18th Sunday in 2015

My dear friends, we heard various stories about people who are actively serving the parish or the church. Some have personally experienced the healing power of God, others have been inspired by their priests or parish workers, some others have their own reasons which only they themselves know, and there are other more reasons why people are in the service of the parish or church. But take note my dear friends, our Gospel which is taken from John 6: 24-35, reduces whatever reasons people have in serving the Church into two. To quote Jesus, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” These words of Jesus would tell us that people seek Him either for physical or spiritual welfare. So too can we say that in the parish or church, people come either for physical satisfaction/relief or for spiritual growth. Although both could be good reasons to engage in the ministry but for Jesus it is a noble reason for one to serve and seek Jesus in the parish or the church with a motive to grow spiritually, to be like the saints if not like Christ. In furtherance with this principle, though it is nice to have our parish programs and projects reach the people especially the poor, hopefully those people under these programs and projects grow spiritually with their priest/s. The parish or church has the duty to help God’s people especially the poor to alleviate their suffering, but it does not mean that the parish or church loses its track to lead the people grow spiritually. One may justify that in order to sanctify the people especially the poor, they must be first introduced to the parish or church. This can be done by giving them aid or assistance including but not limited to food, shelter, and clothing. But the question is, does this prosper in helping people grow spiritually? Most often, the parish or church has mastered in providing the people with things they need like food, shelter and clothing but it has not reached its primary purpose i.e., to lead people to grow spiritually. When there is a change of administration, when there is also a change in the parish programs and projects, then we ask what will happen to those people under the previous programs and projects? Most of the time, many of us think that we have to cater the needs of the people before we can teach them about God. With this kind of mentality, we produce more priests and ministers doing the works of social workers while neglecting to perform the works of spiritual leaders. Just like Jesus, we have to give importance to the needs of the people physically and spiritually, but we shall put more weight on the spirituality especially of those who are actively serving Jesus in the parish or church. It is good to hear people come to the parish or church because they feel their faith is strengthened, that together with their priest/s they grow spiritually in prayers. To end, I wish to end with the story about St. Alphonsus de Liguori who was born of noble parents. At the early age of sixteen he was made doctor in law, and he threw himself into this career with ardor and success. A mistake, by which he lost an important case, showed him the vanity of human fame, and determined him to labor only for the glory of God. He entered the priesthood, devoting himself to the most neglected souls; and to carry on this work he founded later the missionary Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. This story of Alphonsus reminds us that though he served God’s people as a lawyer yet he could better serve God as a priest whose mission together with his community is to take care of the souls. Thereof, salvation of the soul is still our highest law and we obey this law by giving our utmost attention to the spiritual needs of the people. It is all about how we can better seek and serve God that matters anyway. Amen.