November 18, 2020 – Wednesday of the 33^rd Week in Ordinary Time

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111820.cfm)

Homily

We can be in the Church the whole day but not worshipping. We can be kneeling during the whole hour but not worshipping. We can be singing in the Church but not really worshipping. We can be in a particular ministry but not worshipping God at all.

Why do we really worship God? To worship God is to express our belief and to live what we believed. Worshipping the Lord our God is a celebration of God’s gift of Himself to us. Jesus as the very image of the Father, is God’s ultimate gift of presence to us.

Moreover, to worship the Lord is not just limited in our worship services in the Church. Worship is basically a way of life. The way we live our life according to God’s desire is an essential part of our personal and community worship.

The Book of Revelation tells us of the right attitude of worship. The twenty-four elders, who can be the representation of the twelve sons of Israel and the twelve apostles, are worshipping the one who sits on the throne, the Lord our God.

John also described to us how they worshipped the Lord our God. The elders who were honored greatly in heaven, have thrown down their crowns before the throne to exclaim the glory, the honor and the power of God. This means that these elders did not cling to their own crowns but letting them go to worship the giver of their crowns.

Thus, when we learn to let go of our own glory, of our achievements and successes, then we also learn to truly worship the Lord our God who is the source of everything that is good. To worship God, then, is actually to celebrate also our life, to celebrate our giftedness, to celebrate who God is and what God has done to us.

Besides, worship allows us to focus on the Lord. That is why, even when we are in pain and confused, in worship, we re-channel our gaze from bitterness to God who strengthens us. In worshipping God, we regain our balance by reminding ourselves that we are unworthy of God’s grace yet, we are blessed because we are loved.

This is what we also find in today’s Gospel, in the Parable of the Ten Gold Coins. Those who truly worship the Lord are those who are productive and fruitful in their lives. The servants who used well the gifts given to them have lived and celebrated wonderfully the King’s gifts.

However, the unproductive servant lived in fear. He decided to hide the gifts given to him because he was afraid. He was afraid actually of losing them, because he could not let go of those, so he kept them. As a result, this servant turned to worship his fears because he lived in fear. This was how he lost the opportunity to celebrate life, to celebrate his gifts and to celebrate with the King.

Each of us today, we are called to truly worship God by living not in fear or in bitterness or in our arrogance or in our personal glory but by living and celebrating our life with God.

Thus, as we come to church and proceed with our daily affairs, let us also remind ourselves that we worship the Lord our God and not some other “gods,” that we worship the Lord by living honestly and generously, that we worship God by celebrating life and we worship God by making God’s presence more alive in us.

Let us be inspired today through Mary, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, so that like her, our decisions in life including our words and actions may become our very worship to God. Hinaut pa.