THE GIFT OF DEVOTION. (Homily for January 8, 2016. Friday after Epiphany).


Bible Study: 1 John 5, 5 to 13. And Luke 5, 12 to 16.


To be devoted is to be committed, it is creating a pattern of regular actions that lead the mind and heart to worship. To be devoted to God is to acknowledge one’s inferiority before him and be willing to bow. In the healing of the leper in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus told the leper; “Go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded….” Here is Jesus, God in human flesh, asking a person to go and perform a Mosaic rite, an outward sign of devotion.

Jesus had his own personal devotions. As our Gospel passage concludes, whenever he was done attending to the great crowds pressing round him, he would withdraw to the wilderness (a quiet place) to pray!

To be devoted to God is one precious gift we can offer to him, one that requires sacrifice on our part. We cannot afford to serve God according to our own convenience. There are people who wait till when they “feel like” to pray, or go to church or do anything pertaining to their spiritual growth. By so doing, they say to God, “You are not so important to me, you just have to come in only when I need you and if I have better things to do, you will wait.”

To be devoted at all to God, one must first believe. Without faith, there is no way one can subject himself or herself to a rhythm of devotions. Such a person amuses himself while others are praying, he sees prayer time as totally uninteresting and looks upon liturgical rites as mere human observances. Such a person will argue with Jesus why he has to go and show himself to a priest after he has been cured already. Such a person finds it very very hard to see that beyond the person of the priest, is an office which represents God.

St. John address this kind of disbelief in the first reading. Some people were finding it very difficult to accept that a man who they saw talking and walking among them could possibly be the Son of God. So they were coming up with certain strange doctrines about Jesus. John calls such persons antichrists. He says it is only by our faith in the truth about Jesus that we can be certain to overcome the world. “Who is it that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? … He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself… And this is the testimony; that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 1st John 5, 5 to 11.

To believe in Jesus is to have Jesus in you and having Jesus within you is to have eternal life. This is a life within a life. Many persons are alive in that they are able to breathe and move about but deep within, they are dead because they lack Jesus. Their lack of faith makes them disregard anything pertaining to God but for those who have life deep within, they are always very devoted. Their faith in Jesus creates a burning desire to constantly connect with God through acts of devotion and worship. They go on their knees, they follow liturgical rites, they pray not only with lips but with hearts as well. They are not cynical or indifferent to church activities but are able to approach Jesus like the leper in today’s Gospel passage who fell on his face to beg saying “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

Let us Pray:
Lord Jesus, I give you my total loyalty and devotion, I will bow before you in adoration and worship, I promise to honour the time I spend with you in prayer and never push it aside for anything. Amen.


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

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