Homily  33rd Sunday OT

Franklin Fong, OFM

In the first reading from Malachi, we hear that the day of the Lord will bring about justice and healing to those who fear the name of the Lord. 

From the psalm 98 we are encouraged to celebrate for God is coming to administer justice!

In the second reading from St Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, that even with the imminent coming of the Lord, they must keep working. 

And finally in the Gospel of Luke we hear about what will happen before the second coming of the Lord and that Christians should persevere doing God’s work regardless!

Well, we must be getting close to the end of another liturgical year since the Gospel and the first reading both speak of destruction, wars, persecution and catastrophes.  

Here we are in 2022 and we are still facing the challenges of  possible nuclear warfare in Ukraine and North Korea  which threaten  all  democracies.  And yet there is still global warming in our climate which threatens every country in the world.  Clearly life is very precious.

But Jesus does not want us to live in fear and anxiety.  God will have the last word.  God cares for us, his creation.  Even though there are dark clouds on the horizon we are told  in the verses “ the end does not follow immediately”.  We can be at peace in the midst of disorder and chaos.  We are told that “by patient endurance you will save your lives.”  

St Paul in the second reading urges us to go about our daily living with confidence and hope!

At times we wonder and ask ourselves,  what is the meaning of my life?  The readings today suggest rather that our life is putting its problems to each of us, and it is up to us to respond to these questions by being responsible and answering to life’s challenges with our life.  

Clearly, life is a task!  

We must be persistent in our faith journey as the meaningful preparation for eternal life!  So PERSEVERE ! 

It might take years for any of us to truly come to understand why we were given some challenge in our life.

Let me give you an example of how my gardening is preaching to me. 

My tasks in gardening is typically planting seeds of vegetables that I want to grow and harvest in 6 months time.  The typical routine is that I go to the store and buy the seed packets and decide which vegetables I want to grow.  I have to read the back of each packet to get a description of what the vegetable is like.  And then I have to think back in previous years, have I grown this before?  Did I like this vegetable to cook with?  Did others in the community like eating this harvest?  

Once that decision is made, I purchase those packets of the chosen vegetables.  Then the hard part of planting the seeds and growing them from small seedlings to good sized plants ready to transplant into the ground.  Constant attention to their need for water, and enough sun but not too much or too little sun, and helping the seedlings compete with the weeds growing up as well.   

Gardening is no different from our life journey.  Our minds are like gardens.  Your thoughts are like the seeds we plant.  Harvestable vegetables or flowers is always being challenged by weeds.  

So think about it !  What is the goal we have for our spiritual life?  How do we plant the ‘seeds’ for such a spiritual life goal?  What kinds of ‘weeds’ compete with the desired harvest of our spiritual life?  How do you water or nurture the growing spiritual goal?   What are the weeds that are competing with the immature spiritual goal?    So we now see that simply to persevere is never going to be enough.  We have to persevere with wisdom and insight in understanding the world we live in !

Take some time this coming week to reflect on what have been the spiritual ‘seeds’ you have planted in your mind, and how have you nurtured these spiritual goals into a fruitful harvest in your life ?   Who has helped you in your spiritual gardening?  How have you shared your harvest of spiritual flowers and vegetables to witness God’s love in your world?

So, brothers and sisters of the Chinese Catholic Community, 

that is the Wonderful News for this 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time !

Alleluia Alleluia!

Fr. Fong

(中文翻譯.原文以英文為準.)

2022 年常年期三十三主日
鄺神父主日道理中譯本

讀經一: 瑪拉基亞先知書 3:19-20
讀經二: 得撒洛尼人後書 3: 7-12
路加福音 21: 5-19

從讀經一的瑪拉基亞先知書中，我們聽到在主的日子將為那些敬畏上主名字的人帶來正義和治愈。
 
聖詠 98 篇鼓勵我們要熱烈慶祝，因為上主要來主持公義了！
 
在讀經二得撒洛尼人後書中，聖保祿宗徒告訴信眾，即使主要來臨的日子已是逼近眉睫，但他們還是要繼續工作。
 
最後，在路加福音中，我們聽到主再來之前，無論發生什麼事情，基督徒都應該努力不懈地堅持做上主的工作！
 
在這個禮儀年快要結束的時刻，路加福音和讀經一都談到破壞、戰爭、迫害和災難。

在今天的 2022 年，我們仍然面對著烏克蘭和朝鮮可能發生的核戰危機，威脅到所有民
主國家。然而，我們的氣候仍然存在地球暖化，威脅著世界上每一個國家。顯然，生命是非常寶貴的。
 
但耶穌不希望我們活在恐懼和焦慮中。上主有最後的決定權。上主關愛我們，關懷衪的受造物。即使地平線上烏雲密佈，但我們被告知“結局不會立即到來”。我們能在沒條理和紛亂中得到平安。我們被告知“通過耐心和堅持，你能得到救援”。在讀經二中，聖保祿宗
徒敦促我們懷著信心和希望，好好活出每一天！

 
有時我們很想知道並會問自己，我生命的意義是什麼？今天的讀經表明，我們的生活就把"我生命的意義"這個課題擺放在我們每個人身上，我們有責任回答這些問題，並以我們的生活來回應生活中的挑戰。
 
顯然，生活是一項任務！
 
我們必須堅持信仰旅程，為永生做有意義的準備！所以必須堅持！
 
或許我們要經歷許多年，才能真正理解為什麼我們在生命中會遇到挑戰。
 
讓我舉一個例子，說明我如何在園藝中明白和理解"我生命的意義"。

在園藝方面，通常我會栽種我想在六個月內有收成的蔬菜。慣常做法是我會去商店選購我想要種植的蔬菜種子包。我必須閱讀每種包裝的背面說明，才能了解蔬菜長成後是什麼模樣。然後我不得不回想在過往的日子，我可有種植過這種蔬菜？我喜歡用這種蔬菜做飯嗎？我的鄰舍喜歡吃這種蔬菜嗎？
 
一旦做了決定，我就會購買那些蔬菜種子包。然後是種植種子並將它們從小幼苗培植到大小適中，俾能遷移到地上繼續生長，困難的部分是要持續關注他們對水份的需求，陽光也不能過多或過少，並幫助幼苗與週圍生長的雜草競爭。
 
園藝與我們的人生旅程沒有什麼不同。我們的思想就像花園。你的思絮就像我們種下的種子。可收穫的蔬菜或花卉總是會受到雜草的挑戰。
 
所以想想吧！我們屬靈生活的目標是什麼？我們如何為這樣的精神生活目標播下“種子”？
有那些“野草”會與我們精神生活所渴求的收穫競爭？你如何灌溉或培育成長中的精神目標？與尚未成熟的屬靈目標競爭的雜草是什麼？所以我們現在看到，僅僅堅持是永遠不足夠的。我們必須堅持以智慧和洞察力來理解我們生活中的世界！
 
在接下來的一週裡，花點時間思考一下你在心田內種下了什麼屬靈的“種子”？你又如何將
這些屬靈的"種子"培育成你生命中豐碩的果實？是誰幫助了你的屬靈園藝？你又如何與人
分享你的屬靈花卉和蔬菜的成果，在你的生命中見證上主的愛？
 
所以，華人教會的兄弟姐妹們，這就是常年期 33 主日的好消息！
 

亞肋路亞，感謝天主！