Daily homily for Thursday of the 3rd Week of Lent (1)

Daily homily for Thursday of the 3rd Week of Lent

Theme: Seeing Good in Others

By: Fr. Gerald M. Musa

Homily for Thursday March 24 2022

People marveled when Jesus drove out a demon from a man that was mute. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” In other words, they accused Jesus of using demonic power to cast out demonic power. They fell into the trap of the fallacy of hasty conclusion because they neither discerned nor differentiated between good and evil. What is more, they accused Jesus falsely because their minds were closed, cold, hardened, prejudiced, and reluctant to judge the work of Jesus with an open mind. Jesus made them understand that Satan cannot cast out Satan. He said, “If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” He added, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Sometimes, we too behave like the critics of Jesus when we rush into categorising, judging, and condemning people based on our limited knowledge. We speak ill of people even when we do not know them well enough; we accuse people of wrongdoing when we do not have sufficient facts to draw conclusions. Sometimes, we refuse to see anything good in people we dislike. The season of Lent is a time to exercise the virtue of charity. Can we learn to be more charitable in the way we see, talk and judge the activities of other people?

Jeremiah 7:23 – 28; Luke 11:14 – 23; Thursday, Third Week of Lent