DAILY HOMILIES

Today, all our readings point to the danger of living in sin, the suffering it brings to us, and the desire of God to win us back as His beloved sons and daughters.

By practicing the word of God, we hear on a daily basis, we become like a house built on a firm foundation, impossible to shake. Refusal to practice God’s words amounts to a refusal to feed the good dragon and this leads to a cycle of perpetual sinfulness. Of course, we cannot serve two masters. We cannot afford to feed both dragons at the same time. St. Paul in today’s first reading tells us: “I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy?”

A blind man cannot lead a blind man. They would both fall into a ditch. Before attempting to correct a person, make sure you are not guilty of the same sin.

We are not celebrating Mary’s birthday because she was chosen by God. We are celebrating her birthday today because she accepted God’s plan for her life. She said “Yes” to God. Like Mary, God will do great things in you and for you if only you would say “Yes” to Him; if only you would walk according to His Commands and obey His Words.

Jesus is not saying riches are sinful, rather, he wants us to consider riches as the lowest of all our priorities. This is the point St. Paul seeks to drive home when he said: “let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning.

It is better for us to suffer injustice than to suffer the disrespect of people who admire us for being Christians. If the unbeliever doesn’t see any difference in your character, why would he or she be motivated to embrace Christ? If you must seek redress, then go before the Saints; that is, take your issues before your fellow Christians. Jesus even said this: “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:17).

Jesus was well aware of the law and he knew the implication of healing this man on the Sabbath day. Jesus also realized there was one law that the Pharisees were not aware of; the law of doing good or better put, the Law of Love. So, Jesus asked them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it on Sabbath day?”

Forgiveness is one virtue that enables us to resemble Christ more. No matter what others may have done to us, no matter what they may have taken away from us, no matter what privileges they may have denied us, if we do not forgive, we are not yet Christians. We don’t forgive because the person who has offended us deserves it, we forgive because of our Faith in Christ Jesus who was able to forgive the very persons who executed Him on the Cross of Calvary. It does not make sense (humanly speaking) to forgive, but it takes a Christian to forgive. Remember, as Christians, we do not operate according to human wisdom, but Divine Wisdom.

Hostility towards others is a sign of the absence of true inner spirituality. Just as Jesus’ detractors were hostile to him looking for faults at every instance, we could relapse into such hostility and forget the essence of our faith in God is love for our neighbor. Once we no longer love others, our worship of God becomes mere religiosity.

It is in our human nature to judge people whether good or bad. Most times, our judgment is based on what we can see or what we think we know about them, or based on who we are. St. Paul is teaching us today not to be too quick to pass judgment because only God has the capacity to “bring to light the things now hidden in darkness…”

What kind of wisdom am I operating with right now? Is this decision I am about to take fuelled by worldly wisdom? Is there an element of Faith in what I am about to do? Could it be the case that Jesus is telling me to throw my net for a catch and I am protesting strongly against the move based on what I already know about fishing?

There is something that Jesus did after the great session of healing and casting out demons that we must learn. When you are successful in fighting satan and destroying the forces of darkness, do not become puffed up with pride.