YEAR C: HOMILY FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (3)

YEAR C: HOMILY FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: A CALL TO FAITHFULNESS

BY: Fr. Gera Musa

HOMILY: When I was growing up in Malumfashi, Katsina State, we had one of the longest serving choirmasters called Sunday Attah. Sunday faithfully led the choir for many years and served the parish community with zeal. Priests and people who lived in the parish in the 1980s and 1990s can still recall this very tall, gentle and committed choirmaster. I thought about him as an example of a faithful servant, who worked tirelessly for the community without asking for material reward or clamouring for any special parish award. God bless this faithful servant wherever he is. Just like the Malumfashi community, every community can boast of one or a few people that have served them for many years faithfully and selflessly.

The following 3 Scripture readings are pointing towards the importance of faithfulness:

 The Book of Wisdom mentions the faithfulness of the people of Israel as they waited in courage and faith for the salvation of the just (Wisdom 18:3).

 Furthermore, the letter to the Hebrews praises the faithfulness of Abraham at the time when he “sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with a permanent foundation, whose architect and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10). Abraham faithfully kept an eye on the promise that God made to him.

 The need to be faithful is captured in the words of Jesus, where he says: “Gird your loins and light your lambs and be like servants who await their master’s return” (Luke 12:35).
Jesus strongly emphasised the importance of faithfulness. He did this by giving the parable of a faithful servant (waiter). Jesus, describes a faithful servant as a ‘good waiter.’ A waiter is someone who serves in a restaurant, someone who serves others at table. A good waiter is cheerful in his or her work, making others happy and bringing joy into the lives of others. So, the waiter’s duty is to be available for others and to make them comfortable.

We love the word “faithful” and so we talk about “faithful friend” faithful parishioner, faithful worker, faithful husband, faithful wife, faithful Christian, faithful Catholic, faithful in prayer, faithful in keeping promise. Jesus speaks to us about the need to be “faithful in waiting” and in illustrating his point he speaks about the faithful servant. We are therefore invited to be faithful to the end.

A preacher rightly says that “Faithfulness is not doing something right once but doing something right over and over and over and over.”

19th Sunday of the Year, 11th August 2013
Wisdom 18:3,6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48

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