The Homily for Friday in Second Week of Easter, 29th April, 2022. The Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena

 The Homily for Friday in Second Week of Easter, 29th April, 2022. The Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena

Readings: Acts.5:34-42; Ps.27; John 6:1-15

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

LEARN TO JOYFULLY SUFFER HUMILIATION AND PERSECUTIONS FOR THE SEEK OF CHRIST

As the persecution of the early Church continues, today the members of the Sanhedrin call for council meeting to decide what to do with the apostles. At this council as we heard in our first reading, Gamaliel a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, suggested that the apostles should be left alone on the basis of past experiences of those who claimed to be great but were letter perished when their leader had died, that what is happening now with the apostles might be the same. He advice them to have nothing to do with the apostle, that if their purpose or activity is from human origins it will soon perish. If not, they will not be able to destroy them without fighting God Himself. So they had the apostles beaten and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus.

However, instead of being depressed, the apostles left the court full of joy that they had been judged worthy of beaten for the sake of the Name of Jesus. Here, they experienced the blessedness that Jesus had spoken of in the Sermon on the Mount when he said: “blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people abuse you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven” (Matt 5:10-12). And in our Gospel passage today, we heard how Jesus out of love and compassion fed the crowd.

This feeding of the crowd refers back to the journey of the people of God in the desert from Mount Sinai to the promised land which in a special way signifies the event of our Eucharistic celebrate. The Eucharist has the same characteristics of this miracle: Where the community gathered together and then, the transformation of humble elements into a glorified body of Christ take place to satisfy our spiritual hunger which is an abundant gifts of God to humanity. In fact, because of the link to the Eucharist, this is the only miracle that is reported by all the four gospels. 

However, we can interpret this miracle of feeding the crowd in two ways. First, we can simply interpret it as a miraculous event, pointing to the divine origin and mission of Jesus. Secondly, we can interpret the miracle as the fruit of sharing with one another, for it is possible that once the disciples began to share the little food they had with those around, others also who had actually brought some food with them started sharing what they have and indeed grace multiplied what they have to the point of having left over. This show how much God cares for us and he will never abandoned us no matter the situation.

 

Dear friends, God loves us so much, so we must learn to joyfully suffer humiliation and persecution of his seek. Hence, in any situation we find ourselves, we are called to remind firm and faithful to God. We must learn to bear witness to our faith in Christ, though this mandate may seem difficult in our world at this moment, but just like in the time of the apostles the grace of God is sufficient for us. 

Therefore, let us not be afraid of witnessing our faith to the world, for God will surely protect us as He protected the apostles. Let us learn from St. Catherine of Siena whose memorial we celebrate today. Catherine was a lay member of the Dominican Order. She was a mystic and one of the female doctors of the Church known for her holiness, asceticism, and spiritual visions and she was influential in religious and political affairs of the Church.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we proclaim your name to the world especially in this difficult times, give us through the intercessions of St. Catherine of Siena the grace to rejoice even in the midst of persecution, suffering, sickness or death. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.