01 September 2024 – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

by Fr Joachim Robert

Dear friends,

Our Readings of today invites us and to recognise the presence of God in and through God’s commandment. And the commandments of God is given to each one of us so that we may come to grow in the awareness of His love and His mercy for us.

The commandments are not just rules and regulations, like human regulations, but the commandments of God are given to us so that we are able to grow in the fullness of life that God promises us.

As we follow the commandments of God, it is to liberate and not to suppress. As we see in the land of Egypt, the Israelites were suppressed. They were oppressed in many ways. And after they have come out from that liberated land to the Promised Land, and once they were liberated, God gives them this commandment to follow so that they can become wholesome, they can live in freedom.

And when we look at that journey, dear friends, a journey from slavery towards freedom, it also invites us to take a look at our own self, how we have made that journey from Egypt towards this promises of God, trusting in His commandments and His love for us. Because the commandment that was given at Mount Sinai was a commandment that was given out of love, that love that God has for us. If we follow His commandments, if we follow His laws, a commandment that liberates us and frees us.

If you look at the Gospel today, the Scribes and the Pharisees were surprised to see why Jesus had this attitude of not bothering about what the disciples were doing, not washing their hands before eating.

And here, dear friends, we need to recognise what was Jesus driving at to the Scribes and the Pharisees. He is not rejecting them, He is not putting them aside but He is asking them for a conversion of heart, to go beyond what is just observance of the law and trust of what God has invited them into, to look beyond just mere regulations and to look at the conversion of heart. To move into a deeper relationship and encounter with this God who loves them.

And as you know, God gave Moses ten commandments. And after when they were in the land, the Promised Land, the Jews had 600 over rules and regulations about what they should do and what they should not do. And that law became more and more oppressive rather than liberating them.

And Jesus points them back to the source of that law. Jesus points them back to what the spirit of the law is:
To love one another just as God has loved us.

And as we look at the Second Reading, dear friends, the Second Reading tells us: Accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and you can save your souls. But you must do what the Word tells you, not just listen to it and deceive yourselves.

And very often, dear friends, all of us, me included, we often listen to God’s word, we know what is the right thing to do but we are unable to take the step forward and have that conversion of heart, to put God at the centre of everything that we do and allow Him to mold us, transform us and shape us more and more into His image. And when we are able to recognise God’s presence through His word in our life, we come to a deeper realisation of what we ought to do.

And today’s theme that we have chosen of embracing my word, act on it and care for those in need comes to be more clearer to us. As it is expressed in the letter from Saint James that if we pure and unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans, widows and when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.

If we allow the word of God to take root in ourselves, in our lives, our hearts must be renewed, converted more and more into what God wants of us. And the fruit of that conversion is expressed in the way we reach out to one another.

And as we look at our own parish, dear friends, our own families, our own parish community, we come to understand, we come to understand of this dynamics that is happening around us. 

Yesterday, we had the Family Day. The month of August was dedicated or focused on the theme of Inclusivity. And the theme of inclusivity, we strive to bring about a deeper inclusivity in our parish community. And a deeper inclusivity must not only stop there by just embracing people. It must allow them to be part of this community, to make them move forward in where God wants of them.

And to build a community, dear friends, it is not easy. Each and every one of us must play our part, each and every one of us must play our role in being faithful to how God is moving us in our hearts and propelling us forward in being a disciple. And we concluded that month of inclusivity with our Family Day.

And the vibes, the energy, the coming together and the engagement that we see is something that we are happy with. But we should not stop there. We should strive towards to grow in a greater inclusivity in how each one of us, each one of you can become more and more participants in this building of God’s kingdom.

And beginning this month, we will move into this focus of Care, of moving from inclusivity, care and next month it will be Unity.

And as we strive this month to become more and more caring in the way we reach out to one another, in the way we reach out as a community, as people who are concerned for the life of one another in our community. And when we are able to recognise how God cares for us, and when we allow God’s word to take root in our lives, we show that compassion, that love, that mercy that He is moving us into towards the people around us.

And very often, we only look at community as people perhaps in our small exclusive community. But the call of God, or the call of Jesus is to move beyond. Every one in your neighbourhood, every one around you, every one in the workplace is someone you can care for, someone you can make them grow into a greater sense of belonging and in doing so, dear friends, we become agents of God’s love.

And when we are able to do it, we make Christ present in their life. And we can make Christ present in other’s life only when we allow God’s word to take root in our lives. The externals must be washed clean as much as the internal of our hearts. And when we allow ourselves to be cleansed by God’s word, when we allow our hearts to be transformed by God’s word, then the fruit of that conversion is service. The fruit of that conversion is charity.

So let us pray, dear friends, that as we continue to grow in this aspect of care during this month of September, let us pray for the grace that each one of us may play our part, play our role in building our community to be more and more into a community of inclusivity, care and unity.

And as the theme of today’s liturgy highlights, we must embrace God’s word, we must act on it and we must care for those in need.

Click below to listen to homily and watch video:-

Click to live-stream Mass on 01 September 2024