Homily for Tuesday, Week 2, and St. Agnes

Homily for Tuesday
Week 2 of Ordinary Time
and the Memorial of St. Agnes

Jan. 21, 2025
Heb 6: 10-20
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

Abraham's sacrifice
(Notre Dame Cathedral, Tournai)

Today’s reading from Hebrews refers twice to hope, once citing Abraham’s hope in God’s promise to him (6:13-15), once with reference to our hope that God’s promises to us will be fulfilled (6:11).

Hope brought our ancestors to this promised land, millions of Irish, Germans, Italians, Poles, Jews, and others in the heyday of unrestricted immigration, when Emma Lazarus hailed Lady Liberty as a beacon of hope, “lift[ing her] lamp beside the golden door!”

Hope, as you know, is the theme of this Jubilee Year.  We’re all pilgrims of hope, hope that God will open for us the door of his mercy, the door into his promised land—symbolized by the holy doors in Rome and by the indulgences offered during the jubilee.

St. Agnes
(Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx)

We celebrate today a young virgin martyr, barely a teen, Agnes of Rome.  There are oft-told stories of her life and death, of uncertain historicity.  What’s certain is that she suffered in Diocletian’s fierce persecution in the 1st years of the 4th century, suffered because she was as fiercely loyal to Christ her spouse.  She placed all her hope in him and not in a noble marriage (if there’s truth in the stories) or long life or worldly goods.  Her youthful sacrifice, St. Ambrose writes, shows the power of Christian faith.  She who was too young to testify in court testifies as Christ’s witness, a witness to our hope of eternal life in him (LOH 3:1311-1312).

Abraham and Agnes encourage us, brothers, to continue on our pilgrimage, not to “become sluggish,” as Hebrews cautions, but to imitate “those who, thru faith and patience, are inheriting the promises” (6:12).  This “hope lies before us … sure and firm” (6:19) in Jesus Christ our Lord.