DAILY HOMILIES #Gospel

We learn from Ezekiel that if we fail to correct (win back) those going astray, God will hold us responsible for their soul. Nevertheless, in correcting them, we must do it with a spirit of love because, as St. Paul says, love is the only debt we owe others. Meanwhile, Jesus gives us the steps to follow in this process of winning back and reconciling with one another.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus likened the Scribes and Pharisees to whitewashed tombs, beautiful from the outside but full of dead men’s bones inside. If people get close to us, would they see something different from what we portray in public?

Sadly, despite the diversity of churches, evil seems to rise in our society. Our real problem is hypocrisy. We are always trying to deceive people when we cannot deceive God.

The feeling of regret or better put, emptiness is what comes to us when we realize our past actions were mere acts of foolishness, especially those spurred by vain ambitions.

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.

Everyone is pointing fingers but no one wants to change. We accuse our priests, pastors, imams, bishops, general overseers, etc. We accuse our political leaders, businessmen and women, school teachers and school owners, musicians, and celebrities, we accuse parents; no one is left out. In this age of social media, when any scandal breaks out, everyone starts to talk, and we demonize each other openly, yet when we go back home, we shut the door and continue doing evil hoping never to get caught. Be the change you desire to see. Repent.

Time has come for us men and women of God to realize that Jesus sent us to preach not to work miracles. Some ministers today have landed themselves in trouble in a bid to satisfy their congregation with at least one miracle or the other during church services forgetting that their primary duty is to preach.

The life of Luke teaches us a very important lesson: You don’t have to be ordained/professed as a Priest or Reverend Sister neither must you open a church before you can do the work of God. Right where you are, you can make even more significant contributions to the Christian Faith than many ordained ministers.