Love God by Loving Your Neighbours.

Homily for October 29, 2017.


“You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn.” Exodus 22:22-24

Today, we are called upon to reflect on the basic requirement of God for our lives, the one thing necessary, the most important commandment of all, the sum and summit of everything contained in the bible which according to Jesus in our Gospel passage this morning is LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF NEIGHBOUR.

In loving God and our neighbour, we are automatically keeping all the commandments at the same time. If we truly love God, we would not serve other gods, we would not take his name in vain and we would keep the Sabbath day holy. If we love our neighbours (which is another way of saying loving every human being), we would respect our parents, never kill, never steal, never tell lies, and never covert things that belong to others.

It is easy to say we love God but what we fail to realize is that as long as we have hatred in our hearts for our fellow human beings, our love for God is null and void. Hence St. John tells us: “Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” 1 John 4:20.

Again, we cannot really say that we love God when we neglect the poor, the weak and the vulnerable in our society. This is where our first reading today comes in. God warns us in severe terms of the gravity of being unjust and oppressive to those who are disadvantaged, those who have no one to care for them.

In Nigeria today, many State Governors are yet to pay their workers’ salaries, pensioners are dying, there is great hardship in the country, many have forgotten what it means to have three square meals a day. Yet, despite all this, the cost of governance in this country is far higher than even the United States of America. Our Senators, Ministers, Governors etc. are the highest paid in the world.

Not long ago, someone sent me a video of a girl alleged to be the daughter of a Governor spraying thousands of dollars at a party in the United Kingdom while workers are being owed salaries for months in her father’s state. Dear friends, let us ponder on the words of the Psalmist:  

“Blessed is he who considers the poor! The LORD delivers him in the day of trouble; the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies. The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.” Psalm 41:1-3 

I cannot say I love God if I am blind to those living in far worse conditions than myself. What am I doing to help? Do I count my blessings? Do I realize that even when I think I don’t have, I still more than enough to share?

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, teach me to love you by loving my neighbours. Amen.

Happy Sunday. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (30th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A. Bible Study:  Exodus 22:20-26, 1st Thessalonians 1:5-10 and Luke 22:34-40

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