OMELIE / Omelie EN

22 ott 2023

22/10/2023 - 29th Sunday in O.T. - year A

22/10/2023 - 29^th Sunday in O.T. - year A

Reading 1 IS 45,1.4-6 Psalm 95 Reading 2 1TS 1,1-5 Gospel MT 22,15-21

WORLD MISSIONARY DAY!

The words Saint Paul addresses to the Christians in Thessalonica are consoling. First of all, we see that He is addressing them by calling them “Church”, a word used to indicate a group of people who have answered and are still answering a divine calling, so they are together. The Christians have been called and gathered by God Himself, and by answering that calling they are showing different sides of His love. They are a unity, a family, an organic and ordered community. It is clear that their effort is attracting some trouble for each one of them too. The apostle, with his cooperator Silvanus and Timothy, has firstly observed the “work of faith” of those Christians.

Believing is hard, becomes an effort, and it is an effort clearly visible to others too. I can think of those who say: «What do you know if I believe or not?» Or: «How can you tell if that person has faith or not?». Our faith changes the way of living, of behaving and talking, so it is really easy to see if a person believes or if in them the faith is lacking or left dormant. A person told me once: «When you sit in a car, you can tell right away if the wheels are moving or still; so it is with faith».

In addition to the steadfastness of the faith of the Christians, Saint Paul enjoys also their “labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Love and hope are the first consequences of faith: love for others moved by the love for God, and the peace coming from hope, so from the certainty that Jesus is the Lord, and that from Him we receive the reward for our every effort both in believing and in loving.

Saint Paul using these words is giving us an idea of how the Christians are, in this world ruled by the pursuit of money, power, material wellbeing. In an environment so against recognising God’s authority shown by the wisdom of His Word, it is really difficult to live for believers, tested and pushed to bear witness to their faith.

The passage from Isaiah is preparing us to welcome the answer Jesus gave to the people He was talking to. God gives authority over the peoples to a king who does not even know Him: it is Cyrus, king of Persia (557-529 b.C.). Even when the Kings of this world are atheists, the believers remember that “I am the Lord and there is no other, there is no God besides me”, so they know what everyone and all history is in the Father’s hands.

The believers obey despite everything and always to God, and keep in their heart and minds His law, which helps them to cooperate with the men who are ruling the peoples or to amend their decisions.

With the answer He gave to those who were looking for a reason to accuse Him, Jesus was bringing forward and to a conclusion Isaiah’s teaching. “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”: you will give God your life, your heart, the filial and loving obedience; you will cooperate with the people who rule regarding their services and, with the taxes, you will give back to them the benefits coming from their efforts.

With His answer, Jesus not only has silenced the Pharisees and the Herodians, but also continues to give us the light to find serenity and to guide us in the difficult moments of the social life.

We will not be removed from the world, not even if it was ruled by people who are against God. Our labor of love will always find the places to act and show the faith, spreading peace and hope even when the destiny of the world seems overcome by the suffering brought over it by the ruling of powerful men.

Right here in this world, by living responsibly obedient to the wisdom of the Father which Jesus told us about, we will be missionaries. The word «missionaries» defines we are working to complete the goal we have been given. It is the plan of God’s love, which wants to remove the roots of sin from humanity, so it can live in communion, fraternity and harmony. It is the mission lived by Jesus, which He, when He has breathed over the first Church the Holy Spirit, has passed on to us: «As the Father has sent me, so I now send you».

We help each other to live this mission, and in particular today we can think about supporting with the prayer and financial help those faithful people who are giving their life for this goal in poor countries or where our faith is persecuted.