FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A (4)
HOMILY FOR THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: Spiritual Nourishment
BY: Fr Cyril Unachukwu
HOMILY:
With joy and trust, let us go to the temple of the Lord God today, to encounter in a most special way our Creator, our Saviour and our Redeemer. As we come towards Him, we lay our intentions on His Altar, certain that He will hear us. May we never leave His Temple unsatisfied and unfilled; Amen.
In the world today, as it has always been, there is one thing that every person is searching for. This thing is most important for our daily life. Some persons search for this thinking they can obtain it by taking in more glasses of beer. Some others feel that they can discover this by involving in different kinds of impure acts, making as many orgies as possible, sleeping at many night clubs and bars as possible, visiting different assorted places of relaxation and refreshments, etc., but shortly after they must have finished all of these things, they disappointedly discover that this unique heart desire of all is not there within. We are speaking about Spiritual Nourishment which begets TRANQUILLITY OF THE SOUL; SERENITY OF THE SOUL; TRANQUILLITY OF THE HEART; SERENITY OF THE MIND. This is a special condition of the soul that can never come from any created thing. It can only come from God.
In the Gospel (Mt 11:25-30), we heard those assuring words from Jesus “come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you find rest for your souls.” The word translated as rest here also means tranquility, serenity and nourishment. A life without this unique state of the soul, mind and heart is not an enviable life. But we must note that the tranquility, serenity, nourishment which Jesus is referring to here is Spiritual Nourishment, because it is the Spiritual Nourishment that gives meaning to the nourishment of the body. Spiritual Nourishment involves making our interest the interest of the spiritual voice of God within each of us (Romans 8:9, 11-13). It is unfortunate that some of us make the greatest of efforts to have a good taste of our bodily refreshment forgetting completely the spiritual.
Something became very clear to me recently; there are some people who are not happy despite having a good time with all the centers of refreshment very close to us. Some other persons have made the choice of suicide after making orgies, after drinking different kinds of assorted alcohol to become happy. Also, there are some people who have grown tired of life because they could not find the happiness they desired not knowing that they have forgotten the most important thing of all. This most important thing of all times is the search for Spiritual Nourishment. One may ask me; where can one find this thing of great value? Where and when can one be spiritually nourished?
They are in the very things that we neglect as common and casual. When we encounter God in our lives; when we pray in our houses; when we read and meditate on the words of the Scriptures; when we invoke the intercession of Mary Mother of God, of Saint Joseph her most chaste Spouse and of all the saints; when we sincerely come to the Church to join in the celebration of the mysteries of our faith and to pray together as the Family of God’s children; when we make a retreat either as a community or as individuals; when we receive with joy and thanksgiving everything that God has given us; and specifically, when we lay everything into the hand of God. Because only in God can one find the tranquility of the Soul. Only in God can one find the serenity of mind and heart. Only in God can one find spiritual nourishment and the joy that lasts forever. This is responsible for the joyful note in the Second Reading of today (Zechariah 9:9-10), the joy of soul that received God and is spiritually nourished.
As we come before the altar of our salvation, we pray God to make us new with a unique experience of spiritual nourishment leading us to tranquility and serenity of soul, mind and heart; Amen.
Happy Sunday.
