💖 HOMILY - JULY 10 💖

First Reading - Genesis 28:10-22

Gospel - Matthew 9:18-26

We were once amid pandemic. This pandemic had affected our lifestyle greatly. This had affected our religious practices, like going to the Sunday mass and our participation in the religious functions. The readings of the day remind us never to forget the house of God, the church where we encounter God. At the same time the readings also invite us not to dampen our faith but strengthen and nourish this everyday.

The first reading tells us about the well-known vision of Jacob of the ladder where the angels ascended and descended. This vision filled Jacob with awe and fear and experienced the presence of God in that place, hence called the place, Bethel which means 'house of God'. After this vision, God renewed his covenant with Jacob; the covenant which God had made with Abraham. 

The gospel brings two miraculous signs as a result of faith; the miracle of ceasing of the flow of blood of the woman and raising of the daughter of the official who was dead. 

Dear friends both the readings are apt for our present situation. The vision at Bethel reminds us that God is certainly found in a place called church because this is His house and we encounter Him there. The church, though seems like a structure, but works as a ladder through which our communication with God is made possible in the celebration of the sacraments in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. However, the communication with God becomes more personal and intimate in the expression of our faith as the woman in the gospel who was suffering from bleeding and the official whose daughter was dead expressed. 

As we see many people who seem to be in the midst of faith crises, thus, we find less participation of the faithful in the religious activities or in the celebration of the sacraments. When we see such responses of the people, this should not dampen our faith and make us mediocre rather encourage us to implore God's grace to increase our faith; a great faith exemplified by the woman we encounter in the gospel. Let this challenge become an occasion to flare up and intensify our desire to encounter Him at Bethel, our church. 

May God always help us increase our faith.