HOMILY FOR THE MEMORIAL OF ST. BERNARD, ABBOT AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

THEME: You must not allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ.

BY: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA

HOMILY FOR SATURDAY AUGUST 20 2022

 

*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Ezekiel 43:1-7
Psalm 84:9-14
Matthew 23:1-12

*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
WHITE

*INTRODUCTION*
Today dear brethrens, we celebrate the Memorial of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, (born 1090, probably Fontaine-les-Dijon, near Dijon, Burgundy [France]—died August 20, 1153, Clairvaux, Champagne; canonized January 18, 1174; feast day August 20), Cistercian monk and mystic, founder and abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux and one of the most influential churchmen of his time.

*FROM OUR FIRST READING*
In our first reading today we heard from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel regarding the vision of the Great Temple in Heaven, the Sanctuary of God and His Holy Presence. Through Ezekiel, God was showing His people Who it is that they were truly following, and He showed them of His might and everything that He would do for His people, as He would live forever among them. Not only that, but when the Lord mentioned that, He really meant it, as it was truly a prelude of what He would do for them, in sending them the greatest gift of all, the gift of His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Lord and Saviour.

*FROM OUR GOSPEL READING*
In the gospel reading Jesus tells his disciples that they have only one Father, and he is in heaven, and, furthermore, they have only one Teacher, namely, Jesus. Some of Jesus’ disciples probably thought of themselves as teachers. Indeed, at the very end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is portrayed as sending out his disciples to teach, saying ‘go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you’. Yet, Jesus says to them, to us, ‘you have only one teacher.

*CONCLUSION*
us as Christians, Jesus is the only one who is truly worthy of the title ‘teacher’. He is the teacher in a way that none of his disciples, none of us, could ever be. Because he is our teacher, in our relationship with him we are always learners. We have nothing to teach him, whereas we have everything to learn from him. That is why Jesus turns to the crowds at one point in Matthew’s gospel and says, ‘Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart’. Our calling is to keep learning from him, to be open to all he wants to teach us, in and through the circumstances of our lives, with all its light and shade. We learn from Jesus by reflecting on his words and deeds in the gospels, by reflecting on our experience, by inviting the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and to keep on leading us towards the complete truth.
The Lord is Good!

Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA

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