God of Resurrection! (HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II (AUGUST 23, 2024)

HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II (AUGUST 23, 2024)

Ezekiel 37:1-14; Ps.107; Matthew 22:34-40

God of Resurrection!

In the first reading of today, God speaking through Ezekiel, offered hope to humanity. This hope transcends what mere mortals can give because it is one that restores from death. Death is a phenomenon that once it occurs, we live our lives bearing its stings. When one loses a love one, for instance, he/she does not live life attempting to bring back the dead to life; rather he/she is forced to learn to live without the physical presence of the loved one. This denotes some sought of helplessness.

This helplessness is found in some other aspects of our lives. Some persons are experiencing death in one aspect of their lives or the other. It could be spiritual, psychological, emotional, physiological or otherwise. The common denominator of them all is that there seem to no hope of recovering and becoming whole again. In fact, such persons are left with no choice but to learn to live with the situation; irrespective of how unfavourable it is.

Today, God asks us to expose whatever form of death we are experiencing to the Word of God. He wants to heal and restore what has been concluded to be lost and forgotten. It could be a sinful habit that we have given up on the possibility of stopping; it could be negative experiences with people that have made us imbibe some uncharitable life styles as lessons learnt from such experiences. It could be a betrayal that is so deep that we completely lack the strength to forgive.

Beloved, we die in so many ways on a daily basis! Do not give up hope of resurrecting. God is ever ready to do for and with us what we and others cannot imagine to be possible. All that God demands of us is to listen to his word. Whatever we do not listen to cannot motivate us. The power of God’s Word is activated through effective listening; that is why the Word is described as alive and active.

God is inviting us to a change of orientation: stop listening to the “dead” situation, stop listening to your weak self, stop listening to your helpless neigbours but listen to the voice of the Lord; the voice that raised Lazarus from the grave. The gospel acclamation captures this truth aptly: “teach me your paths, O Lord, Guide me in your truth”. Lies will keep us in the grave but the truth will cause us to resurrect. Since the Lord is truth himself, only Him can make resurrection possible. How exactly will He resurrect us? We cannot tell. But will he resurrect us? YES! 

Remain blessed 🙌