+ J. M. J. +
Homily Outline for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
God called Moses, even against Moses’ own hesitation: he had a stutter, he was exiled from Egypt for killing a man, he was up against the Pharaoh, and yet God called him and led the people out of slavery through him. Now they are in the desert, and extends His power into the seventy elders. When two men who missed the meeting are also blessed in this way, some are jealous, but Moses says, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!”
In the fullness of time, this is precisely what the Lord did! In Jesus Christ, the Good News of salvation is offered to all nations. In baptism each one of us became, in Christ, priests, prophets and kings, called to sanctify, teach, and serve all people. You, out of your baptism, are priest, prophet and king—not some of us, not those among us who are most pious, not those among us who make fewer mistakes—every baptized person is called to this. As such, God calls us to raise our eyes above the temptations of this life, above possessions and lust and jealousy, above gossip and grudges, to raise our eyes up on high to our eternal goal, heaven. No sin is justified or worth more than the Kingdom of Heaven. Certainly Jesus uses hyperbole… I don’t want to see anyone coming in here next week missing any limbs! But, the point is clear. It is worth dying to every sin so that we can be open & available to God’s grace. Our daily decisions have eternal consequences for us and all those we meet, if we live and teach and speak truth, it leads to God. If we live, teach, and speak falsehood, it leads to eternity without God. This is the reality, the peril, the joyful possibility of this fleeting life God has given us!
How do we seek the Lord’s face, how do we avoid the millstone and the unquenchable fire? How do we make ourselves available to the Spirit moving in and through us? Let me propose to you three basics of the Christian life. Without these you cannot claim to be a practicing Catholic, with them all things are possible in Christ.
1) The Eucharist – Jesus said, “Unless you eat my body and drink my blood, you have no life within you.” If we’re trying to serve God, but we’re only fed when it’s convenient, than we’re fighting on an empty stomach. It doesn’t work. This is why the Church has always taught that to freely and knowingly miss Mass is a mortal sin. If we tell God, “This week I’m going to handle my life myself,” we’ve rejected Him and His grace. This is deadly serious. I’m not talking about being sick, or caring for a sick family member, or the shifts you don’t have control over… I’m talking about choosing to miss Mass freely. Something like 70% of American Catholics haven’t been to Mass in any given week, which means that most of them should go to confession before going back to communion. God is serious about this… you should be too!
2) Regular Confession – God DOES NOT expect us to carry the burden of our sins by ourselves, but if you haven’t been to confession, that’s what you’re doing. Again, it’s saying to God, “God, stand back, I’ll handle this one on my own.” Or, perhaps, “Church, God entrusted to you the power to forgive my sins, Jesus gave the apostles the power to bind and loose, but I’d rather just chart my own path.” I experience myself the power of sacramental absolution when I go to confession at least once a month, and I see its effect in the people whose confessions I hear. Come back… God wants to pour out His grace upon you! Aim for a monthly confession.
3) Daily Prayer – This is just as essential, just as important as the other two. And, if you’re already coming to Mass and going to confession, this is probably the place where God is just waiting to unlock major growth and power in your life. Two times no adult Catholic should ever miss praying are upon waking and before going to bed. That’s not enough, but it’s a darn good start! Let me make this concrete… consider beginning the day with The Morning Offering, and ending the day with one decade of the rosary. That is completely within the power of any adult. It’s not enough, again, but it’s a really good start. God can do in and through you all things, far beyond what you can do yourself, and daily prayer is one of the principal places where that grace is unleashed.
Out of our baptism, we have been anointed priest, prophet, and king. May we respond to that gift in the Eucharist, in Confession, and in daily prayer.
(For you reading this on the blog, here's the Morning Offering Prayer I make reference to:
Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day: my work, my prayers, my apostolic efforts; my time with family and friends; my hours of relaxation; my difficulties, problems, distress, which I shall try to bear with patience. Join these, my gifts, to the unique offering which Jesus Christ, Your Son, renews today in the Eucharist.
Grant, I pray, that, vivified by the Holy Spirit and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my life this day may be of service to you and your children and help consecrate the world to you. Amen
Much more on the spirituality of the Morning Offering here: Apostleship of Prayer
Also, a link to a nice simple guide to the rosary: How to pray the Rosary)
+ A. M. D. G. +
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