💖 HOMILY - NOVEMBER 10 💖

First Reading - Philemon 7-20

Gospel - Luke 17-20-25

We celebrated the Feast of all Saints on November 1. This feast reminds us that the saints enjoy the eternal bliss in the Kingdom of God and they will intercede for us from heaven. However the feast also reminds us that we also have a destiny in the company of saints in heaven but that calls for a different life here on earth; the life of holiness. The readings of today invite us to strive for the life of holiness to remain the part of the Kingdom of God.

The first reading presents some beautiful instructions on Christian love and forgiveness. Onesimus was the slave to Philemon but he ran away from him. In fact, Onesimus deserved dismissal from the job but after having baptized, Paul sends him back to Philemon with the instructions to accept Onesimus as his brother and forgive him. The instructions of Paul to love Onesimus as the brother signifies forgive him and all his wrongdoings. The instructions on love and forgiveness are the fundamental to the path to holiness. 

The gospel passage of today mentions about kingdom of God which branches into two ideas: 'already' and 'yet to come'. On the question of Pharisees about the 'kingdom of God', Jesus answers that it has already been inaugurated and is among them. This refers to the presence of Jesus that has inaugurated the kingdom of God. However, Jesus also refers to the kingdom of God as 'yet to come'. Jesus by this mentions that the culmination of the kingdom will reach with the glorious return of the Son of man to the earth to judge the humanity. Jesus in the meantime punctuates with warnings that never be deceived by unprecedented shouts of people about the coming of the Son of man. Jesus affirms that the Son of man will certainly return after he has suffered. The time of the coming of the Son of man will be at the Kairos (appointed day).

Dear friends, by the very fact of baptism, we are assured of being the part of the kingdom of God. Jesus, in the gospel, invites all the believers to see in him the kingdom of God realized and wait for the culmination of it in his glorious coming. However, this is also a fact that we can get deviated from the plan of God for us. If we indulge in unholy affairs of our lives or are bluffed by pretentious claim or false alarm of people of the immediate coming of God, we will miss the ultimate preparation for his coming. Jesus implicitly warns us in the gospel passage to live our lives not worrying about the coming of the Son of God (implicitly the worries of the future) but by living it in the present with the kingdom of God proclaimed (capsuled in the teachings of Jesus) by him.

The first reading helps us understand that the kingdom values are disseminated by two key virtues; love and forgiveness. The virtue of love and readiness to forgiveness are keys to live in the present and establish the kingdom of God here on earth.