Homily 2 for 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily 2 for the
30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 26, 2025
Sir 35: 12-14, 16-18
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

A refugee camp in Eritrea

“The Lord is a God of justice, who knows no favorites.  Tho not unduly partial toward the weak, yet he hears the cry of the oppressed” (Sir 35: 12-13).

Had I been thinking along those lines, I might have acted differently that morning in the supermarket parking lot in Silver Spring, Md., where I lived in the Salesian community 7 years ago.  I’d just picked up some groceries—fresh fruit and maybe a couple of other things.  A youngish fellow followed me to the car, and as I got in, begged for some help because he was very hungry.  I didn’t even look at him, much less speak to him.  I thought to myself, “He could go into the store and ask for a job.”  After a few moments, he walked away, and I drove home.

And a few more moments later, I was ashamed of myself.  I still am.  That was Jesus, and I offered him nothing.

I can say that on other occasions I’ve done much better than that, with cash, credit card, or a listening ear.

If God hears the cry of the oppressed; if “the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds” (35:17)—should our country not be ashamed of what our government is doing to the oppressed and the lowly at this time?  Afghans whose lives are in danger because they stood with us during war are denied the asylum they were promised when the Taliban returned to power.  Haitians fleeing criminal gangs are denied refuge.  Venezuelans fleeing a dictatorial government are denied refuge.  People of many nationalities fleeing religious persecution, gang violence, and dictators are denied entry, or they’re here, rounded up and shipped back to persecution, violence, and oppression.  A page 1 story in yesterday’s NYT reported on the devastation of hunger and illness in Somalia after U.S. food and medical assistance was cut off.  That story is replicated in dozens of countries, and it concerns access to education as well.

(By Jon Tyson via Unsplash)

This is what Pope Leo said in a speech 3 days ago:  “The abuse of vulnerable migrants is not the legitimate exercise of national sovereignty, but rather it represents a serious crime being committed or tolerated by the government.  ‘Ever more inhuman measures are being adopted—even celebrated politically—that treat these “undesirables” as if they were garbage and not human beings.’  ‘States have the right and the duty to protect their borders, but this should be balanced by the moral obligation to provide refuge.’  For Christians, God is love, and he ‘creates us and calls us to live as brothers and sisters.’”[1]

(Vatican Media)

If “the Most High judges justly and affirms [what is] right,” as Sirach states (35:18), then I have to be kinder to beggars, and all of us have to be more receptive to migrants, refugees, and the needs of people who are far worse off economically and socially than we are.

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[1] A mix of paraphrases and direct quotes from an address to the 5th World Meeting of Popular Movements at the Vatican, as reported by CNS, 10/24/25.

I considered inserting here another paragraph but decided it’d be too much for a preached homily; not, however, for readers:  “Thomas Jefferson wrote in the 1780s:  ‘I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.’  He was speaking about slavery, the principal moral question of the United States until the Civil War.  We ought to tremble now about God’s justice in view of how we kill unborn human beings and how we treat foreigners.”