Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)

August 14, 2016 9:00 am  · Father David Mbimadong

Homilies, Ordinary Time

This morning we heard from the first reading that the Prophet Jeremiah spoke in such a way to help the people of Israel to turn away from their resistance and their evil ways, and so be set free by God. The princes of the people said he was discouraging the people, they said he was demoralizing them and they were going to lose the battle against the pagans. Therefore he needed to be killed. They threw him into a muddy well. But because God would not let his servant suffer in vain, He sent a court official to plead for him and to pull him out of the well. ​If you read to the end, you will see that what Jeremiah had wanted them to do, if they followed his advice, they would had been saved.

So it is in our world today.  When good people stand to speak for justice, there are others  who that think they can do it by force of arms, and in the end we all fail.  Peace and justice would bring about a better world, a good world where everyone of us would live without fear.  But when people become difficult and they want to take up arms and we want to confront them with arms, they may not be powerful as we are but they will strike in such a way that we will be terrified.  That is what is what is happening in our world today.