Preparing for the Liturgy of the Word

5 September 2010

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wis 9:13-18; Phlmn 9-10,12-17; Lk 14:25-33

The readings this week highlight our difficulty in understanding the self-sacrificing love of God without the gift of the Holy Spirit. But in Christ and His example, we find that the way God has set before us to be His disciples is the way of self-giving love.

The first reading is from the book of Wisdom. This is one of the deuterocanonical books, found in the Catholic Bible but not in the Protestant of Hebrew canons. The writer reflects on the amazing nature of God's intentions and ways. These are simply beyond us. We, who are limited and struggle even to come to grips with the earth around us, are bound to find it impossible to discover what lies in heaven. But God in His mercy and out of His desire to have us relate to Him has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit and by this, we can be taught what it is that pleases God.

The second reading is taken from St Paul's letter to Philemon. Philemon's slave, Onesimus had fled his master and subsequently found himself in the company of Paul while the latter was in prison. During their shared captivity, Paul had evidently become close to Onesimus but he nonetheless sends him back to his old master, Philemon with an epistle urging that Philemon accept him back as a brother and forgive him his past trespasses. Paul writes that he would have liked to keep Onesimus with him for he was in need of help but he chose instead to send him back. This vignette evokes certain key themes of the New Testament and indeed of this week's readings. First, Paul, like his Master, Jesus, is generous in his self-sacrificing love in returning Onesimus to Philemon. Second, Paul, again like his Master, intercedes for Onesimus and asks Philemon to accept him back as a brother despite his transgressions. There is a picture here of Our Lord interceding to the Father to receive us as His children though we have sinned against Him.

The Gospel reading is about the cost of discipleship. In truth, the passage is best understood as a statement of the intensity of God's love for us. Such was the love that God gave up His Only Begotten Son that we may live. Jesus in turn sacrificed Himself for our sakes, so that from His Divine Status as God, He humbled Himself to death on the Cross. In this light, the true meaning of the passage becomes evident. We cannot claim to be disciples of Jesus unless we have an appreciation of the depth of God's love for us and we reciprocate in kind with an intense love of God.

We are blessed that God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us understand His will for us. And He has also given us the gift of the apostles who were sinful people like us but who were dramatically transformed by the same Holy Spirit into holy men and women who understood God's intense love for us and who came, by the same power to love God with a seemingly superhuman intensity. But we are especially blessed because in His Son, God gave us an insight into the marvel of the Holy Trinity working in love to save us for all eternity. God invites us to an intense relationship with Him. How we respond will determine how effectively we are able to become His disciples in this life, and how we will spend eternity.

Some points for reflection as you read the passages:

Previous sunday reflections : 29th august 2010 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time