YEAR B: HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 17TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (1)

YEAR B: HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 17TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:

(Mt. 13:54-58) Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel Jesus went back to His hometown. Like any homecoming, it was expected that He will have a grand time there and His town folks as well. Jesus was becoming very popular in word and deed. His own people must have heard about His game in other places. However, instead of appreciating Him, they were blinded by their knowledge of His family, relatives, and status. It resulted to their lack of faith which made it impossible for Jesus to make miracles there.

For miracles to happen, faith must be present. We can go back to all the miracles of Jesus and we will realize the truth of this. Jesus will always ask the sick person if he has faith. Or, when healing happened, Jesus will point out that his faith has healed him. Of course, the power of healing came from Jesus. But His power must be complimented by faith. Faith is our expression of will. Jesus will never force Himself on us including healings and any miracle. Our faith, our will, met by Jesus healing power, effect the miracle.

Avoid judging people by their origin, status, relatives, families, etc. While we ought to be guarded by those personal circumstances in dealing with a person, we must be open to know the person when we meet him. It is really different when we come eye to eye with him.

Specially these days when initial contacts happen via social media. Text messages are different from calls. Calls are more inferior than eyeballs. Much will be revealed when you spend time with each other, work with each their, or listen to each their. As what happened, Jesus was unfairly judged. They failed to see His real person. They filed to recognize the Messiah.

We may overlook who people are at times. But take care not to let it happen with the Lord. When we fail to recognize Him, we are doomed. Find and know the Lord in Creation. Find and know the Lord in people. Find and known the Lord in the events of our lives. Find and know the Lord and miracles will happen!’