LENT DAY 28: HOW DO YOU REACT TO ATTACKS OF EVIL PEOPLE. (Homily for March 12, 2016. Saturday of the 4th Week of Lent)


Bible Study: Jeremiah 11, 18 and to 20. And John 7, 40 to 53.


It was Jim Reeves who sang:

“This world is not my home I'm just a-passin' through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door.
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.”

However, as much as we tend to agree with what he says, we do not like to accept the bitter truth that this world is really not ours. We live as through this world belongs to us and we have every right to remain here forever. How? We get to notice our extreme love for the world when faced with threats of the wicked or evil people. From our reaction at times, it becomes clear that we do not really believe in the existence of heaven and we do not like to think that there could ever be a place better than this earth where we would call home.

Upon hearing or even imagining any such thing as a plot by some group of persons to harm us, we instantly become unsettled. The next thing is that we label certain persons as “enemies” and we begin to plot even greater plans to destroy them before they get to us. And we justify our actions with the theory of “self-defence.” At the end, we who say we are children of God, end up displaying a greater degree of wickedness than our so-called enemies. To kill a fly, we get a sledge hammer!

Even our modern day preachers and ministers do not seem to help matters. I was passing through the streets of this town and I saw a bill board with a bold headline: “You monitor me, you die!” Immediately I started laughing. What makes us think that we have become so important that others do not have anything else to do other than to monitor us and even us they keep track of our activities, isn’t it meant to show them that God is doing well for us that they too may be converted? We call ourselves Christians, yet day in day out, we are praying for the death of our imagined enemies.

When his life was under threat, did Jesus ever pray for the death of his enemies? Did he ever wish the death of the Pharisees who clearly were planning his death? Even when soldiers came to arrest him and he saw them, did he run away? Did Jesus get body guards like our modern pastors do? Did Jesus use a convoy with heavily armed military men? What did Jesus do? He simply preached the truth to them. His teaching was so convincing that even the soldiers came back to confess that no one has ever spoken like him before. He spoke to the heart of his enemies because he loved those who sought his very life and continued to love them even when he drew his last breath. Can you do likewise?

Jeremiah is a classic model for us as to how to pray for our enemies. Just check out how he selects his words in today’s first reading: “O LORD of hosts, who judgest righteously, who triest the heart and the mind, let me see thy vengeance upon them, for to thee have I committed my cause.” Jeremiah 11, 20. To you O lord I commit my cause. This is how to pray for your enemies. Not to wish them death!!!

Let us Pray:
Lord Jesus, you alone knows the mind and heart of all men, fight my battles for into your hands I commend my whole being. Amen.


God bless you. Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Do have a great weekend!

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