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Two-Minute Homily by Fr Boni Buahendri SVD for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024.
“God’s authority in our life is important. It helps us to grow in faith, in life, in ministry as well as in mission.”

• Two-Minute Homily Transcript

  Two-Minute Homily Transcript

  Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane

  
  Have you ever read in a book, or seen on TV or met in your life somebody that really speaks with authority and can you remember how you listened to that person and were inspired by their words, by their actions? I personally have been inspired by Martin Luther King, by Mahatma Gandhi, by Nelson Mandela and even by Mother Theresa.

  Today is the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary time. In the Gospel today, the people in his home town of Jesus, were astonished in the authority of Jesus’s teaching in the synagogue. A man in unclean spirit also recognised His authority “what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” God’s authority in our life is important. In terms of blessing and grace, it helps us to grow in faith, in life, in ministry as well as in mission. The question we must ask today is, do we want to listen to Jesus and accept his authority?

  The Gospel today challenges us, to listen to the Divine Authority, to Jesus. God wants us to communicate with us, to you and to me, but at the same time He will never force Himself upon us. Once again, do we want to listen? The people of Jesus home town, chose to resist the Word of God, even when it was standing right in front of them! Our world today moves very fast. Our life is so crowded with lots of distractions and interruptions, these things can seriously disturb our focus on God.

  Let us pay attention today to the many ways that God comes into our lives it may be in very simple and ordinary ways. Scripture invites us to ‘taste and see the goodness of God’. Let us seek to be faithful to the voice of Lord, as it comes to us in Scripture, in the Church, in our own life story, and even in our painful experiences as well. Let us pay attention to the things of God and rejoice when God sends us to strengthen us to be faithful listeners, to his Word. Jesus speaks with authority. But it is the authority of love, the authority of forgiveness and authority of healing.