16th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C 20th July 2025

The hospitality of Abraham by receiving and welcoming strangers into his house, is an expression of his spirituality.  Fortunately for him, the strangers were messengers from God. He equally paid attention to their message and instruction. God decided to reward and bless his household.

However, our relation to God is transactional. The promised of a child to Abraham is not because of his generosity, for God’s love for and to us is unconditional and unmatchable. We attract God’s blessings to ourselves by doing good. God is not gracious to us just because of what we do for him or because of what we offer him. So, we have to be good and hospitable because it is the right thing to do, and just because we expect a reward from God or from people.

In our second reading, Paul reminds us that Christ is the hidden mystery that God has revealed to our world. Of course, this mystery is our guest and “the hope of our glory.” In order words, He comes to us as one friend visits another. As Paul did, receiving and accepting this mystery is the first step toward establishing a solid and lasting relationship with God.

Today’s gospel presents us with a bit of challenge. This challenge lies in Jesus’ response to Martha: “You worry about so many things, and yet, few are needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.” There is a strong tendency to think that Christ was against taking care of the material needs of our guests.

However, it is simply a call to set our priorities right.

Today, it is obvious that most Christians have misplaced their priorities in life. This is despite the fact that we labor much in the house of God. Hence the saying that: “One has time for the work of God, but no time for God the owner of the work.” Many of us are so distracted today by too many social and material activities that we hardly have time for any spiritual reflection. 

In some of our families, we pay attention to every mundane issue and need. However, we pay little or no attention to the spiritual growth of the members of our families. We have time for social activities but little or no time for praying together or studying the word of God together.We need to cement our relationship with Christ by sitting close to him as a family, and by paying attention to what he has to say to us. Christ needs our attention because he has something new to teach us every day. He wants to spend some quality time with us each day. So, we must not allow anything to prevent us from welcoming him or taking away our attention from his presence.    Extract from, Fr. Njoku Canice Chukwuemeka, C.S.Sp.