Homily – 25th Sunday – Year C – Fr Jeremiah Browne (National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies #Southafrica #Botswana #Swaziland #eswatini)
Have you ever wondered why it is that people often end a letter with the phrase “Yours sincerely”? The practice has its origins in ancient Rome. Roman sculptors often concealed cracks in apparently flawless marble statues with melted beeswax. When the wax dried and crumbled, the angry purchaser sought compensation. Reputable sculptors guaranteed their work as ‘sine sera’, which means “without wax.” Hence, “Yours sincerely.” In other words, it was a promise that what you saw was genuine, that nothing had been hidden.
In other words, sincerity is about being genuine – about living and speaking without pretence, without covering over the cracks. This theme of sincerity is found in both the first reading (Amos 8:4-7 and the gospel (Luke 16:1-13) today.
In the first reading, the prophet Amos speaks words that are as uncomfortable now as they were in his time. He condemns those who exploit the poor, who cheat the needy, and who turn life into a transaction where profit is more important than people.
Amos’s warning is blunt: God sees the small injustices, the manipulations, the ways in which the weak and vulnerable are taken advantage of. The divine expectation is that we act with sincerity, that our care for one another is genuine and not just a façade of kindness while our hearts remain indifferent.
Jesus picks up the same theme in today’s Gospel, when he says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.” He talks about the loyalty and integrity that must shape every aspect of our lives. Faithfulness, he tells us, is not a matter of grand gestures alone; it begins in the small, everyday choices – the tiny moments when no one is watching, when no one will praise us for our honesty, our generosity, or our fidelity.
There is a lesson here about the temptations we face in our own lives. We live in a world that often rewards cleverness over integrity, appearance over authenticity. Yet Christ calls us to a higher standard: to live with sincerity in both great and small things.
Think of the little moments of daily life: giving an honest day’s work, listening attentively to a friend, keeping a promise, or admitting a mistake instead of shifting the blame. These may not make headlines, but they shape the soul. They train the heart in faithfulness, so that when larger responsibilities come, we are ready to meet them with the same integrity.
Jesus also warns us that we cannot serve two masters. “You cannot serve both God and wealth.” This is not simply about money, though money is often the clearest test. It is about where our loyalty truly lies. Is God the one we serve, or are we trying to juggle loyalties, keeping one foot in the kingdom of God and the other in the world of self-interest?
This is not easy. Sometimes it feels like the world laughs at sincerity, as though honesty is naïve, as though kindness is weakness. But it is precisely in such a world that our Christian witness becomes most powerful.
To live sincerely, to act justly, to be faithful in the small things – these are acts of quiet courage that speak louder than we realise.
God does not expect perfection from us, but He does ask for sincerity. He asks that what we profess in church is lived in the way we treat the poor, the way we speak to our neighbour, the way we handle money, time, and responsibility.
If we can be faithful in the little things, then God will entrust us with the greater things – the deeper joys of His kingdom, the richer life of His Spirit.
Our witness will not be found in grand displays but in the hidden, daily faithfulness that makes the Gospel credible in the eyes of the world.
So let us live lives that are genuine, transparent, and true. Let us be men and women whose words and deeds match, whose compassion is real, and whose service flows from undivided hearts. Then, when our own life’s letter is signed, it may bear those simple but powerful words: “Yours sincerely, in Christ.”
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Please consider praying a decade of the rosary on a daily basis for the evangelising Mission of the Church and the Pope’s intentions.
The Pope’s prayer intention for September: ‘For our relationship with all of creation’
Let us pray that, inspired by Saint Francis, we might experience our interdependence with all creatures who are loved by God and worthy of love and respect.
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Blessed Pauline Jaricot, Pray for us. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
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