DAILY HOMILIES #prayer

Even the very act of narrating your own sins forces you to look inwards. Healing begins by admitting your faults and recognizing there are areas you need to work on to become a better person.

For Jesus to have chosen these very persons after an all-night consultation shows that God’s ways are not our ways. In truth, even the “foolishness” of God is wiser than the highest human wisdom.

Inflamed by the Holy Spirit, Jesus visited Simon’s house where he healed Simon’s mother in law and that same night, the whole community brought to Jesus their sick and possessed relatives. Jesus healed them all

As we reflect on the life of Bartholomew, we are called to look at our own lives. How committed am I to living uprightly? Do I tell lies? How close am I to God? How good is my prayer life? Do I still recognize Jesus Christ as God? Or have I come to take Jesus’ presence for granted?

Compared to what we owe God, that which others owe us is nothing! Think of the worst thing anyone has done to you for whom you strongly believe he or she does not deserve to be forgiven. Does it occur to you that God has already forgiven you for a greater offence than that?

Step 1: Go to the person who has hurt you and discuss ONE on ONE with him or her. (Matthew 18:15). Avoid having to tell others without first, this is gossiping and it damages the image of the one who has offended you.

When you do something continuously for a while, you soon begin to take it for granted. It is not surprising to see many Christians today who do not believe in the power of prayers anymore; Christians who look down on God and on His ability to intervene in their lives. Even though most of us pray, we do not even expect the things we pray for.

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).

While the leper believed that God was capable of doing anything, Abraham fell on his face and laughed when God told him that his wife Sarai would have a child.

If we must pray when our eyes are red with tears, then let us never forget to pray when our eyes are red with alcohol, laughter and merriment because not all that glitters is gold.

See how our first reading today ends: “At that very moment, the prayers of both of them were heard in the glorious presence of God. So Raphael was sent to heal both of them: Tobit, by removing the white films from his eyes, so that he might see God's light with his eyes; and Sarah, daughter of Raguel, by giving her in marriage to Tobias son of Tobit, and by setting her free from the wicked demon Asmodeus.” (Tobit 3:16-17)

There will always be people to discourage us from praying, many would tell us that prayers are a waste of time. They would try to shut us down but like Bartimaeus, we must never give in to the pressure of the crowd.