Homily For Monday Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 21st November, 2022. The Memorial of The Presentation of The Blessed Virgin Mary

 Readings: Rev.14:1-5; Ps.24; Luke:21:1-4

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

OUR THANKSGIVING TO THE LORD SHOULD BE SACRIFICIAL WITHOUT RESERVATION 

Thanksgiving is one of the best way of showing gratitude to God for the good things we have received from him. This great act of charity should be done with grateful heart. Our attitude and intention towards this act is what God desires to see. Little wonder in our Gospel passage today, Jesus observes the attitude of people towards there thanksgiving offertory. He commented on the attitude of people who give out of their abundance, while commending the attitude of the poor widow who from her heart gave sincerely everything that she had, expressing her faith and love for God by this wonderful gesture. 

Here, Jesus tells us that what matters is not the amount we give, but what lies in our heart, the strength of our generosity comes from the heart. Today Jesus invites us to open our heart and be ready to give in a sacrificial way like this poor widow in our Gospel. For God, who knows our heart, looks at our efforts. The truth is that the greatest gift we can give to anyone is the gift of love, for it is only in true love that one can truly give all that he has without reservations. So, as Christians it is our obligation to follow the Lord’s teaching and dedicate ourselves and all that we have to him wholeheartedly, in faith and love at all times.

This is what we see in the memorial of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary we celebrate today, that great moment when St. Joachim and St. Anne offered their firstborn child to the Lord at the Temple as prescribed by the Law, a gratuitous action of God’s grace for choosing Mary to be the mother of our Lord and her total availability to God’s plan. On this day we rejoice and celebrate the faith of Mary, the one who became the Mother of Jesus our Lord and Saviour of the world who through his death and resurrection has made us children of the resurrection. Thereby calling us to embrace his teaching. Let us all be inspired by the examples Mary who the Lord has set before us, that we shall also be righteous, virtuous and great in faith as she has shown us in her life time in thanksgiving to God.

Dear friends, let our thanksgiving to the Lord not only come from the abundance of what we have, but from true and sacrificial love that comes from our heart expressing our gratitude, faith and love for God and our neighbour. Only such offertory and thanksgiving are pleasing to God and acceptable to him. Let us join the great saints and elders in our first reading today who followed the Lamb wherever he goes; for they have been redeemed from amongst men to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb, since they never allowed a lie to pass their lips and no fault can be found in them.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, all we have is giving to us out of your abundant good. Through the intercessions of Mary, may we learn to show gratitude in a sacrificial way for such great gift and so gain more favour from you. We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Do have a fruitful week ahead.