DAILY HOMILIES #Leadership

Are you a leader in any capacity? Are you a man or woman of God? Do you head a family, a church or a company? Know that your success highly depends on your closeness to God, active prayer life and willingness to listen to God’s voice daily. Left to your power and intelligence, you can do nothing.

Leadership is not easy, but there is a secret to being successful at it: PRAYER. As a man, Moses was very weak; he lacked physical strength, having passed his young age. He was a meek person. He couldn’t speak coherently and confidently (hence the need for Aaron). The success of his leadership prowess came from his constant meetings with God.

A good leader inspires the best in people but a bad one destroys every atom of morality in them. This is why leaders; especially spiritual leaders will suffer a greater punishment than others if they are bad shepherds. A lot of young people in our society today aspire for leadership but the painful truth is that having been scandalized, they dream of taking up leadership positions not to serve the people, but to amass as much of the commonwealth as possible.

For all those times, Peter would have to suffer, the only thing that would keep him going is the memory of his triple “yes” to Jesus’ question. Love is patient and kind; love takes no record of records; love never ends; love never gives up. Jesus even went as far as predicting the kind of death Peter would die; how he would stretch his hands while others will tie his belt and take him where he does not wish to go.

Leading others is indeed the most difficult assignment on earth. Without cultivating the habit of personal prayer, no one can ever succeed at it. This is the lesson we learn in today’s first reading. In his prayer, Peter was given a vision wherein he was told not to call anything unclean that God has made clean. He would later understand the meaning of this vision when some men came from Caesarea to fetch him. In the end, a Roman official of high standing, Cornelius along with his entire family was baptized and received the Holy Spirit. This paved the way for the spread of the faith to Rome.

Wash the inside of your cup. Believe that you can do without sin. Make efforts like the men who brought their paralytic friend to Jesus through the roof. Let Jesus see your faith and He would reward you with grace to overcome temptation. Don’t look down on yourself.

In truth, the tongue is one of the smallest visible organs of the body but if it is not properly controlled, it can cause the whole body to be destroyed by fire.

How did it happen that Peter could be inspired by the Holy Spirit and within a few minutes still speak under the influence of Satan? I really get scared each time I reflect on this passage. If this can happen to Peter, it can happen to any church leader.

Leadership is not easy but there is a secret to being successful at it: PRAYER. As a man, Moses was very weak; he lacked physical strength having passed his youthful age. He was a meek person, he couldn’t speak coherently and with confidence (hence the need for Aaron).

If you discover that you are not helping those under your leadership, please honourably resign. Step down. Renounce that office or that position. On the day of judgement, you shall give an account of your leadership

In today’s First Reading, we are presented with the story of Abraham our Father in faith. Interestingly, just as Noah offered a sacrifice to God that pleased God so much, we find Abraham offering a very huge sacrifice; the sacrifice of his only begotten son, Isaac – the same Isaac that was born to him after twenty-five long years of waiting.

By displaying his ability to hear from God the Father, Jesus immediately made Peter the visible head of the church. Jesus was confident that the same Holy Spirit that spoke to Peter that day at Caesarea Philippi would continue to speak to him to make the right decisions, to say the right words and carry out the right actions to move the church forward.