💖 HOMILY - OCTOBER 4 💖

First Reading - Job 38:1,12-21,40:3-5 

Gospel - Luke 10:13-16

Life is full of mysteries. We need spiritual eyes to see through these mysteries. The readings today invite us to grow in our spiritual vision, to see and acknowledge God's works in our lives.

The first reading manifests the great wisdom of God in the creation of everything. After Job’s long and painful journey, God finally confronts him. God takes Job through the complexity of creation and its grandeur. Job discovers that all of creation—from the tiniest being to the greatest and from the heavenly bodies to the earthly inhabitants—bears the wisdom of God. In fact, God tells Job that His wisdom is hidden in everything, and it is incomprehensible to the human mind. Job ultimately realizes that, in the face of God's incomprehensible wisdom, his pains and miseries fall away. This passage reminds us that the wisdom of God is at work in every situation of our lives. It may be beyond our understanding, but it all comes to fulfillment in the end. Therefore, when we face situations in life that are incomprehensible to us, we must accept them in faith, believing in the wisdom of God behind it.

In the Gospel, Jesus pronounces 'alas' for Chorazin and Bethsaida (Jewish territories) and compares them to Tyre and Sidon (Gentile territories). The 'alas' is pronounced because of their spiritual blindness, their inability to see the hand of God manifested through Jesus' miraculous works. The comparison Jesus makes between these Jewish cities and Gentile lands highlights the gravity of their negligence, their sin.

Dear friends, God has worked many signs and wonders in our lives, yet we sometimes forget to acknowledge them. The Gospel shows us that spiritual blindness can become a great sin. Jesus performed many miracles in those Jewish cities, but the people failed to recognize God's work; they failed to give glory to God. Jesus holds them accountable for their negligence and indifference toward God's works. We, too, need to keep our spiritual eyes open to see God's works actively present in our lives. The first reading serves as a reminder, just as it did for Job, that God's wisdom is embedded in all of creation. We need spiritual eyes to see and accept God's wisdom in our lives. 

When it comes to the question of suffering, whether in our lives or in the lives of others, the answer lies in submitting to God's wisdom. Our submission to God's wisdom or plan comes when we can see His hand at work in our lives. Let us always pray, in the words of Reinhold Niebuhr: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”