Homily For Saturday Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Year A, 7th October, 2023. The Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

Readings:  Bar. 4:5-12.27-29; Ps.69 Luke 10:17-24

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

OUR GREATEST GOAL AS CHRISTIANS IS TO MAKE HEAVEN

 

In the mission of Christ, there are so many things that can make us happy and oftentimes we hope to have more of them. But there is one goal that should be the bases for all our desires. And this is what Jesus is telling us in our Gospel passage today, for when his disciples came back rejoicing with the report of how they were victorious on the mission he sent them.

 

Jesus said to them:  ‘I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.

 

Here, Jesus made it clear that the true joy and goal of our mission as Christians is to make heaven and he warns us to be careful, and make sure our priorities and motivations are found around this one goal of making it to heaven. Little wonder Jesus, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.  Thus, if we are ready to open our heart in humility and simplicity, God himself will reveal many things to us about himself.

 

Dear friends, this is what we see in the life of prophet Baruch in our first reading today when he made great revelation to the people of Israel saying:  I suffer loneliness because of the sins of my own children, who turned away from the Law of God. Take courage, my children, call on God: he who brought disaster on you will remember you. As by your will you first strayed away from God, so now turn back and search for him ten times as hard; for as he brought down those disasters on you, so will he rescue you and give you eternal joy.

 

We can link this situation to the memorial of Our Lady of The Holy Rosary which we are celebrating today. An event where we recall the famous victory of the Christian faithful against the enemies of the Church in the battle of Lepanto, where through the prayers and intercessions of Our Blessed Mother Mary the Church became victorious when the situation of the Christian faith was in extreme danger and was bitterly divided by the various heresies and splinter groups appearing at the time due to the Reformation movement.

 

Then, Pope Pius V called all of Christendom to pray the rosary fervently, sorting the intercession of Mary the Mother of God, that her Son Jesus should be with the faithful fighting for the survival of the Christian faith which was under persecution and trials. And through the power of their dedication to praying the Rosary, God granted victory to his faithful people, and this is the root of our October devotion. So today we are called to know that as the militant church our responsibility is to win souls for God and our greatest goal is to make heaven despite the obstacles and distractions of life.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, today we are made to know that the true Joy of our mission is to make heaven, grant that through the intercession of Our Lady Star of the Sea, may we experience the true Joy of your heavenly kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful weekend.