Homily for Monday Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 3rd October, 2022. The Memorial of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus

 Readings: Gal 1:6-12, Ps. 111, Luke 10:25-37 

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LOVING GOD AND NEIGHBOURS ARE WHAT THE LORD REQUIRES OF US?

As humans we are always desiring to know what life requires of us, especially when we are faced with the realities of life. We often want to know the things that should be our first priority. So we always ask questions that will help us in addressing most of the challenges we encounter. These questions are sometimes meant to test our ability towards understanding the realities of life.   

This is the deposition of the lawyer in our Gospel passage today, who came to Jesus to test him by asked him question concerning the requirements for inheriting eternal life. This lawyer backing up his question with his knowledge of the ten commandment, made reference to the 'Shema Israel' - שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל, the prayer that the people of Israel knew and recite from their earliest years, from which they learned that the most important thing in life is to love God with all their heart, and with all thy soul, and with all their mind and to love their neigbhour as well. In other words, loving God with all our heart, with all our understanding and strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves is what is required of us and it is the foundation of all the things we have to do. 

But this lawyer needed more clarification concerning this requirements, then he asked Jesus a second important question when he said: who is my neighbour? At this point Jesus did not just explained, he illustrated who a true neighbour should be with the famous story of the good Samaritan. In fact, from the story Jesus did not just answer the question: ‘who is my neighbor?’ He also demonstrate what a true and righteous neighbour should be like, thereby showing us that our neighbours are often those we least expect to be a neighbours. For our neighbour can be anyone even the ones we most despised or feared just like the good Samaritan and this tells us that a true neighbour shows compassion, love, care and makes sacrifice for others.

And St. Paul in our first reading addressing the people of Galatia concerning what it means to be a good neighbour spoke clearly against all those who misinterpreted the Scriptures and twist the truth for their own selfish purposes and by so doing sowed seed of divisions and confusions among the Christian communities. Thereby,  warning us that if anyone should preached a version of the Good News different from the one they have already preached to us, whether it an angel from heaven, he is to be condemned for committing such sin against God and against his neighbours. 

Dear friends, love is the center of all the teachings of Jesus, for love is a gift from God to humanity. It is like the stream water, so innocent and pure. A true love is not hidden, it radiates from the innermost being of a person who experienced it. If we love God, then, we will see him in others and treat them justly and honourably. We will not hurt our neighbours but do our utmost best to live in peace with them. 

The truth is that, the absence of love is the cause of all the problems in our world today as most families exist by grace and not by love. Imagine how wonderful the world would be if we all love one another. How I wish we can invest our time and resources in ensuring love and unity in our dealings with one another. Believe me we will not only be fulfilling the first and greatest commandments of God, but we will be building a happy community just like St. Theresa of the child Jesus whose memorial we celebrate today.

LET US PRAY: Almighty God, in you resides the fullness of love, grant that through the intercessions of St. Theresa of the child Jesus, we may truly love you and our neighbours and so conquer the world full of hatred, self-centeredness, greed and corruption, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful week ahead.