Sunday, September 18, 2016

Sep 18 - Homily for Today

+ The point of our readings today, it seems, is that at the end nothing matters more than our eternal salvation, and we need to focus all our efforts on being found “in the company of those who dwell in the light,” rather than in any other company. This does not mean that we neglect earthly duty. But any earthly duty must be filtered through a primary focal reference point of God’s everlasting Kingdom and our place in it! We need, as Jesus admonishes in the gospel passage, to be “prudent,” winning friends who will welcome us into “eternal dwellings” rather than simply earthly ones – which was the point of the parable: these friends being the saints both in heaven and right here on earth – holy people that we run across every day – and there are a lot of them. Now some may be clever enough to cover losses on the earthly plane – but only the saintly company can help us not only cover but remove losses forever so that we can live with God in his house as he desires us to!

What really upsets God is the way the “haves” (especially those who are supposedly “religious”) take advantage of and gouge the “have-nots” – the needy and the poor. In the first reading he notes how the religious tradesmen fix their scales for cheating, and inflate prices for no good reason. This can also be a modern day problem. Those with authority in financial matters need to be very prudent and careful in dealing with everyone, but especially the poor and the needy. This applies to all levels of service and assistance, and includes all organizations from small business to church and to government run agencies. As the first reading concludes: The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done! This is bad news for the gougers, but really good news to the poor and needy who have been mistreated – no one gets away with anything in the end – on that Last Day!

If we are all found trustworthy in small matters of taking care of our own (mastering ourselves) – then one-day God will reward us with everlasting life for all the good we did for others by our compassion, our generosity and our love. But none of this can happen unless and until we each ourselves, privately and individually decide who it is we want to serve with all our hearts: God or Greed – this is spelled out emphatically in the gospel passage today, and is one of the most basic and fundamental questions we will ever have to answer! The choice is ours – may we choose well!

Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, he became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich!


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