DAILY HOMILIES #commandments

Life is all about connection. No human being can survive entirely on their own. No one is an island. Just as we need to remain connected to Jesus to stay alive spiritually, we also need to be connected to our fellow human beings to remain alive.

Judas Iscariot was too ashamed to face Jesus after his betrayal was exposed. What happens when people do worse things without guilt or shame? A society self-destructs when people behave like they are greater than the law. Even Jesus Christ (God in human flesh) never claimed superiority over the Law.

We waste time when we pay more attention to the outside of the cup than the inside. We worship in vain when we seek the applause of people, but we do not merit such applause. We may assume we are following commandments, but in reality, we are offending God.

In today’s first reading, God says: “O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river.” In other words, if only we would trust God enough to keep His commandments, we would find the desired prosperity. Jesus would later throw more light on this point when He said: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33).

The first and greatest commandment is also intricately connected to the second commandment: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Of course, as St. John says: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20).

Today we celebrate three Saints: Mary, Martha and Lazarus, siblings of the same family and friends of Jesus Christ. One day, Lazarus was sick. Mary and Martha sent for Jesus, but He did not show up. In pain and disappointment, Mary and Martha buried Lazarus. It is difficult to speak of faith when faced with serious challenges, when prayers are unanswered or when tragedies strike.

It is one thing to call a person your friend but a different thing for that person to recognize you as his or her friend. God considers us as His friends but the question is: How many of us relate with God as His true friends? In other words, how many of us are faithful to God’s commandments? How many of us love others as much as God loves us?

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)

Our first reading today is a reminder to us that the greatest of all of God’s commandments is to love our neighbours as ourselves. Love cancels our selfishness. Love melts our hearts to live not just for ourselves but for others. Love opens our eyes to see the sufferings of others and touches our heart to offer solutions.

Trust God and obey His word. Trust your parents (your elders, your teachers, etc.) and keep to their instructions. It might seem hard for you to just be good but I tell you, this is the shortest cut to success in life. This is what Moses teaches us in today’s first reading. Give heed to the statutes and the ordinances… that you may live and take possession of the land… God means well by giving us the commandments.

Learn to see the face of Jesus in the suffering. Help people not simply because you seek to be compensated but because you realize it is Jesus you are helping. Whatever you give to the poor may not come back now but it becomes a great treasure stored in heaven where no thief can break in and steal nor rust destroys. (Matthew 6:19-20)

One of the ways we resemble God is our capacity to will something into existence, that is, to create out of nothing. Just as God imagined the world before creation and then spoke it into existence, we have the power to imagine things and speak them into existence.