SERMON/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR II 11TH JANUARY 2024

SERMON/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR II 11TH JANUARY 2024

1Samuel 4:1-11, 19-20; Ps.44; Mark 1:40-45

The Power of God’s Presence is not Magical

The quality of our relationship with God is dependent on our understanding of him. If our understanding of him is defective, so will our relationship be. That explains why when the penny catechism asked the question: “why did God make you”, the first reason is to know him. It is our knowledge of God that will give quality to our love and service to him.

For the people of Israel, they were God’s own people. God could do anything and everything for them just as he destroyed the Egyptians in the red sea for their sake. They saw themselves as even more fortunate to possess the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant meant for them the presence of God; and since only the Israelites had such Ark, they thought that God was their exclusive property.

They made no mistake in seeing themselves as specially loved by God. In fact, God was using them to mark the history of man’s salvation. However, they demonstrated a shallow understand of how to relate with this God. God is personal; and so, if our relationship with him will be well ordered, it must be personal too. Personal relationship can only exist amongst humans. You cannot have a personal relationship with inanimate objects. Our relationship with inanimate objects is simply to “use” them when and how we want to.

This was the kind of relationship the Israelites demonstrated towards God in today’s first reading. It surprised them that they were losing the battle with the Philistines. How can God’s own people be defeated! To have resulted to bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the war front meant that they have seen that by their power alone, they will not win the war. Yet, they were still defeated and the Ark of the Covenant was captured.

The Ark of the Covenant was captured not because God is not powerful enough as they thought but because their sinfulness has deactivate the power of God in them. God is not a charm that works according to our wills and caprices. There is a meeting point between our way of life and our prayer life.

Also, the awful experience of the Israelites today teaches us the proper way of using sacramentals. Sacramentals are sacred signs/objects that confer graces on those who use them. As soon as a sacramental is blessed by a priest, it becomes holy. We are expected to use them as instruments that ignite our faith not as magical elements. Their powers to save us is activated when we use them not merely possessing them. Hanging a rosary on your door post with the intention of driving out demons, when you neither pray it nor does it remind you of your devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, is tantamount to abuse.

Our pride as Catholics should not just be based on the fact that we possess the rich deposit of faith; rather it should be that we practice the rich deposit of faith that we possess. Again our consciousness of the presence of God or our use of sacramentals should not be limited to when we have problems. Form the habit of reading the bible, praying the rosary, sprinkling Holy Water in your homes, and so on. Such pious acts keep God’s presence activated in us always.