DATE : 15/3/2021
EVENT : Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
COLOUR:Violet
READINGS : Isaiah 65:17-21; Resp. Psalm 29:2,4-6,11-13; John 4:43-54.
THEME: MIRACLES ARE MEANT TO STRENGTHEN FAITH
Greetings beloved people of God. I welcome you to "My Catholic Homily Digest". On this Fifteenth day of March, I wish to reflect with you on the theme: " Miracles Are Meant To Strengthen Faith". Beloved in Christ, I heartily welcome you to the first day of work in this week, and I pray that God will direct and favour all that you shall undertake this week. Child of God, can you recall the latest miracle that God did for you? What was your feeling before and after you have experienced that miracle? Now, I have come to realise that many Christians, worship God because they hope to receive a miracle from Him, or because they expect Him to protect, to favour or to act on their behalf, whenever they are in danger or in need. Hence, their worship of God is utilitarian. As long as God is able to meet their needs, they will serve Him faithfully. But, if He is unable to meet their expectations, then they become lapsed in their approach to religion and worship. And sadly enough, I regret to say that this is the mentality of most believers today. They have forgotten that their praise and worship, add nothing to God, but only serve to profit them. Man cannot force the hand of God to bring forth miracle. God acts at his own time, in His own pace, and at His discretion. He decides whom to favour, when to bless, and how to bless. So, your impression about God is inconsequential.
Thus, in the Gospel reading of today, John 4:43-54, we heard the encounter that ensued between Jesus and the court official, whose son was critically ill. Having beckoned on Jesus to come and heal his son, he did not prevail or insist that Jesus must necessarily follow him to his house. But, he headed home in faith, after Jesus had told him that his boy will be healed. Beloved, notice that the man already had enough faith, so it was easy for him to believe Jesus, because he had seen and heard all that Jesus had been doing in the lives of people (Cf. John 4:44). More so, his faith was not so much dependent on the power of Jesus to work a miracle for him, but on the testimonies he has heard about Jesus. So, when his son finally got healed, following the healing command of Jesus, the miracle then served to strengthen his faith all the more in Jesus, not to prove it.
Dearest in Christ, one of the reason why many of us do not experience miracles from God is because we have a wrong approach to religion and a wrong impression about miracle. For many of us, despite all that we have read and heard about Jesus, like doubting Thomases, we still need miracle to prove and confirm our faith in God. We see religion as a house of solace, where we draw solutions from. For some of us, God is delaying in granting us a favourable miracle because we want Him to prove Him as God to us. Listen to me, God is not interested in proving Himself to anybody. He does not need to prove Himself to you with a miracle, so that you can be sure that He is a powerful Being. Rather, when we have unconditional faith, when we approach God like Shedrack, Meshach and Abednego (Cf. Daniel 3:17), when we worship God genuinely and don't expect anything in return from the worship, then God will shower us with His miraculous blessings.
Oh that today you would listen to his voice harden not your hearts (Ps.95:7-8).
LET US PRAY : Lord Jesus, grant me the grace to offer you genuine worship and not a worship that is utilitarian.......
The Lord be with you....... and with your Spirit.
May Almighty God bless you in the Name of the Father, the of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ....Amen
HAPPY NEW WEEK BELOVED FRIENDS
@ Fada Emmanuel Nnamdi Megwara, MSP.
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