I didn’t have the energy to type out my homily as a script, so here’s the outline I used:
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Category Archives: Homily
Homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Far too many of us, myself included, are not good at being persistent on what matters. Sure, we might persist in doing something we absolutely have to do, such as an assignment for school or some requirement for our job, and we’re pretty good about being persistent in those things we enjoy, like sports or recreational activities. How many of us put the same persistence into our spiritual lives that we put towards other, less important aspects of our lives?
Jesus tells us in our Gospel today that we need to be persistent in the practice of our faith. He doesn’t say that the widow would approach the judge once in a while, like once a week or once a month, but that she persisted in her requests for the just judgment. We need to be just as persistent in our spiritual lives. If we are persistent in living our lives as Christian disciples, our faith will grow stronger, but if we become lax in our discipleship, not allowing our discipleship to influence how we live our lives, our faith becomes stagnant and eventually dies.
There is no level ground in the spiritual realm. We either continue our climb towards God or will slide back away from Him. When my family and I were living in Williston, ND, during my elementary school years, there was a gravel plant close to my house. My friends and I would go and play on the piles of gravel during the weekends when no one was working at the plant. To climb these piles of gravel, we had to climb as hard as we could without stopping. To stop meant either to sink in a little ways, which made it harder to start again, or slide backwards down the loose slope.
The spiritual life is very much like climbing that gravel pile. If we are persistent in the practice of our Christian discipleship, we will continue up that slope. We need to regularly engage in the practices of prayer and Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. We need to be involved in spiritual activities, which include reception of the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confession and devotions like the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, and Eucharistic Adoration.
It’s also essential that we persist in learning more about the faith which has been passed on to us. While Religion classes at Catholic school or CCD programs at parishes pass on the basics of what we believe, there is far more to what has been revealed by Christ. A geologist can learn a lot about a mountain from a few small samples of rock, but there is still far more to learn by studying the mountain itself. In the same way, our CCD or Religion classes were just the start of learning about this great and wonderful mountain we call the Christian faith.
There is often a comparison made between the persistence needed to succeed in sports and the persistence required to live a Christian life, and with good reason. Some of the best-known athletes in the history of professional sports haven’t been those with natural talent for whom the sport came easy. Instead, the most admired athletes are those who persisted despite some adversity or difficulty in their lives, and succeeded in a way no one imagined they ever could.
Those who are held up as the great spiritual masters are also not those for whom the spiritual life has been easy, but rather those for whom it has been difficult. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was said to have spent much of her life without any consolation in prayer, not receiving any feeling or emotion from her prayer, yet lived a long life as an example of Christian discipleship. St. Monica spent many years in anguish, praying for her son who had left the practice of the Catholic faith, only to see him return 6 months before she died. Her son, St. Augustine, is now known as one of the great teachers and theologians of the Catholic Church, much to the credit of St. Monica’s persistence in prayer on his behalf.
These saints, and many more like them, are examples for us in persisting in our Christian discipleship. Like us, they were busy. Like us, they had many cares and concerns that filled their lives, some similar to what we face and some different, but their lives were not less difficult than ours. The difference between the saints and us is the desire to be the best disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ they could be.
We too should strive with every breath to be the best Christians we can be. We might fail on occasion, but we will succeed with persistence. Our Lord asks in today’s Gospel, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on Earth?” (Lk 18:8) Our persistent answer should be “Yes, come Lord Jesus! Amen. Alleluia!”
Homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
When we look at the world around us, we might feel like the prophet Habakkuk in today’s first reading. We see violence towards mothers and unborn infants through abortion. We see violence towards those who are elderly or infirm through euthanasia, which is also known as so-called physician assisted suicide or “death with dignity”. We see violence throughout the world in wars and other armed conflicts between nations. We see violence in families and towards children in both physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. We see countless other ways in which humans perpetrate violence against other men and women. We look around and want to cry out like Habakkuk, “How long, Lord?”
