WHAT DELIGHTS THE LORD GOD?Isaiah 1:11-17; Mt 10:34-42; 11:1
Beloved in Christ, in our church of today, many Christians have misconstrued the essentiality of our worship and relationship to God. Many Christians have become hypocritical in their religious worship of God, so much so that they honour God on their lips but their hearts and actions are a disservice to humanity. They are proud to make huge financial contributions or donations to the church but are indifferent to the plights of the poor, the needy, the orphans, widows and widowers etc around them. They offer huge sums of tithe to the church but are inconsiderate and deaf to the predicament of the destitute and the oppressed. Their worship of God does not translate into the love of their neighbour. They tend to create a dichotomy between the worship of God and the love of neighbour; Prioritizing the worship given to God at the disfavour of the charity they owe to humanity.
Dearest brother and sisters in Christ, the first reading of today's liturgy of the word taken from the prophecy of Isaiah, cautions us to be mindful of the things that do not please God. For God is spirit and takes no delight in burnt offerings of rams and bulls. For God is more concerned with the right relationship that should exist among humans than with offerings and donations. He said, “what to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the day of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or lambs, or of goats” (Isaiah1:11). Friends in Christ, Our worship of God is meaningless when our hearts are soiled with anger, greed, revenge, hatred, covetousness, hostility, animosity etc towards our neighbour. Our offerings are arrant nonsense when there is no right relationship with our neighbour. Our oblations do not pierce the clouds to God because we are insensitive and nonchalant towards the crisis of the underprivileged. The Lord God says through the prophet Isaiah, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isa 1:16-17). God cherishes the exaction of moral values in our day-to-day relationship with one another than in burnt offerings and donations. The word of God tells in Matthew 5:23-24 “when you are offering your gifts at the altar, and remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gifts there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister and then come and offer your gifts”. Our communion with God is dependent on our relationship with our neighbour.
Child of God, the Lord God offers us the invitation to cleanse our hearts from the stains of evil, so that our worship may be pleasing in His presence. Let us, therefore, become instruments of charity, compassion, justice, mercy, joy and peace etc to our neighbours, so that the joy of the Lord may abound in our lives.
Have a fruitful day!
Fr Remi osj
Amen
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