HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY FIFTH WEEK IN THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR B FEAST OF SAINT COSMOS AND DAMIAN
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11, Psalm 89:3-6,12-14,17, Luke 9:7-9
The guilt of a wrong doing, never go away. It continues to hunt the guilty until they repent and return back to God. Guilt constantly stirs the mind to fear and the wish to freedom from faults. Many people are beating hard by their consciences because of their errors. However, the conscience becomes the judge and the voice of God in us, urging us to do good and to avoid evil.
From the gospel of today, Herod the tetrarch after hearing about the great and miraculous works of Jesus, became anxious by his guilt, because of his past evil actions. It was Herod who beheaded John the Baptist, because John rebuked him of marrying his brother’s wife.
Herod the tetrarch had heard about all that was being done by Jesus; and he was puzzled, because some people were saying that John had risen from the dead, others that Elijah had reappeared, still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. But Herod said, ‘John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?’ And he was anxious to see Jesus (Luke 9:7-9).
Those who are wicked and evil never finds rest. The begin to panic at the slightest moment they hear of something similar to their actions . They are never free to live their lives in peace and freedom because of their guilty consciences. This was Herod’s attitude. He killed John and when he heard of Jesus preaching and performing miracles like John, he began to question, “who is this man, John, I beheaded.”
Thus, today, we are encouraged to live rightly and justly so that we could be free from the torture of our consciences. Our conscience remains the voice of God that reminds us to do good and avoid evil. It is meant to be trained in virtue so that it may continue to judge our actions right.
Let us not be moved by our emotions like Herod did. He admired John the Baptist for his courage and righteousness of life, but he was moved to make wrong choices through the promise he had made to the daughter of Herodias.
Have you done something wrong that always take away your freedom by guilty conscience? Talk to God about it. Talk to the priest about it for guidance. Pray about it and let God give you freedom of conscience. Peace be with you.
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