Homily for Thursday, Week 22 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Thursday
22d Week of Ordinary Time

Sept. 7, 2023
Col 1: 9-14
Luke 5: 1-11
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5: 8).

(Raphael)

Simon Peter’s reaction to the awesome power manifested by Jesus is typical of how people like Moses, Elijah, and Isaiah react when they encounter the Almighty, the All-Holy.  Who can stand before God?

Jesus changes that by calling Simon and his companions into a new relationship with the divine.  Yes, they’re sinners.  Yes, we’re sinners.  But Jesus makes himself known as the friend of sinners (Luke 7:34).  He calls some of them specifically, as he continues to call disciples, to catch people in the nets of divine mercy.

That mercy is evident in Paul’s message to the Church at Colossae, which wasn’t one of Paul’s own communities; it seems to have been founded by Paul’s friend Epaphras, who has told Paul about it (1:7-8).  Paul is pleased to tell the Christians there that he prays for them, that they may “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” and be pleasing to God (1:10).  God, he tells them, has made them “fit to share in the inheritance of the saints” (1:12).  God has delivered all believers “from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (1:13).  In short, he’s taken away our sins and made us worthy to stand before him, as we pray in the 2d Eucharistic Prayer, “giving thanks that you have held us worthy to be in you presence and minister to you.”  No need [to cringe like Simon Peter; rather, with joy to thank the Father (1:11-12) and cling to Christ, now and forever.