DAILY HOMILIES #Hebrews

When the devil fights you from outside and cannot bring you down, he tries to fight from within. Nevertheless, as Jesus said to the apostles in today’s Gospel passage, when you face such attacks, “Do not be afraid.”(John 6:20). Even in chaos, God is never far from you.

Abraham was kind to strangers when he had no reason to be; in return, he received a concrete assurance of God’s promise of a son. Avoid practising selective kindness. Be good to people even though they don’t deserve it. Show hospitality to strangers not in expectation of anything in return, not because they deserve it but because you are a Christian. Show hospitality to strangers; they could be Angels sent from God to test you. (Cf. Hebrew 13:2)

Today’s feast is a reminder that God does not force his way into our lives. He works in us only with our consent. As one Saint said, God created us without our consent but He will not save us without our consent. We always have a choice either to say “Yes” or “No” to God’s plans for our lives. Great things happen when we allow God to have His way in our lives.

To be a disciple is to be a student or to learn something from one’s teacher and since learning involves pain, it may also be referred to as discipline. As disciples of God, the book of Hebrews today, tells us that there are times God disciplines us not out of hatred but because he wants us to learn. Never regret a day in your life: good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories.

The letter to the Hebrews, in drawing our attention to the importance of God’s words, says: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden…” (Hebrews 4:12-13).

The letter to the Hebrews teaches us that God subjected everything in the world to us. “What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honour, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.” (Hebrews 2:6-8).