DAILY HOMILIES #revelation

As John ate the scroll, we feed on God’s word daily. Jesus himself said: “Man shall not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Cf. Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4, and Deuteronomy 8:3). The book of Hebrews also adds: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). God’s word is food, but it is also a sharp sword. This explains why it tasted sweet in John’s mouth and bitter in his stomach.

Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.

If we want our children to grow strong and wise, we must, like Mary and Joseph constantly present them to God. Never neglect to bring your children to church. Let them attend catechism classes. Let them be at Sunday School. It is very important. Do not assume that your children will get to know God or make the right choices in life on their own. Bring them to God. As the book of Proverbs says: “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” (Proverbs 22:6)

As the book of Hebrews confirms: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).

Jesus himself said, witnessing for him comes with its own downsides. There are definitely roadblocks along the way. It is not funny! There are certainly people who will be ready to kill you all because you are talking about Jesus. Jesus said: “even people who kill you will think they are doing a service to God.” That is to say, our greatest persecution will not come from atheists but from people who claim to believe in God; fellow Christians.

We live in a troubled world. Just glimpse at the pages of our newspapers. Go online to see what is trending in our nation or even around the world, and you cannot but agree that humanity is troubled. Jesus perfectly understands our troubled situation and seeks to console us. Last Sunday, we heard Jesus say: “I shall not be with you much longer… I give you a new commandment, love one another just as I have loved you.” (John 13:33-35). Jesus makes us understand that if we love one another as he loved us, our world would be less troubled. Today, Jesus says to us: “Peace I give to you; not as the world gives… let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27). While we face troubles from the world around us in the form of persecution, injustice, and hatred by those who do not know God, let us bear in mind that the peace of Jesus is not of this world. It is a peace that comes with knowing that we are just pilgrims on our way home.

When we go for confession, God so forgives our sins and washes us that we can confidently say we become new creatures. God does not remember our sins because the moment we offload them at the confessional, our old self dies and we leave as newborn babies. Just as you cannot accuse a newborn baby of sin, God no longer accuses us of the sins that we have dropped at the confessional. Never be too shy to go to confession; it is not the priest who forgives us but Jesus Christ himself who gave the priest the power to retain or absolve sins in His name.