Homily for Tuesday, Week 8 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
Week 8 of Ordinary Time

March 4, 2025
Sir 35: 1-12
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

“To keep the law is a great oblation” (Sir 35: 1).

Noah's sacrifice after leaving the ark
(Joseph A. Koch)

Offering sacrifice has been an act of worship in all religions—sacrificing something precious like livestock, grain, wine, incense, even (unfortunately) human life.

Sometimes people bring gifts to God purely as adoration or thanks—pure offerings of praise.  Sometimes they bring gifts seeking favor, protection, or license to do evil—as a bribe, in the plain words of Sirach:  “Offer no bribes; these he does not accept!  Trust not in sacrifice of the fruits of extortion” (35:11)—like a mafioso bringing a fat check to the parish priest.

Rather, God desires that we sacrifice by keeping his law.  Jesus says that too:  “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments” (John 14:15).  Sirach gets particular:  “In works of charity, one offers fine flour” (35:2), as Jesus does also:  “I give you a new commandment:  love one another” (John 13:34).

It’s easy to profess our love for faraway people, for Ukrainians, Congolese, or persecuted Christians in India or Nigeria.  It’s harder—and more sacrificial—to love the brothers we live with, to bear one another’s burdens, to bear their foibles and their faults, to “show a cheerful countenance” and pay not a tithe but brotherly respect “in a spirit of joy” (35:8).  It’s harder and more sacrificial to surrender our own will, convenience, or preference for the sake of our brother.  That’s the alms within our power, more than a financial offering.  Giving such alms, Sirach suggests, is a “sacrifice of praise” (35:2).