The
following Homily was given by Fr. Herbert Nicholls on March 6th at
the Mother of the Light Convent
The Maronite
Liturgy moves us from the first week of reflection on fasting as a spiritual
discipline, which leads us into the virtue of detachment not only from food but
anything that becomes an obstacle to growth in grace and relationship with God.
St. Matthew
gives us a passage today to help us with this transition: Do not be anxious
about your life or what you eat or what you drink! Do not the birds have
everything they need; and are you not much more valuable to the Father than a
flock of birds? …do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will take care
of itself! (cf. Mt 6: 25-34). This beautiful passage shows the value of all
the ordinary things of life, and to put our trust in God’s fatherly protection.
He is teaching us that trust means to abandon ourselves from ourselves or
anyone/thing that is an obstacle to Divine Providence.
Union with
the Divine is our ultimate goal, but distractions of various kinds can detour
us from that final destination. As we saw in our last reflection we get back on
the straight and narrow and reorder our priorities through the Sacraments.
Matthew
concludes this section today with a stark admonition: It is not possible to
be a servant of two masters. Ultimately you will choose to love one and despise
the other, you will choose grace or you will choose sin (cf. Mt 6: 24).
St. Paul in
his letter today to the Thessalonians, a very short one caused by the Jews who
had forced him out of Jerusalem (cf. Acts 17: 5 – 10) preventing him from
completing the prelimnary instruction of neophytes.
St. Paul
discreetly reveals to the Thessalonians how zealous he is for their souls, as
God is zealous for all souls. Far from being indifferent or apathetic to their
state of spiritual health, he is concerned for these fellow Christians and sees
it as a matter for his own life and death.
He does not
confine himself to simply wishing that he could come to them. He uses the power
of prayer to obtain what he wants to obtain what God wants. At a later time in
his life, Paul expressed his desire to go and preach in Spain, but he concludes
saying: The Holy Spirit prevented me (Rom 15: 24). In other
words, it was not the will of God, but his own, an obsession which was blocking
him from recognizing and doing the will of God.
Paul
continues explaining that it is love that breaks the bond of the evil master
and glues us to God. Love is that virtue which God infuses into our soul
through prayer which enables us to love Him above all things, as our Lord and
only Master; and to love our neighbor in the way that God directs us.
St. John
Chrysostom made this observation: Loving one person but being indifferent to
another is purely human affection. St. Paul says that our love must not be
restricted in any way. Jesus said, You must love even your enemies as you
love yourself (cf. Mt 5: 44).
When a
Christian is enabled to practice this virtue in an uninhibited way, his holiness
grows in strength, and he becomes irreproachable before God…in this God will
establish your heart as blameless in holiness and on the day of the Lord you
will be recognized with all the saints.
I think it
is imperative before concluding to remind you of Paul’s teaching to the
Corinthians in last Monday’s homily (cf 2 Cor 5: 20 – 6:7). The day of the
Lord is now, from now until the glory of Christ appears at the end or at the
hour of death. Every day is the acceptable time. Everyday is a day to witness
to the love of God by detaching from obstacles and idols, from competing
masters and lords, for they will know that you are my disciples, by the love
which you share with one another.