THURSDAY HOMILY, 28TH WEEK IN ORDINARY – YEAR A

THURSDAY HOMILY, 28TH WEEK IN ORDINARY – YEAR A

BY: FR GERALD M. MUSA

THEME: PERSECUTION OF PROPHETS

LUKE 11:47-54

“The greatest kindness one can render to any man is leading him to truth,” says St. Augustine. Jesus wanted to lead the Pharisees to the truth. He told them, “Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and you build their tombs” (Luke 11:47-48). They denied their failures, refused to accept the truth, and rejected corrections, much less conversion.

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They killed their prophets only to honour them with beautiful tombs, funerals, monuments, edifices, and memorials in an attempt to immortalise their names. Sometimes we too behave like the Pharisees when we become allergic to the voices of truth. Instead of listening to the truth, we threaten, attack, fight, demonise, oppose, reject, condemn, and vilify those who speak the truth. One of the key roles of prophets is to hold out a mirror and let people see what they look like.

Often, those who hate the truth seek to destroy both the mirror and the mirror holder, instead of taking corrections. No one who speaks the truth and does what is right is immune from persecution and opposition. Am I among those who speak the truth fearlessly or among those who are opposed to the truth? Am I in the band of persecutors of prophets or among those who support what is true, right, and just?

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