Homily: January 23, 2023, Monday of the Third week in Ordinary Time.
“If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”
This is applicable to any kingdom, any organisation, any group, and of course, it applies to church, the kingdom of God here on earth as well. We see decline and weakening of organisations where divisions exist.
Is the church, the kingdom of God here on earth divided or united?
In this so-called modern society, it is not difficult to see many divisive opinions and views. Many people strongly advocate abortion, same-sex marriage, and other behaviour which the church has explicitly identified as unacceptable. Yet these people claim to be catholic.
They justify their arguments based on their own ideologies and political principles, not on the church’s teachings. And there are church leaderships who keep silent regarding these issues for fear of losing popularity.
Yes, God forgives but we cannot take God’s mercy for granted and live like there is no consequence to our sins. Today’s gospel talks about ‘an everlasting sin’, unforgivable sins, sins against the Holy Spirit. There are 6 of them but we focus on two of them.
The first is resisting divine truth. Knowing it is the truth and yet choosing not to believe, follow or even choosing to act against it, that is a very serious sin against the Holy Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit who reveals the truth to us.
Christ is the Truth, in its fullness, not half-truth. If we choose not to follow His teachings, we cannot be called Christians, we cannot be authentic in our faith.
The second one is the sin of presumption. It is taking an irresponsible position that eternal life or salvation will be granted regardless of a person’s response to God’s grace. It is presumptuous to think that God has no power to make a judgement on us. It is a sin to undermine God’s authority and disregard the graces He bestows on us.
The church dedicates this day as a ‘Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children’. Each and every life is a gift from God. To deny anyone, including unborn children, the right to live is a grave sin against the Creator of life.
Let us pray for every child awaiting the chance to be born and for the conversion of Catholics who now support abortion, acting and causing others to act against the Truth. Let us not presume that God will not judge us according to our deeds in this matter.
May the Catholic church stand tall as a beacon of hope and light for every generation of this country. May we, who are now divided, be reconciled as one, in Christ. Amen.
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