GOD IS OUR POWER!

27^th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Hab 1:2-3, 2:2-4; Tim 1:6-8, 13-14; Lk 17:5-10

If we look around our house, we have T.V., radio, rice cooker, refrigerator, washing machine and light. We watch television to recreate ourselves and to watch the current news. We have refrigerator to preserve our food and to have cool drinks. We have rice cooker to prepare food easily. In the offices, in the banks and in the school they need air-con and computers. Electrical appliances are very relevant for our better living. They are here to serve us. What if there is no electricity?

I remember last month, there was a brown-out in our place. Our laundry could not use the washing machine. There was no light. It was dark. Very hot in my room. I could not use computer. I could not use any electrical appliances and instruments. It was difficult!

Think about the big institutions like the banks, malls, schools and other business firms. Without electricity, the business will collapse. Without electricity, those instruments like computers, television and other important instruments and gadgets will be useless!

Without God, like these electrical things, we cannot follow Jesus. Without God, we cannot live. God alone gives us power. Indeed, God is our power. He alone gives us his energy, his spirit. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, reminds us that God gives us the “spirit of POWER and love and self-control.” This is the final letter of Paul before he died. He is lonely, but he is not discouraged. He is full of energy and strength from God. Today he encourages us to persevere like him, to be more faithful like him.

Faithfulness is the key thing to live our lives in the power of His love. Faithfulness is the call for all of us to gain the power of God. He said, “If you have faith the size of mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” It is an image of a faithful person who wants to grow in faith. Like the apostles of Jesus, they said, “Increase our faith.”

The Prophet Habakkuk feels frustrated, “there is strife, and clamorous discord.” But God asks him to increase his faith. “Increase our faith.” This statement is intended for us. This is an invitation for us to tireless work – to be full of fire, to be full of spirit – to be full of power!

God is our power. He gives us His spirit. He gives us energy. God has given us the gift of faith to ignite this power, the power to serve Him, and to serve others. We must remember that He honors the faithful servant who serves generously. With our faithfulness, we always give our best in the service of God. With His power, we always give our best for the sake of others.

Be faithful… we’ve got the POWER! Give our best to serve Him and others.

“TRUST IN GOD”

Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
Eph 4:1-7, 11-13; Mt 9:9-13

There was a man in France named Charles de Foucauld. He lost his faith as an adolescent. He was a young military. When he went to Morocco, he saw the way Muslims expressed their faith. And, he began to question, “My God, if you exist, let me come to know you.”

Finally, he discovered God and he felt that God called Him. He became prayerful. He became a Trappist monk. And when he was ordained as priest he went to the desert as hermit. He lived a holy life.

He wrote a beautiful prayer as an expression of his great trust in God. It says: “Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I Accept all. Let your will be done to me, and in all your creatures – I wish no more than this, O Lord.”

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew. He was born at Capernaum. He was called by Jesus to be one of the twelve apostles. He became the author of the first gospel in the bible. The story of Charles de Foucauld is very similar to the story of Matthew. It’s the story about following Jesus without any condition. It is the story of TRUST.

Matthew is telling us of his own story in the gospel he wrote. He is sitting at his office when Jesus calls him, “follow me.” He stands up and leaves his work behind and follow Jesus. We know that Matthew is a tax collector. He can stay there in his office and enjoy his wealth. But, he leaves his good position as tax collector and joins the group of Jesus who has no money at all. Matthew follows Jesus without any condition. Matthew trusts Jesus. In his great trust, he responded to God’s call.

Jesus came to save us because he loves us so much just like how he loves Matthew. He came to call us. He came to call us back to God. He calls us to abandon ourselves to God, to put our trust in God, to surrender ourselves to God. St. Paul urges us to recognize this call “to live in a manner worthy of the call we have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience…”

God loves us and he constantly calls us - to trust in Him. Matthew is our model of trust in God. And now, Matthew challenges us to follow Jesus with our whole heart, with great trust. Matthew is an Apostle, who followed the call of Jesus. He is an Evangelist, who proclaimed Jesus. As an apostle and evangelist, he is grounded in our deep trust to God.

So, like Matthew, we will stand up and leave our sinfulness behind to follow Jesus. We have to trust God - trust in His love. With our deep trust, we can offer ourselves and entrust ourselves to God. The prayer of Charles de Foucauld will become ours too as it saying, “Into your hands I commend my soul, I offer it to You with all the love of my heart, for I love You, Lord. So need to give myself, to give myself into your hands; without reserve, with boundless confidence; for you are my Father.”