Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the Lord’s words through the Scriptures reminding all of us that ultimately, our citizenship is in Heaven, which means that regardless of whatever we have in this world, our allegiances and attachments, in the end, we are bound to Heaven, our ultimate and final destination, as how it should be. Yet, many may not make it to Heaven and end up in hell, because they got distracted and chose to live a life that is against God.
That is because we are often tempted by falsehoods of the devil and the temptations of worldly pleasures and desires, living as St. Paul said in our first reading today, as the ‘enemies of Christ’. These are those who have refused to believe in the Lord Jesus and His teachings of truth as well as those who have ignored Him and failed to live up to their faith as they should have. And as St. Paul said, that those are headed to ruin, that is hell.
That is why he mentioned that all of us Christ’s faithful are truly the citizens of Heaven, which we ought to aspire to and seek, as indeed, once we have been destined for the glory of God and Heaven, if not for our sins and iniquities. Through sin we have been separated from God and made to wander in this world and to suffer the consequences for our sins. But the Lord did not wish to see us continuing in this wretched state.
That is why through His servants, He reminded them all that they could be forgiven and return to Him should they choose to repent from their sinful ways and embrace fully His truth. As St. Paul reminded the Philippians, all of us are bound for Heaven, and as such, because we truly belong to God, we should act in manners that are in accordance and congruent with what God has taught to us through His Church.
What we then heard in our Gospel passage today in the parable of the dishonest steward is yet another reminder that we must not be like that dishonest steward who had not been honest and just in his actions and chose to be corrupt in his works. When the master found out about this, the steward was dismissed from service, and as the Lord told His disciples, that steward did things to make sure that he had a guarantee despite having lost his livelihood.
We heard the Lord saying how the master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. But in truth, what the Lord was saying to us is that, if we continue on living in ways contrary to the Lord’s ways, in embracing corrupt desires and pride, ambition, greed among others, we will end up getting deeper and even deeper into the trap of sin. That dishonest steward continued to employ dishonest methods to secure for himself a living after his dismissal that he essentially doubled down on his mistake.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Gospel passage and related to what we heard in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians, all of us are reminded that we have to live a genuine Christian life, and distance ourselves from sin and all of its corruptions. We have to resist the allures and pressure to sin, and live virtuously at all times. We have to be inspiration for one another in how we live up our faith to the fullest.
As we all know that Heaven is our true destination, let us all therefore do our very best to make our lives to be worthy of Heaven, to be worthy of God and His kingdom. Let us obey the Lord and His commandments, listen to Him and His truth, and commit ourselves to a holy life dedicated to God from here on after. Let us seek the Lord with all our hearts and devote ourselves to Him with ever greater zeal and sincerity, from now onwards. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.