HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.
HOMILY THEME: OVERCOMING SIN
BY: Fr. Cyril Akindele Osadare
HOMILY:
Readings: Romans 7:18-25;
Luke 12:54-59
Imagine you are sitting in front of your doctor telling you to leave smoking and he is at the same time lighting a cigarette. Or imagine you are listening to your pastor advising you youths to avoid drinking alcohol and he is opening two or three bottles at the same time. I once met a smoker addict who sat us down and began to lecture us on the danger of smoking. He was almost crying as he was talking begging and appealing to us not to get involved because according to him, once we start, we can’t stop easily. We can call this hypocritical attitude or slavery to such bad habit. Habits sometimes are very difficult to breakaway from except one receive help.
This is what St. Paul was lamenting about himself today in the first reading how enslaved he had become such that he knows what is right to do, he wishes he could be doing the right things but don’t have the courage to do them. But with the help of Christ, St. Paul was able to overcome the inclination to sin. This is why Jesus want us to use our knowledge to seek for ways to help ourselves out of any difficult situation we find ourselves. It is not just for the outside or ordinary talk but we must take concrete actions to get out of such addiction to sin and evil.
My dear friends, many of us today are so addicted to sin, alcohol, smoking, sex, material acquisitions, TV, games, gambling and the likes. We have reached a point of let’s say no return. Where we realize how damaging the effects of these things but we seem not know what to do to get out of it. We are invited today to cooperate with God’s grace and act decisively before they finally destroy us. If we can predict and control things that are external to us, those our internal conflict behaviours need our attention as well. If we act with the same vigour, we can get somewhere.
May the Lord root out of us all kinds of slavery and addicted habits that are capable of destroying us. Amen.