Today has been set aside as Respect Life Sunday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This is one Sunday out of the year in which we are asked to consciously examine in our lives what we are doing to encourage respect for the dignity of human life in all its forms, from conception to natural death. We need to take this day to closely examine our response to a “culture of death”, in the words of Pope John Paul II, that seeks to end any human life seen as unwanted, inconvenient or burdensome.
We have been commanded by Our Lord to spread the Gospel to the whole world. Of course, we do this on an individual level through teaching what Jesus taught and living our lives by His example, but we also do this by working to change the world on local, state, national, and international levels. Christianity is not a private religion, not merely “me and Jesus”, but calls and challenges us to constantly seek ways to reform the world to follow the plan of God our Father in Heaven.
As Christians, we need to fight against this culture of death and proclaim boldly that all humans, whether wanted or unwanted, convenient or inconvenient, have the right to be treated with the dignity deserving of a child of God, and each one of us has the right to life from the smallest infant in its mother’s womb to the most infirm and helpless among us. We need to fight for laws that defend life, not take it. We need to challenge our legislatures and elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, to place the protection of human life above all other worldly concerns.
I know it’s difficult for us to raise our voices in a crowd, to write the letters, make the phone calls, do the actions that this fight against the culture of death demands. I still remember the first time I prayed in front of an abortion clinic. It was a terrifying ordeal to stand out in front of that building, making my pro-life views known, but yet I felt called to go back again and again. To this day, praying at pro-life vigils in front of these so-called “clinics” is difficult, but yet it needs to be done.
St. Paul encourages us, “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord […] but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.” Standing out against the crowd, defending a view that is not popular or even opposing the laws of our nation, is not easy, but we must not allow fear to prevent us from speaking out. As Catholics in union with the teachings of the Church, we have the promise of Christ Himself that what we defend is not merely our opinion or political view, but the Truth revealed by God through His Son and defended and taught throughout the years by the Church which was given to us by Christ.
For those of us who dare to call Jesus Lord and call ourselves Christians, we have been commanded by Our Lord Jesus Christ to defend the Truth He revealed against those who would advance a culture of sin and death. May we follow that command, tirelessly seeking to support and defend the respect of human life in our community, nation and world.
Homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There is a saying about Jesus’ life on earth: he came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. This shows up in Our Lord’s words throughout the Gospels, such as the parable of Lazarus and the rich man which we just heard, and in the warnings of the prophets, like the first reading from the prophet Amos. For us as Christians, we need to take these warnings that are found in Scripture to heart and examine if we have become too comfortable in our lives.
When we talk about being comfortable, we usually first think about having enough money and possessions to live a life without concern. In fact, I think most people read the parable in today’s Gospel as being only about the rich man not sharing his wealth to Lazarus. While the lack of generosity with his wealth is part of the problem, it was not the primary concern of Our Lord, but rather the complacency of the rich man towards Lazarus. The rich man could have done much to care for Lazarus, but was unwilling to do so out of his position of comfort.
In our lives, we can become comfortable, not merely by having enough money or possessions, but by falling into routines and practices that focus solely on ourselves and our immediate families. We become so concerned about what we want and desire and need that we lose sight of the needs and desires of those around us, even those we see every day, just as the rich man had to see Lazarus lying at his gate every day. This level of comfort, becoming oblivious to the needs of those around us, is exactly why Our Lord used the parable to berate the Pharisees.
To avoid becoming this comfortable, we need to follow St. Paul’s encouragement to “pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith” by performing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. These 14 works, 7 physical and 7 spiritual, should be familiar to all those who attended Catholic school or religious education, as we all should have learned them early in our Catholic education. These works of mercy all come from the teachings of Christ within the Scriptures and have been developed into their current lists through the Tradition of the Church to guide us in following Our Lord’s command to love our neighbor.
