HOMILY FOR THE MEMORIAL OF SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI. 01.08.2020.
 |
| St. Alphonsus Liguori |
As I go through
the readings of today, I remembered an ugly event that happened in Brazil while
I was there for mission. On February 9, 2019, during lunch hour, there was loud
blast in Brumadinho, a city in Minas
Gerais, Brazil. A mining dam collapsed, full of toxic mud that stretched for
about five miles, crushing homes, offices, vehicles, animals and buried over 150
persons alive. Various rescue team came around the scene, but practically
unable to salvage the situation. People stood afar to watch their love ones
sinking in the mud. If it were water, they would have helped themselves
out by swimming. They needed external aid to rescue them. What a tragedy! Similarly,
the first reading present how the prophet Jeremiah was recued from sinking in
the mud as the psalmist expressed it.
In the first reading,
the priests, prophets and the people condemned Jeremiah and
brought him to the princes, the political leader of Judah for judgment. They
said Jeremiah deserves death sentence for his prophecies against the city of Judah
that "if they do not heed to the ways of
the Lord, that the city will be desolate, without inhabitant." Interestingly, while they gathered about
him so that he will sink to death by sentence, he remained firm and
reaffirmed the message of the Lord before those who sought to kill him. He said
to them, “Amend your ways and your
doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will repent from
the evil which he has pronounced against you.” He said this courageously as
if they were the ones on trials before the princes and not him. He made them
realize that he was truly sent by God and they were free to take his life, but
the blood of an innocent man will be upon them. He spoke with vigor and
courage, the way John the Baptist will later speak as seen in the gospel of
today.
The gospel
pericope present to us how Herod beheaded John the Baptist for speaking the
truth. Just as Jeremiah spoke against the evil committed by the people of Judah
and they threaten to kill him, John the Baptist spoke against the evil of Herod
and Herodias, and he was imprisoned and
was later beheaded. Jeremiah was not scared of dying for the truth; neither do
John. He was not scared of Herod and Herodias, nor their positions. It is pertinent to say that John was scared
of suppressing the truth. That is why he was courageous enough to tell
Herod that, “It is not lawful for him to
have Herodias, his brother’s wife.” This truth was so bitter for them to
accept.
Many of us today
are scared of standing for the truth; we are scared of bearing witness to the
gospel. We are scared of not losing our jobs, scared of not losing our husband
or children. We are scared of not losing our lives. Some are so scared of man
and no longer scared of God, just like Herod who was afraid to go against his
wife or to lose his friends. Some are scared of tomorrow and so, they are ready
to give up their faith for money by engaging in immoral acts or temporal
pleasure just to secure some coins. The readings calls us to put aside these
fears and be ready to give up our lives for the truth at all time.
In view of the
above that St. Alphonsus gave up his career as a lawyer to become a priest. He was
born in 1696, known to be an outstanding apostle of the poor, an untiring
writer and preacher as well as merciful confessor. He is the founder of the
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) with the apostolate of
evangelizing the poor. We celebrate him as bishop and doctor of the Church and
the patron of moral theologians and he died in 1787 as seen in the daily
missal. We pray through his intercession that God will give us the courage to
bear witness to him through Christ our Lord. Amen! Peace be with you!
Fr. Ken Dogbo, OSJ.
May we be true witnesses of Christ without fear of anything through Christ our Lord Amen.
ReplyDeleteHappy new month Fr.