Homily for 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
11th Sunday of Ordinary Time

June 14, 2026
Collect
Ex 19: 2-6
Ps 100: 1-3, 5
Rom 5: 6-11
Matt 9: 36—10: 8
Villa Maria, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

Undoubtedly, you’re aware that our country is gearing up to celebrate the semiquincentennial of our Declaration of Independence.  That fancy word means “half of 500 years.”  Our recent history as a nation has laid plenty of emphasis on independence, on personal freedom, to do, say, and be whoever we want whenever we want wherever we want.  Not a few people have lamented that as destructive of social and political cohesion, of human solidarity; rather, as a tendency to factionalize, even atomize, who we are.

Today’s liturgy highlights dependence.  In the collect, we addressed God as the “strength of those who hope in you” and admitted “without you mortal frailty can do nothing.”  We prayed for “the help of your grace always” in order that we might follow “your commands” and thus “please you” in mind and action.

In other words, we acknowledge that God’s in charge, and we depend upon him to overcome our weakness of mind and heart, our sinful inclinations and misdeeds.  We may be independent from King George III and Great Britain, but we’re certainly not independent of God’s kingdom.  The Declaration of Independence itself acknowledges “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and that our “unalienable Rights” come from our Creator and not from ourselves or our government, and that our welfare relies “on the Protection of divine Providence.”

That, of course, is a political manifesto.  Our Scriptures make a moral and religious statement.  The Lord tells Moses at Mt. Sinai that if the Israelites “hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people,” and they will enjoy a royal, priestly, holy status in his presence.  Israel’s well-being depends on their closeness to God and obedience to his commands.

Writing to the Christians at Rome, St. Paul reminds them that we are helpless (5:6) sinners who depend upon God’s grace to “be saved thru Christ from the wrath” of God’s judgment (5:8-9).  Christ’s death is our life, “thru whom we have now received reconciliation” (5:11).  Forgiveness and eternal life are gifts from God, freely offered to us.  We depend on his mercy, on the love he has proved to us in Christ (5:8).  Without him, “mortal frailty can do nothing” (Collect).  Independence from his love would be our destruction.  Serving the Lord is cause for gladness and makes our hearts joyful (Ps 100:2).

The gospel observed that “Jesus’ heart was moved with pity” for the crowds who flocked to him, “troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt 9:36).  We’re helpless and lost, sick and confused, until the Good Shepherd takes us in charge.  When he let him lead and direct us, then we find healing and security—not in a political sense but in a moral and spiritual sense, in the sense suggested by St. Augustine’s most famous line:  “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” (Confessions 1, 1)

The Psalmist assures us, “The Lord is good; his kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations” (Ps 100:5).  You can depend on it.