In the corporal works of mercy, we are asked to perform acts of charity towards the physical needs of those in our community and world, while the spiritual works of mercy affect the spiritual needs that we all share, whether we realize it or not. As a reminder, the corporal works of mercy are: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, and bury the dead. The spiritual works of mercy are: admonish the sinner, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the afflicted, bear wrongs patiently, forgive all injuries, and pray for the living and the dead. Just in case you’re like me and can’t remember these important works of mercy, the pamphlet from the Fathers of Mercy in the back of the church does contain these lists.
If we truly wish to enter into the salvation promised by Christ, we will make performing these works of mercy very seriously, and will examine how we can change our lives to fulfill them. As part of our examination of conscience, which we should do every night before bed, we need to ask how we are living these works of mercy. For example: Do we seek out ways to help those who are in need locally, and support those organizations who serve those in need throughout the world? When is the last time we visited someone who is homebound or under nursing home care? Do we regularly pray for those who have died, especially those who have no one to pray for them?
By honestly asking these questions and seriously reflecting on the answers, we will seek to live out these works of mercy in our lives. May we join Our Lord in comforting the afflicted and avoid becoming one of the comfortable who are afflicted.
Homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I’m going to say something that we don’t want to hear: all of us, every single man, woman and child in the world, are sinners. We don’t want to hear that. We want to believe that we’re just fine, that everything we do is OK, that nothing is right or wrong so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. Look at the messages coming out of our culture: nothing is wrong, unless it offends political correctness. Behaviors and actions that were once avoided and shunned because they were considered sinful are now held up as normal and encouraged. Living together outside of wedlock, gay marriage, abortion, and euthanasia are no longer wrong in the eyes of our culture. The only sins in our world today is failure to protect the environment or have too many children or, worst of all, be judgmental against someone’s sinful lifestyle and choices.
Yet, despite the message our culture is trying to cram down our throats, sin does exist. Sin is not merely doing something that hurts someone else, it’s living contrary to God’s design for our lives. God, who created us from nothing and keeps us in existence out of His unending love for each of us, has a plan for each of us individually, and for all humanity as a whole. When we act contrary to that plan, we tell God that our plans for our lives are more important than His plans. We cut ourselves off from Him to follow our own paths away from Him.
This is what happened during the Exodus of the people of Israel out of Egypt. After leading the Israelites out of Egypt to Mount Sinai, God took Moses up to the top of the mountain so that the Law might be given to Moses and the Israelite people. During this time, as the Israelites were waiting at the foot of the mountain, they became discouraged and began to doubt that God would ever lead them to the Promised Land. They turned their backs on God, fashioning a false god to worship and give credit for leading them out of Egypt.
When we sin, we are like the Israelites, turning our backs on God and finding a false god to worship. This false god might be power and authority, earthly pleasure and possessions, wealth and esteem from others, or any other number of earthly things which draw us away from the one true God, our heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to come to Him.
Through our sins, we act like the son in today’s Gospel who turned his back on his father and lived “a life of dissipation.” He blew his entire inheritance on fleeting earthly pleasure and ended up with nothing, just as we do when we fall into sinful actions and behaviors. Sin is empty pleasure that doesn’t last, and we end up worse off after we sin than we did before. Sadly, for many sins, we may not even realize how much worse off we are until it’s too late.
There is hope, though, for us poor sinners. God is always willing to forgive our sins and welcome us with open arms. Just as the father ran to meet the son in the Gospel passage, God our heavenly Father is waiting for us to turn back to Him and ask for forgiveness. Jesus even promises us that there is rejoicing in Heaven every time sinners repent of their sins. We just need to approach God our Father with humility.
We see this forgiveness in every reading. Moses intercedes on behalf of the Israelites and God forgives them. The father throws a great celebration when the son returns from his sinful life. St. Paul even talks about the sinful life he led before his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus.
