CYCLE II: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (1)

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord Romans 12:19

CYCLE II: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: LORD JESUS, SAVE ME!

BY:  Rev. Fr. Jacob Aondover ATSU

 

HOMILY: READINGS: JEREMIAH 28:1-17, PSALM 119, MATTHEW 14:22-36

ARE YOU SINKING? ARE YOU ABOUT TO DROWN? IS THE WORLD OVERCOMING YOU? Perhaps your gaze is no longer on Christ! What’s making you sink? Perhaps it’s fear, perhaps it’s illness or sickness. Perhaps it’s because of your marital or family problems. Perhaps it’s problems at the workplace, or financial problems. Do you know why you’re sinking? Why do you start sinking? Maybe like Peter, you initially had your eyes fixed on the Lord, He was all you saw, until the problems came. It’s very easy to keep your eyes fixed on the Lord when everything is fine, but when the problems come, when the pressures mount, when the anxieties arise, like Peter, we sink. Are you sinking at the moment? Do you not know what to do? Have you taken your eyes off the Lord? Is there some distraction that has come into your life? What is it?

Brethren may I suggest in line with Hebrews 12:2, that we fix our eyes upon Jesus, THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH! Today is an invitation to focus on Jesus who ever ready to save us.
Beloved, Christianity is not primarily a belief, but the Christian faith, the church of Jesus Christ, the word of God, prayer, the Eucharist, baptism; etc. it isn’t just a religion! The CHRISTIAN FAITH IS ALL ABOUT A PERSON! WITH THIS PERSON WE HAVE THE FAITH, THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; WITHOUT THIS PERSON WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Does Jesus overwhelm you? Is Jesus the centre of your life? Is He the centre of your thoughts, or do you have distractions that have taken Him away from your gaze? What do you need to do to get your sight back on the Lord? If you’ve lost your sight of Jesus, if you’re eyes have been fixed onto your problems, like Peter, or something in your life is breaking in and wanting attention; how do you get your eyes focused again on Him? Hebrews 12:1 offers us the answer: ‘Lay aside every burden and sin that clings to us’ because focusing on these only weighs us down.

Those cares that you have, those sins that so easily befall you, those temptations that you and I seem not to be able to refuse, those bad relationships that are problems in our lives, those hobbies, those thoughts, those past times, those things we watch and listen to that we know are harmful to us yet we always give in; these are the horrendous torrents that shift our gaze from Christ. It beholds on us to call on Jesus like Peter did and he will help us out of our sinking positions. Are you letting Him rule the present? If you trust Christ, I’m not saying everything will be fine and everything will be rosy, but the only place where anything can, in any measure, be alright is when we have our eyes fixed and fastened upon the Saviour!

Sons and daughters of the most high given our frailty, there’s every likelihood that we might fall, I’d like Peter’s attitude to be our guide. In his fright, he trusted Jesus to save him and cried out: “LORD SAVE ME” (Mt. 14:30), and Jesus in his usual character, was handy with help. In our pains, misery, anxieties, fear, doubt, confusion, suffering, persecution, trials, temptations and hardships; only this statement should be on our lips “JESUS, SAVE ME”; surely he’ll save and favour us as he did to Peter.

HELP AT LEAST ONE NEEDY POOR AROUND YOU

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