OMELIE / Omelie EN

10 ago 2025

10/08/2025 - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

10/08/2025 - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

First reading Wisdom 18,6-9 from Psalm 32 Second reading Hebrews 11,1-2, 8-19 Gospel Luke 12,32-48

The Jewish people cannot forget that their arduous journey towards freedom had been accompanied by the pillar of fire. When they had to cross the unknown desert, full of unknown dangers and with the daily possibility of taking the wrong path, they had to recognise the presence of God's providential and wise hand: that cloud guided them during the day, and at night, by transforming itself into a pillar of fire, it illuminated their path. This was only one of the signs of God's presence. He was invisible, but his protection was real. He was a provident guide, ready to help in various ways, to shield them both from enemies and unnecessary hardships, and to bring joy to their lives.

This constant and timely divine presence is still and always a source of life. Those who have experienced it can no longer doubt it, nor deny it, even at the cost of their own lives.

Faith is precisely the full, joyful and constant adherence to the presence of God, a God who is close, a God who walks alongside us, who illuminates the nights, who sustains us in difficulties, who waits at the finish line. We can trust him in every situation, in every difficulty.

Abraham is the classic example of the true believer. The Letter to the Hebrews introduces him to us: every step he takes is a step of faith. By faith he obeyed, by faith he left, by faith he stayed, by faith he offered his only son Isaac on the mountain. Abraham's whole life and all his choices are born out of faith, imbued with faith and enveloped in faith. Abraham cannot be separated from God even for a moment. Look at Abraham and you will see God's plans coming to fruition. Faith is the environment in which Abraham lives, so much so that all those who live with him are also involved in it. Sarah also shares this belief: for this reason, their son is also born into this environment that is pervaded with the concrete, constant and reassuring presence of God.

Jesus would like the same thing for his disciples and for that new people, the Church, which will come from their communion, sustained by his Word and his Spirit. He suggests, or rather, commands them to live in such a way as to allow God to manifest his presence as a provident Father.

Jesus' disciple will not worry about accumulating worldly goods to secure his own future: he will not do so because he knows he has a Father who holds the entire history in his hands. He will seek to have treasures in God's heart. Our treasures in God's heart will be acts of generosity towards the poor, who, having arrived where Abraham is, will be able to intercede for those who helped them in their difficulties and sufferings, and bear witness for them. Those who have treasures in heaven will come highly recommended!

Jesus' disciples are therefore different from the men of this world. They do not see their Lord, but they know that he will come back to make himself truly present. Therefore, they always live awaiting for him, who is to come, and everything they do, they do in a way so he may be well received and loved by them upon his arrival. They live as servants of a “master” who has entrusted them with services for one another. He will ask nothing more than the fact that they had been faithful to these services, which make their lives a celebration, a continuous celebration of communion.

He himself, upon his return, will become their servant: he will put on an apron and proceed to wait on them! The greatness of Jesus' disciple, and the true greatness of the man, is given by that apron that will never come off. We are not children of God or religious men unless we are faithful servants who never dream of being in charge, of being great as the men of this world dream of being. In the new world, where the king of the kingdom of heaven reigns, we have the task of spreading this new concept: he who serves is great, and he who always serves is greater, so much so that he who never stops serving is close to God.

Those who are faithful in service will be entrusted with even more important services as a reward, with greater responsibilities, which require greater effort, but which come also with greater honour. This is what Jesus says to Peter, who, with his question, showed that he dreamed of a gratifying greatness among men.

Men will find the presence of God in the love that serves, lived by the disciples of Jesus. Through this lived love, God will continue to guide men to salvation: by serving, the disciples will offer everyone the light of faith, as a certainty that God loves them, accompanies them and awaits them.