HOMILY OF 18TH SATURDAY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B
HOMILY OF 18TH SATURDAY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: “EACH ONE SHOULD GIVE AS HE HAS DECIDED…”
BY: Bishop Anthony Ewherido
St. Lawrence; Pray for Us
2 Cor 9:6-10; Psalm 111(112):1-2, 5-9; John 12:24-26
God encourages us on a path of a generous response to His call. In contemplating this response, we must be mindful of the fact that we and all we have are God’s; and that the first thing we owe God is thanksgiving for all that God has bestowed upon us. Following that, we must offer gifts to God from what God has given us in the first place.
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St. Paul reminds us that we must give cheerfully and generously. Such giving was always part of Israelite and Jewish life and worship. We hear quite often of even parents giving their sons to God. That tradition has also been an important part of Christianity through the ages. Our gifts are offerings to God; offerings that are sacrificed in union with Christ our Lord and Brother, who perfects them before our heavenly Father. The highest and greatest of such an offering is the gift of oneself in total surrender to God. Like the grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies only to spring forth and give birth to new life. In addition to the different ways in which we give or offer up ourselves, the feast of St. Laurence, the Martyr, reminds us of the ultimate giving of the self by Christian witness in the midst of adversaries and in martyrdom. It is a very special gift. We may not all have the opportunity to make such an offering of the self to God. But, let us remember, that as often as we bear witness to the living presence of God amongst us and suffer some rejection, pain, ridicule, derision, indignity and embarrassment for our witness, we wear a martyr’s robe. And that is the core seed of Christianity, which we must become, for unless the “grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single grain, but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.”
Lord, may we reap the harvest of everlasting life. Amen.
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