SUNDAY REFLECTION: "You Cannot serve two masters"

SUNDAY REFLECTION: 8th SUNDAY: YEAR A 
(26 FEB, 2017)

Theme: "You Cannot serve two masters"

 you cannot serve two masters

Entrance Antiphon

♥ Entrance antiphon uses the phrase: “… he saved me because he

delighted in me. God does not forsake us as the first reading of today says. God will never forget us (Cf. the Gospel).

Collect

♥ The Collect says that the church may rejoice, untroubled in her devotion under the peaceful rule of God. When we take delight in something or someone we make sure that they are happy, that nothing troubles him/her. So it is with God. If he looks after the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, he will look after us well.

First Reading

♥ Zion says: “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me”

♥ Even Mother Teresa felt abandoned by God. She experienced dryness in her life (Cf. book: come be my light). We too may feel the same sometimes.

♥ Even if a woman forgets her sucking child (almost impossible) the Lord will not forget us. This is the most consoling assurance we get from the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

♥ Responsorial Psalm uses a beautiful phrase: “in God alone.”

♥ The word “alone” appears five times in the Psalm. It is the Lord “alone” who will never forsake us, or abandon us. Our mothers, friends, relatives etc. may forget us but the Lord will not forget us. And so we need to trust him completely. We worry (Cf. the Gospel on worrying) about so many things because we don’t trust him completely.

Second Reading

♥ In the second reading we hear the phrase: “servants of Christ and (trustworthy) stewards of the mysteries of God.”

♥ The Lord is so much delighted in us that he has entrusted us with “the mysteries of God.”

♥ The second point that the second reading brings out is about “judging.”

♥ It is so closely connected with the Gospel reading of today. Just after this passage Jesus will speak about judging others.

♥ St. James says: “There is only one lawgiver and he is the only judge and has the power to save or to destroy. Who are you to (judge) give a verdict on your neighbour? (Jam 4:12 NJB)

Acclamation

♥ The Gospel acclamation uses the phrase: “your Word is truth…consecrate us in truth…”

♥ One of the “mysteries of God” that has been entrusted to us with, the trustworthy stewards, is the mystery of the “Word of God” which can be proclaimed worthily only if a person is consecrated in truth, who speaks the truth, who is a son/daughter of Jesus who says: “I am the way the truth and the life.” The devil is a father of lies. And Every time we lie to someone we become the children of the devil.

Gospel Reading

♥ The Gospel reading of today speaks about serving two masters, speaks about deep anxiety over the basic necessities of life, speaks about God’s providential care for lilies and birds, speaks about faithless generation, speaks about seeking first the kingdom of God, and finally speaks about the worry of tomorrow.

REFLECTOINS

♥ Just above this passage Jesus speaks about

1.   Two treasures – treasures on earth and treasures in heaven (Mat 6:19ff RSV).

2.   Two Eyes – sound eyes and diseased eyes. And today he speaks about (Luk 11:34ff RSV)

3.   Two masters- (Today’s passage)

4.   Below today’s passage Jesus will speak about not judging others. The second reading speaks about judging oneself and others.

THE WORLD AND OUR LIFE IS RUNNING ON MONEY

♥ Money is very much required for living a decent and dignified life.

♥ Money can be a blessing or curse; can be used for a good purpose or for an evil purpose–to buy pornography, to go to prostitutes, to fund

terrorism, to put oneself in debt, or to use money to buy clothes, food,

for education of those who have no opportunity to study, to use it for

making all kinds of progresses, making churches in villages, to help the

poor and so on and so forth.

♥ There are many people who are living on rent; who are living from hand to mouth; who are going hungry; who are dying due to lack of food, shelter and clothing. While there are also majority of people who have so much of money that they don’t know how to make good use it. They spent to raise their so called ‘status’- hair cut, costly clothes, costly food, expensive travels, expensive gadgets,

♥ Easy money is seldom made good use of; often it is used for an evil

purpose because the pain of earning that money is not experienced by the one who uses it.

♥ Mama Margaret the mother of Johnny Bosco said to him that if he ever became rich, she would not enter his house.

♥ Pope Francis said: Satan enters the soul through our pocket (money).

♥ St. Paul says: money is the root cause of all evil.

♥ Demonitisation gave us so much of suffering and pain. This shows that we need money. At the same time we also found out that there was so much of hoarding of money by few individuals in many areas in India.

♥ Jayalalita left all her wealth on this earth. She took nothing with her. This should make us reflect and help us to use our money well.

Divine providence

♥ Today’s readings invite us to trust in divine providence. God looks after us much more than he looks after the lilies and the birds of the air because we are created in his own image and likeness.

♥ Don Bosco is our best example in this area. So much of money came into his hands but put everything at the service of his boys and the church. He worked hard. He went to the extent of begging. He trusted completely in divine providence.

♥ “Instruct those who are rich in this world’s goods that they should not be proud and should set their hopes not on money, which is untrustworthy, but on God who gives us richly all that we need for our happiness.” (1Ti 6:17 NJB).

