DAILY HOMILIES #disciples

In his joy, Jesus presents a special invitation to everyone who may be troubled, disturbed, harassed and dejected like sheep without a shepherd (Cf. Matthew 10:36). What is this invitation? “Come to me, all who labour and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. (Matthew 11:28-29) Coming to Jesus implies learning from Him. We cannot say we have come to Jesus if we fail to learn from Him.

New wine is good. Old wine is also good. The problem is using old wineskins to store new wine or vice versa. This parable points to the importance of timing. Your plans may be perfect, but if it isn’t the right time, you will pour new wine into an old wineskin. For instance, Amos’ prophecy of a time of restoration for Israel came hundreds of years later in Jesus Christ. That was the right time, neither earlier nor later.

The question is not whether or not we will face trials, but how do we respond in such moments? Faced with the storms, the disciples expected the worst; they cried out, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” Jesus was disappointed with them not because they prayed but because they prayed with fear; that is, they were not expecting their prayers to be answered.

God’s blessings do not come to us in a vacuum. When you pray, go out and work so that your work becomes the instrument through which you receive God’s blessing. When you are inspired, don’t let your ideas waste away in your head; write them down and start working on them. When you see the brighter side, pray about it and act on it. If you only listen (or read) today’s homily and do nothing about it, then this homily will not work. Consider the thousands of churches in our society today, alongside the level of decadence, and you cannot help but see that our problem is action.

We are not giving Mary too much praise by celebrating her as Mother of the Church; instead, we are only recognising the honour that God gave to her by taking flesh in her womb. Mary is the Mother of the Church because she fulfilled the prophetic declaration in Genesis. She was present at all key moments in the church’s development, and as her children, it is our responsibility to take her home.

What does it mean to love one another as God has loved us? It means that we pour ourselves out for the good of our fellow brothers and sisters. To love like God is to be a Prodigal Father ready to forgive as many as seventy-seven times seven times.

When you go for confession, and a priest says, “Your Sins are forgiven,” know that you are enjoying the Divine Mercy of God because the priest has received the Holy Spirit at ordination and has been empowered by Jesus to forgive sins. In the sacrament of penance, you are not confessing to a man; you are confessing to someone reborn through the breath of Jesus, as we read in today’s Gospel passage.

Peter’s failure that night was God’s way of telling Peter that he is called to be a fisher of men (not of fish). It was also God’s way of teaching him about divine providence. Are you experiencing failure in some aspect of your life? It is time to ask: “Am I doing what God wants of me?” If God has given you an assignment, it will be hard to succeed in something else if you abandon God’s call.

During this season of Advent, we must continually purge ourselves of the corruption of pride. If God could bring Himself to our level to save us, how willing am I to come down to the level of my subordinates? How willing am I to acknowledge my nothingness before God, like the Roman Centurion who did not allow Jesus to come under his roof?

As Jesus was hated by so many, anyone who wants to follow Christ’s footsteps should prepare to have many enemies. Do not be a people-pleaser, or you will compromise your Christian values. Love your neighbour as yourself, but at the same time, don’t be afraid of losing friends if such friendship opposes your relationship with God.

Whether we like it or not, we will all experience rejection at some point in our lives, as long as we live in a world where freedom of choice exists. So rather than avoiding rejection at all costs and becoming people pleasers (which is worse), we need to prepare ourselves ahead of time for rejection and find ways to heal ourselves when it occurs.

Ezra prays for the people during the evening sacrifice. Ezra wore torn garments, which symbolised contrition. Remember how the king of Nineveh tore his garments and sat on ashes upon hearing the warning of Jonah that Nineveh would be destroyed? God saw this and “repented” from the evil He had planned to do. In our Gospel passage, Jesus sends the twelve disciples into various towns and villages to interact with the people. This is the second dimension of priestly ministry.