THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - NOVEMBER 8, 2009
“God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7)
The month of November is rightly dedicated to All Souls in the purgatorial state being purified and eagerly waiting to enter into heaven. We can assist them with our prayers, Masses, fasting, etc. ( cf. 1 Cor 3:15; 1 Pet 1:7; 2 Macc 12:46)
Readings: They highlight the virtue of generosity of two widows. The widow from Zarephath in the days of Elijah, and the widow Jesus saw in the Temple were poor, and yet were models of generous giving and faith in divine providence. The word of God tells us that the extent of our generous spirit reveals the depths of our faith in divine providence. Not counting one’s wants and being generous makes one strongly founded in the providence of the Father to truly experience an abundance of blessings.
Everything we possess comes from the providence of the Father. How do we respond to his divine generosity? In the Gospel, Jesus makes the poor, yet generous widow a model of Christian response to God’s goodness. She gives not from her surplus but rather from her meager resources - from her need. It is genuinely generous sacrificial giving as thanksgiving to God’s goodness.
How do you feel about your stewardship in the community – your sharing of time, talent, and treasure? In these times of hardship, it is very difficult to think of giving large amounts of one’s resources to the community. However, everyone can make an effort to generously give one’s time and talent in service of Christ’s ministries. Giving of time and talent does not excuse one from giving an amount of monetary contributions whenever one can afford. It is not the amount that counts but the goodwill to generously participate.
Paul writing to the Corinthians exhorts them to be generous with their monitory contributions to the poor Christian communities. “It should be ready as a gracious gift, not as an exaction... He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Everyone must give according to what he has inwardly decided; not sadly, not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver. God can multiply his favors among you so that you may always have enough of everything and even a surplus for good works.” (2 Cor 9:5-9)
How much should I give to God of my income? Although in O.T (Leviticus 27:30, Deuteronomy 12:6-7, 14:28-29; 26:12-15; Numbers 18:21-32; Malachi 3:8-12) tithing of 10% was obligatory, Christian tradition does not specify the amount of sacrificial giving. However, it tells us that the Christians were of one heart and one mind and none of them claimed anything as his/her own, rather everything was held in common. There were no needy among them because of this most generous spirit that prevailed among them. (Act 4:32-35) Can we get rid of wastefulness in spending on ourselves and be generous with God by being generous with the church?
Whenever our collection went down I was asked to speak about it on Sunday sermons. However, I refrain from doing so, because, I know for sure our parish is a generous community relying on divine providence. God has been always good to our parish through your generosity. He also makes our school maintained with your generosity. I take this opportunity to thank all who regularly and most generously contribute to the upkeep of our community. I admire some of our children who, like the poor widow, generously give from their meager pocket money. For them it is a catechetical process in responsible stewardship of God’s blessings.
Let us thank God for his blessings and express our gratitude by generously giving our time, talent, and treasure, for God loves cheerful givers. Fr. Sextus Don
THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - NOVEMBER 15, 2009
As we near the end of Liturgical Year B, all the readings seem to give us scary images of the end of the world. It is a very challenging task to make sense of these scary final scenarios of humans’ fate. However, the Fundamentalist Evangelical denominations that are part of our country’s religious culture understand these apocalyptical scripture passages, especially taken from the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation in a very strict literal sense. They see those prophecies fulfilled in extraordinary political events and natural or man-made catastrophes. We find ourselves lost as to how to respond to their onslaught of scary end-time speculations. Of one thing we are sure: everything that is made of matter has limited existence and must perish some day. But the problem is to know how and when this will happen.
Eschatology is part of a belief system of mainstream religions especially three monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, they all differ in the way they understand this aspect of theology. Eschatology means ‘study of last things’ (Greek: Eschatos, Last; Logia, speak, study) of the final destiny of creation. Eschatology is a system of theological doctrines concerning last, final things, such as destruction of creation, death of the living, final destiny of humans, judgment, heaven, hell, etc.
The Catholic Church traditionally understands these passages not as predictions of imminent or future happenings, but rather as a remote consummation of human history and the beginning of new realities. This understanding is strongly based on the very saying of Jesus: “As to the exact day or hour, no one knows it, neither the angels in heaven nor even the Son, but only the Father.” (Mk 13:32) So, how can any human for sure predict the end time?
Catechism on Catholic Eschatology: “The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God's justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God's love is stronger than death.” (CCC # 1040)
“The resurrection of all the dead, ‘of both the just and the unjust,’ will precede the Last Judgment. This will be ‘the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear (the Son of man's) voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.’ (Jn 5:28-29) Then Christ will come ‘in his glory, and all the angels with him. . . . Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. . . . And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’ ” (Mt 25:31,32, 46) CCC # 1038)
Today these Scripture passages may symbolically bring out the end time experience in our life when our well-planned happy world falls apart due to terminal illness like cancer, loss of job, spouse' betrayal, divorce, problem-children, sudden death in the family, addiction, debts, tragedy, etc. These and other experiences are moments of unbearable hopelessness, stress, depression, and even despair. In moments of gloom and doom these passages help us to persevere and whisper: "I set the Lord ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed…you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld… you will show me the path to life, fullness of joy in your presence.” Ps 16)
PASTOR'S SUNDAY REFLECTION