8th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Two Masters (Mt 6: 24-34)

Two Masters

Introduction

- Story of birds – Two birds were on a tree, watching people pass by, rush here and there, run to and fro, come and go endlessly. One bird observed, “How troubled these people seem, always on the go”. “Indeed”, the second bird agrees, “they must not have a God like us”.

- Story of Clock – a clock began to count it each of its second strikes of the pendulum to know how many times it has to beat in the next year - 60x60x24x365. It broke down with tension – consulted an expert – advice – you were doing the same work for several year smoothly. Therefore continue your everyday work with an intention to show the correct time.

- Story of the promo ticket that included the food and other essentials. Without knowing that fact the people adjusted with what they had. When God gave us life he has blessed us abundantly. It is our responsibility to claim the blessings through our lives.

Content

- Is it a call for a carefree life? Eat, Drink and always make merry? Never.

- It is a call for a life with full of trust in God and complete surrender in the divine providence.

- Two trends;

o Trust completely and surrender to Money (mammon) or any material things (power, positions)

§ The result is worry, tension, anxiety, frustration etc.

§ The owner has to protect the material things and keep up his status and power.

o Trusting and surrendering to God

§ Peace – “Peace be with you”

§ Freedom – “the spirit will set you free”

- As a Christian whom do we need to take as our master – God or world? Our choice in our life makes us the follower of God or World.

o The RH bill:

§ Is it the ways of God.

· It blocks the free flow of life by using artificial means. Contraceptives are anti-life in nature.

· It will foster abortion rate because it eases the concepts of Responsible parenthood and Responsible Sex.

· It will not prevent HIV/AIDS as the government projects. It gives a temptation to go for sex with the assurance of the contraceptives. The contraceptives are never perfect. The nature and size of HIV virus must be taken into account. Experts say it can pass through even the gaps of condom.

· Will it empower the woman? We are the stewards of our body and the master is God. Women may be degraded as sex objects.

· Is it to control the over population and poverty? Poverty is the product of corruption and defective political system.

Conclusion

- Let us decide who is our master?

- Are we looking for freedom or bondages in our life?

Philippines has the duty to show the world a model as a catholic country in obeying the Law of God, as it is shown in the example of EDSA where the rosary won without any bloodshed.