Created to be Valuable Homily for Tuesday of the 10th week in ordinary time JUNE 2023

HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 10TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA 

2Cor.1:18-22; Ps.119; Matthew 5:13-16

Created to be Valuable

It’s give a lot of confidence when you have someone or something who is reliable. This confidence comes from the assurance that your positive expectation for reaching out to that person or thing is never disappointed. In the first reading of today, St. Paul invites us to develop absolute confidence in God. This is because, from God, only a YES answer is gotten. This YES does not mean that things will always turn out as and when we desire but that God who is faithful in himself will never stop being faithful; God will always be God. The everlasting faithfulness of God is what gives us the nerve to trust that His Word is alive and active even in our time and in our lives. Beloved, God is ever faithful. But don’t be surprised when unfortunate happenings may force you to think otherwise. St. Paul tells us that God has put his seal upon us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. So, to absolutely trust God is never regrettable.

Serving a faithful God necessitates that we too should endeavour to be faithful. An authentic Christian is one who has integrity both in words and actions. As Children of God, we must mean what we say and say only what we mean in our interactions with others. Double standing and other forms of deception should not be associated with one who is worth the name Christian. We too must learn to say, mean and act YES. This implies too that we must be of positive value of the world. To say YES is to readily give ourselves in service to others. So, in the gospel reading, Jesus tells us that by default, we have been created to give light to the world and to give taste to the earth. We cannot afford not to positively impact the world around us. Jesus was clear that if we are not doing this, then we are becoming useless. It therefore means that our value is tied to the quality of service we render to the world.

It is on this note that we recognize the value of St. Anthony of Padua, whose memorial we celebrate today. From his earlier years, St. Anthony nursed the desire to become another Christ to the world. When he saw the bodies of the first Franciscan Martyrs brought back from Morocco, rather than being scared, he was inflamed with a desire for martyrdom. Though he never has this opportunity, he nevertheless was astounding with his gift of preaching. He could explain Holy Scripture so simply, profoundly and lucidly. God also granted him the gifts of miracles, of tongues and of prophecy; yet St. Anthony remained humble and prayerful. This enabled him to win many souls for Christ. St. Anthony was also a lover of the poor (St. Anthony’s Bread). After death, God saved the tongue of St. Anthony from decaying and it has remained fresh till this day.

We may need to ask ourselves today: to what extent am I giving value to the world with my light and my salt?