Key Message:
Imitate our Lord Jesus Christ in our daily lives Homily:
The takeaway from the first reading:
This is an interesting story teaching us how a person who has given up totally in life and wants to die is again looking back to do the same work!! Elijah did not want to live. His only goal was to die. He was so fed up and broken-hearted that he wanted the Almighty God only to take away his life. But God did not perform any miracles to boost up Elijah back to work. All He provided was only food and sleep!!
Like us, Elijah also had a mission to do. He still had work to be completed. He had to go on. Though Elijah wanted to give up and die, God had plans to be executed by Elijah. The time for Elijah to enter his heavenly abode was yet to come. Good food and sleep revived Elijah. Let us also have good food and good rest to revive our exhausted body and mind.
Due to the hard situations, we should not think of quitting this world before God calls us. God has promised, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.
God always has plans for our future. If we spoil His plan A due to our sinful acts like disobedience, then God will come up with another, plan B. No matter how often we spoil God’s plan for us, He will readily forgive and chart a new flourishing plan for us.
Let us complete our call in this life. God will chart out flourishing plans for us. The takeaway from the second reading:
Whenever we gossip or have bitterness in our heart, or engage in long time disputes without coming to peace, we are saddening the Holy Spirit of God. We think that we grieve the Holy Spirit only if we do any big sin. Without our realization, when we gossip about our boss in our break time, when we recall the injustice done to us by someone or when we share angry words, and so on, we are grieving the Holy Spirit of God.
But when we share words of encouragement, joy, blessing others, we are making the Holy Spirit happy. It’s a simple decision of ours, either to grieve the Holy Spirit or to make Him happy.
The Apostle Paul asks us to be “Imitators of God”. In the world, we imitate the well-known people, whom we have seen through television or any social media. But how do we imitate our Almighty God?
The Apostle Paul provides the answer also in the same verse. “Live in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Loving others is the way to imitate the Almighty Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, it became a fragrant offering to God. Likewise, whenever we do good to other people, even a kind word (I understand how you feel), or a word of appreciation, they become a fragrant offering to our Almighty God as described in the below verse:
Philippians 4:18 – “…received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God”. Whenever we do good to others, it becomes a fragrant offering to Almighty God!!
The takeaway from the Gospel reading:
Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever eats this bread will live forever” in today’s Gospel reading. What does this mean? Jesus started the distribution of the bread of life during the Last Supper and He continues the distribution during the Holy Mass. Let us analyse the below aspects of receiving our Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
1. Happiness of Jesus
2. Getting filled by our Lord Jesus Christ
3. Securing a place in Heaven
The happiness of Jesus:
Let us consider the real-life incident from the life of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. When St.Thérèse of the Child Jesus received our Lord during her first Holy Communion, the whole happiness of Heaven came into her heart and she could not contain it. Tears flowed from her heart unable to contain her joy. Jesus was so happy entering the heart of St. Thérèse, that His happiness could not be contained in her heart and so tears overwhelmed with happiness.
During his life on earth, Jesus was happy to enter the home of anyone who eagerly invited him with a longing heart. Zacchaeus (who climbed the sycamore tree to see Jesus) was longing just to see Jesus, but Jesus surprised Zacchaeus by saying, “I am coming into your house now!” A longing heart is what Jesus craves for!!!
Securing a place in Heaven:
At the last supper, Jesus took the bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.” The body of our loving Lord Jesus was crushed in the winepress of the cross, and His blood oozed out. This is to free us from all our sins and thereby grant us a place in Heaven, to live with Him forever and ever.
Getting filled by our Lord Jesus Christ:
The second reading says that we need to be ‘Imitators of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ We need to tune in our soul, body, and mind accordingly. Our God has also provided us the nourishment in the following ways:
Nourishment for Soul – Guidance of the Holy Spirit
Nourishment for Body – Body, and Blood of our Lord Jesus Eucharist (Holy Eucharist)
Nourishment for Mind – Word of God (Holy Bible)
Nourishment for our Body is provided in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. All the treasures Jesus gained by suffering on the cross are for each one of us. Each one of us can claim individually the treasures offered by Jesus on the cross. All the curses due to sin were broken and Satan was overcome. We, as children of our Lord Jesus, should claim the freedom Jesus has bought for us on the cross. When Jesus has sacrificed Himself on the cross, will He rethink providing the graces to us?
The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are the food that takes care of providing the nourishment for our travel to Heaven. How should we receive the bread (Holy Eucharist)?
Jesus instituted confession followed by communion. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, before giving them the Holy Eucharist. When the Apostle Peter objected to Jesus washing His feet, Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
Let Jesus wash our sins. Let us not be late to Mass and miss the “I confess”. Let us do our confession with a contrite heart.
