1st Reading: Josh 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
2nd Reading: Eph 5:21-32
Gospel: Jn 6:60-69
If you are to stand here, where I am standing, and look at what I’m looking at, then, like me, you would also say it’s awesome.
And to know that there are so many pairs of eyes looking your way, and so many pairs of ears listening to what you are going to say, you can be sure that this is not child’s play.
In fact, some of the visiting priests have commented that the size of the congregation, especially at the 11.30am Mass, can be quite overwhelming.
Yes, we are proud that this parish community is big, and still growing, and at times overwhelming.
But let’s say that the Church lifted this thing about the Sunday obligation.
Let’s just say that coming for Mass on a Sunday is not obligatory but optional.
Now, if that’s the case, would we still want to come to Church for Mass on Sunday?
We have to consider the fact that there are so many other things that we want to do on Sunday.
We can sleep in till noon, and then wake up for this thing called “brunch”, a word now found in the dictionary.
For some people, Sunday can be the laziest day, or the busiest day.
You can sleep right into the late afternoon and wake up for a combination of lunch and dinner. (I don’t know what to call that. If breakfast and lunch is called brunch…)
Or if you have young children, you may not even have time to eat because you will be busy bringing them around from enrichment classes to your parents’ places. (Oh, I forgot, of coz, Sunday catechism classes, how can I forget huh)
So for some, it’s “Thank God it’s Friday”, for some it’s “Thank God it’s Monday”.
But whatever it is, for us, Sunday is to come to church to thank God.
But for us who come to church on Sunday, we also know of someone who does not come to church anymore.
There many reasons why they don’t come to church anymore.
Some are valid reasons; others are just excuses.
Whatever it is, they have made their choice, which is also their decision.
The readings we have heard earlier, also have this underlying aspect of the freedom of choice, and it’s a choice that expresses a decision.
In the first reading, Joshua asked the people – choose today whom you wish to serve.
In the 2nd reading, St Paul urged his people to choose the way of love so as to be obedient to Christ.
In the gospel, when people began leaving Jesus because they could not take what he said about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He turned to His apostles and asked: What about you, do you want to go away too?
It is said in three different ways, but essentially it is about exercising the freedom of choice, and the choice is decisive.
So, to reply the question of Jesus: What about you, do you want to go away too? We might just give the textbook answer of St Peter and said: Lord, who shall we go to?
But let’s just say, that Jesus would ask this next question: So why do you want to stay?
How are we going to answer that?
We just can’t have a textbook answer for this. We are not going to find the answer in “Facebook”either.
The answer has got to come from your own book, and my own book.
Yes, it has to be a personal answer. And we have to make that personal choice, and it’s a choice that is decisive.
Let me share with you a story of a salesman, a salesman was dealing with audio equipment and accessories.
His basic pay was not much and neither was his commission, but because his clientele was large, so he could make ends meet.
Then came along a competitor company, and it offered him three times his current salary, as will as a higher commission from the sales.
It was certainly a more than attractive offer, but what was unwritten but understood, was that he would have to bring his clientele along.
For this salesman, the monetary benefits would be enough reason for him to leave his present company.
But as he thought about it, he painfully decided not to leave his present company.
So what made him stay on? It is a matter of integrity.
Because to bring his clientele along to the next company would mean that he would be the talk of the town and end up with a bad name.
So it was a choice between a quick gain or a good name, and his choice was a decision for integrity.
We might say; Ya… but integrity will only keep you hungry…”
Well, not the end of story yet. As things turned out, a few years later, that competitor company, due to bad management, began firing its sales personnel and executives.
That salesman could only give thanks to God for helping him make the good and right choice.
Talking about choices, when I was a seminarian, people often asked me about my calling and why I wanted to become a priest.
Now that I am a priest, not many people have asked me why I want to stay on as a priest.
Of course, if I am asked that question, I can always resort to the textbook answer that the priesthood is indelible, as in “once a priest, always a priest”, much like baptism and marriage.
But why do I want to stay on as a priest? Of course there is the joy of seeing people experiencing the love of God and growing in love for the Lord as I carry out my priestly ministry.
Yet there are also the trials and challenges of meeting the expectations as well as demands of the people.
Some people may even think that a priest is like some kind of holy superman, always smiling, always saying Yes to any requests, wont be angry and wont scold people.
Of coz, I want to be a holy man, but a superman ….???
But what is the primary reason that I want to stay on as a priest?
Well, its all about integrity and responsibility.
I have made my choice to answer God’s call. That is my decision. I will be responsible for my decision and I will be faithful to my decision. For me, there will be no other options.
In many ways, I learnt integrity and responsibility from my own father.
My father is an easy going simple family man. He works hard although his salary was not much.
He stays at home to be with his wife and children and goes to church with them.
In short, my father is a simple, responsible man, who is faithful to what he has committed himself to.
Yes, from my father, I learnt responsibility and faithfulness to commitment.
And one more thing, and that is I don’t want to entertain any other options. It is either I stay on, or I stay on.
May you also stay on in whatever good decisions that you have made in life. Let there be no other options.
Let God be our only option. When we choose God and God alone, then we choose life, as well as eternal life.