DAILY HOMILIES #practice

To win any battle, one must approach it with an attitude of victory. That is, we must first tell ourselves it is possible to win; otherwise, we would die of fear even before we receive the first strike. Believe that you can do away with sin. Trust that you can completely overcome your bad habits with God on your side and with continuous efforts. God wants to see your efforts.

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 sad part was that while the scribes and Pharisees were busy multiplying the commandments, they never practised them, but they made the people believe they were holier-than-thou. Jesus could see through their hypocrisy. He knew that beyond the wearing of broad phylacteries, standing to pray in public places, and salutations in the market were empty hearts – far from God and lacking in love, which is the most important commandment of all. There are so many lessons contained in today’s readings.

Jesus’s words must never be taken out of context. Jesus is not against the use of titles. No. Jesus is against answering a name that your actions contradict. Don’t call me Father if I am not behaving like one. I don't deserve such titles if I do not practice what I preach. Jesus is against the worship of human beings. If I do what is wrong, be bold enough to call and correct me. Do not say: “Leave him alone. He is next to God.” Jesus says: “Call no man on earth your God. You have only One God who is in heaven!”

If you really want to know who you are, forget about your titles or what anyone is saying and find out what your actions (especially those you do in secret) are saying about you.

Is there a contradiction between what I preach and what I do? Am living in pretense? Then as the prophet Isaiah says today: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doing from before my eyes, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow…” (Isaiah 1:16ff).

Am I simply a signboard that points to a particular direction but never goes there? On the other hand, have I become a stumbling block preventing others from going to heaven through my scandalous actions?