Homily for Tuesday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time Cycle II
Theme: BE GOOD TO ALL, TREAT OTHERS KINDLY
By: Rev. Fr. Jacob Aondover ATSU
Homily for Tuesday June 23 2020
READINGS: 2KINGS 19:9-11.14-21.31-36, PSALM 48, MATTHEW 7:6.12-14
Beloved friends in Christ, may I charge us all to be in touch with God always in prayer and supplications. Let me challenge all of us to learn from king Hezekiah who turned to God in prayer and total submission when Judah was threatened by Sennacherib, king of Assyria. He trusted God, and God defended him and the whole of Judah Assyrian invasion and conquest. Let me pray that we turn to God individually and as a nation, presenting to him our cares and he will SURELY heed our needs.
We consider today what many see as the most universally famous thing Jesus ever said: “So, then, all the things which you wish that men do to you, so do you too do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 7:12, Lk. 6:31). This resounds the maxim of the aged Tobias to his beloved son Tobit in Tobit 4:15, “What you hate, do not do to anyone.” Brethren, I strongly feel this passage forms the height of Jesus’ teaching on the mount. Jesus himself would say that ‘this is the law and the prophet’; meaning, when we work for the good of all, when we consciously work against offending, hurting, irritating, our brothers and sisters; when we avoid castigating, ridiculing, backbiting, slandering, assassinating the characters of others, when we shun being envious, sarcastic, venomous, vicious, malevolent, bilious, vengeful, vitriolic and rancorous towards the other brother or sister; then we are in keeping with Jesus’ Golden Rule.
How about those of us who are not baleful or acrimonious; those who try as much as possible never to interfere in anybody’s business, hence don’t (so to speak) hurt anybody; but are inconsiderate to the plight and peril of others? Brethren, nobody loves being ridiculed or criticized, or hated or offended, true; but true also is the fact that everyone wants to be considered, helped or assisted in times of need or peril. Therefore, friends in Christ, we may say that JESUS WOULD WANT US TO NEITHER DO EVIL TO A BRETHREN NOR REFUSE GOOD TO ANY. The call from Jesus today is for man to end the many injustices he inflicts on other men; indeed, it is a call for man to act kindly and humanly (for it is in the nature of man, God’s ultimate creature to love) towards one another.
DO GOOD TO ALL, AM SURE YOU WANT SAME DONE TO YOU