💖 HOMILY - SEPTEMBER 8 💖

FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

First Reading - Micah 5:1-4

Gospel - Matthew 1:1-16,18-23

God's ways are strange and incomprehensible. Many times we try to know and ferret out God's ways according to our understanding but we fail. God's ways are beyond our ken. God does what is least expected and imagined by our mind. The readings of the day bring us close to this fact that God does remarkable things which remain unexpected for human beings. God writes a history from a miserable past of our lives, which is unexpected and impossible for us but God makes it possible. God chooses the insignificant to do significant works, which is unimaginable but God makes it possible. However, we need trusting heart to come to believe in Him to see such remarkable things.

In the first reading, prophet Micah fortells about the birth of the king of Israel in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was small and insignificant of all other towns and cities of Israel. God chooses the least expected place to manifest his glory. Bethlehem is exalted twice according to the prophecy; when the king David is anointed as the king in Bethlehem and when the prophecy of the birth comes true in Jesus in Bethlehem. God, just as He exalted the city of Bethlehem among all other places, so also He exalted a simple girl from perhaps Jerusalem to make the prophecy come true which was made by the prophet Micah about the birth of the Messiah.

The gospel presents a genealogical account of Jesus. It's lengthy, boring, and perhaps dull and captures a little interest of ours but it entails rich meaning and apologetical overtone. We can enumerate them as following: 1. It confirms that Jesus comes from the Davidic line as Joseph adopts him into Davidic line by taking the child's mother as his wife and the child as his son.

2. Jesus is a virgin born through the intervention of the Holy Spirit and Joseph is his foster father.

3. His ancestral account carries mixture of both good and bad people - but God uses them all in the history of salvation viz. Jacob (He was a cheat) and David (Murderer and adulteror) etc.

4. Women mentioned in the genealogy are known for their important role they played in the history of Israel and sometimes for their infamous character except Mother Mary - Tamar (she was a whore), Ruth (she was a Moabite), Bethseba (committed adultery with king David), and Mother Mary.

Dear friends, the readings remind us that God does not look at our great achievements and positions to carry out His mission but our disposed heart. Jesus had both bad and good ancestral history but God uses them all for the salvation history of humanity. God looks at the heart for His mission not the background, economic status, richness etc. Are we ready to surrender ourselves to him like our blessed mother and Joseph for His mission?

God can change our weakness for his glory if we respond to him positively. David committed sins but repented and responded to God positively and God made him great. Our weaknesses may look great to us but if they are offered to God, God will turn them for His glory and not for our fall. Let's not be drowned by our failures and weaknesses but offer them to God for His glory.

The birthday of our blessed mother is a poof that God chooses the souls which are ready and disposed for His work. God has a plan for us, just as He had and chose mother Mary from the beginning for a purpose. The plan of God will find realization if we are ready to co-operate with Him. Let's not shirk from co-operating with God.