HOMILY OF THE THURSDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK OF LENT
Esther 4:17, Matthew 7:7-12
THEME: TAKING GOD THROUGH A MEMORY LANE.
Queen Esther reminded God in our first reading today about what he did during the time of her ancestors. She took God through a memory lane, while she made her request for divine intervention about the threat to her people.
“‘I have been taught from my earliest years, in the bosom of my family,
that you, Lord, chose
Israel out of all the nations
and our ancestors out of all the people of old times
to be your heritage for ever;
and that you have treated them as you promised.
‘Remember, Lord; reveal yourself
in the time of our distress.”
It is comforting to have the knowledge of our past and how God has worked in us or through our past generations. This also calls for us to establish a history with God in our individual lives. God can never forget his promises. He will surely stand by his word. When we make a covenant with Him, we will definitely reap the gains if we keep our part of the deal.
God keeps his covenant when we play our role well, this gives us the boldness to remind him of his promises which he always has in mind. Although, we have the grace to return to him to ask for mercy when we have gone far away from him. But if we do not lose sight of our journey with him, he will always come to our rescue. Hence, a journey away from God or away from his will is not favourable to us.
Jesus makes it clear in the gospel that God is ever present to answer us anytime we call on him. He said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.”
Just as we remind him about his past deeds in our lives and the lives of our past leaders in faith, we can equally hold him by his words because he told us to ask, to search and to knock already.
Beloved, it is important we have a good track record before God, so as to have the confidence to approach him, even though we have sinned against him. May we approach his throne of grace and obtain mercy in times of need. May his grace be enough for us, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
