FR. BEN’S HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 20TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II
THEME: THE BONES SHALL RISE AGAIN!
BY: Ben Agbo (Rev Fr)
HOMILY FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 19 2022
*Ezek 37: 1 – 14, Matt 22: 34 – 40.
Whenever God breathes his Spirit (Ruah) on a human soul, it is enlived and revived. When God breathed his Spirit on those who had died, they came back to life again. And so the Word of God has a tripartite mission;
*1. The Word of Sovereignty* by which God the father created the world from the beginning and said ‘Let there be light… and there was light, Gen 1: 1.
*2. The Word of Restoration* by which God the Son came to redeem mankind; ‘For God so loved the world that he gave us his only son that whoever believes in him will have eternal life’, Jn 3: 16.
*3. The Word of Sanctification* from God the Holy Spirit by which he revives us and makes us holy again even when we are dead in sin; ‘If by the Spirit you put to death the habits originating in the body, you will have life’, Rom 8: 11.
The vision of Ezekiel which we read in the 1st reading prophesied that Isreal will one day be freed from bondage in Babylon and it later came to pass. This promise of restoration will also be realized by all people of faith in the general resurrection at the end of time. So, we need to prophesy to the dead bones of our universe; the spiritually depleted, the psychologically down spirited, the physiologically incapacitated, that “the bones shall rise again”.
The doctrine of the resurrection offers great comfort to the believers while the doctrine of restoration offers great consolation to the spiritually depleted souls. We always have this open cheque before us to make a fundamental option towards the love of Christ who has come to redeem us and restore us to glory. *Whenever we embrace his love fully with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind, his Spirit revives us*. Then the bones shall rise again!
May God bless you today!
