19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2025

We continue with the broad theme of conversion. The stewardship that we are called to embrace can only be sustained by a vision of heaven where the Risen Lord is. From last Sunday we have now arrived at a point where faith is necessary to sustain the conversion to a vision of Christ in heaven. It is impossible to be converted without faith, let alone find our way to heaven.

In the 2nd Reading, the author of the Hebrews charted out the journey of faith that Abraham and Sarah made by trusting God even when they did not know what to expect. There is always an element of uncertainty when it comes to faith in the Lord. But leaving their familiar homeland is by no means revolutionary when we think about it. Our ancestors who departed both India and China for these shores, they too would have had faith of some kind. They left optimistic that they will be met by fortune rather than misfortune. Perhaps we can appreciate how many undocumented migrants today also left their countries hoping that they might strike it big than remain wasting away in their homeland.

Faith grants strength to seize that moment when we have to take the first step. As the Hebrews remark, “Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our ancestors were commended”.

How do we get to that level of trust? One condition that creates the possibility of walking in faith is to change to the way we look at blessings. In terms of what we have and possess, the perspective changes when our focus shifts from a fascination with the gifts of the lover to the Lover Himself. Devotion to Christ is necessary for a life of faith. What does that entail?

We have always operated on the basis of “mine” or “ours”, right? But how about “His”? Last Sunday, I quoted Pope St Gregory the Great who declared that giving to the poor is not an act of charity, a merciful largesse on our part but rather a debt of justice we pay. Since we all work under the basis of “mine” or “ours”, it is easy to see why we view giving to the poor as an act of generosity for which the poor should be grateful.

Unfortunately, wealth has a corroding effect on faith or on how one trusts in the Lord. The conversion we seek is not a once-off event but rather a life-long process and it is mostly slow and incremental. Firstly, we need to realise that the idea of conversion is more than not sinning. The traditional Act of Contrition provides a clear window to what true conversion should be. “… I detest my sins because they deserve your just punishment but most of all because they offend you my God whom I should love with all my heart …”.

If our reason for avoiding sin springs from a fear either of being condemned to hell or of the loss of heaven, that is classified as an imperfect contrition. No doubt, it will help us get to heaven. However, since God has invited us into His life, should our motivation not come from our love for Him and flow from a profound sorrow for offending Him whom we should love with all heart. Conversion is always seeking the face of the Lord and faith is trusting that God will always be where we are.

Thus, watchfulness is important because we can be trapped behind a materialistic worldview. Our possessions can blind us to the reality of God’s presence. A glaring form of materialism is an expectation flowing from a familiar model that informs the pattern of our relationship. How many of us feel that just because we have sacrifice so much for God, should He not be bound to reward us? How many of us who have given time to the Church, which is considered a kind of rendering to God His due, feel dumbstruck when a tragedy hits us?

The common question raised is “Why me, Lord?”. The point is whenever bad things happen, we immediately feel done to or victimised because the basis for our engagement with God is based on a reward—punishment model. It is even reflected in the familiar Christmas carol: “Santa Claus is coming to town”. “You better watch out because God is making a list of who is naughty or nice”.

I am fascinated by the love that St Bernadette had for the Lord. She was given a great gift to share with the world but she herself was never to profit from the gift of healing. She suffered greatly from the tuberculosis of the lungs and bones. Imagine how she would have felt? For many of us, there will be a deep sense of betrayal, a sense that our God has no loyalty at all. It is a bit like how St Teresa of Avila felt when she was climbing out of the ditch in her religious regalia muttering about Jesus inconveniencing her.

How do saints love God?

They love God or rather their love for God has never been a matter of reward. There is, without a doubt, a reward that follows from our love for God. We will gain eternal life when we keep the commandments of Christ. And yet, this still falls within the realm of the “material” gain for the good that we are. To be rewarded should be, in other words, a by-product for loving God and never the main focus.

We live in an age where self-care is considered central to one’s mental health. How often do we hear that “health is wealth”? Or we should find space for rest and etc. In fact, some might hold a view that the Prayer for Generosity is really dangerous as it is inimical to self-care. “Lord, teach me to serve and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds”. The freedom to embrace such a life that pays scant attention to one’s well-being can only come from someone has fallen deeply in love with Jesus and are enamoured by Him so much so he or she is willing to pour out or lay down his or her life for Him. When St Paul stated this, it was not because the sacrifice of Christ was incomplete, but rather because he has come to live for Christ alone. “I complete in my body the suffering lacking in the body of Christ”. Here was a disciple in love with His Lord.

It makes sense that Christ asks His disciples to be watchful because His coming would be unannounced. This alertness carries with it an attitude of detachment and whilst the reward may be great, one remains attentive independent of what the reward is like. The faith that we are called to must be buoyed or supported by a loving relationship very much like a lover waiting for the beloved to return. In other words, in a time of uncertainty and waiting, what remains for the disciple is a longing, a kind of aching for the Lord to come. Come what may and even though nothing is certain, what is enough for the disciple is that Christ will come and that is sufficient for the disciple to keep faith and to love whilst waiting for Him.