Please read this passage before reading the homily.
My sisters and brothers,
Scripture says that “the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” One has to believe with the heart and confess with the mouth to gain salvation.
Christ is with us. Christ is in our mouth. Christ is in our heart. Christ is the word of God. If the word of God is near us, then Christ is also near us. If the word of God is in our mouth, then Christ is also in our mouth. In this Lent, Christ is with us.
What about our sins? We all have failed. Despite our sins, Christ is in us; he is in you and in me.
Let us not be concerned this Lent with sin. Let us direct our energies toward Christ, who is the word of God. St Paul says that we have to confess with our mouth and believe on our heart that God has raised Christ from the dead so that he would have the power to save us. This does not come from our words; it comes from what we do with the faith which is in our hearts. We profess our faith in Christ through our works of faith.
For example, if we call ourselves cooks, we have to cook something. If we call ourselves landscape artist, we have to work with trees and bushes. If we call ourselves Christians, we have to do the works that Christ does.
What does Christ do? We have to live as Christ lives, to think what Christ thinks, to say what Christ says, to be Christ to the rest of the world. We have to treat our families well, treat our friends well, treat our companions well, treat our community well, and treat all the rest of the world well.
It is the season of Lent. We have to hear the word of God in the Bible, in our family, and in our schools or workplace. Our repentance does not consist in getting rid of sin; rather is consists in getting rid of sin and also turning towards Christ.
Scripture says that “the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. One has to believe with the heart and confess with the mouth to gain salvation.