Homily on the Second Sunday of Great Lent.
“Son, your sins are forgiven.”
In todays gospel reading, Christ revels Himself as the Son of Man after some the crowd questioned within their hearts by what authority does, He forgives sins - for only God can forgive sins. Furthermore, by this statement we know with certainty that Jesus IS the way, the truth and the life!
Earlier this week I came across an article with a video clip of a crossdresser that Blasphemed against the All-Holy name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to who is due all Honour, Glory and Worship unto the ages of ages Amen!
This poor uneducated, mislead and spiritually bankrupted individual, made derogatory, blasphemous and crude comments concerning our Lord, that were sexual in nature. I can not repeat what was said because of the high level of vulgarity; however what I can say is that it was as bad as it gets!
Thus, when I viewed the article/video I was overcome with anger along with disgust and to be totally honest, I felt like wrapping my hands around this individuals neck and slapping him around. However, I remembered the words of our Lord - "As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfil what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ Jn 15-24-25
Hence, what I find totally unfair and a double standard within this current society, is that if the rolls were reversed and this horrendous comment was directed to the FALSE prophet Mohamad, "ALL HELL WOULD BREAK LOOSE" as our Aussie slang goes.
One can only begin to imagine how the Islamic community would react to such Blasphemy! Instead, the panel of people that where on the show began to giggle and laugh amongst themselves at the comments; rather than kicking the individual off the show and shame him for his blasphemy!
Therefore, after coming to my senses, remembering the scripture reading above. I realized to not be angry with such people but rather pity them because although the All-Holy-Trinity is all-forgiving and all-loving. The truth of the matter is souls willingly have the free will to choose to depart from His (God's) protection! (Hell) Our Heavenly Father asks us if we desire salvation! He does NOT impose as the opposition (evil) does!
I am sure without any doubt in my heart that if this individual comes to his senses in humility and asks the Lord for forgiveness; wanting to make a change in his life and heart (Metania) the All-Holy-Trinity would welcome him with open arms - as we heard several weeks ago with the story of the prodigal son!
“I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Mk 2:11
Two months ago, an old friend that I worked with several years ago called me for a chat. It was wonderful talking to him as it had been quite some time since we last spoke. We had such a wonderful conversation sharing jokes and funny stories of the mischief we used to get up to.
However, after I asked him about his family situation he sadly explained that his marriage was on the brink of a breakdown. They are two wonderful people but unfortunately when a marriage is pushed to the side and a couple begin to hide their feelings its a recipe for disaster.
Thus this is exactly what happened. They both shut themselves off from each other and they withheld important information, feelings and emotions from one another. Hence, they started to drift apart and even spoke of the possibility of marital separation.
I spent a good two to three hours on the phone; giving him my own personal experiences and advice on how I overcame my own issues in the past because lets face it, all marriages and relationships need some TLC from time to time because we can all slack off and shut ourselves off from one another.
Therefore, after we had spoken, I prayed for him and his wife however I didn't hear from him immediately. Then one day a few weeks later he called me again and what he told me brought so much joy to my heart. He said to me "you know that day after we spoke, I cooked dinner before my wife got home. I cleaned the house and actually spoke to my wife without arguing for the first time in a long time.
He then went on to tell me that he and his wife, mutually felt like they had fallen in love all over again. I immediately praised God in my heart for sparing this wonderful couple from another marriage breakdown. Thus just as in today's gospel reading Jesus healed the paralyzed man so too did He (Jesus) heal this paralyzed marriage because He (Jesus) is the true definition of love!
May this Holy season of Great Lent be a time for us to prune the trees of our faith so that at the Resurrection; the picking season for the harvest, we may produce fruits that are acceptable to God: fruits that we may share and enjoy with our heavenly treasures (Our family and the people whom we have come to know and love through Jesus Christ and His Church!)
Through the prayers of the Holy Theotokos, Saint Joseph Her spouse, of the righteous ancestors of our Lord and God in the flesh - Joachim and Anna, Lord Jesus Christ our have mercy on us and save us. Amen
Comments