DAILY HOMILIES

Before you act, think! Think not only about the immediate result but think also of years to come. Live your life in such a way that when all your secret deeds and hidden facts come to light, you will be so proud of yourself.

My heart really goes out to those seeds that fell on rocky ground. These are really good Christians who are so excited about the things of God but lack roots in them. They cannot withstand trial because they are sweet-sweet-milk-and-sugar Christians.

Being timid is trying to hide the gifts and talents that God has deposited in you. It is a form of spiritual coldness or slothfulness. It is keeping quiet when you should raise your voice for God out of fear of what people would do to you.

The beauty of St. Paul’s conversion was that the moment he rose from his feet, he never went back to his former ways. From that day, he saw himself as a completely different person.

In our Gospel passage today, Mark tells us that Jesus began his public ministry by preaching saying: “This is the time of fulfilment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” In other words, “today is all we have, this is the time, repent now and believe the Gospel.” In our first reading, we see a very similar message being preached by Jonah to the people of Nineveh: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” In other words, there is no time, we cannot postpone repentance otherwise, we shall be destroyed. Even our Second reading today contains the same message: “The appointed time has grown very short…”

At times, giving to God seems like madness. It felt like madness for Jesus to be attending to the people when he had not eaten. It surely feels like madness for a priest to forget himself and his personal interests for the sake of the people. But let us not forget that what seems like madness to us men is wisdom in the sight of God

Never assume that you can succeed all by yourself in this life. A single broomstick may be so strong and powerful but without the rest of the bunch, it cannot sweep out the dirt in the house. In coming to save mankind, Jesus needed to be born like us – he needed to take our human flesh. Today, Jesus still needs our human flesh to continue His work of salvation.

Yes the devil has power but you are stronger because He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. (1st John 4:4). Just don’t try to eat your cake and have it because the devil knows those who are for him and those who are truly against him. As the saying goes: “If you are not fighting against the devil, you are probably working for him.”

Today, Jesus gave us two parables where He compares the kingdom of God to a field and a pearl. In both instances, a man had to sell all that he had to buy it. If we must make heaven, we must be prepared to give up all that we have.

We all have such Pharisees in our lives but the best attitude towards such persons is the attitude of Jesus. Jesus did not harbour hatred towards them. Every encounter with His enemies became an opportunity for Jesus to teach and reveal His Divine identity. “The Sabbath was made for man. Man was not made for the Sabbath.” What a profound revelation! All of God’s laws are made for our wellbeing and growth not merely to punish us.

Jesus is the new wine. He is our Great High Priest. He is the Priest par excellence. The priesthood of today is modelled after Jesus’ priesthood, not after the priesthood of the Old Testament. Let us pray for our priests that their life and ministry may truly incarnate Jesus in our world today.

God never calls us just for our own sake. No! Whenever He calls, it is always so that we too can, in turn, call others. When God called Matthew, he brought all his friends to Jesus and there was a great party in his house. Many of those often regarded as sinners (for the sake of their job as tax-collectors) repented and started walking in the light from that day on. As Andrew went on to call Peter, Jesus desires that each one of us would bring at least one person to Him in the course of our lifetime. In truth, our mandate as Christians is to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15).