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Our Lady - Star of the Sea |
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Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time:
Year A, 2011
There was a young man walking on the beach. He
saw a man who was
picking up star fishes and threw them back to
the sea. With curiosity
the young man asked the stranger: what are you
doing? The man
answered: I am trying to save star fish by
helping them to go back to
the sea. Heard this, the young man laughed and
said: There are a lot
of star fishes on the beach, how can you save
all of them? The young
man continued: you are wasting your time sir.
The man replied: I
cannot save all of them, but at least I can save
some of them.
That is an act of love although it is a small
act. One time I was
standing on the airport of Fort worth-Dallas, in
Texas to pick up my
luggage. I observed people hurried to pick up
theirs. Suddenly, I saw
next to me was an eighty years old woman. When
her suitcase came, she
could not take it out of the running belt. I
could see her frustration. I decided to take it for her. When she
received her suitcase from me, she looked
at my eyes and said firmly: you did a good thing today, thank you.
Jesus calls each of us “to be” the salt of
the earth and the light in
the world. Please pay attention to the verb
“to be,” not “to do.” In
other words, we have to become good Christians
in our workplace, in
our neighborhood, or in our community. We have
to become a reflection
of our heavenly Father who is holy and good.
Like prophet Isaiah said:
“share your bread with the hungry, shelter the
oppressed and the
homeless; cloth the naked when you see them,
etc.” However, the idea
is: when we are doing good things, we don’t do
it for our praises or
honor, but instead, we do them for the glory of
God.
Young people used to tell me that: nowadays, it
is hard to find a good
man or woman to be with. Good people are rare,
but bad people are
many. I laughed when I heard them, but, on the
other hand, I feel
people are in desperate to find good examples.
Pope Paul VI said: the
modern world needs more good examples of love.
Dear friends, Jesus does not call us to change
the world, but he calls
us to change ourselves first to become the salt
and the light in the
world. Through our good faith and works, people
will see the glory of
God. A good act does not necessary a big hero
act. A smile can bring
hope to people around us. A silent prayer can
bring peace to our
family and our community. A kind words can bring
healing to broken
hearted. St. Therese of Little Jesus chose to
become saint by her
little way. She used her simple acts of love
within her cloister to
bring millions of people to God. Again, from
letter of St. Paul, we
learn that when we say a kind word, or do a kind
act, it is the power
of God makes us to do so. We should not be proud
with whatever we do
for others, but we have to continue to be a
witness of Christ’s
presence in the world.
May the Holy Spirit be with us everyday in our
life, then we will know
how we can be the salt and the light of the
world. Amen.
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