DAILY HOMILIES #commandment

If you know that what you plan to do will make you ashamed if the whole world knows about it, then don’t do it. How long will you live in the fear of being discovered? How much longer before that secret deed becomes exposed? Cherish your shame. Let it be your guard against evil.

Just as Jesus was hated by so many, anyone who wants to follow Christ’s footsteps should prepare to have a lot of enemies. If you are a people-pleaser, you would end up trying to please the devil and, thereby, compromise your Christian values. Love your neighbour as yourself, but at the same time, don’t be afraid of losing friends who want you to disobey God.

We dare not claim that we love God if we do not love our neighbours. Visit the hospitals around you, visit the prisons, visit the orphanage homes – open your eyes – and you will agree that even if you don’t have all you wish for, there are many praying to be in your position. Wastefulness is a sin. Be a wounded healer. You have suffered, but ask yourself, “If I could turn back the hand of the clock, what would I have done better?” Some people are easy to love, but we must love even those who hate us – this is what it means to love God.

Carrying the cross entails embracing the difficult aspects of our Christian faith, such as: loving our enemies, forgiving hurts easily, and upholding strong moral values such as faithfulness to one’s marital vows, purity of heart, honesty, kindness, etc. In a world that further immerses itself in darkness, keeping God’s commandments faithfully is a huge cross. Nevertheless, this is our calling.

Today, we celebrate the memorial of Mary, the mother of the Church. Having completed the seven weeks of Easter, today is a day for us to pause a while and remember the unique role of Mary in the course of the whole Easter festivities and, in particular, to examine the total weight of the words Jesus spoke at the foot of the cross: “Behold, Your Mother.”

Hatred is a sign of unforgiveness and a betrayal of our Christianity because as John says in today’s first reading: “He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him... By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

Jesus tells us today: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:10-12)