We often think of sin as the evil that we do, the uncharitable words that we say and the evil thoughts that we cultivate in our hearts. What we leave out most times is the good that is within our competence, which we know, yet fail to do. When we attempt an examination of conscience, the failings that readily come to mind are the things we did which our good conscience rightly judges as inconsistent with Divine precepts and so, offensive to His Holy will and to our neighbor.

The Readings this weekend prescribe for us the right attitude a Christian should have towards the acquisition of, and the disbursement of, wealth. The Prophet Amos, one of the champions of social justice in the Old Testament, offers a descriptive rendition of prevailing dishonest, arrogant and oppressive attitudes of the wealthy towards the needy.

The world and time we live in makes a sincere practice of our Christian faith very difficult. We are surrounded by standards and ideas that facilitate easy fall into idolatry. The idols of our time include (but are not limited to) money, intellect, power, connections, family, the state, false religion, and even self. Whatever we are quick to ascribe our successes and accomplishments to, whatever we cannot do without, whatever we prioritize above everything else, is a candidate for the replacement of God in our lives.

Two Sundays ago, we heard Jesus admonishing His followers to enter the Kingdom of God through the narrow gate. By this, Jesus revealed that only the difficult and costly way of discipline can lead to eternal bliss. In the Gospel passage this weekend, Jesus teaches on the cost of discipleship, that is, what one would necessarily need to forego in order to successfully navigate life under the banner and standard of Jesus.

The fall of man in the Garden of Eden was orchestrated by the sin of pride. Man wanted to be like God, in fact, to be God unto himself and this led humanity to disobedience. It was only through the humility of Christ, who though was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, was all humanity gifted redemption.

The Readings this weekend emphasize the universality of God’s reign, the Divine intent to replace the inadequate worship of God by ethnic Israel with perfect worship by all humanity in the future, and the absolute necessity of suffering of some kind as a means of self-training for acceptance into heaven.

Most times, truth is not popular and those who stand for and live by the truth experience unpleasant encounters with those who choose to resist or reject it. In the First Reading, the Prophet Jeremiah is labeled unpatriotic and considered a traitor for advising Israel to surrender to the Babylonians who had surrounded and technically conquered Jerusalem but were yet to destroy it.

The theme of “waiting” runs across the three readings this weekend. We are accustomed to listening to readings themed with this concept at the beginning of Advent each year when the Church invites us to watch and pray as we wait for the coming of Christ. However, the sudden appearance of the Savior’s directive to wait underscores the essential nature of spiritual vigilance in the life of every Christian.

In his quest to sieve out meaning in life, Qoheleth, the author of the book of Ecclesiastes mentally interrogated pleasure, wealth, knowledge, labor and other noble endeavors, and came to the sad conclusion that all these were temporary, fleeting and ultimately unsatisfying. He therefore decided that all earthly appendages amount to vanity. This conclusion renders the primitive accumulation and senseless hoarding of earthly possessions, presumed earthly guarantees of security, a complete exercise in futility. True happiness and peace can never be obtained from what we have or achieve.

Last Sunday, we heard in the fi rst reading how Abraham showed kindness to three mysterious travelers and was rewarded for his goodness. In the fi rst reading today, which is a continuation of that same story from Genesis, the destination and mission of the travelers was revealed to Abraham. They were Angels of the Lord, sent to destroy the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. We are told the sin of immorality of the people was so bad that God decided to destroy the cities by fire. The sin of sodomy is named after this town of Sodom. The Book of Genesis 19:1-29 gives accounts of the nature of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The theme of hospitality runs through the first reading and the Gospel today. In the first reading, Abraham showed hospitality to strangers not knowing that they were messengers of God. It turned out that the visitors were angels of God who came in human form. They were happy with Abraham and assured him that God would bless him and his wife, Sarah, with a son. In the Gospel, we heard that Jesus visited the family of Mary and Martha. We are told that the two sisters used two different approaches in expressing their hospitality to Jesus. While Martha was very busy trying to prepare food for Jesus, Mary was sittng at the feet of Jesus, listening to him.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan that we heard in the Gospel today is one of the most popular stories in the Bible. I read that the United States and many countries in the world have some form of a law called “The Good Samaritan Law.” These laws are focused on the obligation to help someone in urgent need while legally protecting the helper, or “good samaritan.”

In the Gospel, we heard how Jesus sent his 72 disciples to go out and preach the Good News to everyone, to cure the sick and cast out evil spirits. In preparing them for the mission, Jesus told them that he is sending them out like sheep among wolves and told them not to worry about their personal needs for protection and support but to rely on the generosity of the people they will visit and the protection from God.