HOMILY: 15TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 2020 A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and in her fright and haste to get away, ran across the Lion's nose. Roused from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the tiny creature to kill her. "Spare me!" begged the poor Mouse. "Please let me go and someday I will surely repay you." The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go. Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter's net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free. "You laughed when I said I would repay you," said the Mouse. "Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion." This is a story that teaches us that a kindness is never wasted.
We are now on the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the readings invite us to reflect on the meaning and purpose of parables. First, parables help us to understand the reality of the kingdom f God. It is a combination of two greek words “throwing” (bole) “alongside” (para). It is throwing alongside or comparing the known and the unknown so that the unknown will be known through the known. In the gospel Jesus employed the parable of the seed and the sower to drive out the reality of the kingdom of God. Jesus said that the seed is the word of God, the sower is God and the soil is the human heart. The parable is the revelation of the kingdom of God. Through the parable, we can easily draw a vivid picture of what the kingdom of God is all about.
Parables help us to understand the purpose of our life. The Prophet Isaiah once said “ as the rain and snow come down from heaven to water the earth, making the seed sprout, giving the seed to the sower and bread to the one who eats so the word will not return empty until it accomplish its purpose”. The very thing that gives life in us is the word of God. It answers the fundamental questions in our life such who created me? What is the purpose of my life? Where do I go from this world? When these questions are crystal clear to us then we will certainly know what to do with our life. If the rain is to water the earth; the seed is to be given to farmers and bread to the one who eats; what am I living for?
Parables help us to make a decision in life. Saint Paul said the suffering of this present time are not worthy of comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us”. The most important decision that we have to make is to choose between God and this world. When we choose God above all things, it requires the process of dying and sacrifice which makes the choice of God unpopular but the happiness that the world can give us is nothing compared to the choice of God. The glory is so overwhelming when it will be revealed to us.