God is ready and willing to forgive. In fact, St. Paul reminds us that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Our Lord’s mission here on Earth was to call all sinners to repentance, which is why He reached out to the sinners of His time, but we might feel like St. Paul who “acted out of ignorance in my unbelief.” We might not realize that some of our actions are sinful, or may not believe that we even sin at all. This is why I ordered the pamphlets from the Fathers of Mercy that contain an examination of conscience. The purpose of an examination of conscience is to help us know what actions and behaviors are sinful, find those sins that have rooted themselves in our souls, and to bring them before God in the Sacrament of Confession.
I want to make this abundantly clear: the normal way that God forgives our sins is through the Sacrament of Confession, instituted by Jesus Himself and offered by His priests acting in Persona Christi (in the Person of Christ). The only times that would be exceptions to this are dire, life-threatening emergencies that are unavoidable and unforeseeable. The common example would be reciting an Act of Contrition as an airplane is going down and about to crash. Fortunately, these circumstances are extremely rare, and many of us may never have to face these kinds of emergencies, so reception of the Sacrament of Confession is essential – it’s a must – for every Catholic, whether we want it or not.
We need the wonderful and powerful Sacrament of Confession because we all are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. He is always ready and willing to offer that forgiveness out His great love for all of us. Will we be humble enough to accept it?
Homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
I’m trying something different for recording the homily: AudioBoo on my iPad.
(Yes, that is a thunder clap about half way through. There was a thunderstorm outside when I recorded this.)
I admit it. I like the things of the world. I like having stuff, using stuff, collecting stuff, buying stuff, and desiring more stuff. I don’t think I’m alone in this. Most, if not all of us, have, want, buy, use, and collect the stuff of the world. In itself, possessing and using the things of the world are not bad. In fact, many of the things we possess are tools which make our lives easier. We would much rather live in a house instead of a cave. Laundry machines clean our clothes easier and more thoroughly than washing them in a bucket. It’s a lot easier and faster to travel between towns in a car than by foot.
The problem with possessions is when we allow them to become attachments. Instead of the car or house being a tool to make our lives easier, it becomes something we just can’t live without. We begin to place our possessions over everything else in our lives, even our very salvation, which is what Jesus warns us against in today’s Gospel: “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
As Christians, this warning by Our Lord should be a wake-up call. We should be taking these words and reevaluating our lives. Do I allow my possessions to dictate my life, or do I allow the things of God to lead me? As Christians, we are called to separation from the world. “In the world, but not of the world” is a common phrase that clearly expresses how we should relate to the things of earth. We can have possessions and use them, we can be involved in earthly activities, but we must not allow those earthly possessions and activities to rule our lives.
As Christians, we need to seek constantly to avoid attachments to the things of the earth, things which will one day pass away, and develop attachments to the things of Heaven, the things of God which will never pass away. This doesn’t mean that we’re all called to live a monastic or cloistered life. Even where Our Lord says that we must hate our fathers, mothers, spouses, children, or siblings, His words aren’t an encouragement to neglect our responsibilities to our families. What He is warning against is allowing anything in this world to get between us and seeking God’s will for our lives and the eternal life He promises.
By maintaining this separation from the things of the world and seeking God’s will, we are fulfilling the call to holiness that we all share. Seeking holiness is not something that the “professional religious” such as priests and professed religious do, but all Christians must spend every day of their lives striving to be holy.
There is a risk in striving to be holy: we have to be willing to accept suffering in our lives. We already know that our lives are full of suffering naturally, but seeking holiness means accepting that suffering just as Our Lord accepted the suffering on the Cross. Jesus tells us, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” To follow Our Lord means taking up our suffering in this life and uniting it with His suffering on the Cross. Through this union of our suffering with Our Lord’s, we can see that the suffering we face in this life is just as much a part of God’s will as the joys we experience in order to prepare us for the eternal life in Heaven.
