Homily for Thursday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 23rd September, 2021. The Memorial of St. Pio Pietrelcina

 Homily for Thursday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 23rd September, 2021. The Memorial of St. Pio Pietrelcina

Readings: Haggai 1:1-8; Ps. 149; Luke 9:7-9

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE GUILTY CONSCIENCE OF HEROD

Oftentimes, we hear people expressing the phrase: guilty conscience, which is used to express the ugly condition of human conscience which is that part of our life that tells us whether what we are doing is right or wrong. For if you have a guilty conscience, you feel guilty about something because you know it was wrong. But if you have a clear conscience, you do not feel guilty because you know you have done nothing wrong. 

This is the situation Herod finds himself in our Gospel passage today who out of pride and selfishness had killed John the Baptist thinking that by that he could silence the voice of truth, but when he heard of the great works of Jesus and could not comprehend it, he perceived that John the Baptist, the voice of truth had returned to life again, when he said: John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?’ And he was anxious to see Jesus. 

Here, we see how the guilty conscience of Herod made him to wonder about the personality of Jesus in relation to John the Baptist. This is what happens to us whenever we tried to take the role God in our relationship with others. And this ugly attitude is what a lot of people are practicing today and as a result many people are suffering the consequences of guilty conscience. This is because most of us are so much attached to worldly things. We have let our pride, our ego and our selfish desires to blind fold us from the true realities of life. Little wonder, the Lord in our first reading said: Reflect carefully how things have gone for you. You have sown much and harvested little; you eat but never have enough, drink but never have your fill, put on clothes but do not feel warm.

Dear friends, are you having guilty conscience of any kind? What are the things that makes us have guilt conscience? What is the essence of our existence in this world? What does God really required from us in this life? Do you know that without God everything in life is vanity vanishing? Therefore, let us not be carried away by the beauty of the things of this passing world, for nothing last forever. Hence we should remain steadfast in our faith in God, who has called us to love him and to love one another, just like St Pio whose memorial we celebrate today for he remained faithful to Christ’s mission and committed himself wholeheartedly to what God  has required from him.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we have come to you with our guilty conscience, for we are so much attached to things of this passing world, with little or no attention to your teachings. Through the intercessions of St. Pio make us to realized that without you life and all we have is nothing but vanity. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.