DAILY HOMILIES

Salvation is free but it is not cheap. Faith without works is dead. If you say you love God, then let your love inspire your good works; put on your wedding garment – behave like someone who is preparing to spend forever in God’s presence.

The essence of the Christian life is COLLABORATION, not COMPETITION. Why engage in a fight with someone who in a few years from now would become dust just like you under the ground? What is the point of boasting or treating people like garbage when we do not know what tomorrow holds?

There is another type of riches that Jesus encourages in our Gospel passage. It is the riches of detachment from this world’s goods for sake of the kingdom of God. It is the riches of generosity. According to Jesus: “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29).

The words of Elizabeth to Mary define her uniqueness amongst everything that God ever created. “Blessed are you among women.” No woman can ever be more popular than Mary, no woman can ever rise to a more glorious position than Mary, and no woman’s name will ever be mentioned on the lips of millions and millions of generations upon generations to come like the name of Mary.

As much as family is important, serving God leaves no room for compromise. We cannot avoid the divisions that must come or the hatred of others in our determination to seek first God’s kingdom. Like Jeremiah, we shall surely face persecution but everything we suffer is a form of fire that purifies us from impurities just as gold is purified by fire. Our real enemy is not people but sin.

You may spend huge sums of money educating your children but if you fail to nourish them spiritually or fail to teach them how to pray, you could end up deforming them. It is sad to note that some parents go as far as offering bribes just so that their children can receive baptism and other sacraments without going through the rigors of catechism class. Whether we like it or not, a bulk of our problems in Africa arise as a result of the absence of morality among our populace. We have lost a sense of what is right and wrong. Our leaders do not think is it wrong to steal or divert funds meant for development. People are respected today not according to their contribution to society but according to the size of their pockets.

Since there are no perfect humans, and Jesus is saying that divorce is not an option, how are couples to find joy in marriage? The answer is forgiveness. Forgive quickly. St. Paul would say: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27). If couples learn to forgive each other seventy times seven times, marriages would be blissful. Forgiveness sustains marriage.

Unforgiveness is like holding hot coals in your bare hands hoping to throw them at your offenders. Once a snake brushed a saw in the farmer’s tool shed and in anger the snake rolled itself around the saw hoping to crush it but the snake ended up committing suicide. Unforgiveness is suicidal. On the other hand, forgiveness is self-healing. It is releasing a prisoner only to discover you are the prisoner.

St. Lawrence did not simply give to the poor; his giving was at the risk of his own life. Jesus says unless a grain of wheat falls and dies, it remains alone but after it dies, it bears much fruit. Whenever we make sacrifices for God’s sake, it is always painful but we must bear in mind that our pain, like the death of the seed buried under the ground, would eventually yield a great harvest. Let us learn from Lawrence the need to be charitable and the willingness to let go of our life itself so that we can have a better life in heaven.

Respect Children. In fact, fear children. Jesus is saying to us, if you cannot respect the innocence and purity of children, at least, consider the fact that no child is without his or her angels sent by God to guard and guide them. Yes, there are invisible spirits around every child working all round the clock for their good. Be good to children and you will be blessed by their angels. If you want to experience the power of children, gather little children together, go down on your knees and ask them to pray for you.

There is an extent that our pursuit of justice becomes a vice. Sometimes, it is best to shift ground. What will it profit you if you destroy the whole world just to prove you are right? Be like Jesus; allow peace to reign.

If we are to understand hell as the place of the unfaithful, it follows that there is a place other than heaven and hell where souls go to receive either severe or light beating. This place is what the church calls purgatory. As the Catechism puts it: “Purgatory is the final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.” (CCC 1030-1031) This purification is done so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.