Of course, that’s very difficult for us to understand, as we don’t want to suffer. We constantly seek to find ways to alleviate the suffering. The problem is that we don’t truly understand God’s will. As the Book of Wisdom puts it, “scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in Heaven, who can search them out?”
We barely understand why things happen here on earth, and have almost no clue as to why God allows much of what happens in our lives. In response to our lack of understanding, we need to ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds and help us to discern God’s will for our lives. Only through that discernment can we appreciate the role suffering has in preparing us for the salvation promised by Christ, but we can only enter into that discernment if we are willing and actively seeking to detach from the things of the world.
Homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
None of us want to be humble. We enjoy hanging on to our pride and protecting it. If we do something foolish in front of others, we might talk about our “pride being hurt”. We like having people pay attention to what we want, even if it’s to be left alone. Instead of attending to others’ needs, we’re constantly tempted to attend only to our own and help others only if it fits with our plans and desires.
Pride is a dangerous vice to have. In fact, the tradition of the Church has long considered pride the deadliest of the seven deadly sins, as all other sins flow from our pride. The Catechism defines pride as “undue self-esteem or self-love, which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God.” Through our pride, we come to think that we know better than others, and sadly, that we know better than God Himself.
Of course, this is spiritually dangerous ground to be on. When we are ensnared by pride, we are blinded to God’s will. We decide that God’s will is unimportant compared with our own. To see the results of this position, look at Satan and the fallen angels. Catholic Tradition reveals to us that at the beginning of time, God revealed to the angels His plan for salvation of humanity, which would make humans, created as lower than the angels, rulers over the angels. Out of pride, Lucifer, who was created the highest of the angels, denied God’s plan allowing these lower beings to rule over him, causing him and the angels who followed him to be cast out of Heaven.
The pride that caused Satan to fall from the heights of heaven is the same pride that causes us to question the Truth which God revealed through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Through pride, we place what we think or feel over the Truth which Jesus entrusted to the Church. If you’ve ever said something to the extent of, “I know the Church says one thing, but I believe something else,” there’s a very good chance that pride is causing the disagreement, not a true theological reflection on the Truth revealed by Christ. This statement first denies revealed Truth safegarded and protected by the Church, and secondly justifies the individual’s opinion.
Because we are prideful humans, we need to approach God with humility and heed the warning of Our Lord in today’s Gospel reading: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” We need to realize, in the words of a song performed by contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman, that “God is God, and I am not.” As sinful humans affected by original sin, we don’t have the full understanding of God’s plan for our lives, for all of humanity, and for all creation. We need to realize that we are blinded by sin, and pray for the humility to live as God wills.
Admittedly, it is difficult to pray for humility. We all want to hang on to our pride, but we can be encouraged by the First Reading from the Book of Sirach: “conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself all the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.” By truly seeking humility, we are drawn closer to God and receive His gifts more willingly. Becoming humble is painful, as our ego will take some bumps and bruises along the way, but we will receive far more joy from living a humble life than we ever will by following our pride.
In fact, true humility leads us to share our joy with others. Through humility, we are willing to joyfully give to those in need whether they can repay or not. In fact, if they can’t repay our generosity, Our Lord tells us that “blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Our humble generosity now will be repaid more so in the eternal life. Note that being humble is not synonymous with being a push-over. We should not allow generosity to become enabling of bad behaviors or sins, but we still must be willing to help where ever we can.
When we approach others with humility, we emulate Our Lord. As the priest prays at every Mass when mingling the water with the wine: “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.” Our Lord approached humanity with true humility. May we approach Him and our fellow members of humanity with that same humility.
Homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary
As Christians, we have the luxury of hindsight when we read the Old Testament. We can see how the promises of God the Father are fulfilled in the person and actions of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we can see how important figures, events and objects in the Old Covenant foreshadow the establishment of the New Covenant through Our Lord. Today, as we celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, this hindsight makes Mary’s role in salvation clear and shows why we need to emulate Her in our lives.
