The church edifice of our parish here in Mongo Bendugu is small and located in the middle of the town; so also is the Christian community in this village. We are just a handful of men, women and children amidst people of other religions, mostly Muslims. It reminds us of the small Christian communities in the past when Christianity started. We can think of the seven letters written to the seven churches in the book of Revelation or the letters of saint Paul as he was addressing Christian communities located in a given cities such as Corinth as we just heard in the second reading today or Rome, Galatia and others. Each church, let us say, is bound to a particular city and Christians are just a small group of people in that given city. Needless to say, in the past most of the cities were surrounded by fenced and the church and its members were within the city so also is their mission related to that particular city, village or town. It is the same for us here in, our mission or our task to spread the good news is related to this particular area.
Two weeks ago we heard (in the gospel of Matthew that we are reading along this liturgical year A) that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. As light, we are called to shine and as salt we are highly enjoined to keep our taste. How are we to be the light and salt of the earth? It is through our life witness, or our daily living of the gospel. To give but just an example, last Sunday the Lord Jesus told us: “You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery';
but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” We must immediately add also that every woman who looks at man lustfully; she has already committed adultery with him in her heart. Before we thought of men only but now the life has taught us that neither woman are blameless in this matter. Let me be allowed to say: only if some of us remained merely on the “look”, the expression single-mother would have been a no-sense. It has become commonplace to see a teen girls bearing pregnancies. In fact, Christians and Muslims both value virginity and teach that marital act is reserved only for married couples. But both Christians and Muslims fall and fail miserably. This is one of the areas where our light is ignominiously off and our salt flavorless.
If someone asks one of us: are you a Christian? For sure, the person will rashly answer, if not instinctively, yes. Show me how? One can say: well, I got baptized, I receive communion, I never missed the Sunday Mass, etc. Good! There is nothing wrong with all of these. But these are not enough. To be truly a Christian, one has to practice what he/she hears in the Mass or better what Church teaches. Otherwise, some are Christians but only during the Sunday Mass but not in ones’ house, farm, school, etc.
In this way, we will not be surprised to notice that the one who attends the Sunday Mass or even the daily Mass is the one sometimes promoting trouble in the football field; trying to take revenge over a fellow player who stepped on him, maybe mistakenly. The game needs to be stopped for a while; consequently a handful of persons need to come in the field in order to cool him down.
The one singing cheerfully during the Mass may be a violent person in his/her house. In the family when the father and mother fight; children need to hide themselves in tears. The husband will violently beat his wife and the latter throw on the former anything concrete thing that happens to be at her disposal in guise of self defense.
Youth or children some of them serve at the altar can also be notorious fighter in their respective schools, their houses or during games as I mentioned earlier.
When I was growing up in my neighborhood, it also experienced it, that children (two or even more) can find themselves playing together and the end, they start fighting. One will go back home crying. The parents will ask: “why are you crying, what happened to you?” “My playmate, let us say, has slapped me”, a child can answer. Parents sometimes can rebuke the child: why don’t you fight back? You do have hands as your companion. Sometimes, adults can quarrel because of this. Children forget easily. Few minutes later – even while the eyes are not yet dry with the tears that have been streaming on cheeks – they can play again. It is a shame on adults who have just been put into confusion. Some might have even brought out things that were not supposed to be spoken in public.
With this, I went to school with the injunction from my elders that when somebody fight me, I need to fight back. If my opponent is bigger or stronger than me, I need to use a concrete thing to defend myself. That is the way things are done. When my teacher noticed me once punching back my companion, he asked: “Why did you punch him.” I answered: “He was the first one to punch me.” As anyone might have expected it, the teacher rebuked my classmate. “Why did you punch him first? Next time, don’t punch him again; otherwise, he will punch you back.” Our teacher didn’t have any inkling of saying to me: why didn’t you forgive him after he had punched you? No! This is not the way people are supposed to react to violence, one might have retorted.
This hints at the wisdom of this world as Saint Paul has just instructed us in the second reading. Anyone who refuses to respond to violence with violence is rebuked; for he/she has displayed some signs of foolishness. The dictate of common sense and reason tells us that when one insults you, you have the right to insult back. When a person harms you, you are right to harm her/him back in order to save oneself from disgrace. To tell the truth, suffering or pain inflicted on the other by way of vengeance is likely stronger than the one endured by the first.
Jesus advices us today to renounce the right to react to avenge by retaliating without expecting anything in return for the sake peace and for the goodness of our “enemy” that we are enjoined to love and pray for. Imagine if each one of us had to pay back one’s opponent with all the wrongdoings done to her/him, where will the world end up? We will be fighting each other and, at the end, we will burn the whole world and ourselves within. They were telling in catechesis: when somebody says harsh words to you, or insults you; do not insult back. Instead, smile at the person or say to her/him thank you. This will help us transform the hearts of people who think that the use of power and violence is the most advantageous and even humanly speaking the most rational policy.
This is a challenge that our Christian faith throws to all of us and each of us is expected to take it with oneself. Our Christian faith is not meant to remain on the tip of our lips but it is intended to sink deep in our hearts and to be put into practice. The best place to practice it is this village of ours where we spend most our time: be it in the school, farms, football field, etc. Otherwise, what is the use of attending the Mass and receiving sacraments if our lives are just like others?
By the way, at the end of each Eucharistic celebration the priest sends us: the Mass is ended, go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Put otherwise, the Mass is finished, go and practice what you have just heard in your daily dealing with people around you. If we practice this, our Church will be a shining light and the salt that keep its flavor in the middle of this village. Therefore, our Christian faith will be attractive to our fellow brothers and sisters around us.
Amen!