HOMILY FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY OF THE ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR, A
Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi
A woman was well known and regarded to be holy. She attended her daily masses, assisted in cleaning the church premises, and prayed her rosary. She was so pious that any day she is absent from the morning mass, everyone will notice her absence due to the fact that she was the one that would seat in the front row of the church, directing the rosary and leading in the liturgical songs. She was indeed pious. And I must say that these acts are good. But this woman had a problem. She hardly forgave. If you dare stepped on her toes mistakenly, the type of gaze she would give you would make you want to run. She believed and stressed so much that everyone has to pay for any wrong doing. She would tell anybody at any slightest provocation that he/she will pay direly. This mentality grew in her so much that she lost her good pious qualities for which she was known. People then saw her as self-righteous and as someone who retaliates without consideration.
The First Reading (Lev. 19:1-2.17-18) and the Gospel (Matt. 4:38-48) have a sentence in common, and that is the call for holiness/perfection. This call is the beginning and the end of today’s readings, and so we can comfortably allude that the three readings are enshrouded by this call. And since this is true, the message in the readings would necessary point to the way towards perfection or holiness. The First Sentence reads: ...You shall be holy for the Lord your God am holy. The Last Sentence reads: You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. So, this forms an inclusio. An Inclusio in Biblical Exegesis is a literary device used by some hagiographers to showcase a particular theme and to transmit a particular lesson. I repeat; every other thing the readings of today say must be linked to the way and manner of making it towards holiness.
These readings contain the Dos and the Donts of how to be holy. The First clearly exposes the DONTs: 1. You shall not hate your brother in the heart... 2. You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge... The DOs immediately serve as antidotes against the DONTs. 1. But you shall reason with your neighbour lest you bear sin against him. This is the way to crush hatred. 2. But you shall love your neighbour as yourself. This is the way to crush the spirit of vengeance and grudge. The implication of all these resides in the fact that if anyone wants to be holy, he/she must start with the purification of intention. You must crush the spirits of grudge, vengeance and hatred, for these vice militate strongly against our search for holiness. If these vices are found in anyone, he/she can hardly be called holy.
Jesus widened it all the more in the Gospel. In Exodus 21:23-25, the law stated: if anyone harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. This is the law known as Lex talionis. Christ went back to the reason for which the law was made, and that reason is to avoid harm, vengeance, and war. I must say that the lex talionis had the intention of limiting violence and vengeance. It does not promote someone taking the law into his/her hands. It dictates that the court of law gives every punishment and penalty (Deut. 19:18). Jesus provided another interpretation to this law. Instead of averting vengeance through the law of deterrent, He exhorts us to avert vengeance through the law of love. It is only the law of love that can serve as an antidote to vengeance and serve as a way towards holiness.
Holiness/Perfection is a way of life, whereby a person continually makes sincere efforts to live a pious life, and not stopping at it, but goes beyond it to include a life lived for others in love. This life of love has many manifestations. 1. Ability to forgive and not to retaliate. 2. Ability to sacrifice and help those in need. 3. Ability to pray for your enemies and never to wish them evil 4. Ability to do good to all regardless of the person’s ethnicity, race or tribe. If you do all these, then you would resemble your heavenly Father who is God of love, mercy and justice. But I ask, How can we make it to this stage of perfection and holiness in a world of sin, hatred and war? Is it really possible?
Some persons who may be saying that holiness/perfection is not realizable in our age should be taught a lesson from the lives of Theresa of Calcutta and of Blessed John Paul II, those who lived among us few years back. In an age when holiness is trampled upon by people and the virtues of sincerity and honesty are disregarded, there comes a pattern of life that is set before the people of God to follow. This pattern of life encompasses all these values which seem to have been forgotten by people. Yes, holiness is achievable. However, human nature cannot achieve perfection unless the grace of God acts on her. There is the need for the grace of God to continue to make perfect that which is already good in us, and to shave off that which is not good in us, so that we may as time progresses move from being good to being very good of which at this level God implants in us his grace which will bring about the perfection needed for our salvation.
Many people in our age may regard those who live this life of sincere love according to the teaching of Jesus the Christ as fools. But I tell you; they are no fools but are the wise. Wisdom is not in the acquisition of worldly powers, wealth and knowledge, but lies in the acquisition of divine powers, spirituality and knowledge. For others, we are foolish; but for us, we know what we are searching for. We have seen and believed that wisdom lies in the keeping of God’s commandments. The Second Reading (1 Cor. 3:16-23) challenges all of us: if any one among you think that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of God is folly in this world. To be wise is to reside in God, to do His will and to love our neighbours. To be foolish is to ridicule the efforts of those who actually make sincere efforts to be holy with their pious life and their daily life in the society.
Going back to our lead story, the woman, truly may be making assiduous effort to be pious. She needs only to eschew from herself the spirit of vengeance and retaliation. Pious life is good, but we need to be human first. Being human is a way of realizing our being holy. It is the whole teaching of the Bible that we realize our humanity; that way we become holy. The one thing which makes us like God is the love which never ceases to care for men, no matter what men do to it. When we learn to forgive as God does, and to love as God does, we realize our humanity, and so can we enter upon Christian perfection. I pray that God gives all of us the grace to be human first so as to be holy. I wish you a splendid week ahead. God bless you
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