Homily for 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sept. 15, 2019

Ex 32: 7-11, 13-14
1 Tim 1: 12-17
Luke 15: 1-10
St. Anthony, Bronx, N.Y.

“Moses implored the Lord, his God, saying, ‘Why, O Lord, should your wrath blaze up against your own people…?” (Ex 32: 11).

Our Scriptures this morning present us with sin, repentance, and intercession.

Sin:  The Hebrews, just recently liberated from slavery in Egypt, turn to gross idolatry at the very time when Moses is conversing with God their liberator on Mt. Sinai.  You may be familiar with the scene from watching The Ten Commandments.

St. Paul recalls his proud, self-righteous past when he persecuted Christ’s followers:  “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant” (1 Tim 1:13).

Jesus tells parables about a straying sheep and a lost coin, and if we were to read the rest of Luke 15, of 2 lost sons.

We may not be blasphemers or persecutors of Christ’s people, as St. Paul describes himself.  But perhaps we have been idolaters like the Hebrews at Mt. Sinai, worshiping something that isn’t God, making something else the priority of our lives, such as career, money, physical beauty, pleasure, national pride, even such goods as family.

Certainly all of us have at times been straying sheep, foolishly wandering away from the ways of Christ and needing him to come looking for us, to bring us back to safety and good pasture.  We may stray by harboring grudges, speaking ill of a neighbor or a colleague at work, being lazy at work or school, driving recklessly, not taking care of our health, ignoring the needy around us, being indifferent to immoral public policies promoted by politicians and special interests—so many ways in which we may be lost!

Repentance:  But Christ comes looking for us, like the shepherd in the parable, like the woman in the 2d parable, like Jesus knocking Paul onto his tail end and rattling his conscience into a conversion.  Repentance from our sins is always possible while we breathe, and indeed is what God truly desires.  The prayer of Moses turned away his wrath against the idolatrous Hebrews and gave them another chance.  When we examine our behavior and our attitudes, we also get another chance from Jesus our good shepherd, who truly loves us and wants us to be close to him, to be among his flock.  In fact, whoever we are, we’re in constant need of conversion, of fresh repentance and return to God.  Even the Pope goes to confession every other week!

Intercession:  Moses interceded for his people, and God listened to him.  True, Moses enjoyed a very special relationship with God.  The Bible says they talked with each other “face to face, as one man speaks to another” (Ex 33:11).  But God also called sinful, blasphemous, arrogant Paul into an intimate relationship with himself and made him a minister of divine mercy (1 Tim 1:12,16).  Every one of us is invited to a close relationship with Jesus.

We celebrate and nourish that relationship thru the Eucharist.  Because of that relationship, we, as much as Moses and Paul, have the power of intercession before God.  In fact, that’s exactly what we do in the general intercessions at Mass.  If any of you pray the Liturgy of the Hours, you do that daily at Morning and Evening Prayer.  Listen to the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, which is full of intercessions after the consecration, when all of us unite ourselves to our Lord Jesus present on the altar and pray for the Church and the entire world.  How often someone asks us to pray for her or him—that’s intercession.

So, sisters and brothers, we have great power before God to pray for our friends, for people in need, for the advancement of peace and harmony, for the prevention of or recovery from natural disasters, for countless other causes—not just for the forgiveness of sinners after the example of Moses or for the finding of lost souls as in Jesus’ parables.

Brothers and sisters, examine yourselves and recommit yourselves to follow Christ our Savior.  Then intercede as one of Christ’s faithful followers, that the whole world may be preserved in God’s love.