HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 29TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME OF YEAR II.
THEME: Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?
BY: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA.
HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OCTOBER 21 2022.
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Ephesians 4:1-6
Psalm 23:1-6
Luke 12:54-59
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
GREEN
*FROM OUR FIRST READING*
There is a wonderful call for unity in today’s first reading, what Saint Paul calls the unity of the Spirit. As followers of the Lord, we can have disagreements over many things, but we are always united on the fundamentals. We all acknowledge one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God who is Father of all. The unity is already there; it has been given to us by God. Paul calls upon us not to create unity, but to preserve the unity we already have by attitudes of selflessness, gentleness and patience. In this way, we will be living lives worthy of our baptismal vocation.
*FRON OUR GOSPEL READING*
In the gospel reading, Jesus declares how easily people interpret the face of the earth and the sky in order to predict the weather. Wind from the west brings rain; a wind from the south brings heat. Jesus was in a special way referring to the signs and wonders which He Himself had done before all of the people, and yet many of them still doubted Him and refused to believe in Him. They would rather remain in their disbelief and in believing their own ways rather than to trust in the Lord, or to open their hearts and minds. They had all seen and heard whatever that the Lord had done, in all of His teachings and miracles, and yet they had failed to believe, and some even opposed the Lord and His disciples openly.
*CONCLUSION*
The community of disciples today, the church, is constantly engaged in that work of interpreting the times. We always need to ask ourselves, ‘What is the Lord saying to us in and through these times in which we live today? We can look out on our world, our society, our culture, and get very discouraged. Yet, the Lord stands among us just as he stood among his contemporaries and he continues to work among us and to call out to us. This is the world, this is the culture and these are the times, within which the Lord is calling us to be his disciples, his witnesses. He doesn’t want us to flee from the world or the culture but to interpret what it is to be his followers in the midst of our world, our culture, with all its challenges to faith.
May God be with us always and may He bless our weekend with the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.