HOMILY Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A October 15, 2023
My homily today is a bit like something you buy from
IKEA. That is to say, it comes in parts. Some assembly on your part is required.
“Thin Soup”
A long time ago in the Far East there was a king of a small
kingdom, who like most such kings, was a tyrant. He had two counselors, one who always bent
his opinion to what the king wanted to hear, and the other who told the king
the truth, whether he wanted to hear it or not.
Soon the counselor who spoke honestly of course upset the petty tyrant,
and was banished from court. A long time after that the more pliable
counselor wondered how the honest counselor was getting along. So he decided to pay him a visit. He put on one of his most splendid and
luxurious robes, saddled his finest horse with the most impressive saddle and
tack, and
went to visit his former colleague.
When he arrived at the honest counselor’s dwelling he found a
house in disrepair, with holes in the wall, hardly any protection against the
elements. In front of the house on the
porch the honest counselor was having his mid-day meal. He was dressed in a patched, faded, worn-out
robe, sitting on a modest stool, eating a bowl of soup that was so thin it was
practically just water. “My old friend”
said the duplicitous counselor, “if only you could learn to bend the truth, to
fudge on your judgments, at least to hold your tongue when you disagree, then I
am sure the king would welcome you back and you would not have to eat that
miserable thin soup.” The honest
counselor looked him in the eye and said, “Ah, if only you could learn to eat
this soup, you would not have to lie, dissemble, and compromise yourself.”
In our second reading today from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians,
St. Paul states: “Brothers and sisters: I know how to live in
humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance.”
The Jerusalem Bible states
this more forcefully as, “I know how to be poor and I know how to be
rich also.”
St. Paul in our second reading
goes on: “In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of
being well fed and of going hungry,
of living in abundance and of being in need.”
What does St. Paul mean?
I believe that St. Paul is talking about being fully alive. He knows how to live in humble circumstances
and yet not be put down, not complaining, not be depressed, but rather to be grateful,
to be aware of his blessings, to be open and fully alive.
St. Paul also knows how to
live with abundance, without complacency, without falling into self-absorbtion,
without being puffed up and forgetting others, still grateful and open. Paul knows how to be poor without self-pity
and to be rich without investing his real worth in mere things, and still in
any case to be authentic, to be his true self.
Does that not sound like freedom? To not have our sense of self be at the whim
and caprice of circumstance? St. Paul is
FREE because has conquered circumstances.
He boldly states: “In every
circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and
of going hungry,
of living in abundance and of being in need.”
St Paul has achieved the freedom to determine himself and
not be determined by circumstance. That
is pretty neat.
Wouldn’t you like be able to do that? How did he do that?
What was his secret? Well he tells us: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me. “ Let me repeat that. “I can do all things in him who strengthens me. “
I want to point out that this is NOT
Paul boasting. I think that rather he is
giving us an example and an encouragement.
In effect St. Paul is telling us, “I can do all
things in him who strengthens me, “ AND SO CAN YOU!
So can you!
You do not need to be depressed by poverty. You do not need to be stuck up and isolated
by wealth. You can do all things in Him
who strengthens you.
So, You don’t need to be
resentful. You don’t need to hold onto
grudges. You don’t need to be selfish
and inflated with your own importance. You don’t need to beat yourself up. You don’t need to be prejudiced and
bigoted. You don’t need to be angry or
lustful or greedy or dishonest.
You
can be free to be who you truly are.
Because Christ has freed you.
Living free is difficult, like
learning to eat thin soup is difficult.
But Christ has freed us. Like St.
Paul, we too can do all things in Him who strengthens us.
Be free!
