Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
July 03, 2016 5:00 pm · Father Joevensie Balang
The harvest is great but the laborers are few. That's why I am here. I came across the plea or announcement from the diocesan web site that St. Anne is in need of a priest for the 5pm Mass on July 3rd. OK, I don't have Mass myself tonight. I am assigned to St. Augustine on north 71st Ave. I don't have Mass this afternoon, OK I might as well go and be of service to the community of St. Anne. This is my first time to come here in your beautiful church. I am from the Philippines, by the way. I am also here for a mission. My Bishop sent me here in the Diocese of Phoenix to work for 5 years. This is my third year now so I still have 2 more years, after which I will be going back home to my home country. That is why I'll do extra things to know places, parishes, communities, people, friends. Who knows. I am Father Joevie by the way.
I have come to read upon a reflection on one of the Homily books. I want to share this with you so that we can be able to reflect, you and me, about the message of today's Gospel that we have just heard. I don't know if you will come to like it or not. Now this author said that when we are applying for a job, we present our best credentials to the employers. We put that we are graduates of this prestigious and exclusive school, that we graduated as summa cum laude, that our previous jobs were like this, and we present known people as our references, so that the particular employer may be impressed. In other words we present ourselves, that we are the best of all the best.
On the other hand, if we are an employer or owner of a certain company and we want to hire or pirate a good person from other companies, we also want to make good proposals to the ones we want to hire. We will say to them, I will double your salary, I will give you more benefits, and in 1 year you will be promoted. In other words we tell those we hire we are the best employer.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus is different. In today's Gospel, Jesus is asking, and somewhat hiring men to become His disciples and prospective missionaries of His word. Jesus tells them, come follow me so that you will be persecuted, so that you will be tired, or tried in courts, so that you will live simply and walk humbly, so that you will have a difficult life. If you are very lucky you will be killed too, and you will work for me not only 8 hours a day, but 24 hours a day.
When we apply for a job to Jesus Christ we do not say,"Lord, I am the best, so hire me!" But rather we would say, "I am worst Lord, I am a sinner, make something good out of me." That is why very few of us apply for a job to Jesus Christ as missionaries of His work, because we experience, not pleasure, but pressure. And we could say, "We are the best", but rather we say, "We are the worst of all". We could not announce to all we are saints but rather sinners.