29th Sunday OT C 2025

We are asked to keep our faith strong and busy. For if we do, if we hold out until the end, we will have eternal life in heaven.

Today we are given two reminders: to keep praying and asking for help and peace and for the Holy Spirit to reside with us, in us and beside us.

And the second is to keep our faith alive not only inside us but to reach out to others in every opportunity. To never stop talking about Jesus and to have him ever on our mind and lips.

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So we are called to be patient and persevere.

All of us are experiencing or have experienced times of struggle. Loss of jobs maybe, business stumbles. Illness,  loss of loved ones, poor financial decisions often lead us into trouble. As do poor decisions on relationships or how to effectively and successfully live a life as Christ taught.

There are so many struggles we encounter just by being humans walking through our time on earth.

For many that is all they have. An existence of aimless choosing and chasing what the world says is valuable.  Many people have no map. No path set before them. They try on stereotype identities to see if they fit. If they feel at home in them and finally feel whole.

It’s true. Most people have characters they put on.

The salesperson who calls us and puts on the stereotypical salesperson. Which we hear immediately and either hang up or get off the phone as quickly as possible. If only they had called as a friend and truly sought to help others solve problems which may include their product or service.

But instead, they reply to our hello with a fake tone and assertion in their voice trying to get that one liner out that will make the call successful.

Funny isn’t it that if a friend called to tell us about the same product we would probably listen before declining. If a friend called to tell us about the product and truly cared about our wellbeing and how it would really help us …we would even consider buying it for a moment anyway.

And if a stranger called and talked and sounded like they really cared about us first and truly wanted to see if they could help us with their product, we may just give an open listen for a minute maybe.

We all hate calls from salespeople. But we are all selling something brothers and sisters.

Every one of us by our actions and life are selling an idea or character to others.

Maybe we are selling the idea that having a lot of possessions and dressing in fine clothing like our image of success in this world is the best way to live and what character to be.

Maybe we are selling that glamour or popularity is best.

Many sell fast living and unbridled desire and sex. They walk around immodestly dressed and their words speak of easy relationships and encounters that are fulfilling and built on sensuality rather than true love for others.

As followers of Christ, he asks us to be ourselves. To be children of God for that is who we are. And we are asked to sell it too. Show others what a modest and faithful Christian man or woman looks like. How do they dress? How do they live. When they encounter others, whether by phone or in the market do they treat everyone as brothers and sisters who they want to know the peace and joy of living for Christ rather than the wasted aimless lives many people are living today.

You see the evil one is out there selling hard. He has phone banks reaching everyone by all technology and in every place, people can be found. Every place without exception. He has convinced many that God isn’t really relevant. Not when the pleasures and experiences and things of the world can bring immediate satisfaction. Of not eternal loss of our place in heaven.

We must be strong in our faith until the end, but we must also gather as many others as we can.

What does your life sell to others?