The readings we have on this 26th Sunday of the year, reminds me of a question I was asked some years ago during vocation rally. The question from the young aspirant was, “why is it that Jesus hate rich people”? I had to take him through the scriptures to convince him that Jesus loves both the rich and the poor. Jesus had some rich people as friends! For instance, during the time of Jesus, tax collectors were among the wealthy people in the society. Jesus was simply not comfortable with the way the wealthy make use of their wealth, without taking the poor into consideration and sometimes using it as instruments of exploitation and oppression.
It is important to always remember that whatever we have today as wealth, is simply a gift from God and should be seen as such. If this is taken into consideration, then we will take todays 2nd reading very serious in our daily lives. The more we strive after the things of God, the humbler and more humane we become. This will automatically give us the positive disposition that we need towards the poor and less privileged in our society. This is because the most important thing for us would be how we can attain eternal life at the end of our earthly pilgrimage. In view of this, charity to the less privileged becomes a way of life for us.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, the three readings we have today reminds us about life after death and the need for us to do the necessary preparations now that we are still alive. These readings are still very much relevant in our own time, just like in the time of Jesus. In view of this, we are all encouraged to ask ourselves this question, how am I preparing myself for life after death? If God decides that it is time for us to come and give account of our stewardship now, will you be ready? This is very important, because we all have limited time and it will happen on a day and hour we do not know. Every new day we see, is a gift from God and we have to make good use of it positively for our good and the greater glory of God.
Whatever God has blessed you with must be used for the greater glory of his name. In view of this, that poor widow close to your home, the beggars on the streets, the street children, the orphans, your driver, your house maid, your gateman, your cook, your messenger in the office, your cleaner and the sick; do you have time for them? Are you interested about the challenges they undergo every day? If we do, thanks be to God! If we do not, we are not better than the rich man in the gospel of today. Let us learn to be charitable and bless those that are less privileged the way God has blessed us. The more charitable we are, the more we are preparing ourselves for eternal life.
Dear friends in Christ, it is our duty as ambassadors of Christ to do our best and give meaning to the lives of the less privileged that encounters us daily. The more we are able to practice this, the more we will experience the blessing of God.
My prayer today is that we accept this reminder from today’s liturgy and make a firm resolution to treat the less privileged and most abandoned better than we have ever done, through Christ our Lord. Amen.