31st Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest."

Lectionary Readings for 31st Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/31st-sunday-a.html

Jesus our Lord made this statement in the context of how he viewed the leadership of the religious leaders of His time: the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. He wanted to teach the people that leadership consists in service and that humility must reign over pride when leaders exercise their authority over others. This Jesus did not see in the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in His time. And so He wanted to teach the people to listen only to what these religious leaders teach and not follow their example: for they do not do what they preach and teach.

Jesus was a very credible and authentic leader. When He taught this to the people of His time - especially to His apostles and disciples, He proved this teaching when the time came for giving His life to the Father. On the night before He was to die, He gathered the apostles together in a meal and celebrated the Last Supper. This Last Supper account was portrayed in the same manner in the gospel of Mark, Luke and Matthew. But in the gospel of John, there is a unique way of portraying the Last Supper: with a special focus on the washing of the feet [not present in the three other gospels]. Here, we can truly see that Jesus lived what He taught and did what He preached. He is God, but He became man just like us and took the form of a slave. He was the Master and Teacher for His apostles, but He took a towel and a basin and washed His apostles feet. This was to truly teach and lead by example that servant-leadership was what Jesus stood for.

Though we may not be in high positions of leadership, we exercise leadership nonetheless in our own ways. When we exercise leadership, let us not be tempted like the Pharisees and always look to ourselves as the authority and the source of strength. Rather, let us follow the humble example of our Lord, who took it upon Himself to be a servant to all that He may teach with impact and credibility what is really essential in Christian leadership: service, humility and leading by example.

30th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"On these two commandments the whole law is based and the prophets as well."

Lectionary Readings for 30th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/30th-sunday-a.html

A lawyer from the group of Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to test and trip Jesus in His speech. He asked Jesus, "Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?" And Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord your God
with your whole heart,
with your whole soul,
and with all your mind.'
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

Love is a mystery. And it is a mystery rooted in God and His love for all of us. God Himself initiated that love for us by creating us and giving us the gift of life - His Holy Spirit - which we receive when we were baptized and incorporated into His family. What He then enjoins on us is to love Him in return. Jesus summarizes this commandment of the Lord in two statements: that we love God with our whole being and that we love our neighbor as ourself.

Our love of God depends on how the intensity and degree of which we give ourselves to Him. The more we give ourself to Him, the greater is our love. And this love for Him flows over in how we treat others and ourself: in kindness, in generosity, in justice, in truth, in charity and in service.

This is not always the case. Oftentimes, it is repentance He asks of us. When we have misused our freedom to do evil and commit sin: breaking our loving relationship with Him and causing others to sin in our break of relationship with them. Therefore, all that is ask of us in times when we fail to love God as we should is to repent and seek conversion from our sinful ways. The more we move out of the darkness of sin and evil and into the light of Christ, the more we enter into a deep and loving relationship with Him as He is given to us in the Blessed Sacrament together with our brothers and sisters in the faith.

Now that we are celebrating World Mission Sunday, let us do our part as lay faithful to receive the light of Christ's love in our lives and to bring that light and love to others as well. We can do this in many ways depending on our particular situation of life, our state of life and our personal vocations. Mission and holiness is not only the responsibility of clergy and religious. Everyone who is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, are commissioned to proclaim the gospel to all peoples, regardless of color or creed.

Lord, we pray for our missionaries, that they may be guided by Your Most Holy Spirit. Infuse in them the gifts of the Spirit that they may have the fortitude and the wisdom to discern how to bring the gospel to the people they serve. Grant also to us, your servants in the world, to bring the light of the gospel in places where it is needed most: in the family, in the business world, in all cultural forms - like the Internet, and in the political life of our communities. Amen.

29th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but give to God what is God's."

Lectionary Readings for 29th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://www.pcentral-online.net/catholic/lectionary/29th-sunday-a.html

The context of this statement of Jesus comes from the question posed to Him by the Pharisees. They wanted to test Him in order to find out whether He and His band of apostles were also paying their taxes to the Roman Empire. Jesus was aware that they wanted to"trap Him" in speech. But He responded with the statement, "give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but give to God what is God's."

Today's gospel makes us aware that there are two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of Heaven. We know that Jesus tells us that His Kingdom is not of this world. We, who desire to follow Him, know that His Kingdom resides in our minds and our hearts. But we are also citizens of our state and nation. And being citizens of our state and nation, we are obliged to follow its rules and laws, especially in relation to taxes and whatever constitution our State has.

We are called to place the Kingdom of Jesus above the kingdom of this world. This is a very big challenge indeed because oftentimes, we are torn by our consciences whether to follow the laws of the State or to follow the laws of the Church - a representation of the Kingdom of Jesus in a concrete community. There are laws in the State that are not necessarily moral when it comes to the laws of the Church. This is why in the history of our Catholic faith, eventually, there was a separation of Church and State in order to make a distinction between what belongs to the king and what belongs to God. When the system of governance was theocratic, as was in the times of the monarchies, the Church installed the king as a leader who will also lead his people to the Kingdom of God. However, when the Church began to be aware of how it was becoming worldly (especially in the time of Pope Innocent III), under the influence and inspiration of Francis of Assisi, gradually a separation of Church and State became a reality.

