💖 HOMILY - JANUARY 27 💖

First Reading - 2 Samuel 12:1-7,10-17

Gospel - Mark 4:35-41

Faith and trust are indispensable virtues that we need in our relationship with one another. In the same way, they also are required in our relationship with God. The readings of today invite us to grow in the virtue of faith and trust in God in order to strengthen our relationship with Him and receive His mercy and blessings in our lives.

The first reading speaks about the repentant David. The prophet Nathan is sent to David to reprimand him for the abominable sins he committed in the sight of God by committing adultery and murder. The prophet Nathan reprimands David and David, having realized his mistakes, pleads for God's mercy. God, seeing the repentance of David, forgives him but the prophet tells David that the child from Uriah's wife, which was born from adultery, will die as the sign of the punishment of sin. David tries his best to appease God by his fasting and penance but of no avail. Sin is prosecuted.

The gospel of today presents a well known account of the calming of sea by Jesus. The disturbance of the boat by the gale and waves symbolizes troublesome time of the disciples due to the persecution where Jesus seems to be insensitive and least mindful. The passage reminds all believers that Jesus is never least mindful or insensitive towards all but he cares for all; They need to trust and believe in him that he has the power over everything which is demonstrated by the calming of turbulent sea. The sea was thought by Jews as the abode of evil spirits and by calming of the sea, Jesus demonstrates that he has power over evil forces and even our miserable situations, from which he can liberate us. We need to learn to trust in Jesus in all situations.

Dear friends, our God is a merciful God but He also dolls out justice. The first reading evinces the mercy of God shown to David on the repentance he made; nevertheless, He didn't condone his sins but punished him for that (this is his justice) and gave him a chance to renew himself. God gives us chance, if pray for His mercy. He is outpouring His mercy on us at the Sacrament of Reconciliation seeing our repentant hearts. God never withholds His mercy from us. We need to come to Him in trust.

The gospel tells us that we need to learn to trust in God however bad may be our situation. Our trust in Jesus can sail us through any bad situation of our lives. It's in trust, we have to approach Him in the Sacraments and in our lives. At times, Jesus seems to be insensitive to our needs and problems but in fact He never abandons us. Let's call out to Him in faith and things will become easier and bearable.