YEAR A: HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 31ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (1)
YEAR A: HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 31ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY THEME: PREPARE TO RENDER YOUR ACCOUNT!
BY: Fr. Ben Agbo
HOMILY: Rom 15 : 14 – 21, Lk 16 :
YEAR A: HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 31ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY THEME: PREPARE TO RENDER YOUR ACCOUNT!
BY: Fr. Ben Agbo
HOMILY: Rom 15 : 14 – 21, Lk 16 : 1 – 8.
The steward in today’s gospel, was praised not for his dishonesty but for his prudence and proactive reasoning. Most times, we find out nowadays that many Christians don’t think about the future when they are placed in positions of power and influence. When we have a rare opportunity to do charity ; to offer people jobs or some special favours like admission into higher institutions, we end up taking our own commissions and exorbitant cuts. In the end, the receiver of the favour knows that you have done him/ her no true favour but only helped yourself as an opportunist. If the steward of today’s gospel were a ‘typical Nigerian’ perhaps, what he may have done would be to inflate the figures and try to use his last chance to exploit his customers like many of our politicians do during their second tenure. But he rather used his last chance to befriend them. You can see that even at this lower level of filial/ friendly love, one must learn how to treat well the man you meet on your journey up so that when you meet him on your journey down, he may reciprocate.
As stewards of God’s Vineyard, everything given to us must be accounted for at the end of our lives. We will be called to give account of our priestly services, marital fidelity, social services, leadership responsibilities, etc. As priests, St Paul says in today’s 1st reading that the priestly service of the Word of God and the offering of sacrifices to God for ourselves and the people is paramount. As lay people, Pope Paul VI said : ‘Lay people whose particular vocation places them in the midst of the world, and who are in charge of the most varied temporal tasks, must exercise a very special form of evangelization’. As Chairman or Vice Chairman of Parish/ Station councils, as President of CMO, CWO, CYMO or CYWO, as Heads of department in tertiary and lower institutions of learning, as Heads of various families, we must realize that if we misuse God’s property, abuse God’s given powers, we may be turned out of our stewardship now or later. Let us always remember that we must give account on the last day to the Lord of the Vineyard.
May God bless you today!