A PROFITABLE LIFE. (Homily for August 5, 2016. Friday of the 18th Week in Ordinary time.)


Bible Study: Nahum 1 to 3 and Matthew 16, 24 to 28.


Apart from the air we breathe, nothing comes to us free of charge. Whatever we want to achieve in this life or in the life to come, there is a definite price we have to pay for it. I recall the days of my childhood when I was still learning how to read and write, how I hated having to wake up early to take my bath and prepare for school, how much I admired other children who were not going to school, how much I wished I could enjoy like them. Now I think back at those kids and I realize they were not actually enjoying anything but simply lacked the privilege I was having. Back then, schooling was like suffering to me but now, I can see that it was a great investment.

The language of buying and selling is one that is so clearly understood by all humans regardless of race, colour, age or gender. We all crave for profit. We love the feeling of knowing that our investment have paid off. We love having to pluck money from trees. How? We buy an item for a particular price and sell it again for a higher price. The difference between the purchasing price and the selling price is our profit. This profit is like free money and it is this profit that defines business. Once we are ready to pay the price, make the initial purchase, we are rest assured of something of a higher value that would come to us. The pain of parting with the initial price is forgotten the moment we get back our profit.

Today, Jesus uses the term “profit” consciously to drive home a point. That even our very life on earth can be understood as buying and selling of some sorts such that we have to live in way that would profit us eventually. The profit of life is eternal life where we shall be with God in perfect bliss and happiness. To attain this profit, there is a price we have to pay, this is the painful aspect. Jesus is saying that it is absolute foolishness if we fail to achieve this profit after having lived on earth.

What is the price we must pay to profit eternal life? To carry our crosses daily and follow Jesus. To be willing to take the difficult path of letting go of our personal will for the sake of obeying the will of God. To hate our very life and try not to preserve it but value eternal life instead. It is not easy to avoid sin. It is not easy to fight our natural human inclinations. It is painful to say “No” to that which your flesh craves for. It is not easy to empty your account for an investment, you may just want to spend the money on food and waste it. But when you consider the profit such an investment can bring to you, you would close your eyes, swallow the pain and make the investment. So also, when you consider the profit of eternal life, you would not mind how painful it might be now to live righteously.

Make the right investment, choose to be holy and you would have a profitable life.

Let us Pray:
Lord Jesus, help me to attain a profitable life. Amen.


Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. 

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