HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.
HOMILY THEME: ‘THE HUMILITY OF A SINNER OPENS THE DOOR OF FREEDOM’
BY: Fr. Livinus Igbodekwe
HOMILY:
(EZR 9:5-9)
The thing that God detests so much is pride in sin – that is a proud sinner. 1 Peter 5:5 says the God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. The Psalmist says that when he concealed his sins his bones wasted away but when he confessed his sins God removed the guilt of his sin (Ps 32:1,3,5).
Today’s first reading tells of how Ezra humbled himself in fasting, tore his cloth and was ashamed of looking upward to God because of his sin and that of his countrymen. It was this humble gesture that opened the door of divine favour for the house of Israel that even the pagan King, Cyrus decreed to sponsor the project of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem from the royal treasury. This is favour! It attests to the word of God of 2 Chr 7:14 which says that ‘if my People who are called by my name shall humble themselves and Pray, rejecting their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land’.
Dear friend, are you still hiding your sins from God? Confess with all humility and you shall see the door of favour and freedom coming your way! Shalóm!!!
