HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 28TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR II
THEME: Do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say, because when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say.’
BY: Diotacious Chikontwe SMA
HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OCTOBER 15 2022
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Ephesians 1:15-23
Psalm 8:2-7
Luke 12:8-12
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
GREEN
*ABOUT THE FIRST READING*
In today’s first reading, Paul tells the community that he thanks God for them because he has heard about their faith in the Lord Jesus and the love that they show towards all the saints. The ‘saints’ is Paul’s way of referring to the baptized. Paul gives thanks for their faith in the Lord and their love for others.
Paul is reminding us that our relationship with the Lord, our faith, and our relationship with others, our love, are inseparable. Authentic faith will always show itself in love. Our faith in the Lord opens us up to receive the Lord’s gift of the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is love.
*FROM THE GOSPEL READING*
In our gospel reading of today, Jesus promises his disciples a very special form of support, the help of the Holy Spirit. He declares to them, ‘when, the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say’. That same Spirit is given to us all. We sometimes think of the Holy Spirit as given to us only at very particular, privileged, moments of our lives, such as the day of our baptism and the day of our confirmation. However, when Jesus says ‘when the time comes’ the Holy Spirit will help his disciples to witness publicly to him, he is suggesting that the gift of the Holy Spirit is always given to us at the time when we need.
*CONCLUSION*
Dear brothers and sisters, our faith in the Lord opens us up to receive the Lord’s gift of the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is love. The Holy Spirit is the link between faith and love. In the gospel reading, Jesus promises his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, when the time comes. That time for them was Pentecost. For us that time was out baptism, but not only our baptism. We live in a perpetual Pentecost; the time of the church is always a Pentecost time. The Lord always stands ready to pour out the gift of the Holy Spirit afresh into our hearts. Each day, we are invited to receive in faith this gift of the Spirit and to allow this gift to bear the fruit of love in our lives.
May God bless us all, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
