HOMILY FOR THE THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A (5)

HOMILY FOR THE THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.

HOMILY THEME: HUMILITY IN SERVICE

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:
(Mt. 23:1-12)
In the day’s Gospel Jesus spoke about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. They preached but do not practice what they preach. They were guilty of showing off piety but deep inside, they lacked sincerity and essential relationship with God. They were consumed with recognition, praises, and great regard. While these are ached for by the world, the servant of God aches for more – the favor of God. More than greatness before the world, we aim for greatness before God. In order to do so, one must be humble. That humility is expressed in being a true servant of God.

Servanthood is not only restricted to priests, nuns, and ministers. While they had made commitments to render particular services by virtue of their positions and responsibilities, ALL the baptized possess that responsibility and mission. Christians, in the early days, were known for loving and serving each other. No one was found in need. They serve by sharing everything they had for the good of the community. There was an authentic intent to serve. Every opportunity was seized to help neighbour in need.

Call it utopia, shangri-la, or simply heaven, but it is God’s dream for His creation. “All will be united in Christ.” The Good News is that it can be attained with humility. When Christians practice love of neighbor, seeking the good of the other, refraining from showing off, practicing what was preached, being the servant of all and serving at every instance, the world will not only be a good place to live in but the place God meant it to be.

Pushing this further, the advent of fake news comes to mind. It does a lot of disservice to people and government. It is not anymore a matter only of preaching what was taught but propagating a lie. It is already very damaging not to witness to a belief, it much much worse spreading lies as truth. The sad part of it is that many are duped. The worst part is many knew them as fake but still spread them to advance their advocacy. These fake news bearers are worse than the Pharisees. While hypocrisy is merely a part or a mistake of the Pharisees, for fake news propagandists, it has become a way of life.

Truth and humility go together. Humility is truth. As children of God, our Truth is Jesus Christ. As followers of Jesus, the Truth, we serve in humility.

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