Homily for 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 21, 2019

Col 1: 24-28
Holy Name of Jesus, New Rochelle

“The mystery hidden from ages … past now has been manifested to his holy ones” (Col 1: 26).

Many of St. Paul’s letters are notoriously difficult—in their theological ideas and sometimes in their sentence structure.  Today’s 2d reading is Exhibit A.  Let’s try to unpack some of it.

Usually when the word mystery comes up in the liturgy, it’s a synonym for “sacrament.”  “As we prepare to celebrate the sacred mysteries,” for instance, refers to the Holy Eucharist, the Mass.  It doesn’t have that meaning in Colossians, tho.  This “mystery” that “has been hidden” from human eyes, from human understanding, for ages and ages is the mystery of God’s love for us human beings and of his plan to redeem us from our own folly—our sins, our rejection of his friendship, our running foolishly after every seduction and lie that Satan throws at us.

The Glory (Titian)

God has “revealed the mystery” to us with “the word of God” (1:25)—the message of the Gospel, even the very person of his Son Jesus, the Word made flesh.  Jesus embodies God’s love for us—not only for God’s 1st-chosen people, the Jews, but even “among the Gentiles,” Paul says (1:27), among the pagan nations.

God now chooses everyone—for his own mysterious reasons—giving us “hope for glory” (1:27), i.e., for a share in his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven that Jesus speaks of constantly; a place in God’s household among his family, as his daughters and sons.  This is why Paul calls Christian believers “God’s holy ones,” God’s saints.  All who have accepted God’s word and try to live by it have been transformed by Christ from sinners into “holy ones.”  That includes you and me, brothers and sisters, as long we’re living in God’s grace, in his love.

Why God would choose you and me for a share in his love, in his kingdom, in his family—you don’t know why he’d do that, and I don’t know either.  But you know love is mysterious and powerful.  Love rules God’s heart just as it does ours.  So we’re grateful for his choice, which is why we come to say “thank you” every week, to celebrate Eucharist.

We have this “hope for glory,” for eternal salvation, eternal life, because of Christ.  “Christ in you,” i.e., living in you, is our hope.  Paul’s mission is to be the steward of God’s grace (1:25) by presenting Christ to the world, and to make “everyone perfect in Christ” (1:28) by the forgiveness of their sins—which is what transforms us from sinners into saints.

God chooses to act thru stewards—thru apostles like Paul, thru his personally chosen ministers—as Jesus called each of his apostles, including Paul, and he continues to call men to be stewards of the sacred mysteries and continues to call both men and women to make the Gospel known to all people.

That’s a charge given not only to priests but to you as well because you have been baptized into Christ; you have become part of the mystery of God’s plan of redemption.  “God has made known to you the riches of the glory of this mystery” (1:27).  It’s not a mystery or a glory for us to keep to ourselves, like the lazy servant in Jesus’ parable who buried his master’s money rather than investing it and multiplying it—and so merited condemnation and expulsion from the master’s household (Matt 25:14-30).  You, too, are to make known to others—your children and grandchildren especially, but others too—what Christ is doing for you, how much God loves you, and your hope of eternal life.