Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk

Thirtieth Sunday of the Year, A – October 29, 2017: World Mission Sunday.

Readings: Ex 22:20-26; Responsorial Psalm Ps 18:2-3bc4.47.51ab(R.2136); 

1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10 & Gospel Matthew 22:34-40.

Theme: Love Conquers All!

Introduction

Friends in Christ, today the Church wants us to take some lessons in love. Our liturgy challenges us to reflect about our ultimate destiny. To start with, the Penny Catechism reveals that God the Father created the world, God the Son redeemed the world and God the Holy Spirit sanctifies the world. It goes further to stress that God created us to know him, love him, serve him in this world and be happy with him in the next. Since God is love and our ultimate destiny is in God, it then means that at the end of time, love would conquer all. Our reflection shall touch on the various types of love and the vertical and horizontal dimensions of love. With the aid of appropriate narratives, it shall present practical lessons as a handy Sunday recipe.

Various Types of Love

a). Philia: Philia is the love which exists between parents and their children, children with their parents and kids with their siblings. This stems from the natural bond that exists in a family. As a family word, philia is the brotherly or sisterly affection which unites us with one another in a unique way (Rom 12:10).

b). Eros: Erotic love stems from concupiscence of the flesh which St. Thomas Aquinas identifies in his Summa Theologica as one of the causes of sin. Aquinas makes the point that we are induced to sin through inordinate desires - The lust of the flesh includes sexual permissiveness and vain desires. The devil excites within us the concupiscence of the flesh so as to commit sin. The “lust of the flesh,” appears in two more significant passages of Scripture - the temptation of Eve in the Garden (Gen 3:1-6) and the temptation of Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8-10). St. Paul warns us to “cast off the works of darkness” (Rom 13:12) and make no provision for the desires of the flesh. Paul’s warning that we should shun concupiscence of the flesh is timely.

c). Agape: This is the love of God. It is often sacrificial. As the purest love, agape is the kind of love that Christ demonstrated by the manner of life, death on the cross and his resurrection. All that Christ asks of us is: “Love one another, just as I have loved you.” (Jn.15:12). Little wonder on several occasions, Jesus would “took pity on his people” and satisfy their hunger (Matthew 14:13-21).

Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions of Love

Beloved in Christ, if we zero in on the aforementioned types of love, they can be surmised under vertical and horizontal love as taught by Christ in the gospel (Matthew 22:34-40): “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself.” He further stressed: “On these two commandments hang the whole law and the Prophets also.”  What then is the implication of this teaching?

a). Vertical Dimension of Love: Loving God with all our hearts, souls and minds translates into the vertical dimension of love. This also relates to agape which we spoke about earlier. It is crucial for us to understand that it is in him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). As such, as individuals and members of the Church, we must not let anything like death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth and anything else in creation, come between us and the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:35-39).

b). Horizontal Dimension of Love:  Philial love fulfills the demands of the love of nieghbour which our liturgy challenges us to embrace. The popular parable of the Good Samaritan discloses to us who our nieghbour is – Rather than get stuck on the lethal radar of erotic love, we are challenged to demonstrate real and active love to our family, friends as well as our foes. In Amoris Laetitia or The Joy of Love -  Pope Francis’ is Apostolic Exhortation on the beauty, joy and love of marriage and the family, the Holy Father reminds us that God is throwing an open invitation to us to develop an unwavering capacity for love because our world is hungry for love, joy, peace, justice, spirituality, sincerity, fidelity and moral upliftment.

Appropriate Moving Narratives

An 18-year-old student was struggling to pay his fees. He was an orphan, and not knowing where to turn for money, he came up with a bright idea. He and a friend decided to host a musical concert on campus to raise money for their education. They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2000 for the piano recital. A deal was struck and the boys began to work to make the concert a success.

The big day arrived. But unfortunately, they had not managed to sell enough tickets. The total collection was only $1600. Disappointed, they went to Paderewski and explained their plight. They gave him the entire $1600, plus a cheque for the balance $400. They promised to honour the cheque at the soonest possible. “No,” said Paderewski. “This is not acceptable.” He tore up the cheque, returned the $1600 and told the two boys: “Here’s the $1600. Please deduct whatever expenses you have incurred. Keep the money you need for your fees. And just give me whatever is left”. The boys were surprised, and thanked him profusely.

