HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER YEAR B (1)

HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: PERSIST IN YOUR BELIEF

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:

(Jn. 6:16-21) Saturday of the Second Week of Easter

In the day’s Gospel Jesus appeared to comfort the apostles who embarked on a boat and encountered strong winds. Jesus identified Himself to the frightened apostles, “It is I. Do not be afraid!” Suddenly, the boat reached the shore safe.

More than presenting a miracle, this account is symbolical. The boat is the Church; the sea is the world; and the winds were the challenges and difficulties we encounter in this world. It give the message that the life of the Church is full of challenges and difficulties but the Lord will always be there to help the Church go through those challenges and see to it that the Church will arrive at its true destiny, the Kingdom.

We should never feel abandoned by God at any moment. If at times it does look that way, we must persist in our belief that we have a loving God and He is always true to His promise. He never abandons us. Specially during those hard days and night, He is more present. Those are times when we do everything we can at the same time believing that God is with us. As long as we keep our faith, follow His commands, and endure sufferings in the process, our boat will reach the shore safe and sound! Humanity will reach its destiny in the Kingdom.

The present days are no exception. The Church, our faith, and our God are under attack by atheists, modernists, protestants, and other sectors of society. For them God does not exist because He allowed pain, suffering, poverty, death, famine, war, and other worldly afflictions. Faith is an opium which tries to lighten people’s burden and gives the idea that suffering is part of believing and comfort Will be the reward if we persist in faith. Traditions are old, obsolete, irrelevant, and anti-progress. Trust is given more to money, intelligence, power, and humanity. God is removed from the equation of life. Life after death is a lie.

How we wish God will again become flesh and respond to these accusations and attacks. But He need not. Once is enough. He had done His part and did it in the best possible way. As Abraham said to the rich man who ignored Lazarus, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone roses from the dead.” It is now the time to believe. God had given us all the reasons to do so.