IT IS NOT JUST ABOUT YOU…
⏰Saturday of the Thirty-First Week of Ordinary Time 1 (11 Nov. 2017 – Memorial of St. Martin of Tours)
????Rom 16:3-9, 16, 21-27; Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 10-11 (R.v.1); Luke 16:9-15
Imagine how boring this world would have been if you are the only one living in it. Adam didn’t find it funny (cf. Gen 2:20). There is this sociological saying that further buttresses the point, “Nobody is an island entirely of itself; everybody is a piece of a continent, a part of the main.” It is the same point made in African philosophy, “I am because we are.”
It is therefore very important not to take anybody for granted in our journey of life. Let us rather learn to appreciate anyone who renders us even the least of helps. This is what St. Paul did at the end of his Letter to the Romans (cf. Rom 16:3-16, 21-27).
Do you appreciate those who assist you, even those who are on your payroll? Msgr. Michael Mozia, who is fond of saying “Thank you” at every little thing one does for him, once told me that why he does that is because, “not all those who know their duties, do them.” Don’t you know that there are people who never work, yet they collect their pay at the end?
An Igbo adage says, “Etoo onye gwọtara akịdị, ọ hụ ndudu, ọ gwọta.” That means, if you appreciate little things in people, they will do even greater things. Jesus used a similar analysis to explain that faithfulness to God in very little things would help us to be justified before God. But a divided heart that seeks only the welfare of the self shall perish (see Luke 16:9-15).
St. Martin of Tours, whose memorial we celebrate today was always driven by love for others. It was that love that began his journey into Religious life. It is recorded that he had given half of his cloak to a beggar and later saw a vision of Christ wearing the same cloak and bearing the face of the beggar. Remember, whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto Christ (cf. Matt 25:34-46).
May God implant in us a grateful heart that recognises and appreciates others in our community for the greater glory of his name. Amen.
Have a happy and restful weekend. Peace be with you.
