DARE TO BE DIFFERENT. (Homily for Monday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B.)

Bible Study:  Daniel 1, 1 to 20. And Luke 21, 1 to 4.


The modern day sickness of our society today is conformity. It is like people have lost confidence in themselves and in what that they believe. The moment any popular artist or musician makes a certain hair style or dresses in a particular way, it becomes the new trend and you see millions trying to dress or act like that.

The desire for conformity has eaten so deep into our society that people no longer question why they act in a particular way, all they simply say is “everybody does it.” And even in these days of the super-social media apps and devices, these days of viral videos and so on, it takes only a few minutes to get thousands of people conform to a particular way of thinking or behaviour.

We have left the ways of our fathers, we have forgotten our traditional customs. Even as Christians, we are no longer convinced of our faith and God’s commandments, all we want is just to be like everybody else, we want to have what everybody else has, dress like everybody else, eat like everybody else.

The reason why we easily get caught up with the disease of conformity is the lack of a solid individual Spirituality. We are yet to build a personal one-on-one relationship with God. We are so lazy with growing our inner space and giving God a chance in our lives. We feel that as long as we can just do the basics, just say a little prayer in the morning an evening, then that is all. So we reduce our Christianity to just a little prayer and the world around us becomes our spirituality. That is why we easily get carried away by popular trends, popular patterns of thought and popular ways of behaviour even if such popular ways are direct contradiction of what God demands from us.

The Story of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah which we read about in today’s first reading shows us the need to build our individual spirituality rather than conform to the world. Having been brought into the king’s service, they refused to eat the so called “rich” food provided from the king’s table and instead requested only for vegetables and water.

Building a personal spirituality is like having a sixth sense. You are not easily carried away by things that thrill people. You see beyond mere mortals! In the end, they looked even fatter and more nourished that those who claimed to be eating rich food. Theirs which did not look rich in appearance became richer in reality because they fed not only their bodies but their spirits as well. We shall see more of them in the coming days after their names had been changed to Shredrach, Meshach and Abegnego

Let us Pray:
Lord Jesus, you were different in the course of your life on earth. Help me to mark out my own path and not be carried away by the sickness of conformity to the world. Amen.

St. Clement, pray for us.


Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you.

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