DAILY HOMILIES

The day you can handle a microphone and confess your sins in public (as St. Paul did in today’s first reading) is the day you will be free. As long as we keep pretending to be saints in public while indulging in evil behind closed doors, repentance continues to elude us.

Giving to God expresses your faith. If your faith is large enough to acknowledge that everything you have comes from God, then like seeds sown in good soil, you would easily consider doing something to appreciate God.

David’s dance is similar to the dance of little children when their parents arrive from work or on a journey. David danced out of excitement because he knew that God’s blessings would come upon Israel with the Ark in its rightful place.

To succeed, you must be connected to a Divine Source of energy. Our first reading today concludes with this statement: “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.”

Jesus says: “Follow Me.” Follow me, and I will take care of you; follow me, and I will make you fishers of men; follow me, and I will take you to a higher level of prosperity and success; follow you, and I will give you true peace. Follow me, and your life will never remain the same again.

Blessed Tansi was often accused of taking his Christian faith too seriously. He lived this vocation at the abbey for 14 years. Father Tansi used to say: “If you are going to be a Christian at all, you might as well live entirely for God”.

Sometimes God tests us by putting our enemies in our hands. Revenge is not as sweet and glamorous as we see in the movies; killing your enemies makes no sense because it will not restore what they have taken away from you. If you treat your enemies the same way they treated you, it means you would have done worse if you were in their shoes

Success is sweet but comes with challenges. Before Goliath, Saul regarded David as some harmless musician. Saul loved David. However, the moment Saul heard the women singing, Saul hated David. We all have people like Saul in our lives; you become a threat to them the moment you start shining.

Do not think that because you are a good person (one who strives to live righteously), you are free from enemies. It is possible that you are yet to know your enemies, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Some of those close to you may just be looking out for opportunities to launch deadly attacks (like the Pharisees who followed Jesus everywhere).

Saul did not fear disobeying God’s instructions because he felt greater than Samuel. David’s anointing was to teach Saul a lesson – to show him that the same anointing that brought him to glory could function in others. Regardless of your office today, never forget you are dust.

Obedience is difficult. It involves doing the will of another rather than yours. Sometimes, God’s instructions may not make sense yet; it is at such moments that our faith is tested. It didn’t make sense to Saul to destroy all those beautiful things he saw in the land of Amalek. Saul did not know it was a test.

The saying goes, ‘When the student is ready, the master appears.’ We must be ready for God with hearts positively disposed to listen like Samuel, who said: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” He didn’t say: “Please, stop disturbing me. Can’t you see I am trying to sleep?”