Homily: July 23, 2024, Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Communion with God )

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 “For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Father, mother, brother, sister. This makes a family.

What makes a strong family? When father, mother, brother and sister are united, when they move and grow together in the same direction, are never divided in their ways, each looking out for the other, keeping together. Traditionally the father, being the head of the family, sets the direction, and everyone follows faithfully, there will be unity, there will be strength.

This is how the ideal, perfect, strong family of God would be. A kingdom divided against itself will not stand, so there can be only one direction, one will.

So, what is God’s will?

For the world, it is unity.

For us, it is to be in communion with Him, and with one another.

Does that mean simply obeying God’s commandments? No. That is just a guideline to help us live righteously, without falling into sin.

To do the will of God, is to live proactively in response to God’s call for us, personally and collectively. To do that, we need to always be consciously and consistently listening to God’s voice in our daily life, to always seek to be know Him more, to strive to love Him truly and fully, and to serve Him better in the paths He leads us to. In doing all these, we would all be living in communion with one another, and with God.

We have to put God at the center of our life, therefore everything we do, every decision we make should be directed by God, not by our own intellect, logic or rationale. Like Mother Mary, we unite our will with God’s will.

That can come about only if we contemplate and spend time with Him daily.

Very often, due to my tight schedules to accomplish many tasks, I do not get time to pray or sit before the Blessed Sacrament, I would excuse myself thinking that my busy-ness is fulfilling God’s will, I am doing God’s work, aren’t I?

No. God doesn’t need me to do all these tasks and attend all these meetings FOR Him. Instead, He wants me to do all these things WITH Him. He wants to be in my life. And in yours too.

Let us find time daily to spend with the Lord. He longs for time with us, to speak to us. Let us pay attention to Him, contemplate His face and listen to Him, then we would know what to do, as God wills. We will then truly be brother and sister of the Lord. Amen.


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Homiía: Mayo 1, 2022, III Domingo de Pascua

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