DAILY HOMILIES #holy

How do we say “Yes” to God? St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading: “to be holy and blameless before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:3-4). Our “Yes” to God is our decision to live holy and blameless lives. It is our willingness to be the world's salt and light. Is it easy to say “Yes” to God? No. Nevertheless, if Mary said “Yes”, you too can say “Yes.”

Do you want your prayers to be heard? God says: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:16-17). There is no point moving from Church to Church or subjecting yourself to abuse in the hands of so-called powerful miracle workers; repent from the evil around you, and God will grant your prayers.

Regardless of your age or achievements, remember you are an infant; have a childlike attitude towards God. In today’s Gospel passage, we see how Bartimaeus successfully received his eyesight because he approached Jesus like a child who did not stop begging until he got the needed attention. It is not in our place to issue commands to God.

If we claim to be children of God, there are certain things we should never do, whether or not anyone is watching us. As children of God, we should never be ashamed or afraid of living righteously. On the other hand, we should not assume that everyone is a child of God.

If proper statistics are taken, it would reveal that the answer to this question for most of us is zero. We do not even bother to count. When we feel offended, we rush to retaliate, end the relationship (business agreement, marriage, contract etc.) or bottle everything up – waiting for the right time to strike back.

Have I fully received Christ? Am I a wolf in sheep's clothing? Do I outwardly claim to be for Christ yet act against him in private? And finally, as a child of God, what are my New Year's resolutions?

Without forgiveness, there cannot be a holy family. If your love is to last, you must forgive one another repeatedly; seventy-seven times seven times. As St. Paul says: “Forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you.” (Colossians 3:13)

Today, we are called to do a cleansing of our minds and hearts. We are called to make a whip of cords and search through our lives for any sinful inclination or vice that pollutes the temple of our bodies.

We cannot follow the narrow door if we cannot dare to stand out from the world and be different. To enter by the narrow door is to love God’s commandments regardless of what the world thinks about them.

Right there in prison, rather than fall into despair, they burst into singing. They prayed, they sang and the Holy Spirit came down. God who did not prevent them from being beaten and thrown in prison became moved when he heard them pray and sing. He not only freed them from prison, but he also brought about the conversion of the chief jailer.

Instead of loving our neighbors as ourselves, treating others as we would like to be treated, devilish wisdom fuels selfishness in us, it brings about disorder in society and man’s inhumanity to man.