HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF 17TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME.
THEME: As the darnel is gathered up and burnt, so it will be at the end of time.
BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA.
*SAINT OF THE DAY* Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Mary de’ Liguori, Bishop, Doctor.
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Exodus 33:7-11,34:5-9,28
Psalm 102:6-13
Matthew 13:36-43
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
WHITE
*INTRODUCTION*
Good morning dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate Tuesday of week 17 in Ordinary Time, Year A.
*ABOUT OUR FIRST READING*
There is a very striking statement in today’s first reading, ‘The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend’. It anticipates the words of Jesus, God in human form, to his disciples in the gospel of John, ‘I no longer call you servants. I call you friends’. Jesus was the clearest possible revelation of God’s desire to befriend all of humanity. According to the first reading, God has the qualities we long for in a good friend, tenderness, compassion, slowness to anger, kindness, faithfulness and a readiness to forgive. Jesus revealed these qualities of God fully and clearly. God, through Jesus, has befriended us and he waits for us to befriend him in return.
RELATED: HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF 17TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME.
*FROM OUR GOSPEL READING*
Today’s gospel reading speaks of Jesus as the ‘sower of good seed’ who sows that good seed throughout the world. Those who allow that good seed to take root in their hearts are ‘the subjects of the kingdom’; they already belong to God’s kingdom on earth. Whenever people respond to the Lord’s call, they form a ‘beach head’ of the kingdom of God on earth. This is what the Lord desires for us all. The community of his disciples, the church, is to be that beach head of the kingdom of God on earth; it is to be the earthly expression of the goodness of the kingdom of heaven.
*CONCLUSION*
Todays liturgy, suggest that Jesus took the reality of evil in the world very seriously. He was also aware that it could infect his followers, the community of those who believed in him, which is why he taught us to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. We shouldn’t need much convincing about the reality and power of evil in our world and, indeed, in the church and in our own lives. However, the gospel reading declares that evil will not ultimately have the last word. God will eradicate evil fully, but only at the end of time, when God’s kingdom fully comes. In the meantime, the Lord wishes to work in and through each of us to confront evil in all its forms, so that something of that final triumph of good over evil can become a reality in the here and now.
Saint Alphonsus Mary de’ Liguori Pray for Us.
Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA.
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