13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A - 2/7/2017 - Gospel: Mt 10:37-42
Life security
Those who believe that world materials can give security for life need to know that wealth' values are limited and their guarantee given to life is limited. Furthermore world material resources are limited while our desire to possess it is unlimited. The majority believe that wealths they have owned would never be enough. Wealths make life comfortable and give some sense of fame for being successful. The truth is one has to work hard to get wealths and have to work even harder to maintain wealths. They deserve for their hard labour. Prizes go to the winner and they are crowned for their great achievements. Wealths work in a two way security. It is both given and taken. It gives some sense of security for its owner and it requires owner's protection. Wealths can be here today and vanish tomorrow and when it vanishes it often leaves behind a trail of destructions for its owners. Recognizing the wealths' unlimited power is a gift of wisdom. We need wealths to live but don't invest our life security in it. It is better to place our trust and hope in something else which is much more stable, permanent and above wealths. Nothing in this world can destroy spiritual values and it lasts forever. Spiritual values free us from troubles and make us enjoy life more. The more we are free the more we enjoy living and that helps to have a better out look into the future.
The firm and permanent security for life can be found only in Jesus, the love of God, who alone can guarantee the everlasting security because he himself had destroyed the power of deadly destruction. Being risen from dead Jesus claimed that death has been conquered and that the power of God's love is stronger than death. Secured everlasting life can be found in the teaching of Jesus and only those who love Jesus would enjoy hope what Jesus has promised. Jesus told his disciples that those who find security and comfort in wealths will not have it forever while those who risk their lives for the Gospel, for the love of Jesus and others, surely will gain everlasting life. An act of charity, no matter how big or small or even as simple as a glass of water, has its value and it lasts beyond time.
We don't love God by keeping it in our mind and heart. It is a kind of passive and empty love. We love God by acts of charity, by doing it, by making God's word active and fruitful. It is done by acknowledging that God loves us first and we learnt from God to love others. Loving God by being a good character is not good enough it requires total commitment to do good things for others in the name of Christ. When we realize that everything we have that is given to us by God then the requirements to love God more than anything else in life, including our own self, is just and right. Married couple love each other more than their own parents and they love their children more than their own lives. We learn to love God by loving others through simple acts of charity. No act of charity is forgotten- a simple glass of cold water is counted and rewarded in God's kingdom.
The firm and permanent security for life can be found only in Jesus, the love of God, who alone can guarantee the everlasting security because he himself had destroyed the power of deadly destruction. Being risen from dead Jesus claimed that death has been conquered and that the power of God's love is stronger than death. Secured everlasting life can be found in the teaching of Jesus and only those who love Jesus would enjoy hope what Jesus has promised. Jesus told his disciples that those who find security and comfort in wealths will not have it forever while those who risk their lives for the Gospel, for the love of Jesus and others, surely will gain everlasting life. An act of charity, no matter how big or small or even as simple as a glass of water, has its value and it lasts beyond time.
We don't love God by keeping it in our mind and heart. It is a kind of passive and empty love. We love God by acts of charity, by doing it, by making God's word active and fruitful. It is done by acknowledging that God loves us first and we learnt from God to love others. Loving God by being a good character is not good enough it requires total commitment to do good things for others in the name of Christ. When we realize that everything we have that is given to us by God then the requirements to love God more than anything else in life, including our own self, is just and right. Married couple love each other more than their own parents and they love their children more than their own lives. We learn to love God by loving others through simple acts of charity. No act of charity is forgotten- a simple glass of cold water is counted and rewarded in God's kingdom.
Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia