DAILY HOMILIES

What we are celebrating today is HOPE. Hope that it is not yet over for the dead. Hope that one day, when we too depart, there would be people around here praying for us. Death is not the end. It is only a passage; a new beginning and our prayers go a long way to affect what comes to a person after they have died.

It is not in our place to wonder whether others would remember us, all we must do is to ensure that we follow the path Jesus has traced for us; that we live according to the beatitudes contained in today’s Gospel passage; that we wash our robes clean – clean of sin, clean of pride, clean of selfishness; that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

DO NOTHING FROM SELFISH AMBITION OR CONCEIT but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

From His encounter with Zacchaeus, Jesus teaches us today that in winning a soul for God, love must come first. Jesus showed Zacchaeus so much love and honored him by going to eat in Zacchaeus' home. In this way, even without preaching a single verse from the scripture, Zacchaeus was moved to repentance.

The moment we begin to see ourselves as better than others, the moment we begin to talk badly about others as “good-for-nothings,” God teaches us a lesson; He humiliates us before their very eyes.

Jesus did not do guesswork in his choice of the apostles. He didn’t select them according to their good looks or merely according to their line of trade. He spent a whole night in prayer, consulting with God who has plans, before making his choice. Like every good parent, God has plans for us his children.

After killing John the Baptist for preaching the truth, Herod was hungry again for the head of Jesus. What did Jesus do to Herod? Believe it or not, your goodness is a threat to certain persons and if they cannot bring you down by destroying your name and reputation, they would try to attack you physically. St. Paul tells us that in this battle, we must be fully dressed for action and our attire should consist of the following:

No matter how difficult it may be to love and honour your parents (and elders), bear in mind that it is part of what it means to follow the narrow door that leads to eternal salvation.

Whenever you consciously do something to hurt your spouse deliberately, it always backfires. On the day of your marriage, you were no longer two people, but one person. Treat your spouse with all the love and respect you can muster just as you would treat your leg or hand that is wounded. You don’t cut off a hand or leg because it is injured, you treat it.

Some of us have been Christians for more than 18 years yet we are still bent over spiritually. Darkness (sin and evil) still rules in our lives. It is not about how often we attend Church; it is about whether we worship God in spirit and in truth. Let us pray today for Divine healing from whatever is preventing us from standing upright before God.

(Image: Courtesy of stock.adobe.com) As we celebrate World Mission Sunday today, we are reminded that missionary work is not the exclusive reserve of the ordained but something to which we all are called. In his message for world mission Sunday 2022, Pope Francis tells us: “The essence of the mission is to bear witness to Christ, that is, to his life, passion, death, and resurrection for the love of the Father and of humanity.” (para. 5).

God wants us to win in the game of life; to bear fruits, and to fulfill our calling. A football player who doesn’t play well, who continues to pass the ball to the opponent, who even scores his own side will soon be removed and replaced. A cook who consistently misses the mark in the kitchen will produce food that he cannot even eat.