TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

24 AUGUST 2025

 

          Saint Luke begins his Gospel in Jerusalem.  Jesus is presented in the Temple as an infant, and Simeon and Anna rejoice to live long enough to encounter the Messiah.  In Jerusalem, at the age of twelve, Jesus is lost in the temple.  His parents frantically look for him for three days until they find him listening to the teachers and asking them questions.  He leaves Jerusalem with his parents to grow up in Nazareth with them.  Saint Luke ends his Gospel in Jerusalem with the death of Jesus on Good Friday, his resurrection on Easter Sunday, and his Ascension.

            That is why it is important to recognize that Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem in today’s Gospel.  He teaches people and invites them to become his disciples to join him on his journey.  That journey will end in Jerusalem, where he will be betrayed, forced to endure an unfair trial, and be crucified like a common criminal.  He answers the question about the number of people to be saved by responding, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.”  He is inviting his disciples, and all of us who call ourselves Christians, to walk the same journey with him and be formed by the journey.  That journey will include sharing his cross and trusting that striving to enter the narrow gate of his cross will lead to his resurrection.

At this time of the year, parishes are resuming the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. That is happening here.  Those who have never been baptized or those who have been baptized in another Christian denomination will begin the process of becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.  There are four parts involved in this process.  Participants will live in love within a community.  They will be engaged in listening to the Word, not only at Mass but also in their sessions.  They will learn how to participate in outreach and service.  If they persist in OCIA, they will worship God in spirit and truth. 

These four aspects are part of the journey of faith for each of us.  We continue to learn to live in love within this parish community.  We are engaged in hearing the Word of God every Sunday, or every day if we come to daily Mass.  We are constantly challenged to become more involved in the outreach and service of our parish, especially in reaching out to the poor and marginalized.  When we gather for Mass every Sunday, we worship God in spirit and truth.

As all new Catholics will learn, and as we ourselves have learned, walking with Jesus on this journey and being formed by it is not easy.  We encounter arguments and disagreements within the family of the Church.  We can suffer from ill treatment at work, when we choose to buck a system of doing what is minimally required and pour ourselves into what we are supposed to do.  Young people can be treated unfairly by teachers or coaches.  Friends can betray us.  When we choose to participate in the veiled humor of racist language or the gossipy rumor going around, we will share in the cross of Christ.  Sharing in the cross of Christ is part of our being formed by our journey with him.

The author of the Letter of the Hebrews is aware of the sufferings that disciples must endure as we are formed by our journey with Jesus Christ.  The author urges us to regard our crosses, our failures, and our disappointments, and our pain as “the discipline of the Lord”.  The Letter argues that the Lord loves us and strengthens our resolve as disciples to continue our own pilgrimage with Christ to the New and Eternal Jerusalem.  Referring to the question asked of Jesus today, we need not worry about how many people will be saved.  Instead, we can focus on our own response to follow him and strengthen our resolve to strive to walk as Jesus did, knowing that encountering his cross will be a definite part of our journey with him.                       

 

 

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

10 AUGUST 2025

 

          Jesus responds to his disciples, to his “little flock,” because they are afraid.  He turns their attention away from the world’s concerns and encourages them to focus on a treasure that is permanent and cannot be taken away.  Our first reading from the Book of Exodus gives an example of God’s faithfulness.  God promised the Israelites that he would free them from slavery in Egypt and give them a Promised Land.  It took them forty years, with many difficulties and trials.  But they kept their eyes fixed on that treasure and by faith finally achieved it.  Our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews gives the example of Abraham.  God had promised him the treasure of his own land and numerous descendants.  In faith, Abraham left his homeland and settled in the land that God had promised.  In faith, he never lost sight of the promise of many descendants, even though both he and Sarah were well beyond childbearing age.  In faith, he continued to trust the treasure of descendants that God had promised, even when obeying God’s instruction to sacrifice his only son seemed crazy.

            Jesus encourages his little flock to maintain that same hope.  He has been teaching them that he would be rejected by the religious leaders and be put to death on a cross.  He tells them to keep their eyes on the treasure of a resurrected life that cannot be destroyed.  As the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, Isaac was only a symbol of what would happen in Jesus Christ.  Unlike Isaac, Jesus would actually give his life in sacrifice, promising that those who die with him will also rise with him.  Even when Jesus will be taken from his little flock, they cannot be discouraged.  They must wait in joyful hope for the treasure that awaits them.

            Jesus gives three examples of how faithful people prepare for the treasure promised them, especially during uncertain times.  He gives as his first example servants preparing for a master to return from a long journey.  At the end of time, or at the end of our individual lives, we can maintain confidence in the Lord by living as faithful servants.  Instead of living in fear and dread, we are expected to be good servants, good stewards.  We prepare by engaging in prayer, serving the poor and those who depend on our help, and welcoming those who come into our midst.  If we prepare like humble servants, then we can expect the master to do for us exactly what he had done at the Last Supper.  He will sit us down at table, wait on us, and wash our feet, as he washed the feet of his disciples.

            The second example is that of a prepared householder.  We do not know the time of the Lord’s coming either at the end of time and at the end of our lives.  But he will come like a good thief.  The good thief will look for the many ways we are active in building up the Kingdom of God, even in the midst of so much discouragement and opposition.

            Third, he calls us to be faithful people.  Instead of sitting around worrying about so many things out of our control, we need to be faithful in pursuing our responsibilities.  Parents are most faithful when they carefully attend to the growth of their children.  Parishioners are most faithful when we continue to pray together, serve each other’s needs, and continue to meet the needs of those who come to us from the margins of society.  We have work to do with the parish, friends, family, community, and where we work.

            Like Abraham, like the Israelites in the desert, and like Jesus himself, we must maintain the virtue of hope.  Pope Francis knew what he was talking about when he assigned that virtue to this Jubilee Year.  In a world which disappoints us and frustrates us in so many ways, we can continue our journey to the new and eternal Jerusalem if we maintain the virtue of hope in our lives.  Faith is indeed the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.