Homily for Tuesday, Week 16 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
16th Week of Ordinary Time

July 23, 2024
Mic 7: 14-15, 18-20
Ps 85: 2-8
Matt 12: 46-50
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

“Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old” (Mic 7: 14).

The hills of Gilead
(Wikipedia)

Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, refers to lands east of the Jordan renowned for their rich pastures, once occupied by some of the tribes of Israel.  He pleads with God for a restoration, a deliverance based on Israel’s admission of their sins and his forgiveness.  The prophet’s confident that the Lord “will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins” (7:19).  That’s our own confidence every time we go to confession, isn’t it?  And indeed every time we begin Mass.

Only if people confess and repent can God save.  In Psalm 85 Israel acknowledges their guilt and credits God with bringing them home from exile in Babylon:  “You have favored your land; you have brought back the captives of Jacob.  You have forgiven the guilt of your people; you have covered all their sins” (vv. 2-3).  Yet they pray for a complete restoration—for prosperity and contentedness on the land, which can follow only from God’s good pleasure.

Jesus doesn’t talk about restoration, but he does talk about pleasing God; a restoration is implied.  “Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, sister, and mother” (Matt 12:50).  Doing the Father’s will, of course, means turning from our sins toward God.  The restoration, then, is to a warm family relationship with God thru his Son, a relationship of brotherhood with the Son.  That’s why we’re brothers to one another—and have been made at the same time sons of God.  We’re restored to the divine image in which we God created us.