HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 32ND WEEK IN THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR II/(Memorial of St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church)
Homily for Thursday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time year II (Memorial of St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church) Philemon 7-20; Luke 17:20-25 In the First Reading, St. Paul while he was in prison wrote a letter to Philemon to forgive Onesimus, Philemon's runaway slave. Onesimus left Philemon for a while as a result of some disagreement. This disagreement led to the imprisonment of Onesimus who through Paul's preaching got converted to the Christian faith. Paul appealed to Philemon to accept Onesimus back, no longer as a slave but as a brother in Christ Jesus. Receiving Onesimus back by Philemon as a brother in Christ Jesus is the height of forgiveness since slaves then were treated as objects to be used and discarded once their masters no longer need them. Forgiving hurts and extending hands of friendship to those who offend us the way Paul asks Philemon to do with Onesimus is one of the things we do to make God's kingdom present in our world just as Jesus dec...