Homily: July 12, 2022, Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

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 “Will you be exalted to heaven?”

How many of us are sure that we will be exalted to heaven if we had died today?

Yesterday while driving along road, I checked that the traffic was clear and was about to turn left into a small lane, when another car appeared from nowhere and sped past right in front of my car so fast. I didn’t have time to react but thank God, I was turning very slowly and managed to stop just in time with shock. When I realised what happened, I knew I would have been hit if I had just turned a bit faster. From the speed of that car, I am sure I would have died instantly.

Fear ran through me. I am not afraid to die, but I am afraid to die now. I am not ready, not prepared to meet the Lord, not worthy to be exalted to heaven yet. And I would like to skip purgatory if possible.

Are you also afraid to die unprepared?

In the first reading, King David was afraid of the kings of Aram and Israel. But God had His plans. It was not time for David to die yet. So, through prophet Isaiah, God assured the King, “Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear; let not your courage fail…”.

“Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm.”

If we trust that everything will happen in God’s time, we will be firm in our faith. If we follow God’s plan for us, we will not fear.

In the Gospel text, again, we hear harsh words from Jesus. Note that He is not cursing, rather, He is warning. His warning is to save His listeners from condemnation to the nether world. Jesus’ message is simply ‘repent now so you won’t regret later’.

So let us be prepared, repent of our sins and we will not fear. Be firm in our faith and we will not tremble. Follow God’s way and we will not falter. Then when it is our time to go, we will be sure we will be exalted to heaven. Amen.


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