HOMILY FOR MEMORIAL OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH.
THEME: We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it’.
BY: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA.
HOMILY FOR MONDAY OCTOBER 17 2022.
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Ephesians 2:1-10
PsalmPsalm 99
Luke 12:13-21
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
RED
*THEME OF THE HOMILY*
*FROM OUR FIRST READING*
There is a wonderful statement at the end of today’s first reading that have touched me alot personally, the reading is saying ‘we are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it’. When we hear the expression ‘work of art’, we think of the work of some of the great painters or sculptors or musical composers. I suspect very few of us think of ourselves as a work of art. Yet, each one of us is God’s work of art, because we have been created by God in God’s image and, according to our reading, God has also brought us to life with Christ out of his great love towards us. Through faith we already share in the risen life of Christ, and we are destined to share that life fully.
*ABOUT THE GOSPEL READING OF TODAY*
In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus tells a story of a man whose whole focus in life is to accumulate more and more. He is already rich at the beginning of the story. Nonetheless, it seems what he possessed wasn’t enough for him. After an exceptionally good harvest, he decides to go on a building spree. He knocks down perfectly good barns and builds bigger and better ones to store his extra grain and make his future even more secure than it already was. It is a story of someone who is thoroughly focused on himself; his speech is peppered with the words ‘I’ and ‘my’. In commenting on his own story, Jesus declares that even though this man looked very rich, at a more fundamental level he was very poor, because he was not rich in the sight of God.
*CONCLUSION*
The two readings of today teaches us two things,
1. The first is that, our God is the supreme artist who created us and then showered his goodness upon us through the life, death and resurrection of his Son. As God’s work of art, we are called to live accordingly. In the words of the first reading, we are to live the good life, which is a life of love, kindness and generosity.
2. The second is that, we are called to put first things first, to put God before all else. Being rich in the sight of God is more important than being rich in our own eyes or in the eyes of others. We are rich in the sight of God when we live our lives in the Spirit of God’s Son, who, more than any human being, was rich in the sight of God.
May God bless us all, Happy New Week brethrens.