DAILY HOMILIES

To be covetous is to live in a special world; a world of I, me and myself; a world where I care only for one person – me. To be covetous is to refuse to give others their due like the case of the man whose brother had to run to Jesus because he did not give him a share of their father’s inheritance.

When we say the Church is missionary by nature, we mean it exists to “make disciples of all nations.” When we say the Church is missionary by nature, we mean that as members of the Church, everything we do is part of this process of making disciples. In other words, we are either letting our light shine or further increasing the darkness of sin and evil in our world. An example of darkness in our world today is police brutality, extortion, oppression and corruption which has triggered protests by youths in cities across Nigeria.

Just as we are keen to talk evil (or gossip) about someone behind their back knowing that the person may never get to hear it, once we lose consciousness of the Holy Spirit within us, we are bound to fall into the temptation of speaking ill (blaspheming) against the Holy Spirit. Live in a manner that proclaims Jesus positively.

Jesus tells us today in very clear terms: “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” I mean, there is no need to tell a lie because if the truth is not known today, it will be known one day. There comes a time that your cover would blow up and everything you have covered up, pretended about and hidden will be exposed.

In today’s first reading, St. Paul describes a Christian as: 1. A person who is blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. 2. A person chosen in Christ to be holy and blameless. 3. A person destined in love to be united to God in the fullness of time.

The truth is that if we actually walk by the Spirit, we would not need to tell anyone we are Christians because our character, our behaviour, our choice of words and so on will be different; our lives would be characterized by Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. Do you desire these things in your life? Then as St. Paul says, you must crucify the flesh with its passions and desires.

Dear friends, as much as we strive to look good by taking care of the outside (what people see), what efforts do we make towards cleansing our hearts so as to look good before God who alone sees what is inside?

Jesus did not perform a sign there and then for this crowd because that would be vain-glory. As a minister, do I perform miracles or give testimonies to exult myself or for the genuine good of the people? On the other hand, do I go to church like these people in today’s Gospel passage demanding signs and wonders from God before I can believe? Jesus called them an evil generation. What would Jesus say of our own generation?

Our first reading, our responsorial psalm and Gospel passage today describe the kingdom of God in terms of a banquet, a place of abundance of food and drinks. Isaiah says, “On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things…” Our Psalmist sings: “You have prepared a table before me… my cup is overflowing.” And in our Gospel passage, Jesus tells us of a great banquet to which everyone in the streets was invited.

When a woman admired Jesus, she exclaimed: “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” Indeed, in her song of thanksgiving for God’s choice of her, Mary, the mother of Jesus herself said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth ALL GENERATIONS WILL CALL ME BLESSED.” (Luke 1:48).

Some came to Jesus demanding for signs and wonders as if to say: “Jesus, prove yourself or I walk away!” It is interesting that Jesus did not perform any sign for them. Instead, Jesus seized the opportunity to teach them that it is impossible for Beelzebub to cast out itself. What we learn from Jesus’ response is His calm disposition. Jesus had every right to get annoyed with the people or even to call down fire on them for such a false accusation but He took his time to teach them. When people lie against us, let us learn to be calm and allow the truth to put them to shame.

Even though many Jews had become Christians, they still held on to the belief that circumcision was the ticket to salvation insisting that the newly converted Gentiles must be circumcised. This way, they were literally watering down everything Jesus did for us on the Cross of Calvary.