We are in the thirteen Sunday
in ordinary time. The theme of today’s readings are about hospitality towards people
who belong to Christ. In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about people who cannot be
worthy of Him, in other words who cannot belong to Him or called as His
disciples. The acts of mercy in Mt 25:31-46 are the basis for our salvation. Christian
faith is realized in the individual when s/he practices that faith in action. Our
faith is useless without deeds (Jas 2:26). If today’s world have progressed
more economically, thanks to Christian charity. The sharing of goods reduced
the poverty and uplifted many countries. In the developing countries Christians
are recognized first for their acts of mercy. The lived gospel is the first
proclamation.
In the first reading, we see
about Shunammite woman who regularly gives hospitality to prophet Elisha. As
the years go, she also increased the standard of her hospitality towards the
prophet by making rooms and furnishing it with necessary things. At the end,
she receives the reward of the prophet; she
gets prophecy from Elisha. She hesitates to believe the prophecy of
begetting a child as her husband is old. Yet, Elisha’s prophecy is realized in
her life. She gets this reward because, she has served the prophet. She has not
made any complaint to the prophet about her misfortune of being a barren woman.
Her misfortune has never been a block for her to care for the others. This shows
that she is not discouraged by misfortunes. In today’s world we easily get
discouraged. We stop our good deeds especially charities if we don’t realize
any blessings. In this context, the Shunammite woman’s faith is a great example.
We could also note the improvement she has made in offering hospitality. As years
go by we progress economically – only few times in life we suffer economic
losses. But do we improve our charities as our economic standard goes up. If we
have earned a lot in 20 years, the charities that we do now should be better
than once we did in 20 years ago. As Christians, our charity should be in proportionate
with our income and the cost of living. Economic losses at different intervals
cannot be an excuse for our negligence towards hospitality. The woman had no
child. In her deepest sorrowfulness, she offered hospitality to Elisha. She also
did not expect any reward for her hospitality – can a woman expect to get a
child at her old age? She performed this deed as a virtue. Yet, this deed gained
an unexpected grace from the Lord. She was blessed with a child.
In the gospel, Jesus speaks
about giving hospitality towards people who work for the Gospel. As Christians we
have duty to care for the ministers of the Word – the clergy. As we do lots of
charity, sometimes we may failed to care for our own pastors and religious who
serve us. Jesus says that we need to love Him more than one’s father, mother,
son and daughter (Mt 10:37). Why Jesus demand
this much of love? Can we really love Jesus more than one’s father, mother, son
and daughter with whom we live physically? Is it possible and why it is needed
to love invisible God above the visible human relations?
Our fathers, mothers, sons
and daughters are important people in our lives in so far as we are related
them as humans. Their role in our life is limited to this short earthly life. We
have no such relations in heaven. Jesus said that no one marries in heaven (Mt
22:30). If so who can be father, mother, son and daughter in heaven. Also prior
to this human life we never related to our fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.
Before this human life, during this human life and in the life to come, the
only being who is with us and with whom we can boast our relationship is the
divine being who became human in Jesus Christ. And so, God should be our first
priority in loving.
Our love for God is realized
in our hospitality towards His people. We offer hospitality and care for the people
to show our love towards them. Similarly, we need to show our love of God
through our care and concern for people who belong to Christ. This can be shown
in two ways; towards the poor and towards the ministers. In today’s Gospel Jesus
speaks about second way as He is addressing His disciples. The priests and
religious are at the service of the Lord. They bring the faithful more and more
closer to God. Their lives are sustained through the generosity of the
faithful. If only we know the worth of gift that we receive through their
service, we would never fail in caring for them. In today’s world the
hospitality and charity towards priests and religious are seen as unnecessary. Some
even give exceptions to do this deed by quoting some evils that are done by few
clerics and religious. Our Lord said, “Do not Judg” (Mt 7:1-2). If they do some
evil they are answerable to God, who are
we to judge and punish them? Their misdeeds cannot be an excuse for our negligence
towards caring for the ministers of the Word. The more we serve the unfaithful
ministers, the greater they become accountable to God. A person who receives
more blessings in sin is more answerable than one who receives little in
his/her goodness. Therefore, let us do our mission of loving God above all else
through our hospitality toward God’s servant. May our love of God be made
manifest in our hospitality towards His ministers. May we realize the worth of
gift that we receive through the ministers of the Lord.
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