Homily: January 13, 2022, Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

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Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011322.cfm 

“…It was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly…”

In yesterday’s gospel reading, Jesus told His disciples, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.” 

Jesus’s mission is to preach the good news to everyone. He needs to enter as many villages are possible but now we see in today’s gospel, this is being challenged. Why?

After Jesus healed the leper, He told him, “…see that you tell no one anything”. Instead, he “went away and began to publicize the whole matter”. He disobeyed Jesus.

It is normal that someone who is healed of a terrible disease like leprosy, would be so full of joy and excitement that he wants to tell the whole world about it. It is not a bad thing, it is logical, right? But clearly, when we act out of our own will instead of following what the Lord tells us to, we may be blocking the work of God for greater things.

My parents tried to teach me what was written in the book of Samuel which we are reading from, these two weeks, ‘obedience is better than sacrifice’. I was the most disobedient child among my siblings.

On the way to our family farm, there were many trees with aerial roots hanging from the branches. I liked those long aerial roots and used to grab them to swing about when I went to the farm with my parents and siblings. It was really fun. I was in grade 2 probably. 

Mummy warned me many times that the roots might break, that I should stop swinging on them. I did not listen. I continued my swinging fun.

One day, it broke. And I fell right into a grove of plants like poison ivy. I itched all over terribly. A traditional Indian remedy is to use hair to rub on the itchy areas and then apply coconut oil. Thankfully, I have five sisters who had nice long hair. They all used their hair to rub all over me and then coated me with coconut oil. Do you think it worked?

Yes, it worked. Nature truly contains many miraculous secrets. These are passed down through tradition and sometimes cannot be explained by science or logic.

And my lesson was, disobedience can lead to a lot of troubles. Our pride and stubbornness can lead to a lot of spiritual troubles if we do not listen to the Lord but act according to our own logic.

God has given us free will and He continues to invite us to follow His will, not by compelling us but by teaching us. When we learn to align our will to His, we will not be spiritually troubled or anxious.

Steven Furtick said, “Great moves of God are usually preceded by simple acts of obedience.

Man says, “Show me and I will trust you.”

God says, “Trust me and I will show you.”


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