Homily- Thursday of the 24th
Week of Ord. Time, Yr. B./Saint Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor of the
Church
v 1 Cor 15:1-11
v Ps 118:1b-2, 16ab-17, 28
v Luke 7:36-50
Believing In Love
that Wipes Away Multitude of Sins
Yesterday we learned from Saint Paul’s 1 Cor 12:31-13:13
that there are hierarchies of gifts. For, If we, or “I speak in human an
angelic tongues but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I
own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I
gain nothing.” In other words, granted that some of us can
see visions and speak in tongues, love is the greatest, for “love is patient,
love is kind. It is not jealousy, love is not pompous, and it is not inflated,
it is not rude, it does not seek its own interest, it is not quick –tempered,
it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrong doing, but
rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, and endures all things.”
Today’s Bible Lesson emphasis is still on other forms and
practices of love. The woman with ointment in today’s Gospel is forgiven of her
many sins, because Christ, testified to her great and sincere love (Luke 7:
36-50). We are call to be like this woman, not necessarily like Simon the
Pharisee, and other Pharisees who were often, among other things, known for externalism without depths of love and mercy for
one another. Unlike Simon the Pharisee, the woman wept at the feet of Jesus, as
well as bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair kissed
them, and anointed them—the feet, with the ointment. While she was doing this,
with genuine love and faith, that led to the forgiveness of her many sins,
Simon the Pharisees was busy judging her, as some of us would do! Truly, as
Paul mentioned yesterday in I Corinthian 13, it love that matters most, not sumptuous
and external display of dinners, without love, mercy and compassion to the
poor, sinners and the marginalized, in particular!
It is the same love that Christ reciprocated in his
journey to the cross, in his death and resurrection, that Paul continues to
preach to the Corinthians, and to us today, in the first reading (1 Cor
15:11). No doubt, the Corinthian Community as we have seen thus far, were not
only divided, boastful in talents, indifference in attitude to the poor during
means and last supper. They were “infants” in matter of faith as well as cling
to Hellenism and human philosophy, as some of may still be doing today.
Many of them were
also influenced not necessarily by the type of love displayed by the woman with
ointment in today’s gospel, but by the Alexandrian Jewish teacher, Apollos- who
led the skeptical Corinthians to believe that their souls were separable from
their bodies, hence, their souls being immortal, their bodies could not be
raised at the resurrection, as was the case with Christ! This is why Paul, narrated
step- by –step the mysteries of the Christ passion and resurrection- all
because of our sins and because of his great love for us.
Just as the woman with the ointment’s sins were wiped
away because of her faith and great love, our sins our wiped away because of Christ
death and resurrection, preached by Saint Paul.
Today’s scriptures challenge us not to be, just like Simon
the Pharisee, but to imitate the woman in the gospel, loving, caring,
supporting, soothing, wiping the feet of neighbors, serving the poor and the
needy, both within and outside the church.
Today’s Bible passages also call our attention to Christ’s
love for us, who is always ready to say to each of us, whenever we go to him
with our problems, challenges, difficulties, omissions, mistakes and sins, “because
of your great love and faith your many sins are forgiven.”
Reflection Questions
1.
Do we believe
in Christ’s resurrection and trust in his healing power of mercy and love?
2.
Do we love
as the woman with the ointment of today’s Gospel or are we like Simon the
Pharisee?
3.
How often do
forgive with love, those who may have offended us?
