DATE : 9/10/2020, Friday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time (A)
EVENT :St. John Leonard, St. Denis and Companions, martyrs (Opt. Memorial)
COLOUR : GREEN
READINGS : Gal. 3:7-14; Resp. Psalm 110:1-6; Luke 11:15-26.
THEME: FAITH IS NOT IRRATIONAL
Greetings beloved people of God. I welcome you to "My Catholic Homily Digest". As we celebrate the memorial of the martyrdom of Bishop St. Denis and his companions today, I wish to reflect with us on the theme "Faith is not Irrational". Arguably, one of the grounds in which people have been obliged to carry out certain irrational actions is an appeal to faith and religion. In the early period of Christianity, converts are ready to surrender their heads for slaughter instead of apostasizing. In recent times, people have drank poisonous chemicals (Izal, dettol, Snipers), have eaten grass, have surrendered their entire salary to an unsuspecting ravenous pastor, have abused, fought and killed other people or acted irrationally in ways alien to human sensibility because of the believe they claim to profess. So, I ask, is Faith irrational?
In AD 1517, amongst other factors which propelled and led Martin Luther to break away from the Catholic Church is his erroneous emphasis and belief in SULA SCRIPTURA (faith alone can save you). Thus, Luther by proclaiming Sula Scriptura, invariably rejected, the belief in reason, norm, laws, doctrines, rituals and tradition. This extreme position of Luther is based on and inspired by his errenous interpretation of what St. Paul had in mind when he wrote Gal. 3:7-14, which we read today. But we know better now that St. Paul's writing in Gal. 3:7-14, is not opposed to traditions neither is it a complete rejection of Church laws and ordinances. In fact, St. Paul was a promoter of obedience to laws and traditions as evidenced in several of his other epistles.
Beloved, we know from Exo. 20:1-10, that it was God who gave us the law through His Prophet Moses, and commanded us to keep them. So faith is never an antithesis to faith. More so, if God gave us brains to reason, I do not think He meant it to be dormant, for we shall account for how we made use of it on judgement day. Hence, let us not be religious fanatics or faith morons. In what ever we do, let us be critical. Do not be afraid to ask intelligible questions about your faith, and learn to shun the "herd mentality". It is never a sin to seek for clarification from a reliable source about anything or practice you find confusing in the Church, as long as you do it to learn and not to doubt. May God help us to be rational believers. God bless you
Oh that today you would listen to his voice harden not your hearts (Ps.95:7-8)
LET US PRAY : Lord Jesus, you made me an intelligent and rational being, help me by your grace to shun any form of irrationality in my faith....Amen
HAPPY WEEKEND BELOVED
@ Fada Emmanuel Nnamdi Megwara, MSP. ⛪
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