Do you remember last Sunday's 2nd reading?
1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23
Brothers and sisters:If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,for an obligation has been imposed on me,and woe to me if I do not preach it!If I do so willingly, I have a recompense,but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.What then is my recompense?That, when I preach,I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
I didnt understand it at first, but after Fr. Ambrose Vaz explained St. Paul's msg...which was, "The revelation of God's justice; the fact that God has already reconciled humankind in himself in death and resurrection of His Son." Meaning, we don't need to earn our salvation! It is given to us! Hence the reason for doing good should not be because we are afraid to go to hell, or because we wana earn a place in heaven. It's because we are rejoicing and we want to share this joy with everyone else!
The analogy Fr. Ambrose gave was...imagine I gave you a million dollars. I come to tell you that I have put the million dollars into your bank. You can 1. not believe me, and do not even bother going to the bank to take a look or 2. believe me and be very super happy and go to the bank to check it out. However you cannot be proud of this money because you did not earn it, but can only be thankful. Similarly with St. Paul when he said "this is no reason for me to boast", caz whatever he preaches is not from his own intellect but from God.
"woe to me if I do not preach it!" in our words...Im so happy I need to share this news with everyone! if not someone ought to smack me on my head!
"If I do so willingly, I have a recompense,but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship." Meaning, if St. Paul preaches willingly, then thats his extra reward..he gets joy for preaching the good news. If unwillingly, then preaching is just like a job.
"What then is my recompense?That, when I preach,I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel." So what does St. Paul get for preaching? He doesn't want to be paid because that would seem like he is preaching to earn money. It would be suspicious...like..is his ulterior motive to earn money for himself? NO! He removes all these suspicion, by not collecting money so everyone will know that whatever he preaches is not for himself, but for God.
Going back to St. Paul's main msg that is green above, "The revelation of God's justice.." Since all our sins have been reconciled thanks to Jesus, God's justice is not referring to punishment. It is a restorative justice. Hence purgatory is not a punishment, it is to restore our soul, to make us whole again. =) Isn't that great?! All this while I was fearing terrible things that did not even exist haha!To me, purgatory now seems like a choice, for me to cleanse myself and make me whole again =) before I go into heaven to meet God.
Anw, just to let you know, I was totally lost last Sunday during Mass, caz I din understand. Luckily on every Monday, there is an Introduction to St. Paul and his letters @OLPS 8pm (open to anyone who is interested). It's very interesting and enlightening. Fr. Ambrose explains really well. Thank you Fr. Ambrose!
