HOMILY FOR MONDAY {15/07/2024}, 15TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
MEMORIAL OF ST. BONAVENTURE
[ISAI 1:10-17; MATT 10:34-11:1]
Two important personality who happened to have great impact on the teaching of the church are: St. Thomas Aquinas who is also known as ‘Angelic Doctor’ and St. Bonaventure who is also known as ‘Seraphic Doctor’. Both contributed exceptionally to the life of the church. Both have gifts in which they used for the greater glory of God and both died in same year, 1274.
Today in the gospel, Jesus makes the controversial statement that he has come to inaugurate a series of divisions in families and in the society as a whole between those who accept him as Lord and Savior and those who oppose him, his ideas, and his ideals. He concludes his great “missionary discourse” with an instruction to his twelve Apostles on the cost and the reward found in their commitment to be his disciple. The first half of these sayings of Jesus is about the behavior expected from his disciples, and the second half is about the behavior of others towards the disciple. “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword”: Jesus clarifies that he came to give people lasting peace, not temporary, worldly peace — the simple absence of war and the freedom from all conflicts in the family and society. Our role is to keep fighting against our evil habits and addictions, using the spiritual sword of the word of God which is “lively and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me….” : What Jesus means is that all loyalties must give place to loyalty to God. In other words, we cannot condone immoral practices even in members of our family. Jesus is not speaking against the family, but rather reminding us that we are part of the larger family of our fellow-Christians and, hence, we have more responsibilities. We must be ready to lose our lives for Christ: By “losing one’s life” Jesus means, not only suffering death rather than betraying him, but also that daily, we must stop living for ourselves alone. Instead, we must spend our lives for others and care for those who are sick and hungry. We are to give hospitality to strangers in Jesus’ name. (“offering a cup of cold water”): There are four main links in the chain of salvation: i) God who has sent Jesus with His message, ii) Jesus who has preached the “Good News,” iii) the human messenger who preaches Jesus’ message through his words and life, and iv) the believer who welcomes the message and the messengers. Hence, giving hospitality to a preacher or a believer is the same as welcoming Jesus himself. The basis of all hospitality is that we all belong to God’s family, and that every person is our brother or sister in Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to be hospitable and generous: Hospitality enables us to encounter the presence of God in others, usually in those in whom we least expect to find Him, and to share our love with them. We become fully alive as Christians through the generous giving of ourselves to others.
PAX VOBIS
Catholic Diocese of Ilorin, Kwara State,
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