19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 7, 2022
Theme: Standing Firm with Proper Focus
First Reading: Genesis 15:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:1-22
Second Reading: Hebrews 11:1-2
Gospel Reading: Luke 12:32-37
Homily by Fr. Romie- Jun Peñalosa
The beauty of having a sacramental and liturgical church is that we learn and celebrate the different seasons of life throughout the year. Advent teaches us peace, hope, love, and joy and in Christmas, we learn that “Christ is with us”. But among these – Ordinary Time is the longest season we celebrate. Why? “So that the church, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, may have enough time to apply everything from the beginning of the year.” (Fr. Jun)
We value life because we celebrate life. And every Sunday, as we gather as a community, is a celebration of life. We learn the value of life not just by sitting and hearing the lectures but we learn it through our whole being. Every season brings truth in us; and every lesson must be applied. The blessings of God come to our lives once we know the truth and once we walk in the truth. That’s why the emphasis of Ordinary Time is to establish us in our faith. We are given time to reflect and manifest in our lives the lessons we have learned. As hearers of His word, we should be overcomers of problems, we should be strong as a people, and victorious in our lives. Yet it seems that among the many lessons we learned, we are still experiencing the same cycle of life. We still haven’t had breakthroughs from problems and we are easily swayed by our emotions. Many of us have been destroyed by “galit”, “poot” at “tampo” that we tend to walk away from our calling, from our commitment to Him. “Do not allow emotions to take the best of you” (Fr. Jun) We are called to heal and prosper in our life, so let us not allow these bad emotions to ruin us and let us stand firm in our convictions. “We live by faith, not by sight”.
Lessons from the gospel today:
- We should not be afraid. As a people of God, we need to take our stand. Because no matter what happens to the world, in the end, there is always God. Let us not live in fear and let us not allow it to control our lives. Why? Because we have the LOVE of God. “Perfect love alone can drive all fears” and to be able to walk in life without fear, we need to establish the truth that God loves us so much that He gave His only and most valuable Son as well the whole kingdom for us! We need to encounter and experience the love of God that we may treasure Him in our life.
- We should be prepared. Everyday is an opportunity to be of service to other people. We should be prepared always. Let us keep our faith alive and burning every day because we cannot consistently serve the Lord if we have a weak faith in Him. We should remember the truth that Christ is coming again and that when we meet Him, we should be prepared.
Christian life is serious. It is lived out deliberately by choice. Our life should not be moved by what we see, what we hear, what we feel; but we should be moved by the Word of God. We are not Christians tossed to and fro by the waves of circumstances around. We have been walking with the Lord for years and years now, been in journey and pilgrimage with Him; so we must be teachers already of the Word of God. We need to stand firm in our conviction, in our commitment, in our faith, in what we believe in God. We are a mountain, immovable in the midst of the ocean, just like our God. And as God’s people, we know we have a strong God, that’s why we need to be firm – and this is what Ordinary Time teaches us!
Recap by:
MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU
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