DAILY HOMILIES #Love

Children must resemble their father, their DNA must match. If we are not merciful, we cannot claim to be children of God and we really have no business in heaven. Your best possible life can only happen when you are merciful. Your heart is too precious to be used as a storage device for hurt, bitterness and vengeance.

Most of us Christians today only pretend that we love God. We worship God just for the benefits we gain from God. We are like one who marries a person because he/she is rich. When the money is no more, they leave! If you truly love someone, you would sacrifice everything for that person. No wonder, in today’s Gospel passage, we hear Jesus saying to us, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Dear friends, let brotherly love continue. Do not be a Herod to someone just because he or she is telling you the truth. Do not be like the kinsfolk of Jesus who were almost throwing him down the cliff because He told them the truth.

It is bad enough that despite our efforts, we still fall but nothing can be more terrible than our refusal to get back on our feet when we fall.

Love is giving our very best to our enemies; those who have no regard for us, those who hate us. Love is giving freely and selflessly to others; not those we are attracted to and more importantly, not those we expect to receive from. So if you stopped giving just you are not appreciated or the person does not reciprocate, it means there was never any atom love in you. You were just being a merchant.

Growing up as kids, we read a lot of story books which ended with the phrase: “And they lived happily ever after.” Most of us often make the mistake of assuming that after the wedding ceremony, everything suddenly falls into place by itself. This is not true. If your family is to be holy, then get ready to do the hard work; be prayerful, fear God, live a virtuous life, be faithful to your marital vows, love your spouse to the end. Remember, no one can give what he or she does not have.

Today, there are many Christians who literally throw caution to the wind in the name of celebrating Christmas. By so doing and without realizing it, many of us actually celebrate the devil more than we celebrate Jesus Christ during Christmas. Let me ask, where are you planning to go and catch fun today? And why do you feel Christmas is empty without this “fun”?