The Silent Patience Of God

23-07-2017HOMILY FOR THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.

SCRIPTURAL READING:

1. Wis. 12:13.16-19.

Ps. 86:5-6.9-10.15-16a (R. 5a).

1. Rom. 8:26-27; Accl; Matt. 11:25.
2. Gospel Matt.13:24-43 OR Matt. 13:24-30.

Preamble:

Dear friends please repeat these words after me;

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my mind, may your word never depart from me.

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my ears, help me listen and obey your voice.

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my heart, help me welcome you always.

Holy Spirit, rekindle in me the fire of your love. Amen.

THEME: THE SILENT PATIENCE OF GOD.

The first reading of today taken from the book of Wisdom proclaims the glorious act of God the father. The Navarre Bible gives us an explanation to this powerful message that this passage is filled with very solid faith in the goodness and power of God, who is the only God, almighty, and has to account to no one for what he does. Here the book of Wisdom connects up with Sapiential (wisdom) tradition (cf. Job 9) and with prophecy (e.g. Is 45:9-13; Jer. 18: 5-11). His all-embracing power does not make God an unjust tyrant; on the contrary, God is always righteous. Nor is his justice in any sense at odds with his mercy and kindness. He shows this in his dealings with Israel, especially, but also in his dealings with mankind at large, whose evil actions he punishes gently, to give people a chance to change-here we think and reflect upon the silent patience of our great God but this silence does not mean weakness or to be taken for granted and become contemptible to this great God as some would think that our God is so slow, sluggish and permits the wicked to continue in their misdeeds. The simple truth is that this God punishes those who are obstinate (stubborn) in their unbelief and wickedness.

St. clement of Rome in one of his letters uses this verse to describe the person of God: “He brought all things into being by the immense power of his word, and with a single word he could make them all disappear. Who can ask of him: what have you done? Who can withstand his great power? He does everything when and as he wants; nothing that he does is done in vain; he sees all things, and nothing lies beyond his will.”

This is the kind of God we serve and worship. He is patient; he is merciful, kind and great, and whose love weathers any storm for his beloved children. His kindness and patience must never be taken for granted.

The first eight verses of the book of Sirach warn against been presumptuous as to think that nothing matters and everything that matters centers around you. Verse 1-8 reads “don’t rely on money to make you independent. Don’t think you have everything you want, and then spend your energy trying to get it. Don’t think that no one can exercise authority over you; if you do, the Lord is certain to punish you. Don’t think that you can sin and get away with it; the Lord does not mind waiting to punish you. Don’t be so certain of the Lord’s forgiveness that you go on committing one sin after another. Don’t think that his mercy is so great that he will forgive your sins no matter how many they are. He does show mercy, but he also shows his furious anger with sinners. Come back to the Lord quickly. Don’t think that you can keep putting it off. His anger can come upon you suddenly, and you will die under his punishment. Don’t rely on dishonest wealth; it will do you no good on that day of disaster.”

Friends in Christ, whenever we think of patience, we think of God. Most times we may want to force the hand of God to act against a foe or someone who has hurt us so deeply. The simple truth is that God is patient both with the sinner and the righteous man/woman.

The parable of the weeds is a clear example for us to underscore the silent patience of God. The situation is clear: the field is fertile and the seed is good; the Lord of the field has scattered the seed at the right moment and with great skill. He even has watchmen to make sure that the field is protected. If, afterwards, there are weeds among the wheat, it is because men have failed to respond, because they-and Christians in particular-have fallen asleep and allowed the enemy to approach.

The weed looks very much like wheat and can easily be mistaken for it until the ears appear. If it gets around up with wheat it contaminates the flour and any bread made from that flour causes severe irritation when eaten.

When the careless servants ask the Lord why weeds have grown in his field, the explanation is obvious: an enemy has done this. The enemy sows a seed of discord while Christians are busy with other matters of life, while they are unconscious, too busy, too unconcerned, unaware, and insensitive to the things of the spirit, too enticed with pleasure and other affairs, too indifferent. The work of the devil is to sow wicked or lawless people in the world and to do it secretly so that they will be unnoticed. He operates under the cover of darkness and deception.

Their work is nothing more than sow seed of discord in families, destroy relationships and homes, marriages, go after those with great potentials and gift who accordingly to this passage are the sons of light, the children of the Lord.

We can however give a name to the mission of the weeds (that is the agents of darkness) into two; 1. The mission of Delilah Spirit and 2. The mission of Jezebel Spirit.

