Who are we? Homily for Thursday, August 31, 2023

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. Readings for Today. Listen to our other homilies. Who are we? Two individuals are featured in today's gospel. One does what he should, the other what he should not. The challenge for each is to recognize who it is they serve. It is a good question for us too. Who are we? And whom do we serve? Transcript These stories that Jesus tells, to kind of help us to understand what it means to live His way of life, the way of the kingdom, are really stories that help us to understand something that's kind of beyond who we are.  On one hand, we can look at some of the things that Jesus says, like, "Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors," and we can say, "Well, you don't live in the real world. That's not the way it works. You've got to understand if we pray for our persecutors and love our enemies, well, they're only going to take advantage of us." In today's story, we get a sense that ultimately in the kingdom of God there will be accountability. There will be an understanding that we're not living a life that is completely our own. It has been given to us by the Lord Jesus. It has been given to us for a particular purpose. It has been given to us because God loves us. It has been given to us, and so we need to recognize that in order for us to feel happy, fulfilled, we need to recognize that God's way of life is the only path that can bring that about for us.  We know that sometimes we fail. The difference of the two is I don't think that they were one was perfect and the other was not. One understood he had a profound responsibility to the one he served. The other did not. Today, let us recognize our profound responsibility to serve the Lord Jesus and in so doing to discover who we truly are.