HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE FOURTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II. 07.07.2020.

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Readings: Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13; Psalm 115 and Matthew 9:32-38 


COMPASSIONATE GOD


Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God 2 Cor. 13:3-4. The liturgy of today gives us the compassionate attribute of Christ, which he invites us to practice. We can take a pause to ask ourselves, can someone else’s pains become our pain and their suffering become our suffering? How often do we think of how to help people out from their difficult situations? True compassion changes the way we live.

 

Compassion alludes to kindness and sympathy, but there is something deeper, something even more profoundly powerful, in its meaning. In the Gospel of today, “Christ went about the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogue, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity.” Encountering human needs, He was moved with compassion for them. He had feeling for people in the face of their problem. After exercising his compassion to the mute demoniac, he was terribly and unfairly criticized, yet it did not make him stop his work or stop being compassionate. He did not say, “Oh, they are saying terrible things about Me! What can I do? How can I make them stop?” Christ simply ignored terrible and unfair criticism and got about His Father’s business.

 

There was a sharp contrast of his criticism between the ordinary people/crowd and the Pharisees. While the ordinary people marveled at his works and said, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel”, the Pharisees were of the destructive side, saying, “He cast out demons by the prince of demons.” The first group saw the presence of God in Christ and the other saw the presence of evil. The first group was open to the truth of who Christ really was; the other group were blinded by their prejudice and so, lay their accusations. If the Pharisees could accuse Christ of using the powers of demons to cast out demons, how much more accusations awaits us? Let us have our hearts and mind fix on the interest of Jesus while exercising our duties.

 

Importantly, these accusations should not stop us from being compassionate to those we meet or cross our ways. Like Christ who is always moved by compassion for those in need, we should constantly examine how often we are moved to help someone that cannot afford a meal or shelter? How compassionate are we to those that are ill? Do our presence bring healing to them or send them to early grave? How compassionate are we to those that cannot pay their fees and so many other ways we can relate this? Each must be alert to whatever ways God makes it possible for us to mirror his compassion for others. May God help us as we strive to be compassionate towards others through Christ our Lord. Amen! Peace be with you!

 

Fr. Ken Dogbo, OSJ

Location: Papalanto, Nigeria

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 6, 2020 at 9:27 PM

    God of love and compassion forgive us for many times we failed to be compassionate and did not help those in need. Amen

    Thank you and enjoy your day Padre.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 6, 2020 at 11:17 PM

    Amen, thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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