Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of
the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may
use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change
or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies
is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some
aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from
glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).
Good or Bad or Neutral?
When we were children most probably we
heard our parents and those around us tell us to do good and avoid evil. They
told us to tell the truth, to study our lessons in school, to help in the work
at home, to behave well in front of visitors and to avoid actions or behaviors
which are bad like crying or just pouting. Even today we still hear these
exhortations given to our children and grandchildren. These advices are meant
to lead the children to live good lives and thus grow up as good family members
and good citizens of our country. Some of us still remember that during our
elementary grades we had a subject called Good Manners and Right Conduct. This
subject was supposed to give an indication of how well we behaved in school and
thus to gauge our goodness.
The underlying assumption of these
exhortations and advices was that children become what they do. They become
good by doing good things. On the other hand they become bad by doing bad
things, like disobeying parents or fighting other children. That was the motive
behind these advices. We wanted children to be good, so we told them to do
good.
In our Gospel reading for this Sunday there
is a passage which tells us that this underlying assumption is contrary to the
mind of Jesus. We read that he said, “But I say to you, love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly
Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to
fall on the just and the unjust.”
In this passage we learn that Jesus affirms
that there are two kinds of people, bad and good, just and unjust. There are
people who are good and there are people who are bad. There are people who are
just and there are people who are unjust. Jesus tells us that God causes the
sun to shine on both these kinds of people at the same time. He does not
discriminate between the good and the bad as to who should receive the sunlight
or the rain.
Jesus repeats this idea that there are people
who are good and people who are bad in other parts of his teachings. In Luke’s
Gospel he says, “A good man produces goodness from the good in his heart; an
evil man produces evil out of his store of evil” (7:45). Just before saying
this he has an illustration of a tree. “A good tree does not produce decayed
fruit any more than a decayed tree produces good fruit.” In other words a good
tree always produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A tree is
known by its fruit. A mango tree produces mango fruit, never a banana fruit.
And bananas do not produce mango fruits.
I want us to reflect on this passage of
Jesus because the first reading tells us to be holy. It begins “The LORD said
to Moses, "Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy,
for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.” It does not exhort us to perform works of
holiness making us holy. Rather it tells us to be holy. It also does not tell
us to become holy, but be holy. To become involves a process, a series of
procedures. To be involves one act. We become an educated man by going to
school or by reading on our own, by observing others and reflecting on our
experiences. One becomes a lawyer by going through a law school.
The command of the Lord is to be holy, not
to become holy. As soon as we accept this command of God and submit to him we
become holy. It is God who makes us holy by our response to his command.
We made this submission when we were
baptized. We were made holy by God. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we
read, “Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we
become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in
her mission.” (1213). We become sons of God, we participate in God’s nature and
holiness. We are made holy as God is holy.
Our second reading tells us “Do you not
know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple
of God, which you are, is holy.”
Again our Catechism declares this happened
when we were baptized. It says, “The baptized have become "living
stones" to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood." By Baptism they
share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are
"a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that
[they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness
into his marvelous light." (1268)
We have been made into a spiritual house, a
temple or dwelling place of God, a holy place. We are a holy people, a holy
nation.
If we are a holy people then fruits of
holiness are going to be produced by us. We cannot produce these unless we are
united to the vine which is Jesus. He said, “I am the vine, you are the
branches. He who lives in me and I am him, will produce abundantly.” (John
15:5)
The proper approach then in leading our
children to do good is to inform them of the grace of baptism which they
received and to lead them to live in union with Jesus. As they are enlightened
about this grace of holiness which was given to them and of their union with
Jesus through his Spirit they will grow into temples of God, producing fruits
of holiness and goodness in their lives.
May we walk in this direction so that we
behave really as children of God and thus we turn the other cheek when someone
strikes our right cheek, we hand over our cloak to someone who gets our tunic,
we go two miles when we are forced to carry a burden for one mile, we give to
those who ask from us something, and we do not turn our back on one who wants
to borrow from us. Thus we love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute
us, all of these are true in our lives because we are perfect as our heavenly
Father is perfect.
Philosophers have debated for many
centuries whether the human being is by nature good or bad. Others have formed
the opinion that he is neither good nor bad by nature. He is born neutral. He
becomes good or bad as he grows up with the influence of his family and others
around him.
Jesus has given us the answer to this
question whether human beings are by nature good or bad. He says there are
human beings who are good. There are human beings who are bad. Those who are
told by his heavenly Father to be holy, as in the first reading, and believe
this to be done in their lives are good. They produce good fruit or actions.
Those who do not believe are evil. He once called them children of the devil
(John 8:44). And the means whereby God makes us holy is baptism.
Let us pray. Let us bow our heads. Lord
Jesus, you told us that there are two classes of human beings, good and bad.
You have made us good by baptism, by washing away our sins and incorporating us
into your self. Help us to produce fruits which show this goodness that comes
from you: love of neighbours, love of enemies and of those who persecute us.
Amen.
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Note for the readers:
The Mass readings are from the New American
Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). This is where our Lectionary gets the readings.
NAB stands for New American Bible (before
it was revised). This is the translation I use. Unless otherwise stated the
text I use is from this translation.
AV stands for Authorized Version of the
Bible. It is more commonly referred to as the King James Bible. It is the
version most used in English literature, therefore it is the one known more by
the English speaking world.
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