Homily: August 9, 2022, Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

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 “So, I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat.”

One of the books of the Bible which I used to skip was the book of Ezekiel. I didn't like his prophecies because he spoke about the valley of bones, the day of punishment and so on. But I always knew these are God’s words and every word in the Bible is inspired, even if I don’t like the way it is expressed.

Today’s reading is from Ezekiel. I was again tempted to skip, thankfully I didn’t, I would have missed this inspirational passage, even though it looks weird at first. 

The prophet was asked to eat the scroll written full of God’s words. He obeyed and when he ate, it tasted sweet like honey. Sometimes the word of God seems to be difficult, incomprehensible, even illogical but once we are open to it, once we receive it into our heart, it becomes easy to accept, it will even transform us.

In the same way, trying to live life the right way may seem difficult at first but once we brave through it, we will find peace.

I remember when I was just a little boy, I went to my papa with a toothache. One of my milk tooth was shaking and it was painful. I told him not to touch it because I was not ready to have it pulled out. It would be too painful I thought, I was very afraid. Papa agreed and said he will just take a look. As he checked, he told me it should be ready to drop in two weeks’ time. 

As he was talking, he pulled it, firm and fast. By the time I felt a little pain and knew what was happening, my tooth was already out. Thereafter, there was no more pain.

Before it happened, it seemed like too big a challenge but when it was finally done, it was such a relief. And it wasn’t that difficult after all.

God’s words, His precepts, His teachings, His ways may seem too difficult to follow. We might raise hundreds of intelligent questions against them, behaving like we know better. That is why in today’s Gospel, Jesus demands us to have a childlike trust, like Ezekiel obeying the command to eat the scroll without question, like me trusting my papa without doubting.

“Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.”

We will not enter heaven with our intelligent questions and clever scepticisms. We enter easily when we simply trust and humbly believe.

Let us be like little children when we come before the Lord, when we read the word of God. Let us believe the impossible, only then will we taste the sweetness of God’s words, feel the joy of sacrifice and share in the glory of the cross. Amen.


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