When we look back at the Old Covenant, one major object stands out: the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was the holiest object for the Israelite people, as it represented the presence of God with them. It also carried three of the holiest articles given to the Israelites: the tablets containing the 10 Commandments; Aaron’s staff which budded to show the call of the Levite tribe as the priesthood of Israel; and the manna in the desert which sustained the Israelite people for 40 years.
Each of these objects foreshadow some aspect of Our Lord’s role in salvation of humanity. The tablets with the 10 Commandments are fulfilled in the commandments Our Lord gave through His teaching. The staff shows that Our Lord is the High Priest of the New Covenant which He established through His blood. The manna, the bread from Heaven, is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, which is the true and eternal Bread from Heaven.
Even the Ark itself foreshadows an important figure in the New Covenant. Just as the Ark held objects which foreshadowed Our Lord, Mary held in her womb the fulfillment of those objects as the mother of Jesus. Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant, and is rightfully called the Ark of the New Covenant.
With this understanding, it’s not a coincidence that the first reading, which comes from the Book of Revelation, begins with the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant. If you look this passage up in your Bible, you’ll find that the first sentence of the reading has been placed in the chapter prior to the rest of the text. Some might argue that this division of the text means that the Ark is not linked to the remainder of the passage, but with the understanding of Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant, it’s obvious that the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant fits with the imagery of the woman immediately following.
This image of the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” has been the most popular image of Our Lady almost from the very beginning of Christianity itself. In fact, devotion to Mary as the Mother of God has existed from the earliest times of the Church, and has only gotten stronger over the years. Marian devotion is popular within the Church because we can see Mary as the example for our lives as Christians. In the words of her cousin Elizabeth, this humble young woman “believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” She believed in the promise of salvation for Israel, and believed the message of the Archangel Gabriel that she was to become the mother of the one who was foretold to be the savior of not only Israel, but all humanity.
Are we willing to believe in the promises of Our Lord and respond with a “yes” as Mary did? Mary responded to God’s invitation with faithful submission and God was able to do great things for and through her. When we respond to the invitation to follow Our Lord with our whole lives, God will also do great things for and through us. To this day, Mary is called “blessed” for her openness to God’s will. The question is: do we want to follow her example and be called blessed?
Homily for the Vigil of the Assumption of Mary
As Christians, we have the luxury of hindsight when we read the Old Testament. We can see how the promises of God the Father are fulfilled in the person and actions of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we can see how important figures, events and objects in the Old Covenant foreshadow the establishment of the New Covenant through Our Lord. Today, as we celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, this hindsight makes Mary’s role in salvation clear and shows why we need to emulate Her in our lives.
The first reading this evening, which comes from the First Book of Chronicles describes the entrance of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem after David conquered the city. The Ark was the holiest object for the Israelite people, as it represented the presence of God with them. It also carried three of the holiest articles given to the Israelites: the tablets containing the 10 Commandments; Aaron’s staff which budded to show the call of the Levite tribe as the priesthood of Israel; and the manna in the desert which sustained the Israelite people for 40 years.
Each of these objects foreshadow some aspect of Our Lord’s role in salvation of humanity. The tablets with the 10 Commandments are fulfilled in the commandments Our Lord gave through His teaching. The staff shows that Our Lord is the High Priest of the New Covenant which He established through His blood. The manna, the bread from Heaven, is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, which is the true and eternal Bread from Heaven.
Even the Ark itself foreshadows an important figure in the New Covenant. Just as the Ark held objects which foreshadowed Our Lord, Mary held in her womb the fulfillment of those objects as the mother of Jesus. Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant, and is rightfully called the Ark of the New Covenant.
As I said before, important events described within the Old Testament foreshadow the New Covenant, and this first reading is no exception. The tent which King David prepared for the Ark of the Covenant was to become God’s dwelling place with the Israelite people. The Ark was placed inside the tent, where it remained until the construction of the Temple by King Solomon.
