Homily
for July 11, 2017
You
remember that song: “I will never let you go unless you bless me; I will never
let you go unless you bless me…” The origin of this song is in today’s first
reading – the encounter between Jacob and God.
For
wrestling with God, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and this became the name
by which the entire nation would henceforth be known. What is quite remarkable
about this encounter was that the moment Jacob realized he was not dealing with
an ordinary person, he immediately asked for blessing.
Mind
you, this was the same Jacob who received the blessing that was meant for Esau
his brother. Even though he got the blessing by playing a trick on Isaac, he
was destined to receive that blessing because Esau had earlier on sold his
birth-right to him in exchange for a pot of porridge.
Jacob
knew the importance of a blessing. He knew that to receive blessing is far more
important than receiving silver or gold. Jacob’s life is a testimony to what it
means to be blessed not just by one’s parents but God himself.
In
our Gospel passage, Jesus is practically going about distributing blessings in
terms of healing and many are so marvelled at what he was doing because they
had never seen anything like this before.
But
then, there are some persons who rather than receiving their own blessing,
criticized, condemned and concluded that Jesus was operating by the prince of
demons. They said this out of jealousy and sheer ignorance.
Today we celebrate Saint Benedict,
the man chose God above everything else such that at the early age of 16, he
left home, left everything behind and decided to pursue salvation as a lone
hermit. Within a short time, he had matured so much in spirituality attracting
disciples to himself whom in organized into 12 monasteries.
For love of God, Benedict left
everything behind. We are to leave everything behind as well. As our opening
prayer at mass today says, “grant we pray that putting nothing before love of
you, we may hasten with a loving heart in the way of your commands.”
Let
us pray: Lord Jesus, bless me. Amen
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of the 14th week in
Ordinary Time. Year A. Bible Study: Genesis 32:23-33 and Matthew 9:32-36).
No comments:
Post a Comment