Aug. 7, 2022: 19th Sunday C
Aug. 7, 2022: 19th Sunday C
A young priest answered a simple call from God 30 years ago, to be God’s hands and feet, to feed the hungry souls with God’s gift of His Word and Sacraments. The assignment he received was nearly impossible. He was appointed as the pastor of a 15,000-person parish scattered across 9 different villages and chapels with 20 to 30 minute distance between each village. It was a daunting task for one priest to minister. He had to travel partly by car and mostly by walking to each of the remote villages. Parish finances were daunting as well. A total of $8 was collected weekly from parishioners of all 9 villages. It was not enough to operate the parish and provide food for himself at the rectory. So he raised chickens and pigs in his rectory yard; he planted vegetables in his garden; and he harvested coconuts from the 15 trees that grew on his property and sold them at the market. At the end of the year he tallied up 300 baptisms and 500 confirmations. Fr. Bob’s (associate pastor of St. George) experience as a young priest in the Philippines is nothing short of miraculous. God used a small and humble priest to accomplish his big plans.
“Each of us is like a small mirror in which God searches for His reflection”, St. John Vianney said. What we have is given to us only so that we might serve each other. “Sell your belongings and give alms,” Our Lord said. It is a challenging request for us to build up our eternal wallet with acts of mercy toward the poor rather than to count the storehouse of our wealth for our security. In a sense, we are not to be caught by surprise like the Egyptians on the night of the Passover when the spirit of death hovered over the whole city. The children of Israel were ready that night with the blood of the lambs on their doorposts. We are to be faithful, ready, and expectant like the Israelites. As the Psalm reminded us, “Those who wait for the Lord, the Lord will deliver their soul from death.”
Being vigilant does not mean simply waiting for something to happen. It means being faithful to our Christian responsibilities everyday. Mother Teresa said, “God keeps loving the world through each of us, through the work that has been entrusted to you. Do your work well, and do it with great love… How can we love Jesus today? By loving Him in my husband, my wife, my children, my brothers, and sisters, my parents, my neighbor, and the poor.”
The poor have a special place in Jesus’ heart. The poor person is like an altar upon which the sacrifice of alms is offered to God, St. John Chrysostom wrote. If Jesus’ mystical Body is the Temple of God, then every person, especially every poor person to whom you give alms is like a living altar. So if you want to build up your treasure in Heaven which no thief can steal, if you want to cleanse yourself of sin, then be merciful by offering alms to the altar of a poor person.
“In God’s kingdom, no suffering is unknown; each tear that falls is holy, each breaking heart a throne. Every tender mercy, God makes glorious. Oh give us ears to hear Your children (in the shadows) and give us eyes that see —for there is One who loves them: I am His hands and feet… This, You have asked us: do little things with great love, little things with great love.” (song, “Little Things with Great Love” by Audrey Assad)
We must carry on the signs of the love of Jesus, to care for the poor, the sick, and the suffering. Visit them and give them what no technology and no medicine is capable of giving them: Christ’s presence and his power of compassion.
