This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
23rd Sunday of Ordinary YearDisciples …of Periphery ….…….!Wis 9:13-18b, Phlm 9:10, 12-17, Lk 14:25-33Dear Sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, we gather as proud people of faith, on this Lord’s Day to celebrate, to rejoice and to begin to seek her intercession, as our Mother Teresa is raised to Sainthood. We have another holy person of our time in heaven; yes we have another saint who was part of our history. She was a true disciple who can be our model for living our discipleship as scripture invites us today. We have another person to admire for his discipleship and that is the People’s Pope, Pope Francis, our Holy Father. What is common to both in living the call of Jesus? How did they respond to today’s gospel? This Eucharist may lead us to appreciate our call to be a disciple and to pray to St. Teresa of Kolkata to motivate us constantly to commit our life joyfully, gracefully and faithfully for the suffering humanity.“Do small things with love” are the words of St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata; I received along with her relic, which I carry always with me. “God did not call me to be successful but to be faithful” is the expression I like from St. Mother Teresa because it calls me and challenges me to respond to my call daily. I realize that ongoing discipleship is working for, ministering to, and being with the people of periphery. "Stay wherever you are and you serve no matter what cross you face." These words of St. Teresa of Kolkata inspired those four Sisters in Yemen to stay with the people of periphery – 80 residents of a retirement home - in the month of March, when they were attacked and brutally killed. Faithfulness is willing to face the consequences of the cross of salvation. This is discipleship. Last month, on August 25th Sisters Paula and Margaret were brutally killed as they offered their life for the broken, suffering and helpless in Mississippi. Their faithful discipleship among the people of periphery touched so many lives and lifted their standard of life with hope and meaning. Jesus is breaking the minds of His own disciples and the people who were with them. Their thought of Jesus’s journey towards Jerusalem was to over throw the Roman rule and bring back Judaism. It was a selfish wish of Jewish family and community, stemming from a biased attitude. Jesus condemns them and challenges them to follow the path of offering oneself for the other. It is a call to be for all people, especially for the broken and the suffering. He tells them that it is a call to the ongoing discipleship of embracing the cross of salvation. Hating loved ones means to turn towards the important elements of faith, religion and God. Unless we turn away from them we cannot commit fully and genuinely. Building a tower and waging a war signify the ever responding call to be disciples. A true disciple opts for a total detachment and for total commitment for the kingdom of periphery people. In the first reading the author is addressing the Jews in diaspora not to fall into Greek Hellenistic thoughts, worship and gods. He wants them to remember the fidelity of their ancestors and their true faith. Never go astray. The followers of Yahweh, the leaders of faith communities, Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Jacob, all carried different crosses in their service for and among the people of periphery. Pope Francis talked about his theology of the periphery, explaining that the great revolutions and changes in history were realized when “reality was seen not from the center, but rather from the periphery.” According to Pope Frances, it is the life experience of the periphery, walking the walk of the periphery with the people of the periphery, through which one is acquainted with reality. The direction of Francis’ pontificate is periphery-bound, moving the Church from security to risk-taking, “from inward looking to outward looking,” from the center to society’s edges. 1. Francis himself comes from the periphery. He was born and raised in Argentina, which is both a geographical and existential periphery. 2. Francis is the first Latin American, non-European Pontiff in modern times to lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. 3. Francis was born and raised on the periphery of political and ecclesial power. Mother Teresa is a saint of the periphery: 1. Mother Teresa comes from the periphery. She was born and raised in Scopje, a geographical and existential periphery. 2. Mother Teresa grew up in a multi-ethnic, multi religious society where the Catholic community was a peripheral minority. 3. Mother Teresa knew first-hand the existential peripheries of poverty, misery, war, displacement and ethnic cleansing. 4. It was the “periphery of periphery” that taught and prepared Mother Teresa for her mission in India. The bottom line is that periphery is one of the commonalities between Mother Teresa and Pope Francis. In converting to Catholicism as an accomplished Anglican priest, Blessed John Henry Newman had to make many sacrifices. Many of his friends broke off relations with him after his conversion, and his family kept him at a distance. He had to resign his teaching fellowship and lost his only source of income. He lived the terrible pain of misunderstanding from his own family, from Church leaders, and those closest to him. Newman said that the one thing that sustained him during this trying period was Christ’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament. As a tribute to his extraordinary work and devotion, Pope Leo XIII named Father John Henry Newman a Cardinal in 1879. After a life of trials, Newman received the news with joy and declared, “The cloud is lifted forever.” How do I live my discipleship every day? Who are my people? Are they in the center of power and position or are they in the broken realities of periphery? O God, our loving Father, You have given us a beautiful example of love in action through your daughter St. Mother Teresa; In her life she showed us how to follow Jesus, by loving and serving others. She joyfully fed the hungry, rallied for the poor and unwanted, cared for the sick and the dying and sheltered the homeless. May we imitate her love and generosity, by reaching out to your needy ones. Thank you Lord, for the gift of Mother Teresa, In Jesus name – Amen. 
|
