Homily on the Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist, 18 October 2024, DBPH Chapel, Talamban
Happy feastday! On this Feast of St. Luke, the evangelist, allow me just to underline three important verbs we have heard in today’s gospel.
The first is PRAY. There is still so much pastoral work to be done especially among the young but, sad to say, the ministers are still so few. For several years now we Salesians in FIS have been working in seven Dioceses here in the southern part of the Philippines. This morning, however, in an article published in Freeman only last year I found out that there are actually as many as 37 Dioceses within the area of Visayas and Mindanao. And while Fr Provincial has already received some seven requests in different places for us Salesians to go and establish a new work for poor youth, none of these could be approved for lack of Salesians.
Not only that, the FIS Province is also called and expected to send other Salesians as missionaries abroad, apart from the two we have already sent to Malaysia and Mozambique, namely, Fr Eugene Maglasang and Fr Arnel Mengote respectively. And so, we are enjoined to heed the call of the Lord as proclaimed in the gospel, “Pray that the master of the harvest may send out labourers for his harvest.” Let us pray in a special way for the intentions of Fr Andy Wong who is staying with us in our community. Just a few days ago he has already received the formal invitation from the Bishop of Lahore to work in Pakistan as a missionary. We pray that his application for a missionary visa in Pakistan may be approved without delay.
The second verb is GO. While we continue to pray for more pastoral workers in the Lord’s vineyard, we ourselves have the choice to heed the Lord’s invitation and GO as missionaries. We ourselves can be the answer to our very own prayer. While we SDBs in this community have already been sent for a mission in many different places and are assigned in this community this year for a much greater service in the province, you, our dearly beloved lay people, also have the invitation to go where the Lord is sending you. When it comes to carrying out the mission of salvation, we believe that neither age nor health really matters. I heard that, a good number of homeowners in this village are non-Catholics, some of whom might be your neighbours. Could this be a sign that you too are being called and sent by the Lord to approach them, and to share your vibrant faith with them without being pushy?
The third is a set of another three verbs: EAT, DRINK and CURE. We, who have started to work in the vineyard of the Lord, should not feel entitled for any reward or consolation. If people extend their kindness by offering us something to eat and drink, that would be well and good. Then, let us eat and drink whatever they serve, perhaps even if the food may not be too healthy by our standards. I guess what the Lord wants us to promote is not so much our personal health but our fellowship with people to whom we are being sent.
Most important of all, what the Lord clearly wants of us is to become signs and bearers of healing and wholeness. He said that if we find sick people around, we should extend our hand and our heart to cure them, saying, “The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.” Simply put, he wants us to say, “God is here for you.” The world nowadays needs more and more people who can be signs of God’s loving, healing and transforming presence.
Brothers and sisters, this coming Sunday will be World Mission Sunday. The MISSION entrusted to the Church needs more and more our support. And today the Lord seems to be telling us not to let that support be limited to almsgiving. The Lord’s mission is ME-sion, that is, ME being sent.
May this Eucharist, therefore, make us realize seriously our being ME-sionaries sent by God to others. And let us pray through the intercession of St. Luke, the evangelist, that this sacrament may empower us all to contribute in making the Church more fruitful in the vineyard of the Lord. GiGsss!
P.S. After the Mass during breakfast someone from among our daily Mass goers sent us a plate of pansit Bam-i along with a generous serving of paksiw na Lechon. Thank you Mam Betty. We enjoyed the blessings you shared. May God bless you.
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