DAILY HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II.
THEME: THE PURITY OF OUR HEARTS MATTERS MOST.
BY: Fr. Justin Nzekwe.
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY AUGUST 2 2022.
Our vocation as Christians is to live a righteous life, that is to serve the Lord in holiness and justice. When we live a good life, God rewards us, but when we sin, God punishes us. However, sickness is not always a punishment from God as a result of our sins, sometimes God permits us to get sick, so as to test our faith like in the case of Job.
In the first reading of today, God decided to punish Jeremiah because of his sins. Jeremiah became sick, and God told him that the sickness cannot be cured even with medicine. When we receive punishment because of our sins, we are expected not just to cry, but to return to God to ask for his mercy and forgiveness.
In the gospel reading, Jesus further warns us about sin, he says: “Listen and understand well! Not what enters the mouth makes man impure; what comes out of the mouth, this makes man impure!” He was saying this because of the Pharisees who are more interested in traditions and rituals, but have refused to follow the spirit of the law. For Jesus, external things do not matter so much, what matters most is the purity of our hearts. If our hearts are pure, then our actions will most likely be just, but if our hearts are impure, then our actions will be impure. It is from our heart that we plan evil against others. It is from our heart that we hate others, gossip against other, and criticize others with the aim to destroy them.
We pray in this mass that the Lord in His goodness will forgive our sins and make our hearts pure. We pray also that our sins may not be a hindrance to our blessings, but instead, God will grant us the grace of repentance through Christ our Lord, Amen.