DAILY HOMILIES #Jesus

The Holy Eucharist is the best protection any human can ever have. As Jesus protected the Christians in Damascus from Saul’s raid, Jesus would surely protect you from the plans of your enemies, whether known or unknown. As a communicant, no one can cut short your life or kill you before your time.

Jesus taught that while the manna was earthly food (never satisfied), the bread from heaven truly satisfies. The people said, “Give us this bread always.” Jesus replied: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35). In other words, to have Jesus is better than having the whole world. No wonder St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” Only Jesus can give us true satisfaction. Stephen was not afraid of dying because He knew he had Jesus.

The secret to practising what these early believers did is refusing to be possessed by what you own. Becoming rich is not a sin, but being possessed by one’s wealth is a sin. Once upon a time, a rich young man asked Jesus about the secret of inheriting eternal life. Out of love for him, Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, after which he could return to follow Jesus. The young man walked away sorrowfully. The believers in today’s first reading did exactly what Jesus asked the young man to do. They did this because their possessions did not possess them.

When you go for confession, and a priest says, “Your Sins are forgiven,” know that you are enjoying the Divine Mercy of God because the priest has received the Holy Spirit at ordination and has been empowered by Jesus to forgive sins. In the sacrament of penance, you are not confessing to a man; you are confessing to someone reborn through the breath of Jesus, as we read in today’s Gospel passage.

Good Friday shows God understands our pains. He knows what it feels like to love and be rejected, to be betrayed, angry, hungry, insulted, dissatisfied, sick, weak, or sorrowful. Good Friday teaches us that Jesus once felt what you are going through today.

In today’s Gospel passage, the crowds listening to Jesus were divided in their opinions. This is typical of any crowd. This is why we must avoid being swayed by public opinion, lest we become like a palm tree that sways in different directions depending on the wind. We must praise the courageous soldiers who were sent to arrest Jesus, but after hearing him preach, they returned to the Pharisees to say, “No man has ever spoken like this man.”

St. Patrick, the beloved patron saint of Ireland, was originally from Roman Britain. When he was fourteen, Irish pirates captured him and took him to Ireland as a slave. His strong faith provided comfort and hope during his six years in captivity. A divine dream inspired Patrick to escape, and he eventually returned to Britain and reunited with his family. Feeling a sacred calling, Patrick became a priest and was later ordained a bishop. He was driven to bring Christianity to Ireland, arriving in Slane on 25 March 433.

The scribes and Pharisees were more concerned about their appearance than their holiness. They invested heavily in looking good but remained ugly in God’s sight. They took seats of honour at banquets but remained unworthy of the eternal banquet. They sat in the front rows of the synagogue, but without oil in their lamps, they were destined to stay outside like the foolish virgins. (cf. Matthew 25:1-13).

Why must we make efforts during this Lent to repent? Joel says, “He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in mercy and repents of evil.” Look around you; there is already enough evil and suffering in the world. Your decision to repent today goes a long way toward making the world a much better place. More still, you may also be averting punishment for your sins.

As much as God wanted to punish Solomon, there was something special about Jeroboam that caught God’s attention, just as David possessed certain qualities that impressed God. In 1 Kings 11:28, we read: “The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he gave him charge over all the forced labour of the house of Joseph.” Do you desire to be great? Stop seeing work as a punishment.

The Psalmist says: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” (Psalm 122:1). This was the joy the people felt in today’s Gospel passage they moment they recognised Jesus. They ran from various neighbourhoods to meet him, bringing their sick with them. Like those who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, let us approach God’s temple, conscious that we will drink from the river of life that flows from it. According to Ezekiel, “Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live.” (Ezekiel 47:9)

The key to being ‘the salt of the earth’ and ‘the light of the world’ is showing love to those who need it most: the hungry, the homeless, the naked, the sick, the prisoners and so on. Although Isaiah’s list is not exhaustive, he basically draws our attention to the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy, which are: Feeding the Hungry, Giving Drink to the Thirsty, Sheltering the Homeless, Clothing the Naked, Visiting the Sick, Visiting the Prisoners, and Burying the Dead.