EVERY MOMENT OF OUR LIVES IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO REPENT LESS WE PERISH

 Saturday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time Year A, 24th October, 2020. 

Readings: Eph.4:7-16, Ps 122 , Luke 13:1-9

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

EVERY MOMENT OF OUR LIVES IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO REPENT LESS WE PERISH

With the ugly situation in our country today, there is no doubt that  both the poor and the rich are testifying to it. Hence, we can fill the struggles, the killings, the tears, the disappointments that people are passing through everyday. In fact, some people are losing hope in themselves and even in everything they do, as they run up and down seeking for solutions. The poor are seeking for daily bread, upliftment and favour, the rich are seeking for protection and good health, while the evil ones are taking advantage of the situation to destroy the little hope and faith of the people. All these are signs from God who gives us the opportunity to repent from our sinful ways of life.

This is what Jesus is telling us in our Gospel passage today when he said: “Do you suppose the Galileans who suffered like this were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Then with a parable of the barren fig tree, Jesus demonstrated how God has made every moment of our lives an opportunity for us to repent and be fruitful. This is clear when he said in the parable, “Look, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”  

Such is God’s patience with us for he gives us the opportunity to turn away from our sinful and ugly ways of life. Repentance is the key message of this Gospel, for Jesus makes it clear that those who suffered and were killed were not worse offenders than others, rather he uses the opportunity to call us to repentance. Note that, the purpose of this message is not for condemnation but redemption. This is what St. Paul is emphasizing in our first reading saying: we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practicing deceit. But if we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together.

Dear friends, this call for repentance shows us that it is not too late for us to repent, for this may be the last opportunity. Because we can never tell what will happen in the next moment. We can never tell who is the next to die, we can never know the form it will take or where it will occur, all that matters is for us to repent now that we still have the opportunity. For none of our great martyrs of the on going protest knew that it going to happen that way. Therefore, let us repent now, for repentance helps us to be well disposed in life and for death. It helps us to live right and at peace with God and with one another. It gives us the courage and confidence to face any situation without fear of death.

LET US PRAY: Almighty ever living God, You are the author of our lives, freedom and salvation, all we have are yours, thank you for being with us in our daily troubles, struggles, fears, tears, hope and joy, may you provide for the poor, console the troubled, heal the sick, protect and put simile on the faces of your children today and always. May you grant eternal rest to the souls of the depart, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a blessed and safe weekend.