DAILY HOMILIES

The success of St. Paul as a great evangelizer came from the fact that he did not simply preach, he allowed his preaching affect his own life. That is to say; he practiced what he preached. He was not like the hypocrites Jesus strongly condemned.

Now, it is possible to have received the sacrament of baptism, it is possible to have confessed Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour yet because you cannot love your enemies, you are not a Christian

If you have been a Christian for some length of time, then there is every possibility that you have at least suffered some form of rejection, pain, insult or injustice for doing what is right. Today, Jesus admonishes us to have a change of attitude and begin to see such pains as blessings.

In the entire Catholic liturgical calendar, there are only three persons whose birthdays are celebrated as feasts; Jesus Christ, John the Baptist and Mary, the Mother of Jesus. This goes to show how important these three persons are as far as the history of our salvation is concerned.

Sometimes, in our hot pursuit of justice, we actually forget the law of love. We forget that as much as God would be pleased with our strict obedience to his laws, there is no law greater than loving our neighbour as ourselves.

We learn from Ezekiel that if we fail to correct (win back) those going astray, God will hold us responsible for their blood. Nevertheless, in correcting them, we must do it with a spirit of love because as St. Paul says, love is the only debt we should owe anyone. Meanwhile, Jesus gives us the steps we are to follow in this process of winning back and reconciling with one another.

Dear friends, the fact that Jesus defended himself for what he and his disciples did calls us to re-examine what we do as Christians. Are we worshipping God? Or could it just be that we are following human commandments?

It is in our human nature to judge people whether good or bad. St. Paul is teaching us not to be too quick to pass judgment because only God has the capacity to “bring to light the things now hidden in darkness…”

There are times we start operating based on the wisdom of the world and then, we begin to underestimate the power of God. Peter’s faith experienced a constant rise and fall and each time he fell, Jesus picked him up. He had the faith to walk on water but soon dropped to worldly wisdom, he started being careful on water and almost drowned.

Today, St. Paul describes jealousy and strife as symptoms of persons who lack spiritual maturity; persons who are unspiritual and ordinary men; persons who are still of the flesh. Let us search our hearts.

We Christians today must realize that we have an enemy that is very angry with us. Can you try to picture the annoyance of the man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue? “What have you to do with us?” meaning: “Why did you come here? What is your business with this place?

The fact that I come from a generation of Christians does not automatically qualify me for heaven, it is the life I live that matters. Indeed, the fact that I am a Catholic does not qualify me for heaven, it is the way I live that counts. In Matthew 21:31, Jesus declared: “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots will go into the kingdom of God before you.”