Philip's Fast: The Gift of Sharing

Parents, you may remember when your child was baptized: you and your child’s godparents faced west and renounced the devil and all his deeds. Then, you faced east and proclaimed your commitment to Christ three times.

This is what we need to do for ourselves again today, so as to follow the faith we received from our parents and grandparents and to keep the witness of Jesus Christ alive, because Jesus Christ is indeed alive. You are sent to proclaim Jesus Christ, maybe not through preaching, but by your life.

The world does not want to accept what Jesus proclaims; rather, the world offers the complete opposite. We feel this struggle every day, but we need not worry because Jesus is with us, especially in our prayer as a community.

I encourage you to please pray in your homes as well. Turn off the TV, the tablet and the internet, and pray together with your kids. Read the Holy Gospel with your families every day for five or 10 minutes. Start with the Gospel of Matthew and proceed with Mark, Luke and John.

Perhaps your children are grown and live 1,000 miles away; I assure you that they still need your prayers. If they are not practicing their faith, only your prayers can save them and bring them back to church. Believe me, parents, your prayer is so efficient, so strong, that they can bring your children back to the faith. This is your mission. Do not worry, do not be hopeless. We have to believe that God will fulfill our prayers.

As we enter into the fullness of the Philip’s Fast and prepare for the feast of the Nativity of Jesus, we are encouraged by Jesus to share. Christians are those who are able to share their goods, because we realize the goods we received are a gift from God.

God gives us gifts, so that we can share them with others: with the poor, the homeless, the sick and the marginalized. Jesus Christ gives us the guidelines we need to follow, what we need to do, if we want to enter the heavenly kingdom.

In the Gospel, Jesus calls the man who hoards his riches a fool (cf. Lk 12:16-21) because his riches will not be helpful or useful to him in eternity. Everyone on this earth will one day pass away.

As Christians, the end of our life on Earth does not fill us with fear. Rather, we look forward to it with joy and hope, because we know that after our passing away from this life is eternal life, where our Heavenly Father is waiting for us and has prepared for us his Kingdom, his happiness, his peace, and his joy. But our journey towards eternity starts here.

Perhaps you’re thinking that you have nothing to share. Everybody has something to share, if nothing else, your smile. You can share it with those who are sad and hopeless. You can offer them your encouragement.

Each one of us can give something to others. This is the vocation of a Christian; this is the true Christian life: to be able to share. To share with others is, at the same time, to receive.
We receive plenty of graces from God. It is in the moment of sharing them with others that we experience joy.

This column is based on a homily Bishop Milan preached during the Divine Liturgy he celebrated at the Byzantine Catholic Outreach in Omaha, Nebraska, Nov. 17.
 
As published in Horizons, Dec. 8, 2019.