Tips to be ‘Imitators of God’:
Actually, we are all far away from being imitators of God. But we will keep taking a step by step approach towards it. Jesus is happy and contented to see us marching towards imitating Him.
1. God will refine us, by putting us through the refiner’s fire for a particular quality God wants us to have. The sooner we get purified, the sooner we will come out of the refiner’s fire. If we recall, we will be able to remember such instances in our own life, where God put us into refiner’s fire and brought us out purified. Every adversity would have moulded us to be a better soul.
2. We need to have or develop the “Mind of Christ”. Thinking as Jesus thinks will give us clarity for the decisions we need to take in life. For example, if we are not able to pray, then what did Jesus do when people were still with Him, not giving Him the solitude? He hurriedly sent them and created time for being alone. He always gave first priority to prayer.
3. When the disciples had come back after fishing, Jesus cooked fish for them and made them eat. He knew first they would require food for their body more than their soul. Before giving any advice to anyone, let us check if they are in a calm, composed state of mind. If they are in a frustrated mindset, our words will be in vain.
4. Jesus forgave all the sinners instantly. Though Peter denied Jesus thrice, Jesus never recalled it in His further encounters with the Apostle Peter. Forgiving and not recalling the unkind acts performed by others will help us in imitating Christ.
5. Choosing battles to fight: When Jesus explained that He is the living bread and His body is the living bread, many people left Him. He did not insist they stay with Him but left them to their own choice. We are also not to change everyone whomsoever we see. Our duty is only to show them the right way of living by our living, by our preaching and duly praying for them. God will transform their heart.
6. When people wanted to stone the lady who sinned, Jesus grew angry. But He did not shout at them. He kept His silence and looked down and wrote something in the mud. His mind did the job, not His mouth. Jesus did not shout in anger but He calmly handled the situation. He was as a ‘shelter’ to the repentant sinner. Let us work with our mind, not with our mouth when in anger.
7. Jesus eagerly went to anyone’s house who invited Him with a longing heart. He never discriminated against them based on their financial status or social status. To His eyes all were equal. Let us also respect people without discriminating against them based on their financial or social status. Imitations of Christ by Thomas A Kempis is a good guidebook for our transformation.
All of us are called to “Imitate our Lord Jesus Christ” in our lives. If all of us imitate Christ in our daily life, the whole world would embrace ‘Christianity’.
Key Message:
Imitate our Lord Jesus Christ in our daily lives
Homily:
The takeaway from the first reading:
This is an interesting story teaching us how a person who has given up totally in life and wants to die is again looking back to do the same work!! Elijah did not want to live. His only goal was to die. He was so fed up and broken-hearted that he wanted the Almighty God only to take away his life. But God did not perform any miracles to boost up Elijah back to work. All He provided was only food and sleep!!
Like us, Elijah also had a mission to do. He still had work to be completed. He had to go on. Though Elijah wanted to give up and die, God had plans to be executed by Elijah. The time for Elijah to enter his heavenly abode was yet to come. Good food and sleep revived Elijah. Let us also have good food and good rest to revive our exhausted body and mind.
Due to the hard situations, we should not think of quitting this world before God calls us. God has promised, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.
God always has plans for our future. If we spoil His plan A due to our sinful acts like disobedience, then God will come up with another, plan B. No matter how often we spoil God’s plan for us, He will readily forgive and chart a new flourishing plan for us.
Let us complete our call in this life. God will chart out flourishing plans for us.
The takeaway from the second reading:
Whenever we gossip or have bitterness in our heart, or engage in long time disputes without coming to peace, we are saddening the Holy Spirit of God. We think that we grieve the Holy Spirit only if we do any big sin. Without our realization, when we gossip about our boss in our break time, when we recall the injustice done to us by someone or when we share angry words, and so on, we are grieving the Holy Spirit of God.
But when we share words of encouragement, joy, blessing others, we are making the Holy Spirit happy. It’s a simple decision of ours, either to grieve the Holy Spirit or to make Him happy.
The Apostle Paul asks us to be “Imitators of God”. In the world, we imitate the well-known people, whom we have seen through television or any social media. But how do we imitate our Almighty God?
The Apostle Paul provides the answer also in the same verse. “Live in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Loving others is the way to imitate the Almighty Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, it became a fragrant offering to God. Likewise, whenever we do good to other people, even a kind word (I understand how you feel), or a word of appreciation, they become a fragrant offering to our Almighty God as described in the below verse:
Philippians 4:18 – “…received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God”. Whenever we do good to others, it becomes a fragrant offering to Almighty God!!
