HOMILY OF TUESDAY 11TH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B

HOMILY OF TUESDAY 11TH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: BE PATIENT

BY: Bishop Gerald M. Musa

1 Kings 21:17-29; Psalm 50(51):3-6, 11, 16; Matt 5:43-48

Never be satisfied with where you are; aspire to improve and be better. Moses challenged the people of Israel to be holy, and Jesus said to his disciples, “You shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Perfection and holiness are attained gradually. Thomas à Kempis says, “If every year we should root out one vice, we should sooner become perfect people.”

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The journey towards holiness and perfection begins with seeing things and people as God sees them. The way of perfection requires us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. If our enemies are God’s children and we share the same Father, what reason do we have not to love our siblings? Jesus pushes the natural boundaries of love by saying, “Love your enemies.” Therefore, our love should not just be reciprocal, discriminatory, and exclusive. In other words, our love should be unconditional, inclusive, and unmerited.

Unconditional love does not say, “I will love you if you love me,” but, “I will love you even if you hate me.” Since we are made in the image and likeness of God, we should aspire to be perfect like God our Father, who is good to the just and unjust. A Chinese proverb reminds us, “The diamond cannot be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials.” What efforts are we making towards attaining perfection and loving the unlovable?

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