(Homily for February 3, 2017).
There is a
line in one of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth which I found quite inspirational. Macbeth
after having become guilty of murder heard a knock on the door and said: “Where
is that knocking coming from? What’s happening to me, that I’m freighted of
every noise? (looking at his hands)
Whose hands are these? Ha! They’re plucking out my eyes. Will all the water in
the ocean wash this blood from my hands? No, instead my hands will stain the
seas scarlet, turning green waters red.”
Dear
friends, even the most hardened criminal suffers from guilt. There are things
we do that we may never be able to forgive ourselves. In our Gospel passage
this morning, Herod tries to convince himself that Jesus Christ is the resurrected
version of John the Baptist whom he killed by offering his head as payment to a
little girl’s dance. From the moment this happened, Herod was never himself,
his mind was never at rest, the words of John the Baptist kept haunting him
about his adulterous union with his brother’s wife and he kept wishing he could
turn back the hands of the clock. Hearing of Jesus’ fame became some sort of
consolation for him.
Whether we
like it or not, sin robs us of our peace of mind. It is always more profitable
to avoid sin than to live with guilt. The pain of avoiding sin is brief but the
pain of a guilty conscience lasts an entire lifetime. The book of Hebrews this
morning mentions certain sins that we could regret forever; unkindness to
strangers, indifference to prisoners, defiling the marriage bed, love of money
and lack of contentment. As the book of Hebrews tells us: It is only when we
avoid sin that we can confidently say: “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid;
what can man do to me?”
In other words,
living a sinful life puts us in perpetual bondage – a life of fear. Because of
what we have done in the past, we lose confidence in God’s protection because we
feel that either God is punishing us already or he is planning to punish us in
the near future. Sin even makes us live with fear of people because we never
can tell who will expose our secrets or who will try to retaliate for the evils
we had done to them in the past. Dear friends, it is more profitable to avoid
sin than to live with guilt.
Let us
Pray: Lord Jesus, strengthen my resolve to live righteously. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you. (Friday of the 4th Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Hebrews
13:1-8 and Mark 6:14-29).
Fr. Abu.
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