With the establishment of the New Covenant, we no longer look to the earthly Promised Land, but have hope in a Heavenly Promised Land where we will dwell God for all eternity. Just as the Ark of the Covenant entered into earthly Jerusalem, it is fitting that the Ark of the New Covenant would enter into the Heavenly Jerusalem. We are celebrating today the entrance of Our Lady into that new Promised Land, and do so with the hope that we will also one day join her and all the saints and angels in praise and worship of God.
In order to join her in the Heavenly Jerusalem, we need to follow her example. Jesus states in today’s Gospel passage, “blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” Mary received the blessing to become the Ark of the New Covenant, the Mother of God, because she said “yes” to the Word of God who was proclaimed to her in the Old Testament and announced by the Archangel Gabriel.
We too have heard the Word of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and have the opportunity to observe what He did and said. For us to be blessed and enter into that Heavenly reward we all seek, we must follow Our Lady’s example and say “yes” to Jesus’ call to follow Him. The question is: do we want to follow her example and be called blessed?
Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We all have things in our lives that we treasure: memories, events, activities, and materials that bring joy and happiness to our lives. If we’re having a bad day, being reminded of a particularly enjoyable moment in our lives can turn our emotions around. There might be an upcoming trip we’re looking forward to with great anticipation. We might have a regular activity that is the high point of our week. There may be someone with whom we particularly enjoy visiting on a regular basis.
All these things we treasure here on Earth are good as they bring a measure of joy to our lives, but are they our only treasures? Are they the only things that are important to us? We are challenged by Our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel to reevaluate where our treasure really is: “For where your treasure really is, there also will your heart be.” We place our focus on what we think is important. If we only treasure the things of Earth, our hearts will remain only on the things of Earth, but if we treasure the things of Heaven, our hearts will dwell on the things of Heaven.
It’s important for us to focus on Heavenly things. As Christians, Earth is not our homeland; we are not destined to remain on Earth forever. Instead, we have been given a Heavenly homeland, a homeland that will last forever. While we are here on Earth, we’re like Abraham who was promised by God a land for his descendants. Abraham, who “sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country,” is the example for our lives on Earth. He didn’t stop in one place, saying, “This is enough for me. I’m staying here.” Instead, he spent his life wandering throughout the land, obeying God and traveling to an unknown foreign land.
We too are called by God to wander through our lives as pilgrims to the Promised Land, but we are not seeking a chunk of ground here on Earth that God has promised us. Our lives on Earth are passing, like “strangers and aliens”. As the Letter to the Hebrews puts it, we “desire a better homeland, a heavenly one.”
While many of us might think our lives on Earth are good, we all are seeking more. This is why commercial advertising is so effective. The advertisers try to convince us that our lives would be better if we bought some product, or took some trip, or drank the right kind of beer, and so on. We are always looking for a better life, one without pain, without difficulty, without tears.
This better life has been promised to us, and it goes far beyond anything here on Earth. Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” God the Father wants to give us the Kingdom of Heaven. He wants all of us to enter into the Promised Land where there will be no more pain, no more difficulties, no more tears. The joy that we all seek is there beyond our imagining.
On our own, however, we can’t find this homeland. If you’ve ever been out in a desolate place where there are few roads and landmarks, you know how easily you could become lost without some guidance. In the same way, we need guidance in our lives to help lead us to the homeland we seek.
Because God the Father wishes for us to enter into our Heavenly inheritance, he has given us the guidance we need to find our way home. When we follow Our Lord Jesus Christ and His teachings, we have a sure path that will lead us into our true homeland. If we wish to enter that homeland, we need to seek what Our Lord said and did, joyfully following Him. We also need to have a willingness to set aside our own thoughts and beliefs if they are contrary to the Truth revealed by Christ.
This journey through life will not be easy, but will lead to a treasure beyond our imagining. The treasure is waiting for us in Heaven. Are our hearts set on them?