As people of God, we are called now to simply follow the Church's teaching and its hierarchy. They form our consciences in the right way. Whatever conscience we have that was formed by the State, must be subsumed under the moral teaching of the Church. We can then make good and wise decisions when it comes to serious direction by adding also our personal experience and discernment of our particular life situation. Although it may seem easy when Jesus said "to give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but give to God what is God's", in actual practice, this needs much prayer and discernment and the guide of a spiritual director and the counsel of people who are in a state of authority in both the institution of the Church and the institution of the State.

However, in ordinary circumstances and in situations that do not involve moral complexity, we are simply called to perform our obligations to the State and to the Church - meaning to be a good citizen of our State and to practice justice, mercy and charity as Christians and Catholics in our family and community.

28th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"The reign of God may be likened to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son."

Lectionary Readings for the 28th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://www.pcentral-online.net/catholic/lectionary/28th-sunday-a.html

The Lord always preached and taught about the Kingdom of God in the form of parables, so that people may know about the Kingdom through things that are also familiar to them. He gave this parable to the chief priests and elders of the people: He told them about a king who gave a wedding feast for his son and invited many people to come to the banquet. However, those who were invited had many excuses and did not come. Others even insulted the servants of the king and killed them. The king was angry and sent soldiers to destroy those people. Then the king told his servants once more to invite anyone who can be seen by the byroads. And the wedding hall was eventually filled with guests, both good and bad. As the king then entered the hall and then surveyed the guests, he found one without a wedding garment. He then had the guest bound and thrown out of the banquet. And then Jesus said, "The invited are many, the elect are few."

This parable seems to reflect an image of a God who is very harsh and strict and very exact in his justice. But we must remember that God is not only a loving God but a just God. His justice is tempered by His mercy. There are many sides to God's reality and even though how much we may know of Him, His total reality and Person will remain a mystery for us. In this parable, the earthly king is a glimpse of what God is: just and powerful. But even though God is just and powerful, He shows how much He wants us to share in His life: like the king who, after inviting those who were invited in the first place and they refused, he still continued on his invitation and wanted people to share in the joy he has because of his son's wedding.

That is how the Lord wants of us when He calls us to the banquet of His table and altar. The Eucharist is for all of us. He invites everyone. But like the earthly situation Jesus tells of in the parable, many are too busy or do not find value in sharing in the life of Christ. We who are called and respond must be thankful that we can share in the life of God through the Eucharist. It is in the Eucharist that we are in communion with Christ and with each other. We become a Eucharistic community worshipping God who gave Himself to us in the form of consecrated bread and wine. Let us always remember that the Eucharist is a gift that we are called to be thankful for. If not for this sacrament, we would not be strengthened and nurtured in our Christian life. Christ calls all of us, but not many respond to Him. Thus only those who do, will share in the life He promises to us: a life of peace and justice and mercy and forgiveness for all our sins.

27th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"...the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will yield a rich harvest."

Lectionary Readings for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/27th-sunday-a.html

This Sunday's gospel, we find Jesus again speak of a parable about the kingdom of God. He said that there was a property owner who leased out his property to tenant farmers and then left for a journey. When the property owner came back to get the produce of his land, the tenant farmers seized and harmed the slaves that were sent by the property owner to get the produce. The property owner reacted by sending a second force with more slaves, but the second group of slaves received the same bad treatment from the tenant farmers. Then the property owner said that if I send my son, they will respect him and give him my right to the produce of the land. Unfortunately, the tenant farmers even saw this as a greater threat to them, for the property owner's son was sure to be the inheritor of all the land and its produce. They thought evil and killed him.

Jesus was alluding this parable to the situation of the people of Israel at the time. The kingdom of God was being offered to them but they refused to receive it in their minds and in their hearts. God sent the prophets to tell them about this kingdom but Israel responded by killing these prophets. Finally, God sent His Son Jesus so that the kingdom will truly be implanted in their minds and hearts. We know what happened. Israel at the time rejected Jesus and His teaching and had Him crucified on the cross. And now, since they repudiated the kingdom and killed the son of God, that kingdom was taken away from them and given to the New Israel - those who now follow Jesus and obey His teachings.

Up to this time, the kingdom of God is still being offered to us everyday. We respond by doing the Lord's will and offering to Him the best of ourselves and the best of the fruits of our labor: both material and spiritual. We who know the value and precious treasures that are in the kingdom of God are called to share it with others by speaking to them about the Gospel in word and in deed. We may experience rejection like the slaves of the property owner in the parable or even the painful experience and suffering of death endured by Christ Himself in a particular personal experience of work, mission or ministry. But we must not give up nor be discouraged because Christ, whom the builders rejected, became the keystone of the structure. If we make Christ the keystone of our life structure, then we shall be rooted firmly in His love, His justice, His mercy and most of all, in His Spirit of service despite the pain and suffering of ministry to others or working for the family.

Let us continue to pray that we may have faith in Christ and in the kingdom He promises to us - a kingdom where love, justice and mercy shall abound and death shall be no more. May we be strengthened by His Spirit in our reception of the sacraments and our participation in the Eucharistic celebrations every Sunday. May Christ be firmly rooted as the keystone of our life that we may be firmly solid in our faith in Him and truly believe that He is our Savior and the Savior of all peoples in the world.