DAILY HOMILIES #healing

God has truly visited his people. This is the meaning of the name “Emmanuel.” God is with us. There is no problem or difficulty worth taking your life. Present the matter to God in prayer and be sure that Jesus, who raised the dead, will make a way where there seems to be no way.

For Jesus to have chosen these persons after an all-night consultation shows that God’s ways are not ours. In truth, even the “foolishness” of God is wiser than the highest human wisdom.

Hatred is deadly. The feeling of hatred makes you blind to the good in others. Hatred makes you criticise everything in everybody. Hatred blinds us. St. John warns us: “He who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:11).

Inflamed by the Holy Spirit, Jesus visited Simon’s house, where he healed Simon’s mother-in-law, and that same night, the whole community brought to Jesus their sick and possessed relatives. Jesus healed both physical and spiritual ailments. He remains for us a healer. Nevertheless, to be admitted into Dr. Jesus’ clinic, we must go with our cards, which is faith (positive expectation).

Remember, a little sleep can cause poverty. A little relaxation in our spiritual life can give room for the devil and his agents who seek candidates for spiritual destruction. St. Peter would say: “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

Like this Canaanite woman, we have been victims of tough times at some point. We may be going through very difficult circumstances right now. Today, we learn that tough times do not last, but tough people do. What does it mean to be a tough person? Selflessness – living not merely for oneself but for others. Living above Prejudice - refusing to judge others based on their origins. Positivity - refusing to take ‘No’ for an answer. Humility – accepting and taking advantage of whatever insults we receive. Let us not examine some lessons in today’s readings.

Caleb and Joshua acknowledged their difficulty, but they also saw their potential, they saw the giants, but they knew God was greater than these giants. They were not afraid because they had a strong faith in God. When you encounter a serious problem, you can know whether or not you have faith, whether you will move forward like Caleb and Joshua, or sit down to cry your brains out like the Israelites.

Dear friend, do you constantly complain about others? Or are you a Jacob who knows how best to take advantage of whatever may be their situation? When did you last ask for a blessing from your parents or an older person?

God will never force His way into your life if you do not make Him welcome. I mean, we all have a choice, to be possessed by the Holy Spirit or to be possessed by evil spirits such as lust, materialism (greed), wrath, pride, envy, gluttony, sloth, etc.

While the leper believed God could do anything, Abraham fell on his face and laughed when God told him that his wife Sarai would have a child. Abraham thought that God had already done his best with Ishmael. Like Abraham, we sometimes look at our external condition and assume what we have now is the best God can ever do. As long as we believe it, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Never doubt the power of God.

If you have God the Father and God the Son living inside you, will anything be difficult for you? Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12).

It is not possible for us to understand everything about God. Like the Holy Eucharist, there are still so many things about God that remain mysterious to us. No matter how high the temptation may be for you to walk away from God, let us remember that the best is yet to come. God has not changed and will never change a bit. Just hold on. Don’t quit on God.