Homily of His Excellency Msgr Selim Sfeir Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The Gospel of today is a generous summons by the Holy Spirit to embrace our Cross, to set out with a big heart and to accept whatever God sends our way. Like James and John, we want to say “We can!”. Enflamed by a noble enthusiasm, we set out to follow Christ. But fallen human nature is always ready to rebel, and from sad experience we see this rebellion manifested in grumbling, mumbling and complaining.
I think it would greatly please the Heart of Jesus if each of us made the following resolution today, on this First Sunday of the Holy Cross: ‘My good Jesus, I will never complain’. This resolution would be an act of great faith. When we complain we are thinking and acting like an atheist, as someone who no longer believes in God.
The Servant of God, Fr. Willie Doyle, SJ wrote that God makes a little compact with every human being. “It is as if He says to each of us, ‘My child, walk on submissively in your few years of trial here, and, in reward of your obedience to my will, I will bestow on you an eternity of happiness’. How beautifully St. Paul alludes to this: ‘For I reckon,’ he says, ‘that the sufferings of this time are not to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed to us’.
But instead of walking bravely in our thorny path, we are perpetually complaining. All complain, except God’s true servants, the saints, and these never complain, for they understand God’s simple little compact.”
Well then, tell God you will ‘never complain’. This one resolution will stop all outbursts of temper, all uncharitableness. It will make our interior calm and patient, like our Divine Lord Himself. This one resolution will carry you to heaven and make you a great saint.
Prayer
Eternal Father, today I unite myself to Jesus and His Holy Cross. Grant me the grace to never complain again and to see Your Hand at work in every moment and circumstance of my daily life.
+ Selim Sfeir
Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus