22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

One of the famous fables of Aesop is about Andocles. A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled to the forest.  As he was wandering about there he came upon a Lion lying down moaning and groaning.  At first he turned to flee, but finding that the Lion did not pursue him, he turned back and went up to him.  As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which was all swollen and bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge thorn had got into it, and was causing all the pain.  He pulled out the thorn and bound up the paw of the Lion, who was soon able to rise and lick the hand of Androcles like a dog.  Then the Lion took Androcles to his cave, and every day used to bring him meat from which to live.  But shortly afterwards both Androcles and the Lion were captured, and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to the Lion, after the latter had been kept without food for several days.  The Emperor and all his Court came to see the spectacle, and Androcles was led out into the middle of the arena.  Soon the Lion was let loose from his den, and rushed bounding and roaring towards his victim.  But as soon as he came near to Androcles he recognised his friend, and fawned upon him, and licked his hands like a friendly dog.  The Emperor, surprised at this, summoned Androcles to him, who told him the whole story.  Whereupon the slave was pardoned and freed, and the Lion let loose to his native forest. This fable reminds us of our collective consciousness why we do good to others. Whether we are aware of this or not, we do good because we can get something in return by doing so. There is nothing wrong with this actually. Even Jesus himself understood this kind of motivation. In our Gospel, (Luke 14: 1,7-14) after he gave his disciples some lessons about acts of goodness, he ended with these words, "You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." His words expressly convey to us that there is something we get in return on the day of resurrection for doing good here and now. His words contain a promise which becomes our reasons why we do good things now as we look forward or anticipate God's reward on the day of our resurrection. This is not selfishness. A selfish person apparently does good to another but later it is unveiled that his act does more harm than good to the other.  As a priest, it seems to be part of our job description to be good and to do good to others. But selfishness seems to beset us. I for myself do good to others because I want everybody as my friend. Sometimes, doing good things to others makes me popular. But if things do not go well, especially if I heard someone does not like me despite my effort of doing good, I am disappointed and I do not want to do good again for that person. Yet I realize that I have to do good and be good even if nobody notices me because it is my vocation as a disciple of Jesus. By doing good, a disciple's reward is not found here on earth but in heaven. No matter what the people say about me then is not that important compared with what God is going to say to me on the resurrection day. To end, I would like to say to God today what Thomas Merton used to say: "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."