Homily on the readings for Sept. 7, Tuesday of the XXIII week in ordinary time, year II
The Lord takes delight in his people! We really need to remember that.
Sometimes we tend focus more on the dangers we face because of our human weakness and proclivity towards sin. That’s important too; throughout all of history we will need holy apostles like St Paul to call keep us in line with their exhortations and reprimands, as in today’s first reading. Sin offends God and if we want to be saved we need to keep up the good fight. But still, the Lord takes delight in his people!
He knows perfectly well all our struggles, our needs, our defects… And yet He became a man in Jesus Christ, in order to be one of us and save us. He didn’t chose to live in sublime isolation, uttering aphorisms from atop an ivory tower; He was born to a poor young woman who married a carpenter, and He grew up playing with other kids in the country town of Nazareth. He chose His twelve Apostles from among the ordinary people of His day, knowing full well that they would not always be faithful, and that one would even betray Him. Despite His perfect holiness and infinite power, He does not scorn us for our limitations. He forgives our sins. The Lord takes delight in His people!
So much so that during His public ministry on earth He gave constantly of His time in order to teach us, heal us, and free us from sin and the devil, as we see in the second half of the Gospel reading today. As St Paul says, we have been “washed”, “sanctified”, and “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” He even wants to stay with us always in the Eucharist and lives in us through sanctifying grace. Some days it may seem that our struggle with sin never ends, or that things are going rather badly for the Church or for the world. Nonetheless, we must always trust and take courage, persevere in our faith, and “praise the Lord in the assembly of the faithful” – for the Lord takes delight in His people!
Perpetual Learner 