The Lord teaches us about the virtue of prudence today. We need to learn this well especially in those who are government officials or our politicians who have defrauded the people of their hard-earned money. They have not extended the services they were supposed to perform by virtue of their office. The Filipinos are clamoring louder and louder for accountability. Part of accountability is for the culprits to own up to their misdeeds, restore what they stole, and serve a penalty. We need to think carefully to avoid committing a crime, and if we do take part in criminal activities, we need to consider how to set things right. This is prudence. And prudence includes putting into practice what has been decided.
Jesus reveals to us today the joy in heaven over the repentance of a sinner. He employs the imagery of a shepherd who has a hundred sheep. One of them gets lost. He describes the shepherd leaving the 99, in search of the lost one. What joy he has when he finds it. The same thing happens in the realm of God and man. We are the sheep and each of us experiences being lost somehow and sometimes. The gratifying revelation Jesus makes is that God searches for you all the time, just like that shepherd. When He finds us to return to the fold, He is very happy, in the same analogous manner as the shepherd finding the lost sheep.
self-surrender to God will happy to us in forms similar to martyrdoms of old. However, the Lord seeks us to prove our absolute allegiance to Him in small things like in our attitudes to living according to our prayer schedule, that we smile even when we all the reason to explode in angry frustration and taking the pinpricks of ordinary life with hopeful demeanor, etc.
As we approach the end of the current liturgical year, the Church prepares us with such messages to remind us about being prepared for the end, be it for the end of the world or the end of our lives. We do not know when, but what is most certain is that it will happen at a time we do not know or expect. She reviews us today in the gospel of the mass that Heaven is our proper place, our home and our final destination. That is the case, at least in theory. However, through the story the Lord narrates--where he compares heaven to a dinner in the kingdom of God, invitations to that feast, excuses not to make it to the party, the Lord wants his party hall be filled--he warns us about the obstacles in the way that this longing to make it to the feast is waylaid.
The lesson today is about rectitude of intention. The Lord points out the danger in doing good. Such a pitfall happens when we secretly or not so secretly do good expecting the other party to do good to us in return. This may be the minimum to expect in normal and ordinary interpersonalr elationships. But the Lord encourages us to correct that so that we only expect the reward the Lord will give us at the end of our lives. When the good we do to others do not get recognized or requited, we surely are in the right in claiming unfairness. However, Jesus cautions us because such injustice is good for our purification. All the glory to God alone!
The Gospel today tells us about the compassion Jesus felt for a woman who was a widow and presently weeping, while bringing her only son to be buried. The poor widow grieved over losing her only means of supporting herself in that society. Women did not work to earn. They largely depended on the men in their lives. Jesus then resurrected her son and gave him to his mom. This example of compassion should be translated to our need to be compassionate for the holy souls in purgatory. They are suffering tremendously. But the Church today aims for emptying Purgatory so that everyone goes to heaven. We can hasten their transfer to join the Blessed Trinity by praying for them and offering various suffrages. One good way that is available these days to us is that of earning a plenary indulgence and applying it to souls in Purgatory.
Today we celebrate All Saints' Day. We recognize all of them in Heaven, acknowledging the great multitude of them who are unknown to us. We praise God's work in them. The gospel reminds us of the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. Lucky are those saints, since they practiced the values on that list. Although they went through what others may refer to as pitiable traits and experiences, such as poverty of spirit, meekness, grief, persecution, etc, they were assured by the Lord that their reward will be great in Heaven.
We need to learn how to think and exercise our intelligence and come to a correctly reasoned out conclusion and decide what to do and to do it. We gather all the premises regarding the issue and ask for help or advice from knowledgeable people to guide us in the process. The issue the Lord brings up in the gospel today is what is to do on the Sabbath. His listeners were paralyzed in committing themselves to a stand in reply Jesus' question. It all boiled down to being simple and straightforward in concluding that it was fine to do on the Sabbath good actions to help the others.
Jesus proceeds to Jerusalem, where he will be condemned to death. He is forthright in doing his part to save us. Each of us needs to contribute our share to the process of salvation. Objectively, Jesus has already saved us, but we still need to go along with it personally. He cannot save those who are unwilling to be saved.
The Lord replies to that question by posing a challenge. We need to strive to enter the narrow gate. That is how we can get into heaven. We need to exert effort. We need to struggle to enter that narrow opening.
Jesus spent the entire night praying about what he would do the next day, i.e., choosing his closest collaborators to be called apostles. That was going to be a significant move for the continuity of what he was doing in the Church he was setting up.
The Lord taught the Pharisee who insisted that people who are sick should not come to be cured on the Sabbath. He corrected that view by curing the woman on the Sabbath. He proved His teaching by performing the miracle. Thus, it is not bad to do good on the Sabbath.
The publican prayed for God's mercy, with humility accepting his state as a sinner. The Pharisee prayed differently by comparing his accomplishments with those of the publican. He justified himself. But in God's eyes, he displeased God. He was pleased with the humble publican.
The gospel clearly calls us to repent from our personal sins, and not to compare our better fortunes with the misfortunes of others. Before God we will need to account for our personal sins, and thus, we need to repent of them now.
The Lord uses an analogy to illustrate our ability to predict the weather by paying attention to signs in nature. If we can do that, then why are we so complicated in reading the Lord and His holy Will? The problem is that we muddle the matter because of our lack of better dispositions in finding out what God wishes.
We should not rest on our laurels. We are not called to become selfish just because we are secure for the future with material goods. We need to be prepared always for being summoned by God to His presence.
The Lord invites us to a permanent state of conversion.
Today is a great day of celebration especially for the Visayans, and also for the rest of the Filipinos here and abroad. We feast because of the canonization of St. Pedro Calungsod who was a missionary layman and catechist in the 17th century. He died together with his rector St. Diego Luis de San Vitores in Guam as they faced the threats to their lives in converting and baptizing the Chamorro natives. I recall that the Church did not forget to canonize that Jesuit. But it seemed that the Church forgot to check that teenager who accompanied him. That Visayan catechist was killed first. He could have run away to avoid martyrdom, but he remained by the Jesuit's side. He kept in mind and practiced the words of the Lord that entitle this homily.
The Lord tells us in today's gospel to examine ourselves instead of running to him to resolve our quarrels with others regaring inheritance disputes. He points out to check ourselves regarding greed and about what we think is truly valuable in our existence because it should not be about possessions. In this way, he invites us all to renew ourselves by repenting and resolving to amend ourselves constantly. Transformation of ourselves is the core of our calling. All our problems are about opportunities to grow to be more Christ-like.
This is the question Jesus poses to us today in the gospel. This query should spur us to examine ourselves, our consciences, and call a spade a spade. We need to face ourselves and check whether we are greedy and have fallen for the values of the world, that is, to be enslaved to material possessions, whether material wealth looms highest in our scale of values in life. We need to be reminded by the Lord's teachings on the Beatitudes in His Sermon on the Mount. Sooner or later, we will experience the parable He narrates in the gospel today. We need to be prepared to face Him, our Judge, and make the necessary adjustments now, before it is too late.