Homily
for November 1, 2017.
On this
first day of the month of November, the Church says we should turn our minds to
the millions of men and women who have lived exemplary lives on earth, fulfilled
the demands of the Gospel, walked the narrow path, shunned the world and its
pleasures, some of them married, some virgins, some religious, some priests
even bishops and popes, some doctors, nurses, accountants, engineers, farmers,
school teachers, professors, some even traditional rulers, selfless warriors.
The list
is just endless. Today, there are three questions I would like us to ask
ourselves:
The first
question is: Do I really want to be Saint? Then what exactly is holding me back
from journeying along the path of this noble aspiration? As I reflect on the
lives of Saints today, I need to identify and take away whatever is not saintly
in me.
Second
question: How Can I Be a Saint? According to John in his revelations, the
saints are THOSE WHO HAVE WASHED THEIR ROBES AND MADE THEM WHITE IN THE BLOOD
OF THE LAMB. In other words, those who are spotless as far as sin is concerned.
In our
Gospel passage, Jesus presents the beatitudes as guidelines on how we ought to
model our lives. Basically the beatitudes talk about shunning worldliness and
living according to a very different standard. For instance, the world rejects
being poor in spirit, being meek or accepting to suffer but Jesus says those
are the very things we should aspire for.
The third question
is: How much do I know about the Saints? How many Saints can I describe their
life sentence by sentence? If I am able to follow football stars virtually on a
daily basis, I know who is injured, who is not playing a particular match and
who will feature in the next game, how much I don’t know so much about the
saints?
The saying
goes that where the mind is, the body always follows. If we occupy our minds
everyday with the lives of the Saints, we are consciously placing ourselves on
a path to where they are.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, may the Saints pray for me. Amen.
*Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Solemnity of
All Saints. Bible Study Revelation 7:2-14. 1st John 3:1-3 and Matthew
5:1-12).*
Fr. Abu.
No comments:
Post a Comment