Fr. Adolph Guy sx
Human life in general and particularly Christian life is made of commitments. For instance, before receiving the sacraments of initiation to Christian life, that is, Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist, questions are asked to the candidates to make sure they know and are aware of what they are committing them to. However, in our everyday life many of our members mostly Sundays church goers do not find reasons to remain faithful to those commitments. Attending the Sunday Mass seems to be enough. On the other hand, a handful of other members strive with a lot of effort and resilience to remain faithful to those commitments.
Most of us forget that faithfulness pays a lot. August 10, 2025 the Church celebrated the nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C. The first reading taken from the book of Wisdom (18:6-9) told us that the Hebrew people awaited the salvation of the just. The responsorial psalm (33) stated: “Blessed the people the Lord has chosen as his heritage.” Another version says: “Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.” The second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (11: 1-2, 8-19) extoled the merits of Abraham, Sarah, and their descendant and the rewards which God granted to each of them out of their faith in him. The reading says: “…they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” In the Holy Gospel from Saint Luke (12:32-48), the Lord Jesus warned most of us who relaxes on our commitments: “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
To understand the Lord’s Jesus warning, we need to recall the previous Sunday’s gospel which talked about a rich man who glories in his material possessions as the ultimate good in his life forgetting that worldly possessions are just transient, instead his deepest longing should be the eternal life. In the same way, in the last Sunday Gospel, the Lord Jesus assured us that God has given us already the kingdom. If we believe it therefore, though valuable for earthly life, we do not need to cling to worldly possessions. They are perishable. Let us strive instead to have treasure in heaven “where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Commenting on the gospel in his The Good News According to Luke, father Richard Rohr puts it in this way: “The focus of your time and money will tell you what your God is and what is important in your life. As others have wisely said, your checkbook and your calendar reveal your true belief system.”
It is against this background that we need to understand the warning of the Lord Jesus. To be prepared means to be live out our Christian commitments right now, I mean, in whatever situation we find ourselves, wherever, and whenever. As one ancient wise person poignantly put: “Don’t go on discussing what a good Christian should be. Just be one.” In this way, we will live out our Christian commitments and receive the reward reserved for those are faithful as Abraham, Sarah, and their descendants did. Once more the second reading says: “they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” Amen!
Human life in general and particularly Christian life is made of commitments. For instance, before receiving the sacraments of initiation to Christian life, that is, Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist, questions are asked to the candidates to make sure they know and are aware of what they are committing them to. However, in our everyday life many of our members mostly Sundays church goers do not find reasons to remain faithful to those commitments. Attending the Sunday Mass seems to be enough. On the other hand, a handful of other members strive with a lot of effort and resilience to remain faithful to those commitments.
Most of us forget that faithfulness pays a lot. August 10, 2025 the Church celebrated the nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C. The first reading taken from the book of Wisdom (18:6-9) told us that the Hebrew people awaited the salvation of the just. The responsorial psalm (33) stated: “Blessed the people the Lord has chosen as his heritage.” Another version says: “Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.” The second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (11: 1-2, 8-19) extoled the merits of Abraham, Sarah, and their descendant and the rewards which God granted to each of them out of their faith in him. The reading says: “…they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” In the Holy Gospel from Saint Luke (12:32-48), the Lord Jesus warned most of us who relaxes on our commitments: “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
To understand the Lord’s Jesus warning, we need to recall the previous Sunday’s gospel which talked about a rich man who glories in his material possessions as the ultimate good in his life forgetting that worldly possessions are just transient, instead his deepest longing should be the eternal life. In the same way, in the last Sunday Gospel, the Lord Jesus assured us that God has given us already the kingdom. If we believe it therefore, though valuable for earthly life, we do not need to cling to worldly possessions. They are perishable. Let us strive instead to have treasure in heaven “where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Commenting on the gospel in his The Good News According to Luke, father Richard Rohr puts it in this way: “The focus of your time and money will tell you what your God is and what is important in your life. As others have wisely said, your checkbook and your calendar reveal your true belief system.”
It is against this background that we need to understand the warning of the Lord Jesus. To be prepared means to be live out our Christian commitments right now, I mean, in whatever situation we find ourselves, wherever, and whenever. As one ancient wise person poignantly put: “Don’t go on discussing what a good Christian should be. Just be one.” In this way, we will live out our Christian commitments and receive the reward reserved for those are faithful as Abraham, Sarah, and their descendants did. Once more the second reading says: “they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” Amen!