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SUNDAY, Week 19 – Homily Notes

“For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution.”

God sees the whole picture. We do not. What we understand is limited to the current mess where we find ourselves. The past is fleeting and memory fails us. The future has yet to be realized and we know all too well how human plans often do not work out. But it is a tenet of faith that nothing can circumvent divine providence. Our first reading from Wisdom shows an early insight into this truth. Despite the faithlessness of men and women, God kept his promises. Of course, while they saw a family become a tribe become a great nation and then a spiritual people of faith; it is doubtful that they fully appreciated where God’s plans would take them. It was enough in ancient days to know that God was good and that he had called them to be his children. They offered sacrifices to the one true God and rejoiced in the covenant they shared. As the people of the promise, one day the Messiah would come and as the great high priest he would offer the true oblation of atonement. The covenant would be ratified and made brand new with the new and everlasting covenant in Christ’s blood.

“Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”

The psalm response brings this point home. We especially, as the Church, are the blessed People of God. Do we really concentrate upon this blessing? We have so very much. We have the Bible, the sacraments, the Eucharist and the forgiveness of sins, the catechism, the Pope, the testimony of the ancient fathers and the legacy of the saints, we have the various forms of Christian prayer, especially the Rosary, and the list goes on and on. Blessings upon blessings are ours.

It all began with Abraham but it comes to fulfillment in Christ. This is the theme from our second reading, Hebrews. God would spare Isaac, but not his own Son. The prophets and patriarchs died in faith. But now we can embrace a faith, not simply of promise, but of realization. Christ conquers sin and death. We are no longer the devil’s property. We are truly God’s children in truth.

The Gospel speaks to our posture in the Church. Placing our treasure in Christ, we must be committed to his service and alert stewards ready for the Lord’s return. We are not the master of our lives. There might be much that we do not understand. Often, our efforts might seem pointless and we find ourselves counted as failures. None of this matters, because when we see the Lord, he will simply say, as he did to Peter, “Do you love me?” And then as he did for Peter, he will make reference to our mission or stewardship. Flowing from the first question, may come a second, “Have you been faithful?” If the answer is YES then he will tell us as he did in a parable of a faithful servant, “Come, share your Master’s joy!”

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