It was a small act of kindness. But it clearly marked out Paderewski as a great human being. Why should he help two people he did not even know? We all come across situations like these in our lives. And most of us only think “If I help them, what would happen to me?” The truly great people think, “If I don’t help them, what will happen to them?” They don’t do it expecting something in return. They do it because they feel it’s the right thing to do.

Paderewski later went on to become the Prime Minister of Poland. He was a great leader, but unfortunately when the World War began, Poland was ravaged. There were more than 1.5 million people starving in his country, and no money to feed them. Paderewski did not know where to turn for help. He reached out to the US Food and Relief Administration for help. The head there was a man called Herbert Hoover — who later went on to become the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of food grains to feed the starving Polish people.

A calamity was averted. Paderewski was relieved. He decided to go across to meet Hoover and personally thank him. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his noble gesture, Hoover quickly interjected and said, “You shouldn’t be thanking me Mr. Prime Minister. You may not remember this, but several years ago, you helped two young students go through college. I was one of them.” This story which I culled from Propel Steps (2017) is a true life story that happened in 1892 at Stanford University.

In a related development, I came across another touching story which speaks to the heart of our liturgy. A graduate has been seeking for job, for almost fifteen good years. No means to get money. Then one day she had only but one dollar with her, she entered in a restaurant and bought food with that money but just after she finished praying for the food three people came in looking so skinny and hungry. They asked her for the food, she had compassion on them and gave them the food.

They wanted to pray for her but she told them that they need the prayer more than her. She left them and when she was about to leave they gave her an old coin. She went and lay down under the bridge to sleep, she saw newspaper and picked it and when she was reading it, there was an adverts about an old coin that got lost in 1955. Anybody that brings it was to be paid 10million dollars.

As soon as she saw it she checked the coin and it was the same. Then she rushed down to the address and they confirmed it and issued her with a cheque of 10million dollars. She rushed back to that restaurant to see those three men but she didn't find them. When she asked the waiters, they gave her a letter that the old men left behind and she opened it, and this is what was written: “This is the God of the Father, the God of Son and the God of the Holy spirit. No one who praises God shall be left to suffer. That person, his or her children and grandchildren shall live happy under the umbrella of God.” 

Morale of the Stories & Application to Readings

The moral lesson from these stories is that “…Most of us often think: If I help them, what would happen to me? Yet those who truly love and have a great heart think: If I don’t help them, what will happen to them?” These narratives further reveal that the world would be a wonderful place if we truly care for one another. There is enough for everybody’s needs but there isn’t enough for everybody’s greed. These stories remind us that love and generosity are conjoined-twins – you cannot have one without the other. They reveal the depth of faith and works. How can we claim to love God who is unseen yet be brutal to our neighbour? (1 John 4:20).

This brings us to taking lessons from the practical dimensions of our faith. The first reading (Ex 22:20-26) urges us to be kind and considerate to strangers, widows and orphans. The concerns of these people cry to the heavens for vengeance. That is why the reading warns that if you oppress them or are harsh to them and they cry to me, my anger would flare upon you. In sum, God reveals himself as the defender of the defenseless. As such, shortchanging them means fighting God – No one who fights God ever lives or wins.

Homiletic Quotes to Remember

ü  The suffering of strangers, widows and orphans cries to the heavens for vengeance - That is why God’s anger would flare upon us if we oppress them.

ü  God is love and our ultimate destiny is in God – this is why at the end, love would conquer all.

ü  Loving God with all our hearts, souls and minds translates into the vertical dimension of love.

ü  If zero in on love, it can be surmised into vertical and horizontal love as taught by Christ in the gospel (Matthew 22:34-40).

ü  The popular parable of the Good Samaritan reveals to us who our nieghbour is.

ü  “…Most of us often think that if we help those in need, what would happen to us? Nonetheless, those who have a great heart and are truly loving, think: If I don’t help them, what will happen to them?

Conclusion

In conclusion, we must learn to demonstrate true love of God and neighbour by being kind and tender hearted especially to those who cannot repay us like strangers, widows and orphans. By doing this, our sins shall we wiped away, the world would be a better place and we shall store up treasures for ourselves in heaven. What we urgently need in our Church and world is a blend of the ladders of vertical and horizontal dimensions of love powered by agape and expressed in philial love. In the second reading (1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10), St. Paul demands that we copy the Thessalonians by being examples of faith, hope and love in our world. May the Holy Spirit help us to shun a warped view of love which centers on erotic definition and be drawn by agape. Amen. Have a terrific week ahead!