The takeaway from the Gospel reading:
Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever eats this bread will live forever” in today’s Gospel reading. What does this mean? Jesus started the distribution of the bread of life during the Last Supper and He continues the distribution during the Holy Mass. Let us analyse the below aspects of receiving our Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
1. Happiness of Jesus
2. Getting filled by our Lord Jesus Christ
3. Securing a place in Heaven
The happiness of Jesus:
Let us consider the real-life incident from the life of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. When St.Thérèse of the Child Jesus received our Lord during her first Holy Communion, the whole happiness of Heaven came into her heart and she could not contain it. Tears flowed from her heart unable to contain her joy. Jesus was so happy entering the heart of St. Thérèse, that His happiness could not be contained in her heart and so tears overwhelmed with happiness.
During his life on earth, Jesus was happy to enter the home of anyone who eagerly invited him with a longing heart. Zacchaeus (who climbed the sycamore tree to see Jesus) was longing just to see Jesus, but Jesus surprised Zacchaeus by saying, “I am coming into your house now!” A longing heart is what Jesus craves for!!!
Securing a place in Heaven:
At the last supper, Jesus took the bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.” The body of our loving Lord Jesus was crushed in the winepress of the cross, and His blood oozed out. This is to free us from all our sins and thereby grant us a place in Heaven, to live with Him forever and ever.
Getting filled by our Lord Jesus Christ:
The second reading says that we need to be ‘Imitators of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ We need to tune in our soul, body, and mind accordingly. Our God has also provided us the nourishment in the following ways:
Nourishment for Soul – Guidance of the Holy Spirit
Nourishment for Body – Body, and Blood of our Lord Jesus Eucharist (Holy Eucharist)
Nourishment for Mind – Word of God (Holy Bible)
Nourishment for our Body is provided in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. All the treasures Jesus gained by suffering on the cross are for each one of us. Each one of us can claim individually the treasures offered by Jesus on the cross. All the curses due to sin were broken and Satan was overcome. We, as children of our Lord Jesus, should claim the freedom Jesus has bought for us on the cross. When Jesus has sacrificed Himself on the cross, will He rethink providing the graces to us?
The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are the food that takes care of providing the nourishment for our travel to Heaven. How should we receive the bread (Holy Eucharist)?
Jesus instituted confession followed by communion. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, before giving them the Holy Eucharist. When the Apostle Peter objected to Jesus washing His feet, Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
Let Jesus wash our sins. Let us not be late to Mass and miss the “I confess”. Let us do our confession with a contrite heart.
Tips to be ‘Imitators of God’:
Actually, we are all far away from being imitators of God. But we will keep taking a step by step approach towards it. Jesus is happy and contented to see us marching towards imitating Him.
1. God will refine us, by putting us through the refiner’s fire for a particular quality God wants us to have. The sooner we get purified, the sooner we will come out of the refiner’s fire. If we recall, we will be able to remember such instances in our own life, where God put us into refiner’s fire and brought us out purified. Every adversity would have moulded us to be a better soul.
2. We need to have or develop the “Mind of Christ”. Thinking as Jesus thinks will give us clarity for the decisions we need to take in life. For example, if we are not able to pray, then what did Jesus do when people were still with Him, not giving Him the solitude? He hurriedly sent them and created time for being alone. He always gave first priority to prayer.
3. When the disciples had come back after fishing, Jesus cooked fish for them and made them eat. He knew first they would require food for their body more than their soul. Before giving any advice to anyone, let us check if they are in a calm, composed state of mind. If they are in a frustrated mindset, our words will be in vain.
4. Jesus forgave all the sinners instantly. Though Peter denied Jesus thrice, Jesus never recalled it in His further encounters with the Apostle Peter. Forgiving and not recalling the unkind acts performed by others will help us in imitating Christ.
5. Choosing battles to fight: When Jesus explained that He is the living bread and His body is the living bread, many people left Him. He did not insist they stay with Him but left them to their own choice. We are also not to change everyone whomsoever we see. Our duty is only to show them the right way of living by our living, by our preaching and duly praying for them. God will transform their heart.
6. When people wanted to stone the lady who sinned, Jesus grew angry. But He did not shout at them. He kept His silence and looked down and wrote something in the mud. His mind did the job, not His mouth. Jesus did not shout in anger but He calmly handled the situation. He was as a ‘shelter’ to the repentant sinner. Let us work with our mind, not with our mouth when in anger.
7. Jesus eagerly went to anyone’s house who invited Him with a longing heart. He never discriminated against them based on their financial status or social status. To His eyes all were equal. Let us also respect people without discriminating against them based on their financial or social status.
Imitations of Christ by Thomas A Kempis is a good guidebook for our transformation.
All of us are called to “Imitate our Lord Jesus Christ” in our lives. If all of us imitate Christ in our daily life, the whole world would embrace ‘Christianity’.