Homily Twenty-second Friday of Ordinary Time (1 Corinthians 4:1-5) “What Floats my Boat?”
Homily Twenty-second Friday of Ordinary Time (1 Corinthians 4:1-5) “What Floats my Boat?”
What should a Christian religious leader believe about themselves? The Corinthian Church was being split apart by the competition between its leaders. The ministry was becoming about them not Jesus. Paul says that there is something wrong with this.
Paul describes himself as a huperetes. This means servant in Greek, but there are several words for servant. This word referred to the slave who had to help row a great ship. The galley slave toiled in the hull of the ship. The pilot of the ship gave direction. All the slave did was pull on the oar. Paul compared himself to such a slave. He just followed the directions of Jesus in his ministry. He believed he possessed no great talent.
Another word Paul uses to describe himself is oikonomos which translates as steward. Many influential people had stewards. The steward would run the master’s household affairs. A steward had a great deal of power in managing resources and staff, but in the end, they were still a slave. Whatever power they had was given to them by the master.
By speaking of himself as a slave Paul wanted to emphasize that he was not all that important. Whatever success he had in ministry was attributable to Jesus. It is Jesus who directed Paul in his life, and it was the Gospel that Jesus proclaimed that Paul preached. He was not the author of the message. He was only the messenger.
Paul believed that some leaders in the Christian church had forgotten their place. Certain ministers had started to think that they were just as important as Jesus. Perhaps they had also altered what they had learned about the Gospel.
Reflection Questions:
Pride, can at times, get in the way when we become a leader in an organization. Have I seen that happen? When?
Do I believe that my life is directed by Jesus? What decisions to I need his help with today?
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Dear Parishioners,
This is the sixth Friday of our nine Friday Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The weeks have certainly gone by quickly. We started this novena on July 31st. On that date there were 137,000 Coronavirus deaths. Today there are about 185,000. Therefore, we will toll our church bell 185 times at noon today.
We not only have the virus that we are struggling with, but we have the racial tension that is dividing us. We also have the elections and the partisanship that is causing us to be at odds with one another.
This certainly a time when we need prayer for our nation. I would encourage everyone to do penance and to ask Jesus for the healing that we need in our society today. You can join in the novena at any time.
May Our Lady and All the Saints and Angels watch over you today.
Fr. Mark