FR. BEN’S HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 28TH WEEK IN A CYCLE I

FR. BEN’S HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 28TH WEEK IN A CYCLE I

THEME: A WICKED GENERATION!

BY: Ben Agbo (Rev Fr)

HOMILY FOR MONDAY OCTOBER 11 2021

*Rom 1 : 1 – 7, Lk 11 : 29 – 32.
This generation is a wicked generation because despite the fact that we know that the Word has taken flesh and dwelt among us, we are still looking for the Word outside the flesh. Jesus said : ‘This is my body’ (transubstantiation) but many insist on saying, ‘It is like his body’ – It signifies his body (transignification) or just a symbol of his body (transelementization). Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites but Jesus is a sign reality – not just a symbol of his divinity but God dwelling among us, Jn 1: 14, Col 1 : 19. In sacramental theology we learn that the symbol is always greater than the sign because it contains a little of what it signifies. The symbol is closer to the reality than the sign yet the reality is greater than its symbol.

Something greater than Solomon (mere symbol of human wisdom) is here. Something greater than Jonah (mere symbol of human prophesy) is here. Friends, we need to understand that sacramental faith is superior even to dogmatic faith, existential faith or any other kind of faith we may be practicing. Jonah was a sign for the call of humanity to repentance and also a prologomenon to the resurrection of Christ. The wisdom of Solomon was only a preview /pointer to the supreme wisdom of God made manifest in our Lord Jesus Christ. Sacramental faith requires a belief that God can work through his presence made manifest in physical signs and symbols. For example, when Elijah told Naaman to go and wash 7 times in a river, Naaman lacked the requisite sacramental faith to enable him obtain the miracle until the intervention of his servant. When the Centurion told him ‘Lord, I am not worthy to receive you but only say the Word…’, Jesus praised his faith in the efficacy of his presence even from a distance. When the woman of haemorrhage said ‘If only I can touch the fringe of his garments I shall be made well’, Jesus praised her sacramental faith in the symbol of Christ’s garment as containing the power of Christ. Today, we have the Eucharistic presence of Jesus in our chapels. We position him in our Adoration grounds yet many believers do not feel his presence. They still prefer to fix their faith on some other ‘men of God’ and look for other signs inferior to this presence. Jesus makes it clear in today’s gospel that no other sign after his 3 days stay in the grave (belly of a fish) and resurrection from the dead will be given to this generation.

Jesus has been designated Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. St Paul says in today’s 1st reading that there is no grace beyond this unleashed at humanity. We must proclaim this gospel of the new dispensation of grace in Jesus Christ in season and out of season. His Word has been made flesh and dwells among us. Only a wicked generation still refuses to accept the reality of Christ’s presence on earth. Ours is a generation of Christianity that is getting more and more interested in undue sensationalism – fake miracles, fake revelations and magical adumberations of divine power. But the real version of Christianity still preaches Jesus Christ as crucified in the flesh and as risen from the dead. We just need to up our game of faith in him. May God bless you today!