Homily for Saturday Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 23rd October, 2021

 Homily for Saturday Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 23rd October, 2021. 

Readings: Romans 8:1-11; Ps 24; Luke 13:1-9

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

THE BEST TIME TO REPENT IS NOW, LESS WE WILL ALL PERISH

Reflecting on the ugly situations in our country today  and in the world at large, there is no doubt that both the poor and the rich are testifying to it. For 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 searching 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 vinedresser 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 rather for redemption. 

This is why St. Paul in our first reading says: that God has done what the Law, because of the nature of our flesh, was unable to do. For God dealt with sin by sending his own Son in a body as physical as any sinful body, and in that body God condemned sin. He did this in order that the Law’s just demands might be satisfied in us, who behave not as our flesh required but as the spirit dictates. So those who live by the flesh are interested only in what is flesh, but the spiritual are interested in spiritual things.

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 those who die yesterday knew that it going to happen that way. Therefore, let us repent now, for repentance helps us to be well disposed for 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: Heavenly Father, 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 as we make effort to repent from our sinful ways. 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.