Fr. Tom Ritchie
I had been walking for three hours when I came to the outskirts of the Village of Suau in the Sepik area of Papua New Guinea. I was about to pass the first thatched hut which was apart from the others, when a man hailed me. He invited me to come to his house. When I arrived he pointed out a short length of tree trunk for me to sit on and asked me to wait while he prepared a Kulau for me to drink. He cut of the top of the green coconut and handed it to me. I drank the copious mildly sweet cool liquid. Having thanked him I continued on to the centre of the village where I was welcomed by a group of people. One of them offered me another kulau. I thanked him and said I had already had one.
He asked me if it was the man in the first house who had given it to me. When I said “Yes”, he said that man offers food to eat and something to drink to everyone who comes along. Then he continued in Pidgin: ”Em I gudpela man tru”. “He is a very good man”. He said it with such sincerity that I have never forgotten. Here was a man who had no financial income sharing what he had with anyone who came along who was hungry or thirsty after a long walk.
The Gospel today challenges us to such generosity. Jesus tells us that if we want to store up true riches for ourselves then we must be ready to part with the riches that this world values. We must be ready to share part of our wealth with the poor around us. Often we find it is the poorest people who are most generous and caring.
Jesus tells the story about a man in charge of finances who used his position to make friends by reducing the amount that the debtors owed. Then Jesus said that materialistic people are wiser than spiritual people because they use the opportunities they have to benefit themselves materially. If we are spiritual people we should benefit ourselves spiritually by using our earthly goods for spiritual benefit by generously giving to the poor.
Jesus becomes an investment advisor. Each of us has our possessions that we want to enjoy – our wealth, time, talents, health, life. But Jesus is advising us to invest them; to use them to benefit others, especially the poor. He doesn’t mean just a token, a dollar in a man’s begging bowl, but a contribution that I will feel as inconvenient so that I will need to deny myself something that I would like. Then the poor will be on my side and will welcome me.
There are those who truly believe that greed is a good principal on which to operate their businesses and perhaps their lifes. We as Christians have an opportunity to witness to generosity and the willingness to give freely from all we have. Then we will surely have friends to welcome us to our eternal life.
Monday, September 19, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
HOMILY FOR 21ST SUNDAY YR. C
HOMILY FOR 21ST SUNDAY YR. C
Fr. Tom Ritchie
In today’s Gospel they said: We have been with you. We ate with you. We walked in the street with you. But Jesus said: Be gone! I do not know you. You are not followers of mine. You will see people coming from East and West but you will be left outside.
To carry the name of Christian, to be seen at Church, to be seen praying, to carry rosary beads; these are not enough. What more is needed? A story written by the Russian author Tolstoi helps us understand.
Peter was a bootmaker in a little Russian village. He used to complain that it was easy for the apostles to be saved because they lived with Jesus, but he could not meet Jesus. But this day he had a strange feeling that something was going to happen. Perhaps he would get his wish. It was a cold winter’s day and he was in his shop working on shoes when he saw Nicholas clearing the snow from the foot path. He looked cold so he invited him in and gave him some hot tea.
Later in the day he saw a young woman looking into the warm shop. She didn’t appear to have good clothes and was carrying a baby. He invited her in and gave her steaming soup and bread and warmed milk for the baby. Before she left he gave her the woollen shawl that had belonged to his wife.
As he was about to finish an old farmer’s wife came to pick up her husband’s boots, but she had no money so he told her to take the boots and bring some turnips when the crop was ready. She left with gratitude, and he gathered up the scraps of leather and twine and threw them on the fire. He began to feel disappointed that he still had not seen Jesus. He seemed to hear a voice which said “Did you not see me?” Then the image of Nicholas, and the girl and her baby, and the old farmer’s wife came before his eyes and each time he heard the same voice say: “Did you not know me Peter?”
He blessed himself and picked up his bible. It fell open where the words run: “Come you blessed of my Father and possess the kingdom prepared for you for I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I has thirsty and you gave me to drink, I was naked and you clothed me……..as often as you did this to one of these least ones you did it to me!”
So his story ends, but not ours. What claim do we have to be called followers of Christ? Is it an empty name so Jesus will say: “I do not know you”. Or do we have a claim on the promises made to those who are merciful, to those who demonstrate that they really love others. We are challenged to look at our lives to see if we really live as followers of Jesus.
Fr. Tom Ritchie
In today’s Gospel they said: We have been with you. We ate with you. We walked in the street with you. But Jesus said: Be gone! I do not know you. You are not followers of mine. You will see people coming from East and West but you will be left outside.
To carry the name of Christian, to be seen at Church, to be seen praying, to carry rosary beads; these are not enough. What more is needed? A story written by the Russian author Tolstoi helps us understand.
Peter was a bootmaker in a little Russian village. He used to complain that it was easy for the apostles to be saved because they lived with Jesus, but he could not meet Jesus. But this day he had a strange feeling that something was going to happen. Perhaps he would get his wish. It was a cold winter’s day and he was in his shop working on shoes when he saw Nicholas clearing the snow from the foot path. He looked cold so he invited him in and gave him some hot tea.
Later in the day he saw a young woman looking into the warm shop. She didn’t appear to have good clothes and was carrying a baby. He invited her in and gave her steaming soup and bread and warmed milk for the baby. Before she left he gave her the woollen shawl that had belonged to his wife.
As he was about to finish an old farmer’s wife came to pick up her husband’s boots, but she had no money so he told her to take the boots and bring some turnips when the crop was ready. She left with gratitude, and he gathered up the scraps of leather and twine and threw them on the fire. He began to feel disappointed that he still had not seen Jesus. He seemed to hear a voice which said “Did you not see me?” Then the image of Nicholas, and the girl and her baby, and the old farmer’s wife came before his eyes and each time he heard the same voice say: “Did you not know me Peter?”
He blessed himself and picked up his bible. It fell open where the words run: “Come you blessed of my Father and possess the kingdom prepared for you for I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I has thirsty and you gave me to drink, I was naked and you clothed me……..as often as you did this to one of these least ones you did it to me!”
So his story ends, but not ours. What claim do we have to be called followers of Christ? Is it an empty name so Jesus will say: “I do not know you”. Or do we have a claim on the promises made to those who are merciful, to those who demonstrate that they really love others. We are challenged to look at our lives to see if we really live as followers of Jesus.
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