Homilies

FOURTH SUNDAY IN OT: LISTENING TO THE TEACHINGS OF THE AUTHORITY

I WAS ONCE a varsity player of our seminary soccer team during my high school days. One thing that I cannot forget before playing or having practice is the instruction of our coach and trainer to do stretching in order to avoid muscle pain and injuries. Our coach taught us with authority and we followed his instructions because he was a good player, and we believe also that such instruction from him is for the good of the team and for our safety as well. Our coach really wanted us to inculcate in our mind the importance of stretching before playing any kind of games.

Last November 2008, I met an accident while playing badminton. My tendon of Achilles ruptured.  It so happened because I forgot to do stretching before playing the game. Had I kept in mind the instruction of my coach, maybe I could not experience operation in my right foot to repair my tendon of Achilles.

I shared this experience of mine because our Gospel today tells us the story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue as having authority. According to a scholar, unlike the scribes and the rabbis, Jesus did not quote others to prove his words but laid down the law himself on his own authority. This act of Jesus proved that He was the Messiah and the Son of God who announced the Good News for the salvation of humanity.

We know very well that the teachings of Jesus are for our salvation yet sometimes we tend to be blind because of our personal interest. We claim that we are Christians but our acts are very unchristian. In fact, immoralities are very rampant now in our society despite our claim that we are followers of Christ. If we always engrave in our hearts and minds the teachings of Christ, I am very sure that we will always have a good relationship with Him and our neighbors.  

We know very much that God wants us to love him with all our heart and with all our soul and that we have to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, but sad to say that sometimes we do the other thing.  Instead of showing our love, we persecute others and no longer respect their dignity. Is this the teaching of Christ? The center of Christ’s teachings is love. Hence, our ways of thoughts and actions must be rooted in love. It must be for the common good.

We may always hear the Gospel that contains the teaching of Christ in every celebration of the Mass but the problem is how we give importance to it.  If we really want to fully grasp and understand His teachings, then, we need to open our heart and mind in order to grasp what God wants us to do so that in the last day we will be united with Him. But it should not end on just listening and understanding His teachings. It must be lived or practiced and be shown to others.

Like Jesus, we have leaders in the Church who also teach with authority. We have the Pope, we have the bishops, and we have the priests. Let us reflect how far we have listened to them. Do we have the ability to listen? Jesus expects his listeners to be attentive to him. In the same way, we must be attentive to the Word of God and to our leaders in the Church.

                                    [Fr. ARVIN MOSQUEDA MSP
                                                Makati City}

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