Homily of Saturday, 3rd January, 2026
By Fr. Williams Onyilo, CSSp
Readings: 1 John 2:29-3:6,
John 1:29-34.
Sin is breaking the law of God (1 John 3:4). The law of God is the 10 commandments;
- We should not worship another God apart from Yahweh
- We should not take the name of Yahweh in vain.
- We should keep the Sabbath day holy
- We should honour our parents and elders
- We should not kill
- We should not commit adultery
- We should not steal
- We should not bear false witness
- We should not covet our neighbour’s wife
- We should not covet our neighbour’s goods
On our own efforts alone, we cannot completely avoid sin. We need the grace of Jesus Christ: the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Such grace can be gotten by drawing closer to Jesus Christ through prayers, through the sacraments, through mortification and alms giving.
There was a time I was battling with a particular sin. The sin always made me feel dirty and unworthy to pray. I did all I could in my powers to free myself but the sin clung to me. One day I went for confession and the priest advised me like a true father and prayed for me and the sin stopped. If you ask me how i was able to stop it I cannot explain. All I know is that at a stage the sin itself avoided me and even refused me. And for me this is what I call “Grace”
Today I pray for the grace of God upon all those struggling with sin so that they can be free and truly become children begotten by God. This is my prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen
