DAILY HOMILIES

Amongst the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, one which we often take for granted is the gift of Love. People tend to look at those who speak in tongues as very holy people. A lot of respect is given to those who have the gift of preaching and those who have the gift of healing; they are seen as demi-gods. But as St. Paul makes us understand in today’s first reading, the greatest gift is Love.

Today, we celebrate the adjoining Feast to that of yesterday; Our Lady of Sorrows. If truly Jesus suffered on the cross, it follows that Mary, His Mother, suffered twice as much. As the saying goes: “it is harder to watch the pains of those we love than to bear our own pains.”

Just as a tree was the source of man’s downfall, it became necessary that when God was restoring man to himself in Christ; correcting the error of the first man, a tree (the cross) would play such a vital role as it did in the passion and death of Christ.

Anger makes room for the devil in our heart who uses our pain as an excuse to further wreck damage in our lives. To prevent anger from leading us into sin, we must not let the Sun set on our anger. In other words, forgiving quickly and immediately. The more we delay forgiveness, the harder it becomes to let go.

A mother told her daughter about two dragons that are constantly fighting within her and she asked, “Which of them wins?” The mother replied: “The one you feed.” Of course, a well-fed dragon will always defeat the malnourished and impoverished dragon.

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?