🙏 Homily : October 16 🙏

This pandemic has taught us to wear mask in order to prevent ourselves from contracting the sickness. The mask is indeed protective but imagine a life where we have to keep wearing the mask! It's suffocation. The readings of the day are inviting us to get rid of suffocation of our lives and live our lives as sons and daughters of God; as coheirs with Christ in God's Kingdom.
The gospel is blatant in saying - be careful of the yeast of Pharisees. The yeast here has a negative connotation. Yeast makes whole thing yeast, so also if hypocrisy or double life creeps into our life will destroy wholly our real identity. Why do we choose to live the life of hypocrisy? It's because either we want to pander to somebody or to gain an upper hand of the situation. In the both the cases, we cloud our real identity for a gain which is of no value because the real self will resurface from the mask. Jesus warns us to be afraid of God who knows ins and outs, to whom nothing is hidden. He is able to see us through. This is also an invitation to live a real life of ourselves which is pleasing to God.
Why do we need to live our real self? It's because, as St. Paul says, we, in Christ, are all sons and daughters of God. As sons and daughters we have to live to please God only and not human beings.
Dear friends, we too sometimes live a double life just to please others. Sometimes because we are afraid or may be because we want to be in good book of the other. Who are we afraid of or who do we want to please? Both will vanish because there is no true self of the person. Sooner or later the true self will surface and that will bring great tragedy. Let's be afraid of the one who knows everything of us, who is able to save and condemn. The word 'afraid' doesn't mean fearful living but having holy fear or reverential fear towards God. It's a kind of fear that reminds that we should not displease God out of love for Him. This will help us to overcome the life of hypocrisy and live as sons and daughters of God which is our real self.