YEAR B: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 15TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (1)
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.
YEAR B: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 15TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY THEME: THE MEANING OF LIFE
BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon
(Mt. 10:34-11:1) Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel Jesus gives a lot of teachings to His disciples. But one seems to stand out because of its seeming absurdity. Jesus told His apostles about finding and losing life. It should be interpreted with His nuance, “for my sake.” Jesus had taught His apostles of Himself as being the truth, the way, and the life. Jesus gives the message that life is not only living but being with the Lord. He was describing how people give so much emphasis on preserving and making life here on earth as comfortable as possible at the expense of a good life, i.e. a life with God. The former is fleeting and will end in death while the latter is eternal.
Here, again, we get to hear the true essence of Jesus’ teaching and meaning of life. While we have to respect life as God’s gift, it is not everything. Our relationship with God transcends it. St. paul echoed it when he said that nothing should separate us from the love of God. He enumerated some things which may hinder us from loving God. As human beings we have our own weaknesses. Instead of martyrdom, an expression of our supreme love for God, we might elect riches, happiness, freedom, and life in exchange for poverty, sorrow, imprisonment, and death. As a Christian, a follower of Jesus, we will be subject to the sufferings and challenges Jesus faced; persecution, suffering, rejection, and death. We expect the same. Jesus calls us to embrace them out of our faith and love in Him.
It is hard to be a Christian. It is harder not to be one. We ought to realise that we lose everything without Jesus. But we have everything if He is with us. The saints, specially the martyrs knew that. It does not meant that their sacrifice was without pain or easy. It just means that they knew the more important life. Life with God is much important than life on earth. Life on earth must be at the service of obtaining life with God. How much willing are we to give up everything, family, riches, freedom, and life for the sake of our relationship with Jesus? Is Jesus worth everything? The answer should be “yes.” All Creation will come to pass. The world is not our final destiny. We belong to God’s Kingdom. While we are here on earth, we ought to imbibe this truth. Let us pray that we will be given that grace to see the Kingdom as our ultimate residence and not this world. When we had come to that state when we are inordinately attached to the material world, we had arrived.