♥ “No one who loves money ever has enough, no one who loves luxury has any income; this, too, is futile. (Ecc 5:9 NJB)

JESUS AND  MONEY

♥ “…However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me." (Mat 17:27 NRS). He paid tax. This shows that we need to work hard and avoid being in debt.

♥ Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they were amazed at him. (Mar 12:17 RSV)

♥ “So they reached Jerusalem and he went into the Temple and began driving out the men selling and buying there; he upset the tables of the money changers and the seats of the dove sellers (Mar 11:15 NJB).

♥ If Jesus were to come to our churches, parishes, convents, village communities, Schools and colleges how many of us would have been driven out from our places for making it a business centre rather than keeping it as a centre for serving the “ mysteries of God.” Let us pray that we may not make a business of the “mysteries of God” handed down to us “the trustworthy stewards.”

♥ Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have got my money back with interest. (Mat 25:27 NJB). The Lord is asking us to invest our time, talents and energy for the service of the “mysteries of God” and not to remain idle.

♥ When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, (Mat 27:3 RSV). It was too late. It was beyond redemption.

♥ “The love of money is the root of all evils and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds” (1Ti 6:10 NJB).

♥ This is what happened to Judas. He was a close disciple of Jesus. He did it just after taking part in the Eucharist. So our priesthood, our religious consecration, our baptism or confirmation is not a guarantee that we will not betray the Lord if we are not careful, if we do not put our trust “in God alone” (Responsorial Psalm) and make Him the source of our strength and inspiration.

♥ “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”

     (Mat 6:21 RSV).

Two Masters: God and Money

♥ Two things competing mastership in our life.

♥ There cannot be two head masters in a school or college so too in our lives.

♥ We are very much familiar with Chariot Allegory of Plato, which appears in the Phaedrus, is a very important part of the Western— and World—spiritual and philosophical tradition. It presents a rich metaphor for the soul and its journey

♥ The soul is portrayed as a compound of three components: a charioteer (Reason), and two winged steeds: one white (spiritedness, the irascible element, boldness) and one black (the appetitive element, concupiscence, desire). The goal is to ascend to divine heights—but the black horse poses problems. It depends whom you feed more.

♥ We are called to make a radical choice for Jesus in our lives.

♥ “Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Rom 6:16 RSV)

♥ In the ancient time, slaves were so busy, they had no free time that they could pay attention to somebody else apart from their master.

♥ Both money and God are promising but only one can give that is God. It is he who can grant us eternal happiness and joy.

♥ Mammon in place of God is idolatry, it becomes a deity.

♥ Don Bosco had money, Mother Theresa and many other saints had more money than Jayalalita but they put everything at the service of God and their people. They were loyal to one master - God and they made money their slave to serve God and their people. Their treasure was God and their people.

♥ Mathew 13 speaks about the treasure that was hidden in a land and the person who discovered it goes and sells all had to buy that field.

♥ Go and sell all your junk to gain the treasure- sell your pride, jealousy, lustful desires, anger, judgmental attitude, mouth that speak ill of others and buy Jesus and his “seek first the kingdom of God” and you will get much more than what you cannot even imagine.

♥ CCC 2848 says: “Lead us not into temptation” implies a decision of the heart: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. . . . No one can serve two masters.”

♥ “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:25).

♥ “Do not put your confidence in your money or say, with this I am self-sufficient” (Sir 5:1 NJB).

♥ “For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it (Lk 9:24 RSV). If we want to save our life we need to deny short the term pleasures, sell our possessions to buy the treasure – Jesus for all eternity.

♥ Give Christ the first place and he will show you the Surpassing wealth of knowing Him, he will make you understand the danger of immoderate riches.

Social Justice

♥ Some of us pay so little to our domestic staff. Where is the sense of justice? The scene of Lazarus and the rich man will be repeated in our lives. We may have to tell God: “Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send ‘Mathew/Mary’ my domestic staff to dip the end of his/her finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.” (Luk 16:24 RSV).

♥ “To build your house with other people’s money is like collecting stones for your own tomb.” (Sir 21:8 NJB). Are we using the money of the mission for my own comfort, to help my families and relative?. How wise Mamma Margret was to instruct her son Johnny Bosco: “If you ever become rich I will not enter your house.” We may be thinking we are helping our families but we are ruining them. This is also a sign that we are not focused on the Lord like Peter who said: “Lord, Let us make tree tents – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He forgot about himself and his family.

♥ St. Peter says: “Give a shepherd’s care to the flock of God that is entrusted to you: watch over it, not simply as a duty but gladly, as God wants; not for sordid money, but because you are eager to do it. (1Pe 5:2 NJB). Are we interested in various projects, construction of village churches, School and college ministries for sordid money or we are doing it to “give a shepherd’s care to the flock of God that is entrusted to our care” What is our intention behind the ministry we shoulder as priests, religious, and lay persons in the church.

♥ The devil may make us feel sometimes that if we have no money no one will remember us, recognize us - but God says, even if the woman forgets I will not forget you.

♥ Jesus says: “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mat 19:24 RSV). Seek first the kingdom of God and everything will be given unto you.

♥ “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor 10:13)

♥ May our vows of “Poverty, chastity and obedience” make us free so that we may “Servite Domino in laetitia!” (Serve the Lord joyfully!)