OMELIE / Omelie EN

26/6/2016

05/11/2017 – 31st Sunday of O. T. - Year A 

05/11/2017 – 31^st Sunday of O. T. - Year A 

Reading 1, Malachi 1,14 - 2,2.8-10 Psalm 130 Reading 2, First Thessalonians 2,7-9.13 Gospel, Matthew 23,1-12

“If you will not listen, if you will not sincerely resolve to glorify my name…”. It could appear like these words do not become God; it seems like they are expressing a threat, coming from a selfish and conceited heart. However, what does “to glorify the name of God” mean?

Who knows the Bible knows that God receives glory from a man that obeys Him; and whoever obeys God loves the poor, the orphan and the widow, cultivates justice, love and harmony and keeps the commandments, those that bring to a great and selfless respect for the neighbor! Glorifies God’s name whoever shows, with his life and with the life of his family and of the society in which he lives, that God is love, mercy, that He wants communion and involvement, and He is a friend of men! Who does not live in this way, he cannot say he is part of the people of God: he would give Him a false testimony, he would make Him known as somebody who is unjust, violent, greedy, selfish. If you know you have been made by that only God who has created all human beings, why then “do we break faith with one another”? God would feel offended and humiliated. He wants to make clear the seriousness of the situation of whom ignores the love for the neighbor by saying: “I shall certainly lay a curse on you…”! this a very strong and piercing affirmation. Nobody, in hearing a threat like this, would persevere in their mistake! The admonition of the prophet Malachi is addressed above all to the caretaker of the people, the priests. Their life is regarded by the poor as a concrete example of a behavior that is appreciated by God: this is why they have a huge responsibility.

Jesus, in today’s passage of the Gospel, follows this prophetic line, warning the crowds against imitating the behavior of who should teach God’s wisdom. In His times, these were the Scribes and the Pharisees. They were teaching God’s laws properly, but they were showing something else with their life! This is why the Lord said: “You must therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do…”. When we hear these words nowadays, inside the Christian communities, the thought goes, of course, to the bishops and the priests: they are those who teach God’s ways, they are the ones who, being men as they are, from time to time do not set the right example, they do not live according to the Gospel they preach. This is true: the priests are and will always be men, feeble, frail, tempted like everybody else by the devil, even maybe more than others. You will not be surprised to find in the life of some of them as well some disobediences, indulgences, some incongruences with what they are properly teaching.

Jesus’ words however are addressed to you: you need to live according the teachings of the Gospel, even if the priest that preaches it is not able to do it himself yet. His words have a divine authority. You live in accordance with God’s holy words, and you yourself will be a light, a star guiding the others to the true source of life, as well!

To His disciples Jesus teaches the way of humility, the only way that keeps men firmly rooted in God’s heart. Do not think you are better than others. Do not ask for honorary titles, do not search for the way of conceit. Jesus does not stop you calling “father” a person that has taught or is teaching you the divine and eternal life; He is just suggesting that you do not search for glory in titles. I would like to be called always with my christening name, but if somebody addresses me calling me “father”, I do not stop him: he could find this way of addressing me useful in order to keep the knowledge of his obedience and humility fresh.

Jesus’ words are enlightened today by the example of Saint Paul. To the Thessalonians he writes with tenderness and affection in remembering his work among them. He loved them while he was teaching them the Gospel, he has made an effort and he has been lovingly with them, he has set himself as an example of Christian life. Paul’s words could be repeated by many clergymen, by many parish priests and bishops, that have been and still are an example also with their evangelical life! Many are the priests that have taken seriously Jesus’ words and they did not overlook them! And there are also many faithful who, like the Thessalonians, have welcomed and are still welcoming their word “for what it really is, not the word of any human being, but God's word”. The Church of God is beautiful, a people living the Father’s wisdom and really glorifying Him, because, through the unity of the faithful with their shepherds, it spreads everywhere works of selfless and faithful love towards the poor and the outcast, in this way making the beauty of the Father shine in the world!