NOVEMBER 6, 2026 FATHER MICHAEL COUTTS S.J.
If you listened to our reader reading the first letter to the Philippians, he must’ve had a sense of great love, and joy, and happiness, talking to the people of Philippi.
It was the first church in Europe, when, in the Acts of the Apostles, we hear that the spirit encouraged Paul to leave what is now present-day Turkey, go to into Macedonia, which is now, present day, part of Greece, and he went to Philippi, and met Lydia, who was a person over there of great importance, and he started the first church there.
So, now he is in Rome, under house arrest, and he has got a great sense of love and affection as he writes, “I write with tears to you.” He’s concerned about them, and he wants them to be imitators of himself.
And as I read that I said, “How arrogant can this man be?” Can you imagine going and telling people, “You know, you should imitate me and the way I live my life”?
But that was not what Paul had in mind. In fact, Paul would speak about being the least of the apostles, one born prematurely, one who was a persecutor of the believers until the Lord struck him down on the road to Damascus.
So, Paul wasn’t being arrogant or cheeky, but he wanted people to imitate him just like he imitated Christ, right down to the details of picking the cross up daily, and that is what he wants to give a message to the people of Philippi.
But then he goes on to speak about the pitfalls that the Philippians would normally have, as they carried on in their ministry, as they carried on in their belief, as they carried on in breaking bread on a regular basis. That is, celebrating Mass together.
And he says, “Among the things that you’re going to face, will be sense of division.”
Division, because people think in different ways of what it means to be a believer, whether you’re a gentile who became a believer in Christ, or a person with a Jewish background who still held on to Jewish traditions. That would be one cause of division.
Another cause would be they’re human beings. There would be acting and interacting, hurting one another, and the desire to forgive does not come that easily.
So, he’s telling them, “Be of harmony of mind and heart.” Paul loved them so much that he could actually challenge them person to person in regard to following Jesus Christ. “Be imitators of me.”
Now, we come to the gospel, and it just seems to be the opposite. Jesus gives us a very unsavoury character, and he says, “Do not be like him, but be like him in this sense, that he was very concerned about his future.”
In Luke’s gospel, we have two very unsavoury characters that Jesus proposes in His parables. This one comes from chapter 16, but two chapters earlier, Jesus speaks about the corrupt judge.
He was a judge that was very harsh, a judge that said, “I fear neither God nor man,” and he would give judgments.
And then a widow came to him and said, “I want justice because I’ve been treated unfavourably.” And he had no time for the widow, but being a widow and having nothing to do, and having no justice, she would stalk him day and night at his gate until the judge says, “You know what? I do not fear men, and I don’t care about God, but this woman is like a pesky mosquito, buzzing all the way around, and she will wear me out, so I will see that she will get justice.”
Now, Jesus says to the people around him, He says, “God is not like a pesky mosquito, and God does not need to have you ask again and again. Make your prayer to God and God will answer.”
And then he then gives us the example of the corrupt manager who says, “I cannot beg. I am too ashamed to beg. I cannot dig. How can I be careful about my old age?”
And Jesus is saying it’s a healthy thing to be bothered about the future, to make sure that you go to a proper investment manager, to have some of your money being installed in stocks, in bonds, so that you may have a secure future.
But Jesus goes on to beyond that, and says, “You know, this manager was corrupt and he was caring about his future. You have to take care of your future, but what do you do about your spiritual life?”
And I ask myself, “How concerned am I about the future? What is the first thing that I do when I get up in the morning?”
Do I want to turn off the alarm and have another nine hours’ sleep? Or do I say, “Thank God I’ve got another day to serve you”? Or do I reach for my cell phone and say, “Who are the people that called me and sent me messages through the night?” “Or do I want a nice fresh cup of coffee to wake me up?”
What are your priorities as you go on in life? And that is what I think about myself.
And many people tell me, “You know, I find it difficult to go to sleep at night.” And I ask them, “Why?”
Some of them say, you know, “I got so angry with this person and I’m thinking all the time how to get revenge and how to get justice.”
Another person says, “I’m bothered about my stocks and exchange, and I wanted to know what is the latest IPO on the Nasdaq?”
Very few tell me, “I was awake because I was worried about the new immigrant family that has come to our parish. How are they going to find a doctor? How are they going to find a school? How are they going to find transport? Who’s going to help them in their everyday life?”
So we look at our priorities as we search for the Lord.
And very often, people tell me, “When I go to sleep, and I cannot sleep, I count sheep.”
I would suggest that instead of counting sheep, “Why don’t you talk to the shepherd of the sheep? And ask Him. Ask Jesus to help you to understand what are your priorities in life, so that those are the things that will lead you to a deep sleep in which you get a perfect rest and rise up again to another day to love, to serve the Lord, and to serve God’s people.”
God bless you all.
