Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
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Homily
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So opens the passage from the Gospel of Luke (12:32) that is proposed to us this Sunday. It returns to the heart of Jesus’ preaching: the coming of the kingdom. Jesus’ disciples are entrusted with the serious mission of continuing to proclaim the kingdom and making it real here and now, despite the fact that they are only a little flock. The centrality of this preaching, which must also be central in the disciples’ thoughts, is vividly affirmed in the preceding verse, Instead strive for his (the Father’s) kingdom, and these things (what is necessary for life) will be given to you as well (v. 31).
This reference to the kingdom of God to which the disciples need to dedicate all of their interest stands as the antithesis of the way of thinking common to most people who are intent only on seeking the things of the earth. The kingdom of God means the establishment of the fullness of peace for the whole person and for all people. This is the reason behind the words that follow: give alms to make purses that do not wear out and treasures to put in heaven, where there are no thieves that steal or moths that destroy. Jesus is saying that, unlike earthly possessions that can be lost, celestial treasures are in no danger. His words echo a Biblical tradition that considered good works to be treasures stored in heaven. An ancient Hebrew saying put it like this: "My fathers amassed treasures for down here, and I have amassed treasures for above. My fathers amassed treasures that do not bear interest, and I have amassed treasures that bear interest." The person that emerges from this gospel passage is different from the rich man who is surprised by death as he thinks about his earnings or is absorbed in his worries. This new person is the disciple who is waiting for the Lord and his kingdom. The Gospel further clarifies this idea with the parable of the manager placed in charge of the house when his master is away.
The manager, thinking that his master is delayed in coming, begins to beat the other slaves and drink and get drunk. This scene may seem a little overstated, but the situation it describes is all too normal. The many injustices and thousands of small acts of daily wickedness that make life hard for so many people stem from this rather wide-spread attitude. It is the idea that we can act like more or less wicked little masters towards others because nothing will ever happen to us. In reality, mistreating another person, besides it being hateful in itself, always contains a certain amount of stupidity. It is always a violent act that for better or for worse turns back against the one who committed that small violence from a position of power. I think that it is the same thing that happens with environmental pollution. Those who ignorantly pollute the environment, even if they think it will not affect them, end up polluting themselves with the air they breathe and the food they eat. The same thing happens to those who make life more difficult for others. In doing so they pollute life, and the violence they do turns back against them. This is why the gospel passage says to stay alert, "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit" and later, "Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes" (v. 35, 37). Those who want to sleep put our their lamps; those who want to be awake when their master comes stay up with their lamps lit.
Vigilance is a virtue that seems little practiced in our time, but nonetheless it is essential for our lives. We often fall asleep among our things, and we let ourselves be weighed down by our toils and our worries, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (v. 34), Jesus says. This is our problem. The Lord is the treasure of Christians and the meaning of their lives is waiting for him.. The reward of which Jesus speaks which will be given to those whom he finds alert is an incredible reward that overturns the normal way of doing things: the master himself will become the servant of the servants - he will fasten his belt, invite them to recline on cushions in the hall, and come and serve them. This is the fullness of life that can be lived by those who are alert not for themselves but in order to welcome the Lord. Thinking about vigilance, many saints have said: "I need to live every day as if it were my last." If we all lived every day as if it were our last I think our lives would be different; it would be must more beautiful and human. It would be fuller, richer, and truer and at the same time less wearying and less desperate. It would be a life more worthy of the name.
Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
