Today we celebrate the eleventh Sunday in ordinary time. Our readings today tell us about God’s abundant love for us His people. A love so great that He sent us His only Son, Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross and died for our sins. Jesus Christ hanging on the Crucifix symbolizes God’s amazing love for us, which in our readings today is synonymous to the labourers sent out to gather the plentiful harvest.
Again, today coincidentally is the International Father’s Day, a day set aside to recognizes fathers and their sacrifices to their families. But how do you define a father’s love? When we refer to a gentleman as a MACHO man, it should be used to capture a good Christian father or man. M – man, A – always, C – Christ-centred, H – holy, and O – obedient. The term “macho” man should be a good explanation for what it means to be a good father who loves his children and home as God loves us. A good father should be Christ-centred always, holy, and obedient. So how can we become a good father in our family? A man must always put Christ at the centre of everything he does – his work, his children, wife, and all things he engages in. He should be always holy. How can one be holy?
According to the second reading today we can attain holiness through reconciliation with God. Whenever we commit sin, our heart is usually not at rest, at such times we ought to go back to the church and confess our sins which have committed before God and man, and ask for God’s mercy, with a contrite heart. When we confess our sins before the priest, he absolves our sins and offers us reconciliation with God, through special prayers and gestures, and through that we receive the sacrament of reconciliation. After confessions, we obtain a clean heart that is pure and holy. In addition to being Christocentric and holy, a great father must be obedient too. How can one be obedient?
You must first be obedient to the voice of God and all God’s will. Jesus provides us a great example of obedience to the will of God when, before his passion, he asked that if it is the Father’s will that He should remove the cup of suffering he was about to face. This is the kind of Obedience fathers should emulate. They should be holy, obey God’s commands and His will, and be obedient to the good wills of their own parents. Furthermore, we must strive to be holy in all aspects of our life, from work, business, school, parenting, attending church etc. We must always invite the trinity in everything we do before we start, by making a sign of the cross and saying “In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” before we begin class, or before eating, or before going for a meeting; in everything. We must demonstrate our holiness especially in God’s house by responding to the Priest with a loud and clear voice and make sure we participate in the mass actively. If we do not participate actively during mass, the liturgy will have no meaning to us and will not be beneficial to us.
Let us always participate in the liturgy, and not just hear the mass. It is important to always be active during the mass, to build our holiness and to attain the MACHO status as men. By being active in God’s work and in God’s house, we obtain the grace to be active in our businesses, school, work and in our families.
So, my dear brothers and sisters, let us work hard to be active in our pursuit of holiness. God has sent us to go out and win more souls, to do that, we must achieve holiness first, because nobody can invite others to holiness if they are not holy themselves.
Happy Father’s Day to you all.