12TH TUESDAY HOMILY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: LOVE ALWAYS DESIRES THE GOOD OF THE BELOVED
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas
Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 139:1-3; Acts 13:22-26; Luke 1:57-66.80
Jesus said to His disciples: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”
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Jesus summarized the entire Law and the Prophets in only one commandment: love of God and love of neighbor. Love always desires the good of the beloved. Revenge or retaliation is not an option for a Christian. Instead, the rule is always to do good to anybody. This is very difficult to do, but we have to do it anyway because it is that which makes us different from others. That is why Jesus said that we have to enter through the narrow door. We have to struggle and strive for the holiness that Jesus has shown us, and that means loving even those who are not loveable, loving even our enemies.
With the commandment of love as the background, Jesus stated his version of the Golden Rule. While the prevailing golden rule is formulated in the negative, and it says, “Do not do unto others what you do not want others do unto you”, Jesus emphasized the positive: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.” There is profound wisdom in this. Avoiding doing bad will not bring any good. No one wins by doing nothing. No boxer wins a match by just avoiding the punches of the opponent. He has to throw punches.
We are now in this great spiritual battle. To win this war, we need to throw big punches. These ‘punches’ are our good works motivated by genuine love of God and neighbor. Doing good to others will produce something good in return. It is a matter of reaping what we planted. Planting goodness will give us fruits of goodness. This is the principle behind the commandment of love.
As Christians, we are called to be instruments of love and goodness in the world. It is never easy. There will always be opposition. That is why many opt to play safe, doing and saying nothing in the face of evil and injustice around. Definitely, this is sin of omission. And by doing nothing, they are aiding in the victory of the enemy. As the famous quotation of Edmund Burke says, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We lose by default.
Venerable Fulton Sheen said, “The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.”
The challenge for us all is to enter the narrow door. We have to struggle to obey God’s commands, practice His teachings and follow Jesus on the way of the cross. That is our calling and mission. That is our happiness and salvation.
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