HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE THIRTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.
HOMILY THEME: BE AGENTS OF RECONCILIATION
BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon
HOMILY:
(Lk. 17:1-6)
In the day’s Gospel Jesus stresses on our responsibility not to be the cause of sin and be constant agents of reconciliation. He gives great caution to those who are the reason for others to sin for they deserve the worst punishment. He is short of saying that being the cause, they are as guilty, if not more guilty, as the sinner. While Jesus accepts the reality of the occurrence of the causes of sin, He admonishes His disciples not to fall for them. And if sins are committed, rebuke those who cause them and forgive if they repent.
Sins are offenses against God. As disciples, we ought to hate sin and exert all our efforts not to commit them. Temptations, the causes of sins, will always be there. Satan is always busy. In our weakest moments, temptations will come. We do not have retreat from them. If they are too strong and dominating, we may elude them for a while. But, in the end, it is best to hurdle them, not alone, but with the grace of God. Faith in God is what make us strong against temptations. In fact, for the disciple, temptations are seen as opportunities to express our faith. Saying “No” to sin is saying “Yes” to God.
Forgiveness is no doubt difficult. Nobody says, even God, I believe, it is easy. Offended, hurt, and pained, how can it be easy to forgive? But we must and we should because Jesus tells us so. He Himself did it for us. No matter how great and numerous are our sins, He forgives. Jesus believes in repentance. We are capable of realizing our sins and promising never to do them again. Hopefully, the love and forgiveness of God will be enough for us to love and forgive others too. Remember the Lord’s Prayer? “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us?” How happy and relieved are we when we receive God’s forgiveness. The least we could do is to share it to others.
Peace, that is, reconciliation, is so important to God that He gave His only begotten Son to become one like us to suffer and die. We were worth it! It was us who sinned against God yet it was God who made a way to reconcile with us. No wonder, Jesus preached conversion and reconciliation throughout His life and ministry. Needless to say, as His disciples, we ought to be peacemakers. And we can begin by forgiving those who sin against us.
