Friday of the
Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 16:1-8)
On a tour of the restored Pompeii the guide stopped in
front of a house to point out an adornment.
It was a statue of a man which when the gate to the yard opened touched exposed
the representation of a giant phallus. Obviously,
the stimulus for such crudeness did not die out with antiquity but remains
strong today. St. Paul’s warning in the
first reading today is as valid now as two thousand years ago.
Paul urges his readers not to copy the ways of the pagan
majority. He sees the obsession with
fine dining and the ubiquitous references to sex in Greek society as
anti-Christian. Disciples of Jesus, he
would say, do not belong to such a realm.
According to him, their homeland is the kingdom of God which is still to
come in fullness. For now, he would
recommend that they only to comply with the laws of the land like mindful immigrants
but not its mores. They are to receive directives
for living from the gospel.
Today, in part because of the success of Christianity to
humanize the world, we find many positive elements in secular society. To be sure, we must proceed prudently. Still, we can actively participate in social affairs
without undue worry of contamination. Indeed,
the Second Vatican Council promoted such engagement. It called especially lay people to prepare
the world for the coming of God’s kingdom in its fullness.
