24 September 2023 – 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) | 109th World Migrant Sunday

by Fr Joachim Robert

Dear friends,

As we celebrate the 109th World Migrant Sunday, we are reminded to be aware of those people around us, migrants who flee their homeland because of persecution, because a threat to their freedom and perhaps because they feel unsafe in their own homeland. And they come away to a different land with renewed hope to find something for their family, to something that they can live with. And as we look at our own journey of life, dear friends, we too tend to flee from many, many things of our lives, especially those moments who have have been challenging, those moments which have darkened ourselves and we find new hope somewhere else. And ultimately, Jesus invites us to look at Him, to find a restored hope and a renewed hope.

But as we look at Jesus, in the First Reading and the Gospel today, He reminds us that His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our ways. And His ways are far, far better than our own ways. And as we look at the reflection of what Jesus mentioned in the Gospel today, we are reminded that as the workers were called one by one, on the 3rd hour and the 6th hour and on the 9th hour and also on the 11th hour, we see that each one of them were given fair wage in the eyes of the owner. But in the eyes of the worker, they were treated differently.

And very often, dear friends, when we go through life, we tend to compare ourselves. We tend to have expectation on things around us and because of our own comparison, of our own expectation, we grumble. We get disillusioned because our focus is no longer on what we have with the heart of gratitude but our focus is on what others have. And because of that, we see the whole workers grumble because they were treated unfairly. But in the eyes of the owner, dear friends, he promised them one denarius each and at the end, he gave them a fair wage according to his measure.

As we look at the story and the Parable of the Workers, and as we identify ourselves with those workers, let us ask ourselves what do we grumble about? I am sure each and every one of us have our moments where we grumble. Yes? I know I have my own share of my own grumbling. I am sure in the same way as we grumble because perhaps we are losing that focus to be focused on God rather than focusing on ourselves. And again, as we look at our own self and we look at our own ways of looking at things, we become disillusioned, we become frustrated.

But here, dear friends, the Gospel today invites us to look at the insanity of God’s love. How God radically loves each and every one of us the same, whether we have, whether we have not, whether we are lonely, whether we are disillusioned, whether we are forgotten by the world, the love of God reaches to each and every one of us the same. All that we need to do is to listen to that promptings of God in our lives and to answer to them as willingly as we can.

But as you look at the First Reading from the Prophet Isaiah, we are reminded to seek the Lord while He is still to be found. Call on Him while still near. And in our grumbling, dear friends, in our own grumblings we come to see that God perhaps may be distant but in those moments we are called to reach out to God, to find God and to recognise His presence in and those moments. And as we look at our own selves, we may be grumbling with so many things of life, perhaps our own career, maybe certain dissatisfaction with our own career, with our own expectation of our own education, and perhaps we grumble that others are more well educated than us, others are more gifted than us, others are more blessed than us. But in those grumblings, dear friends, we are called to look deeper and see where is God’s providence.

Because in my own life, as I grumble and grumble and grumble on so many things around me sometimes, I find myself losing focus because what is my focus at that point of time is to look at things in my own way, trusting that my judgement is better than others, trusting that my judgement is better than God’s as well. But in those moments, dear friends, we are called to entrust our brokenness, our expectation, our commitment to this God who loves us. And because He loves us, He draws us into a deeper relationship. And just like so many of us, we sometimes feel inadequate to be before God.

But today’s Gospel invites us. Invites us to look at that love that God has for each and every one of us. That He treats us, each and every one, the same. And His love goes beyond every human love. And today we are invited, dear friends, that even when we are broken, even when we are disillusioned, the love of God continues to reach out to us.

And the Responsorial Psalm today invites us too; that the Lord is close to the brokenhearted, the Lord is close to those who call on him. Each time, we call on the Lord, especially in our moments and trials, the Lord is there with us.

And as we look at our refugees, dear friends, refugees and migrants, there are so many aspects of life that we may find that we are grumbling with. But if we take a look at their life, of what they have gone through and what they have been through to be where they are. Yes, some of us may have different ideas of why they are here, some of us may have a perceived understanding of why they should not be in this country but we know that they come here to a land which we have taken, sometimes, for granted. Land where we sometimes have taken and not be thankful for. And very often when we look at migrants, how do we relate to them? Do we relate to them with love? Do we relate to them with a heart of understanding or do we relate to them with the heart of judgement and grumbling?

And today as we celebrate this 109th World Migrant Sunday, we are called and we are reminded to put our heart of where the love of the Lord is. To reach out to each and every one in love, whether they are from this land, whether they are not from this land. The love of God reaches out to each and every one of us, whether we are disillusioned, whether we are not, whether we have been broken or whether we have been healed. And we pray today, dear friends, that as we reach out to those who are in the peripheries, those who are in the margins, that the love of God goes and reaches out to them and brings them to the forefront of our community so that we can respond in love. It is easy to sideline, it is easy to keep people at bay, it is easy to keep people in the margins. But are we willing to make that extra effort to bring them to the forefront and do what we can because the love of God in our lives? Because God has loved us, we love each other the same.

And let us pray, dear friends, with so many people who are struggling with so many areas of life, people who are struggling with so many areas of discomfort that they have, we pray that the love of God continues to reach out to them and respond in love so that we are able to be filled with a heart of gratitude. Because when we serve each other, dear friends, when we reach out together in love, we are indeed allowing the grace of God to be at work. And when we allow the love of God to be at work in our lives, we indeed magnify and glorify the love that God has blessed us with. 

And today we pray. We pray that the Lord may continue to reach deep down in our hearts and bring out in our lives the heart of gratitude, the heart of love and the heart of service. And today as well as we celebrate, we are also blessed in so many different ways. Last week we had the celebration of Deacon where Andrew was elevated to the Order of Deacon. And as we look at the Diaconate, this Ministry of Charity, this Ministry of the Word and the Ministry of Liturgy, these three areas of life that reflects the heart of the church. And they, as deacons, continue to support the Bishop and the priests to carry out the work and the mission of the church.

And let us pray today, dear friends, that whatever that we do, that our hearts may continue to burn with that love, with that desire to serve God with sincerity of heart and mind because when we allow the Lord to resonate His love in our lives, we too are able to do the same towards one another.

And with that, we ask the Lord to give us the grace to be open to one another. To give us the grace to accept one another and to cherish one another so that we are able to shine with the goodness that the Lord has given to us, with the light of Christ that is present in our lives.

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