HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 14TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II (1)
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 14TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II
THEME: The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”
BY: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY JULY 5 2022
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Hosea 8:4-7,11-13
Psalm 113:3-10
Matthew 9:32-37
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
Green
*FROM THE FIRST READING*
In our first reading today, we heard f
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 14TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II
THEME: The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”
BY: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY JULY 5 2022
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Hosea 8:4-7,11-13
Psalm 113:3-10
Matthew 9:32-37
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
Green
*FROM THE FIRST READING*
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Hosea on all the wickedness that the Israelites in the northern kingdom centred at Samaria had done, in their rebellion against God. The kings and the people chose to worship pagan idols, the golden calf of king Jeroboam, the first to mislead the Israelites into sin, and then Baal and Asherah and many other Canaanite gods, on top of persecuting the many prophets and messengers that God had patiently sent into their midst to help them to rediscover the right path in life. They stubbornly refused the Lord and His messengers, and shut the doors of their hearts and minds against Him.
*FROM THE GOSPEL READING*
There is a sharp contrast in this morning’s gospel reading between the way the ordinary people responded to Jesus’ healing ministry and the way the Pharisees responded. The people said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel’. The Pharisees said, ‘It is through the prince of devils that he casts out devils’. The people saw God at work in what Jesus was doing; the Pharisees saw Satan at work in Jesus’ healing work.
*LET US MEDITATE THE READINGS TOGETHER*
Dear brethrens, the readings of today especially the gospel reading invites us to ask ourselves, ‘To what extent am I alert to the presence of God all around me, especially in the good that other people may be doing?’ We can be prone to seeing what is lacking in some situation and to miss the good that is also there. We can be better at naming what is wrong than what is right. We can be more attuned to noticing evil than good.
*CONCLUSION*
Dear friends in Christ, while never being blind to evil, sin and failure, the gospel reading encourages us to be open to the ways that the Lord is at work in our lives and in the lives of others. The Lord himself was sensitive to the good in others, even when they failed to see it for themselves, and others failed to see it. We need something of the Lord’s generous way of seeing, especially in these times when the negative can be highlighted to the detriment of everything else.
The Lord is good! All the time. And that is His nature wow!
Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA
