*The Lord made us; we belong to Him.*
……………………………………………………………………….
Ephesians 2:1-10
Psalm 99:1-5
Luke 12:13-21
………………………………………………………………………..
Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch (Bishop and Martyr)
Whatever or whomever you belong to, you pay allegiance to and that conditions your behavior. God’s creatures should pay allegiance to their creator God and let their behavior be condition by the ways of God.
What then do we say about Christians? Should God’s creatures who were redeemed by Christ at baptism pay allegiance to any other thing or person other than Christ? Far be it.
In the first reading Ephesians 2:1-10, St. Paul emphasizes this aspect of allegiance to Christ who redeems us because we are the workmanship of Christ, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Those who pay true allegiance to Christ cannot held by material things; they use material things for the good works; they are ready to share with others. They are detached.
In the gospel Luke 12:13-21, we see God’s creature who pays allegedly to another creature of God, the material things; wealth.q He is over attached to the material to the extent of hoarding the excess and reserving the gratitude and glory meant for God to himself. Wealth becomes his new God. In the end, God demonstrated to him that it was Him(God) who created Him and that allegiance is to Him alone.
God showed us that it’s stupid for humans to be trapped in riches which motivated selfishness, greediness,etc…the things you have prepared, whose will they be?-Futility and Vanity. Riches are meant to be used and not to be hoarded for our glory but shared for the glory of God.
Never think that you are different from this man because of the little you have. One could still be attached to anything no matter how little but Christ and such persons will still behave in the same way as this wealthy man. However, this is the root of most our unhappiness; turning away from our origin God, because of material things.
Ignatius of Antioch was so detached that he asked Christians never to fight for his release from the hands of the emperor and was willing to pay allegiance to Christ by his witnessing to the faith through death. For him, it was when his is crushed by the teeth of the lions that he begins to become a witness. This is a detached man because the Lord made him and he belongs to him.
©Fr. Henry Charles Umelechi
Truth Series.