19th Sunday of the Year

The readings today remind us that we are God’s chosen people. We are not a race where our identity is determined by our heredity nor are we members of a group of friends brought into the circle on the recommendation of others.

No, we are God’s people and have been chosen individually by him. Our identity comes from the fact that God has singled us out, just as he singled out Abraham in Old Testament times.

It is important that we never lose sight of this. We are not Catholics because we were born into a Catholic family; we are Catholics because we deliberately chose to respond to the call of God.

Yes, many of us were brought up as Catholics by our parents and are steeped in Catholic culture but our presence here today is because we have consciously chosen to respond to God’s call within the Catholic Church.

Our membership of the Church is a real calling and we can certainly say it is our true vocation in life.

Naturally, all right thinking Catholic parents want their children to continue with the practice of the faith. They go to great lengths to hand on the faith to their children—insisting on them coming to mass, enrolling them in a Catholic school, bringing them to Catechism lessons, praying together and trying to share their own faith with them. And these are certainly all the right things to do.

But, ultimately, each individual person must make the decision of faith for themselves. It is not enough to merely consent to the religious practices of one’s parents. Each person must respond to the call of God on their own account.

This is what the Sacrament of Confirmation is all about. In the preparation for this sacrament we do not try to impose on our young people a whole complicated set of doctrines, what we do is to try to draw out from them the faith that is within.

We try to help them to respond to the call of God. We try to help them find a faith relevant for themselves as they grow into adulthood in the modern world.

By the way, we don’t ignore the doctrines for they are absolutely essential to the faith. Our Catholic doctrine is a logical working out of the faith of the first apostles and it is important that we know what it consists in, but first we must hear and recognise the call of Christ.

By hearing God’s call and responding to it, even by wrestling with it, we enter into a relationship with our creator. We begin a dialogue with him which lasts our whole life long. This is not some airy-fairy intellectual discussion with our maker but a deep relationship in which we respond to God’s love and try to show our love for him.

As an integral part of this dialogue we are able to discuss our problems with him and try to see them as he sees them. In and through this dialogue that we call prayer we grow and deepen our faith and trust in God.

As it says in the second reading, “it was by faith that Abraham set out on a journey for a country that was his inheritance… and he set out without knowing where he was going.“ The Lord calls us on a journey through life. We choose to follow him “by faith” even though we don’t know where we are going.

However, for us the Promised Land is no earthly kingdom but heaven itself. We don’t know what this will be like and we don’t know the way, but “by faith” we trust that God will lead us there.

In the Gospel reading Christ addresses his followers as a “little flock”. He then gives a set of instructions, the main thrust of which is to be generous and not to amass material wealth but instead to build up treasure in heaven.

What he is taking about here is not so much the specifics of discipleship but the attitude of a disciple. Jesus could have chosen to give a long list of do’s and don’ts but instead emphasises attitudes. If he had given us such a long list of precise requirements they would soon become out of date.

What applies to a rural situation in the Middle East two thousand years ago would hardly be relevant to life in the West today.

But by giving us a set of attitudes and by speaking to us in parables Christ uses a language that is timeless. He speaks not to our intellects but to our hearts.

He speaks about readiness, about generosity, about care for the poor, about trust and fidelity, he speaks about duty and responsibility. These things are timeless and these are the attitudes to be found in the Kingdom.

Even though there might be over two billion Christians in the world we are still a “little flock”. That word “little” should not be thought of in terms of numbers but in terms of attitude.

We are a “little flock” because we realise the greatness of God and see his hand at work all around us. We are a “little flock” because we are not aligned with the forces and powers of this world. We are a “little flock” because we seek the way of holiness and in a real sense are therefore innocent in the ways of the world.

The way of Christ is open to all. There are no barriers to his love or inclusiveness. The poorest, most despised or weakest individual is welcome into his Kingdom. But so also is the greatest of sinners, should they seek admittance.

The point is whether we desire to be part of his Kingdom. When the sinner wants to be part of the Kingdom he is already repenting of his sins. His attitude has already changed. He is seeking the way of truth and goodness and justice. He is changing from becoming a big sinner to becoming a little disciple.

Abraham and Sarah were a feeble old couple, simple farmers who heard the call of God and responded to it. They were led on a long journey.

This was, in fact, a journey on foot but in a real and deeper sense it was more of a journey of faith. They began that journey very late in life but it took them a long way and they saw many miracles as they went to where God led them.

We too are on this journey of faith. It is also something of an epic journey with many by-ways and resting places but we always move on, growing ever stronger in faith and love. Little disciples on a big journey.