The name of Delilah is spelt in Hebrew as DELIYLAH which means “pinning with desire.” The meaning is self explanatory. Those who are possessed with this spirit are genderless-he or She pins you down with desire! His or her whole being, presence, speech, look and action exude “seduction.” He or she makes her victims suffer mentally and physically with desire for her. She is the epitome of a seductress.

The Mission of Delilah

This Spirit of Delilah is assigned to destroy all men and women of prominence, people with a purpose in life, any pastor, priest or a leader who is in ministry. The devil sends women to churches who have this spirit to terminate the church and cause the church leader to be emotionally and physically disturbed. Her role is through the door of relationships or marriages. She uses this engine to find out their strengths so that she can destroy them and draw out the power of her opponent, removing him or her from their place of prominence. The spirit is genderless and can be in anyone without him/her knowing it that they are been used as a weapon or instrument to destroy others.

Its traits and character

He or she is skilled in taming men through seduction. Even the strongest of lions will be beguiled by her if they do not stay alert in the spirit. Delilah is after people of prominence and uniqueness; people in the spot light, anointed ministers of God and gifted men and women and those who are in effective relationships or marriages. His or her assignment is to drain your power and to remove you in that place of power and make you ordinary like everyone else.

He or she will fool you by being in church every Sunday, at every activity of the church, appear so gentle, very punctual and be active as a way to get to the top position in the church and be close to the leader of the church.

This spirit is persistent. The person with this spirit will pester you daily with sweet words. Do not think a ‘NO’ will stop them from pursuing you. The only way to win is cutting off all lines of communication with the person.

She is not after you because he or she loves you, such a person is after the favour of God upon you, your family, your business, your marriage. She will do all she can through seduction to make sure this favour departs from you and you are bound in shame.

For a woman-they are specialized in make-up, beautiful hair, sexually appealing clothes and shoes, tattoos, extravagant nose and ear opening, very attractive.

For man-he will be very well groomed in a sexually attractive way and usually indirectly splashing out his money or financial assets. While the believer puts on spiritual armour she makes powerful influence through her image because she is accustomed to idolatry.

The only way to overcome this spirit is by having genuine love and reverence for God in your heart.

The Jezebel Spirit

They exert a possessive Love that is destructive and controlling, cutting out all other relationships in their victim’s life and isolating their prey-especially one who is a spiritual leader.

They are very religious. They will often attend every prayer meeting, sing every song, dance so well in church, and will appear as the most committed and sincere Christian. This puts people off their guard. Christians can often sense that something is “off” about the jezebel infiltrator, but they will disregard their spiritual antennae signals because the Christian act put on by the jezebel is so convincing. They seek position at all cost in order to be better in control, they are not committed to anyone. They seek affirmation and significance. They illegitimately claim authority; they are loyal until you disagree with them. They are vengeful and never forgive. They do all you ask of them, so long as it goes along with their own plans. They plant seeds of discord in others that lead to conflict in the homes, friendships and fellowships of God’s people.

Despite all these, our God is a very patient God who allows both the righteous and wicked to flourish with plenty of time at their disposal. This is seen in the parable of the wheat and the weeds-the lord patiently and silently builds his kingdom and knows when best to prune, burn and reward the righteous and the wicked.

What is expected of us as Christians is eternal vigilance and we can learn patience from God in the midst of the waters of uncertainty. The virtue of patience helps us learn from God how to be very calm in the midst of the storm and  is the one which assures us of self-composure and self-confidence. It helps us face trying situations with wisdom.

From the saying of Jesus Christ in Luke 21:19, “in your patience you shall possess yourself,” we may understand the importance and the meaning of this virtue.

True patience has nothing in common with a phlegmatic temperament and the sluggish rhythm of life such a temperament determines. There are people who never grow impatient because they are slow in all their manifestations which are rather a deficiency. Such disposition of false patience may be a symptom of deficient vitality.

The patient man has a prompt readiness to accept his responsibility and to bear any cross that he cannot avert from himself without injury or infringement of some duty.

So the advice to everyone is-

1. Be patient with yourself in trying times.
2. Be patient with your family when a little misunderstanding arises or when they are unable to understand you in your matters.
3. Be patient with your neighbor when he or she outrightly offends and hurts you so deeply.
4. Be patient in controlling your emotions most especially in the face of provocation.
5. Be patient in accepting suffering even when it appears unbearable.
6. Be patient with obstacles because they are stepping stones to where God wants to position you in life. Learn from every obstacle you are confronted with. Don’t see it as a mistake but as an experience.
7. Be patient in pardoning because you also err.
8. Be patient in listening because you also need someone to learn on and listen to you when you are in deep trouble.

Be patient in understanding because it is the gate way to success. Be patient by being friendly with all.