Homily for Saturday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time Cycle II
Theme: WHOEVER WISHES TO BE GREAT…….” You do not know what you are asking (…) That will be for those for whom the Father has prepared it”
By: Fr. Antoni ORIOL i Tataret
Homily for Saturday July 25 2020
Today, in the fragment of St. Matthew’s Gospel we can find many teachings. I will however limit myself to underline just one, which refers to God’s total control of events throughout time: whether of all men together (mankind), or of each and every human group (in our case, for instance, the family group of the Zebedees), or of any individual person. This is why Jesus clearly tells them: «You do not know what you are asking» (Mt 20:22).
To sit at Jesus Christ’s right is for those his Father has prepared it: «To sit at my right or at my left is not for me to grant. That will be for those for whom the Father has prepared it» (Mt 20:23). Just like that, in a clear-cut way. There is an English saying that goes «Man proposes and God disposes». And it is so, precisely because God is God. Or we could also say it the other way round: if it was not so, God would not be God.
Before this fact, unquestionably overpowering any human determining factor, at the beginning, men are left with nothing else but acceptance and worship (because God has revealed himself to us as the Absolute); while marching on, with confidence and love (because God has revealed himself to us as a Father, too); and at the end…, that grand and definite end: to sit at Jesus’ side (whether at his right or at his left, it does not matter at all).
On our side, the enigma of divine election and predestination can only be solved with confidence. A milligram of confidence placed in God’s heart is worth more than all the weight of the world put on our poor little scale pan. In fact, «St. James did not live long: this is because from the very beginning he was already burning with a great vehemence: he scorned all human things and climbed to such ineffable ceilings that he died immediately» (St. John Chrysostom).
+ Fr. Antoni ORIOL i Tataret
(Vic, Barcelona, Spain)