Homily for Saturday, Week 1 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Saturday
1st Week of Ordinary Time

Jan. 14, 2023
Heb 4: 12-16                                                             
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

I don’t know what you did to deserve this—me 2 days in a row.  That, of course, may be interpreted in 2 ways.

Hebrews tells us, “The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any 2-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit” (4:12), and no creature is concealed from him (4:13).  The “him” there is God, not the word.  But it’s God’s word that slices us open, revealing the core of our selves, exposing us to judgment with that word as the standard by which we are measured (4:13).  Even saints have trembled at the thought of all that.

But the letter continues with a most consoling message.  However great, however numerous our sins of commission or omission, whatever their cause in those mysterious spaces between soul and spirit, we have a high priest who prays for us because he’s able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he, too—the Word in human flesh—has been tested in every way that we are tested (4:15).  Altho he passed all the tests (how come this text comes up during exam week?), he experienced the struggle to hold fast to his confession (cf. 4:14), to be faithful to his Father.  We can’t imagine that was easy for Jesus, as it isn’t for us.

The throne of divine judgment where “we must render an account” (4:13) is also the throne of mercy, compassion, and grace (4:16).  Therefore the author urges us to have confidence (4:16).

And today’s gospel (Mark 2:13-17) bears him out, the marvelous story of Levi the tax collector’s call.  How can we not remember Caravaggio’s famous painting and its inspiring Jorge Bergoglio’s episcopal motto, Miserando atque eligendo, “by having mercy and by choosing,” taken from a homily of St. Bede about St. Matthew’s call:  “Jesus sees the tax collector, and since he sees by having mercy and by choosing, he says to him, ‘follow me’”?  Then Jesus defends his association with such as Matthew.  He loves sinners who desire his company.  His companionship has the power to transform Levi into Matthew the apostle, to transform scoundrels into exemplars, to transform sinners into saints—including you and me.  His “words are Spirit and life” (Psalm Response)—penetrating into our hearts, not to slice and dice them as a 2-edged sword might but to transform them with “grace for timely help” (4:16) in our struggles to “hold fast to our confession” (4:14).