A SENSE OF BELONGING.

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. YEAR C.
August 12, 2007.
(First Reading: Wisdom 18:6-9) (Second Reading: Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19)
(Gospel Reading: Luke 12:32-48)

A SENSE OF BELONGING.

Have you ever asked yourself, where do I belong? or with whom do I belong?

If we have, then it is likely that we may have found that we belong in a family, or that we belong to a given country, or to a given group, or nationality, or an ideal, or humankind. Whatever it is, in doing so, we may have been able to find the reason and purpose of our life.

And, in a world, like ours, plagued with uncertainties, injustices, and disarray this experience could be disturbing and frightening.

Today the Lord Jesus tells us that we may want to consider belonging to the Kingdom of God. He tells his disciples: "Do not be afraid any longer... for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom" (Luke 12:32).

1. The Father has given us the Kingdom.
It is accurate to say, then, that we belong in the Kingdom here and now and that we are contributors in building the Kingdom. By building that Kingdom here on earth, we "provide for ourselves an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy" (Luke 12:33), that is, a Kingdom which cannot be tainted by injustice, lies, nor disarray.

The builders of the Kingdom already belong in the kingdom. We cooperate in the building of God's Kingdom here on earth by the way we live, that is, by living as children of God, in unity with Christ Jesus and all our fellow human beings. Once we begin to cooperate in building the Kingdom of God here on earth, then Jesus can say of us: "Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival" (Luke 12:43).

Belonging to the Kingdom requires FAITH.
The Letter to the Hebrews says: "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1), in other words, faith is a way to possess, here and now, what we wait for.

We have faith that we are the "servants of a Master" (Luke:12:36) who wants to bring his Kingdom to the world ("Thy Kingdom come"); therefore, our faith in the Kingdom must have two dimensions:
- Faith that, with Christ Jesus, we can confront a world of injustice, destruction and chaos.

- Faith that, with Christ Jesus, we can build a Kingdom in which all human beings belong, a Kingdom of unity, justice and peace.

That is the living faith the Letter to the Hebrews speaks about when it says: "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to received as an inheritance... By faith he sojourned in the promise land... with Isaac and Jacob... [for] now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one" (Hebrews 11:8-16)

2. Belonging in the kingdom removes the fears of the world.
Let us first examine the fears of the world:
Those who live in a world where human beings are fragmented, divided (for instance, into socio-economic classes), those who live in a world of injustices and destruction are confronted with disturbing fears such as:

- The fear of insecurity. People wandering "Would I be the next one to be destroyed?", "Would I be the next victim of dispossession?", "Would I have not enough means to meet my human needs?"

- The fear of isolation. People suffering abandonment by their fellow human beings, people suffering the emptiness and vacuum of a selfish, indifferent world, people who belong nowhere, with nobody.

- The fear of lack of fulfillment. This fear especially affects those who promote injustice and oppression for, as long as they do so, they will not be able to reach fulfillment as human beings. Those who fail to live a fulfilled life will become increasingly fearful of life ending its biological course.

- The fear of confusion. It is the fear that results from peoples' inability to know the truth. (The truth being that human life is a life of unity, peace, justice and mutual respect among all humans). Those who manipulate the truth in order to justify a world of oppression, only are contributing to create confusion in their fellow human beings. In other words, a world of injustice and destruction can never be justified, but it can be "effectively" imposed upon people by creating confusion. And with confusion fear sets in.

The world tries to address fear through false security.
In order to relieve their fears the world offers people false security through:
- The power of wealth, with the expectation that wealth will solve our problems and give us security(1). However, in a world profoundly divided into socio-economic classes, the wealth accumulated in a few hands only intensifies the insecurity of countless human beings who live in abject deprivation.

- The political power, with the expectation that the law will institute justice and equality among human beings. However, in our world the law has become an instrument to "legalize" the status quo.

- The power of technology, with the expectation that human beings will be able to eradicate hunger, diseases, poverty and other maladies. However, in a world of egotistic individuals and self-serving interest groups, any technological advance is used as a means to obtain profits which, as a rule, go to benefit the economically powerful minority(2).

The Lord Jesus brings and end to our fears: He reassures us that we belong in His kingdom.
In today's gospel the Lord Jesus reassures us: "Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom" (Luke:12:32), a kingdom where human beings have nothing to fear(3).

Yes, we now belong in the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom we are building together, the Kingdom where we all have one Father, where we will establish unity among all human beings, justice and peace. What a sense of belonging!
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Footnotes.
(1) Our profit-driven world has turned man's security into an economic commodity that can be sold and bought. For example, mutual help among people is replaced by an insurance policy. That is to say, the community is no longer responsible for, say, the support of a widow; her deceased husband's life insurance is. The issue here is that the insurance company makes a profit out of a human being's need for security.
(2) One might think that the marvelous technological advances of our times could have made human life more secure, more comfortable and less expensive; but the opposite is true. Technological advances have made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
(3) There will be no fear whenever all human beings - without exception - are able to reclaim for themselves the benefits of their own creations be it economic, political, technological or of any other nature.