07 August 2022 – 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

By Fr Joachim Robert

Dear friends,

Our readings of today reminds us of the need to be ready to welcome the coming of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Because when we are ready, dear friends, we are awake, we are prepared, we get ourselves on standby in order to ensure to recognise the coming of the Lord.

As we look at the readings of today once again, dear friends, it gives us an invitation to dig deeper into this gift of faith that God has given to each and every one of us. This gift of faith that makes us realise and see things that is beyond us, things that we may have seen as obstacles becomes clearer because of our faith in God.

In the First Reading of today from the Book of Wisdom, the first line reminds us the night had been foretold to our ancestors so that once they saw what kind of hosts they have put their trust in, they joyfully take courage. This was the expectation of the people. Here, dear friends, that journey, that struggle, was one that was able to see beyond troubles, to see beyond difficulties, to see beyond obstacles. Even though they knew they would not be able to enter into the Promised Land, they knew that something great, that God will not abandon them, that God will lead them through.

And as I was reading this text last week, and last week I was traveling, one of the thing that caught my attention while I was traveling is when the cabin crew says ‘Thank you for the Malaysian hospitality’. And as I look at the readings of today, it reminds us of the deep hospitality that God has for us, even though that we do not deserve but God makes sure that He wants to welcome us into His house. And as I was looking at the cabin crew preparing meals, giving the drinks and ensuring that everyone is kept safe, everyone is fed, it made me realise as well very often we take the hospitality that God gives us for granted.

You and I, dear friends, have been spoilt in the way that God has been generous to us, with His mercy, with His love, with the people that He sends into our lives to ensure that we are able to experience the hospitality of God in our lives. And God as a host wants to welcome us to allow us to experience that deep love and mercy that He has for us. But are we able to acknowledge those presence of God? Are we able to acknowledge the hospitality that God is lavishing upon us? And very often, even when drinks are served, we choose to sleep, we choose because we are so tired, we choose to ignore the hospitality that is given to us.

And it dawned on me as well, dear friends, as I look at my own life and my own journey, there are many, many areas of my life that I have been vigilant, looking in the eye of faith to see where God was present in my life. But there are many, many occasions as well that I have slept through that hospitality of God, not choosing to do the best I can in order to show my gratitude to Him and to show my thanks to Him.

And it also dawned on me as well that even as I receive that God has been hospitable to me in my own journey of life, it is also a reminder for me that whatever I have received that I also need to pass on and to share. Because as God has been my host, I also need to be reminded that I too need to be a host towards the people whom I minister, who God puts in my life.

And sometimes, dear friends, we need to be reminded that sometimes we are guests in this house of God. Guests who have received so much of abundance, so much of love, so much of care and concern where God use us, His instrument of His love, for the people that He has put before us. And sometimes, we must be that host as well to take notice of the little, little fine lines where we can make others life a little easier.

In the Second Reading of today taken from the Book of Hebrews, we are reminded once again only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for or prove the existence of the realities that at present time remains unseen. Even though we are not able to acknowledge the presence of God in our lives, dear friends, this whole account of history from Abraham to Sarah makes us realise that because Sarah and Abraham was hospitable to the three angels and they welcome them into their house, they open themselves to a much, much greater blessing that God wanted to give Abraham and Sarah. And because of that blessings that God has given to them, that generosity, that hospitality continued to reciprocate between God and them and we are beneficiaries of that faith that was given to Abraham.

So let us ask, dear friends, in our lives where have we allowed God to be our host where we open our hearts to accept the hospitality, the generosity, the love that God wants to lavish upon us. And after experiencing that love, that hospitality of God, how can we share that same hospitality of love, of generosity, of servanthood towards those around us. Because now we are called to be guests towards that hospitality of God. We need to be like those cabin crews who go the extra mile in order to ensure that the passengers in that flight are well taken care of.

And I am sure, dear friends, as we take that journey, that flight where God is asking us to enter in together with him, let us ask the Lord where is He leading us. Because if we are hospitable to one another, then we allow that grace of God to be at work in every action that we do. We clothe ourselves with humility, we clothe ourselves with love, we clothe ourselves with compassion, with servanthood, because we want others to experience the same love and the mercy that God wants of us.

And like me, I may have been awake in many, many times but I have also been in slumber in many, many areas of my life too. In the same way, dear friends, I am sure that my life and your life is not so different. We need to be reminded of the generosity of God in our lives again and again by the people whom we encounter, by the people whom we minister. And having received that generosity and the hospitality of God, let us share the hospitality of God with one another because of the love that God has given us.

With the deep love that God has given to us in our lives, and have allowed us to experience that same love, we are able to welcome guests so that they too can grow in a deeper relationship with God, experiencing the same hospitality that we have received.

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