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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