DAILY HOMILIES #sin

Some of us believe that so long as you have given your life to Christ (received baptism), heaven is sure regardless of what you do. This was the problem Jeremiah addressed in today’s first reading. How do you engage in horrific acts (stealing, murder, adultery, idolatry, etc.) secretly and then come publicly before God in His temple to say, “We are safe”? Do you think God is blind?

St. James tells us it is better to be poor than to enjoy stolen riches. We steal by refusing to pay our workers their just wages or by living in luxury (wastefulness) while millions suffer extreme poverty. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus highlights the danger of scandal by saying it is better to be dead than to be the source of scandal for little ones (innocent minds).

The spirit of competition is wired into our being; we want to be the greatest among our peers, classmates, siblings, fellow employees, business associates, etc. While this could motivate us to take necessary steps that bring about positive growth, it also has negative side effects.

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.

Lent is finally over. Am I also in haste to move on with my life? No more Stations of the Cross, no more fasting and abstinence. Am I going to return to my old habits and vices? Mary Magdalene refused to move on. Her actions proved she was a true friend of Jesus. She was among the Women of Jerusalem who wept for Jesus while the crowd cheered and mocked, but when others moved on, she went to the tomb early in the morning

This is the night that, even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and the gloom of sin, leading them to grace and joining them with his holy ones. This is the night Christ broke the prison bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld…

Spiritual creativity is not a luxury; it is the essence of our faith. Either I am winning for Jesus or betraying (denying) him. I can only imagine Jesus's pain, knowing that those who shared the same plate with him would betray him. Nevertheless, Jesus said: “Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

The story of Susanna tells of the courage of a well-trained woman who preferred death to sin. The judges thought they could blackmail her, but God came to her rescue. In today’s Gospel passage, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus whom they accused of adultery. Like the Judges in our first reading, they thought they had cornered Jesus. In the end, Jesus, God in human flesh, displayed a wisdom far superior to any human imagination.

We may point fingers at the Israelites, but we only need to look carefully to see the golden calves we have erected around us. Humans tend to turn their most-priced possessions into gods. For the Israelites, it was their gold ornaments. For many today, it is our expensive car (or fleet of cars), wardrobe (containing all kinds of shoes, clothes, wristwatches, etc., items we never use but adore and polish daily).

If you were Jesus and you knew that people were planning to kill you for healing people on a Sabbath, would you continue? Let us be honest. Only Jesus can do this. Only Jesus can take such a risk. This is the nature of God’s love, as the Prophet Isaiah presents in today’s First Reading. It is a love deeper than that of a mother for her nursing child.

Jesus warned the man who had been cured to avoid sin so that nothing worse would happen to him. What else could be worse than suffering for thirty-eight years? What else could be worse than spending half of your lifespan in pain, discomfort, and misery? This is exactly what sin does to us.

If you know that what you plan to do will make you ashamed if the whole world knows about it, then don’t do it. How long will you live in the fear of being discovered? How much longer before that secret deed becomes exposed? Cherish your shame. Let it be your guard against evil.