“Making clear-cut and distinct choices in our Christian life!”

(Based on Rom 16:3-9, 16, 22-27 and Lk 16:9-15 – Saturday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1)

Picture this scene.

It’s a bright morning at Niagara Falls, 1859.

The mist is rising, the roar of the waters is deafening…
… and thousands of people are holding their breath.
A rope – just two inches thick – stretches across the mighty falls.

And then he appears: Charles Blondin, the greatest tightrope walker of his time.

He steps onto that rope…
… one careful step at a time.
The crowd gasps – some turn their faces away.
Step after step…inch after inch…
… and finally, he reaches the other side!
The people explode in cheers and applause.

Blondin turns around and shouts,

“Do you believe I can walk back again?”
“Yes!” they roar.
He smiles. “Do you believe I can do it pushing a wheelbarrow?”
“Yes!”

Then he points to the crowd and asks,
“Who will get into the wheelbarrow?”
Silence.

No one moved!

Everyone believed…
… but no one committed!

Everyone cheered…
… but no one chose!

In our Christian life, it’s time to stop cheering from the sidelines…
… and start choosing!

Faith is not a feeling to admire…
.. it is a choice to commit.

The Gospel of the Day presents this Call of the Lord to make a clear-cut and distinct choice.

Jesus says: “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or, be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Lk 16:13)

Probably, more than any time before, the world faces this deep-rooted problem of a “divided heart”

There is a constant dialectic (tension) between serving God and serving mammon!

We say we obey God…
… but we fail to abide by His commandments and teachings in the Church!

We say we love God…
… but we fail to express this love in a faithful lifestyle of prayers and devotions.

We say we serve God…
… but we fail to extend His love and compassion to our people in need.

We say we honour God…
… but we fail to witness to His Gospel values and dilute them to serve our petty interests.

Let’s not be afraid to look at the naked face of reality staring at us today…

Most people today serve something besides God…
… sin?
… music?
… sports?
… money?
… themselves?
… my own will?
… power and positions?
… cravings of their bodies ?

Am I also serving something else instead of God?

In the Old Testament, one of the greatest accusations made against the people of Israel was: the sin of idolatry…
… abandoning the Living and True God and rendering worship and honour to some non-living thing as a god.

Though, as Christians, we may not be explicitly worshipping some idol or running after some gods or crazy over some magical mantras…
… it is not a bad idea to examine our conscience and check whether we really have formed some gods in our lives and thus entering into “practical” idolatry….

Maybe I am too much attached to my electronic gadgets like the phones, TV, music players, cameras…and use them way beyond my “need!”

The idol of gadgets?

Maybe I am too much obsessed with my looks, my styles, my clothing and food habits, my make-up styles… and “over-conscious” than the minimal requirements!

The idol of the self?

Maybe I am crazy about gaining over-popularity through an “n” number of picture displays and posts on many social networking sites… and “get totally upset” when I fail to receive the expected appreciations and “likes!”

The idol of attention-seeking?

Maybe I am too much occupied with my work, business and other undertakings, that I fail to give attention to my family, my community, the needs of my own spiritual self etc… and lose out on the little joys and happiness of life!

The idol of money and work?

There could be many more idols in our life..
The idol of laziness…
The idol of bad habits…
The idol of procrastination…
The idol of power-obsession…
The idol of immoral lifestyles…
The idol of losing a sense of sin…
The idol of criticizing and judging…

In the Gospel, when Jesus said, “Make friends with dishonest wealth”… (Lk 16:9)
… The Greek word is “mamōnas” meaning wealth or possessions
… but already carrying a moral warning: “it is that, which can easily enslave you.”

In the Greco-Roman world, wealth was used to buy patronage and status.

Jesus now flips it…
… wealth should now “gain you” mercy and solidarity.

It’s saying: “Take that very thing which the world misuses – wealth – and redeem its purpose.

Use it to build relationships of mercy and generosity…
… so that your giving becomes your gateway to eternal dwellings.

This is the choice we are called to make!

It’s a rejection of worldly temptations…
… it’s an acceptance of Divine Intention!

The Gospel of the day places a great choice before us…

Choose to be with God or to follow other idols?
Choose to obey His laws and commandments or to stray away from His paths?

We cannot serve both God and other things…

One leads to life… the other to death.

Which side are we on?

God Bless! Live Jesus!

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📖 Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
MAN’S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT – GOD’S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE – The Sixth Commandment – You shall not commit adultery – Male and Female He created them

Charity is the form of all the virtues.
Under its influence, chastity appears as a school of the gift of the person.
Self-mastery is ordered to the gift of self.

Chastity leads him who practices it to become a witness to his neighbor of God’s fidelity and loving kindness. (CCC # 2346)