HOMILY FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A

HOMILY FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A

BY: Fr Cyril Unachukwu CCE

HOMILY THEME: Communion with God

The Christian life is a life of communion; communion with God and with our brothers and sisters. It is only in these twofold dimensions of communion that our lives are truly fulfilled. Life is meaningless, awkward, soar and unrealistic when lived shortage of any of these. May God bless you with a perfect life of Communion with Him and of healthy communion with those around you now and always; Amen.

The beauty of the created order is based on these twofold dimensions of communion. These forms of communion must lead to each other; our communion with God must lead us into communion with our brothers and sisters and our communion with our brothers and sisters must lead us to a deeper communion with God. Anything outside of this is not only destructive; but also the root of the many vices we find among us. Notable today among these vices is the monster of division as we see in the Second Reading of today (I Cor 1:10-13, 17); “I am for Paul, I am for Apollos, I am for Cephas, I am for Christ.” No vice has the capacity of making us both collectively and individually unproductive, devilish, unhappy and ungodly than the vice of division. Every division is a fruit of opposition of interests that are not compatible and this breeds one of the greatest challenges to our communion with God and with our neighbours. The Christian Community of Corinth, just like many of our parish communities, families, towns, villages and countries, was bedeviled by this challenge.

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It is very true and certain that God created each and every one of us unique and that each of us uniquely reflects God’s image. It is also true, that just as a constellation of the stars are so beautiful in the sky above, so also is the beauty of our communities and societies when we properly harness our individual talents, interests and inclinations. All of these must not just improve our communion with each other but also must intensify our Communion with God. This is one striking thing about the call of the first four disciples in the Gospel Reading (Mt 4:12-23). When Jesus called Simon Peter and Andrew “they were making a cast in the lake with their net” and when he called James and John “they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.” The first two were making a cast whereas the second two were mending their nets. These represent their interests, their talents, their inclinations, etc. But the epicenter of it all was that their response was the same “they followed Him.” Our interests must not lead us away from God and eventually from our neighbours. Our interest must lead us to God in union with our brothers and sisters. This is the secret of knowing the origin of our interests; its ability to lead us back to God and never its ability to bring division to the community. The simplest sign of the devilish origin of the interests of the Corinthians was the disintegration it brought about in their relationship with God and in their community. Never allow your interest to lead you away from God or bring about division in the Community of God’s children.

We pray that the power of the Holy Spirit may prune our interests of its ungodly excesses and develop in us interests that will assist us to build walls of communion with God and with our brothers and sisters; Amen. Happy Sunday.

 

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