HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY- EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY- EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

By: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA

THEME OF THE HOMILY: You have not gone in yourselves and have prevented others who wanted to.

READINGS OF THE DAY
Romans 3:21-30
Psalm 129:1-6
Luke 11:47-54

LITURGICAL COLOUR
GREEN

INTRODUCTION
Good morning dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate Thursday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time, Year A.

FROM OUR FIRST READING
In today’s first reading, Saint Paul speaks about the free gift of God’s grace. We often hear the saying, ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’. In other words, what might appear to be a free gift often has a hidden expectation of getting something in return. The saying implies that most people give with a view to getting something back. That may or may not be true, but what is certainly true is that God gives his love freely to us. When God gives to us, there are no strings attached. Yes, God wants us to receive his love, but his gift of love does not depend on our receiving it. God continues to love us even when we refuse the gift of his love. We receive the gift of his love by receiving his Son, the greatest gift of his love. God looks to us to receive his Son by believing in him, entrusting our lives to him.

FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
this morning’s gospel reading Jesus criticizes the lawyers, the experts in the religious law, for taking away the key of knowledge. Their study should have given them access to God’s truth and to the person of Jesus who was the full revelation of God’s truth. However, not only are they in the process of rejecting Jesus, they are also influencing others to do the same. In the words of the gospel reading, ‘they have not gone in themselves and have prevented others going in who wanted to’. Jesus was always very critical of those who were an obstacle to other people coming to faith in him, who prevented others from coming to discover him as God’s truth for themselves.

CONCLUSION
Dear Brethren, if, like the lawyers, we do not go in ourselves, if we are not trying to come to Jesus ourselves, then we will not be able to lead others to Jesus and may well find ourselves preventing others from coming to him. The reverse is also true. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, we make it easier for others to do the same. We have an influence on each other’s faith, in one direction or another. If we are trying to grow in our faith, we won’t necessarily lead others to the Lord. However, if our faith is growing ever weaker, we certainly won’t lead others to the Lord. Our primary responsibility is to go in ourselves, in the language of the gospel reading. Having done so, we can be sure that the Lord will find a way to work through us to touch the lives of others.

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