16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
One of the greatest challenges faced today by the Catholic Church is the inability of Catholic Christians to listen to and accept the gospel of Christ. We all hear the gospel of Christ, but we still pick and choose from them rather than accept the gospel as it is, that is, as the word of God preached to us in the doctrines of the Catholic Church. The strange thing about this practice is that we know what is right and wrong as explained in the teachings of Christ and the doctrines of the Catholic Church but we most of the time tend to rationalize over it because of our personal idiosyncrasies rather than accept it. And this practice has caused so much division and has led to the spiritual death of many souls in the Catholic Church today. The call to proclaim the gospel of Christ Christ is very important in our lives as Christians, but the call to hear, listen to and accept God’s word is most important. Welcoming and accepting the word of God we have heard and received with full attention is what makes us better disciples of Christ, that is why in the Mass, we are fed with the Word of God from the Scriptures in the Liturgy of the Word and nourished with His body and blood during Communion in Liturgy of the Eucharist and sent out to go and proclaim Christ to the world. This is also the true definition of bearing fruit in the world today.
It is a known fact that we live in a noisy world that distracts us with the hustle and bustle of life. Most times, these distractions preoccupy our minds and hearts that we forget that serving God first of all involves knowing Him, listening to His voice, accepting His word and putting His word in practice by living it out and by proclaiming His gospel in the world. My brothers and sisters in Christ, the trick to holiness is listening to God and sharing His word that we have heard and accepted. So if our call to discipleship was all about service, what then are we proclaiming or teaching the world? This is why Jesus called out Martha in today’s gospel reading, saying, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Also, most times we worry about our inability or struggle in changing our lives, yet we do not hear or listen to God.
So what inhibits us from hearing God’s call and listening to His word? Why do we pick and choose what we want to hear and accept from the gospel of Christ and still call ourselves disciples of Christ? What makes us disciples of Christ and children of God if we do not hear God’s word and accept it as taught us by the Catholic Church to help us grow in our faith in Him?
Today my dear friends in Christ, we are reminded by Jesus in the gospel reading to choose the better part of listening to His word like Mary did and to work very hard as His children in spreading His gospel to the whole world by our call to service like Martha did. Amen!
