HOMILY OF THE 7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER
WORLD COMMUNICATION SUNDAY
Acts 1:12-14, 1 Peter 4:13-16, John 17:1-11
Communication Day: “The call to speak with the heart, radically challenges the times in which we are living, which are so inclined towards indifference and indignation, at times even on the basis of disinformation which falsifies and exploits the truth.”
Communicating heart to heart: “In order to speak well, it is enough to love well” borrowing the words of St Francis, De sales, ““heart speaks to heart”, “We are what we communicate.” Pope Francis invites us to tell the truth with courage and freedom and reject the temptation to use sensational and combative expressions as we see today on social media. When we propose, and not impose ourselves in a communication, we get to the heart of listeners. We are called to speak the truth with charity.
HOMILY THEME: GLORYING IN THE CROSS
Great people are known when they are gone. At death, even their enemies would know what the world would miss them. Those we celebrated as heroes are not the survivors of war, but those who sacrificed their lives for their nations.
Shortly before he embraced the cross, the Lord Jesus said, “Father, the hour has come: glory your Son so that your Son may glorify you”
He found his glory in the Cross.
After Abraham Lincoln’s death, one of his arch enemies said, “There lies, the greatest ruler of men the world has ever had” At the execution of Joan of arc, one of the secretaries of the king of England who left the scene, said, “We are all lost because we have burned a saint.” When the body of the executed Scottish royalist Montrose was taken down the street of Edinburgh, An English man in the crowd, a government official sent a message to his superiors, “it is absolutely certain that he hath overcome more men by his death, in Scotland, than what he would have done if he had lived.”
Moreover, one of the soldiers who executed Jesus, having seen the way he died, said, “Truly, this man was God’s Son” Matthew 27:54. By his death on the cross, he completed the work the Father gave him. That is the worst that could happen to him. Accepting the cross, he opened new chapters, his return in glory and our salvation. When we can toe the way of the cross, we too must surely share in his glory.
Those whose departure or death make no difference are those consumers who have come to be served and not to serve. Our life is incomplete if we simply live by what we get without a second thought about what we give. Jesus said,
“I have gloried you on earth and finished the word that you gave me to do.” There is glory in obedience.
There is more gain in pain, sacrifice, suffering and death than in moment of pleasure, convenience, and exercise of right devoid of duties and responsibilities.
In the second reading, Peter said, “if you have some share in the suffering of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed.”
We can be more responsible. We can be more sacrificial.
Speaking the truth in a world where falsehood is celebrated, under the guise of a new age movement is a way of the cross. As we await the fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, let us prepare a place for him in our hearts, that we may be perfect examples of the faith we profess.
May our life be lives of total obedience to the will of God. May the thoughts of our hearts and the words of our mouth be perfect communication of God’s love. Amen.
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