HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 5TH WEEK IN THE ORDINARY TIME

Homily for Wednesday of the 5th week in Ordinary time

*The second account of creation of Man

* what defiles a man?

Genesis 2:4-9, 15-17;

The first reading tells us of the 2nd account of creation of man. It says: "The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breadth of life, and the man became a living being" (Gen 2:7). 

God being the sole creator of man brings the implication that human life is sacred. Hence, man in the image of God is both corporeal and spiritual; distinguishing him from the entire visible world. Man is a unity and a duality. Unity means he is one, and duality means he is at the same time body and soul. 

Placed in the garden of Eden, God commanded man saying: "You may eat freely of the tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, lest you shall die" (Gen 2:15-17).  God is the lawgiver, the giver of all moral laws. However Adam and Eve disobeyed God and incurred consequences.

Disobedience to God's command brings death. Sin is a disobedience against God's law, opposing God's will and death is the consequence. Man abused his faculty of freedom and will, and went against the command of God. Hence, Sin is the breaking of the covenant with God, a rejection of God's love. 

In the Gospel reading Jesus said to the crowd: "Nothing that goes into a man from the outside can defile him but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile him" (Mk 7:14-15).

Jesus speaks of moral defilement. Morally speaking no food can defile a man. It doesn't constitute sin. Jesus revers the mentality that in the OT, food such as swine, hare, vulture, Eagle, kite etc were unclean and defile a person (Lev 11:1-23). Thus, No food is unclean because they all go to the stomach, however, what are really unclean are theft, murder etc because they proceed from the heart. 

The heart must be good. If the heart is good then the person is good. If the heart is bad then the person is bad. 

Man must change from within. There should be the inner conversion, metanoia and interior change. Externalities are of little avail. 

May God grant your grace to have a deep conversion of heart towards his laws and precepts, and may they bring us divine life. Amen

Have a blessed day

Fr Remi osj