From Fisherman to Rock

 

Deacon Dave · From Fisherman to Rock

Homily for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, August 23, 2026. Readings: Isaiah 22:19-23; Gospel of St. Matthew 16:13-20. Theme: From Fisherman to Rock 

 If someone was to ask you, “What doctrine makes Catholics distinctive from other Christians?” How would you reply? Chances are that you might respond with something like, "We believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist." Or maybe, "We honor the Blessed Mother and the saints." And while those are good answers, they are not the right ones because the Eastern Orthodox Churches share our same faith in the Eucharist and forms of devotion to Mary and the saints are practiced among some Protestant denominations. So, what is it then that clearly sets us apart from other Christians? 

 It’s the office and ministry of our Holy Father, the pope, that makes us uniquely and distinctly Catholic! And today’s Gospel is the one that most clearly reveals that Christ personally and intentionally established His Church as a community with a hierarchy of leadership. From among His countless followers Jesus chose 12 men to be His Apostles, that is, those to whom He gave specialized training along with the authority to preach and teach in His Name. Then, from among those 12 He appointed one to be the leader of them all. 

 I’ve often wondered if Jesus asked his Apostles the question, “Who do you say that I am?” precisely to find out by their replies which one his Father had chosen to become this first leader. And it was Simon the fisherman who gave the correct reply saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” In response, Jesus said to him in effect, “Now let me tell you who you are Simon…I am renaming you Peter, which means “the Rock” and on the solid spiritual foundation of your leadership I will build my Church.” From that moment on the Scriptures often refer to Simon by his new name and whenever the list of apostles is given in the Gospels, he always comes first. This tells us that the early Church saw quite clearly that Jesus and Peter had now entered into a new and unique partnership within the community of disciples. 

 Jesus then went on to say that the gates of the netherworld would not prevail against this Church guided by the leadership of Peter. In biblical language “gates of the netherworld” meant destruction and death. Jesus was saying that His community would never pass away from history. Kingdoms, governments, dynasties and empires have all risen and fallen over the centuries, but the Catholic Church has persisted despite the odds because of God’s protection. Why so? Because the Church is necessary for salvation because it’s the Mystical Body of the Risen Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue His mission throughout time. Through preaching, teaching, celebrating the Sacraments and serving the needs of the poor the Church persists on planet Earth through thick and thin because humanity desperately needs Christ! 

 At the end of today’s Gospel Jesus declared to Peter, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom…” Christ was directly quoting the prophet Isaiah which we heard in our First Reading about Eliakim, who was given the Jewish office of steward. In ancient Israel the steward was second in command and often acted in place of the king. He was officially given the keys to the kingdom as a sign of this authority to make laws and enforce policy. And so, we can see that Jesus was clearly appointing Peter as His steward. This is why the pope is called the Vicar (that is, Representative) of Christ. And as such, he is tasked by the Risen Lord to carry out this duty in three ways. 

 First, the pope enlightens us about the teachings of Christ. In our secularized world there are so many loud competing voices clamoring for our allegiance and drowning out the truth. So we need to be able to hear the voice of Christ clearly in the midst of all the noise. Guided by the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised, the pope applies the teaching of the Gospel to the various issues and needs of the times in which we live. In this way we Christians can walk by the light of Christ as faithful disciples despite the darkness and confusion that often engulfs the world. 

 Second, the pope strives to help us root our lives in Christ. By his encouraging words and hopefully equally encouraging example, the Holy Father calls us to grow deeper in our relationship with Jesus through prayer, the Sacraments, pondering the Gospels and serving the poor, the sick and the suffering. He asks us to allow our faith in Christ to influence every aspect of our lives - personal, social, sexual, economic and political - so that by the grace of the Holy Spirit we can be continually transformed from the inside out. It’s only through such a conversion of individual hearts that society itself as a whole can be collectively renewed in Christ, making the world a better place. 

 Thirdly, the spiritual fatherhood of the pope is meant to unite us. The early Roman Christians started calling Peter’s successors “the pope” which comes from the Latin word “papa” and this gave rise to his title of “Holy Father”. The figure of the pope reminds us that we are one spiritual family and not isolated individuals, not competitive parishes, not autonomous dioceses. We are but one worldwide Church, gathered around one Lord, professing one Faith, and united under one earthly shepherd. We always pray for the pope and for our unity with him at every Mass because it’s the one Eucharist we all share that is the real supernatural source and bond of our Church unity. 

 You know, I’ve always been an avid student of Church history and I’ve read a lot about the vast array of sinners as well as saints who have been elected pope. And the more one reads the more one sees clearly that the gates of the Church have indeed been shut tight against the destructive forces of the netherworld. And also, the more I read the more convinced I become that the Church was truly founded upon a solid supernatural foundation on that day 2,000 years ago when Simon the Fisherman became Peter the Rock.

Expanding Our Hearts and Our Minds

 

Deacon Dave · Expanding Our Hearts and Our Minds

Homily for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, August 16, 2026. Readings: Isaiah 56:1-7; Romans 11:13-32; Gospel of St. Matthew 15: 21-28. Theme: Expanding Our Hearts and Our Minds 

 In the Scriptures today we hear God calling us to a change of heart and mind in our human tendency to judge those whom we deem to “unfit” or “unworthy” to be in a relationship with Him. In the first reading God calls Israel, through His prophet Isaiah, to expand their hearts and minds in order to welcome outsiders into their worship. You see, they had developed the exclusive idea that only the Chosen People were pleasing to God and therefore only their worship was acceptable to the Lord. But God informs them that their most sacred place of worship, the holy Jerusalem Temple, was intended to be a “house of prayer for all peoples.” Unfortunately, this message of inclusivity was not well received nor obeyed! 

 In our second reading, St. Paul takes up the same theme of expanding our hearts and minds. In his day the Church in Rome was in the midst of a power struggle of sorts, an ongoing in-house argument between Jewish and Gentile converts to Christianity. He reminded the Jewish Christians to stop looking down on their Gentile brethren and remember that once upon a time they were considered “nobodies” among the nations of the world. And that it was only by God's free and generous grace were they themselves were able to become “somebodies” as His Chosen People. And in turn he told Gentile Christians to stop denigrating the Jewish members of the Church and realize that they owed their faith in Christ to them for it was through Israel that the Messiah came into the world.. So, St. Paul is basically telling both factions to get off their high horse and to remember , as we say, “who you are and where you came from”. 

 This same dynamic of expanding hearts and minds is the theme of our Gospel reading. Jesus and his disciples are being pestered by a Gentile woman who is quite insistent on being heard! The disciples’ are annoyed by her attitude and beg Jesus to get her off their backs! As they see it, she is both pagan and female and thus has no business whatsoever speaking publicly and directly to a man, let alone a devout rabbi, such as Jesus. However, the woman ignores their rebukes and persists in her plea to Jesus. Like any devoted mother she would not take “no” for an answer when it came to her sick child. 

 Our Lord responds by telling her that He was sent first of all as Messiah to the Jews saying, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Gentiles were sometimes rudely referred to as “dogs” in ancient Jewish culture and it may seem shocking to us to hear Jesus taking up that same kind of language. However, in reality He was testing the depth and sincerity of her faith as we will see. She humbly responded to His words by admitting that while the Israelites were indeed children of God, this didn't mean that Gentiles were left out of the picture! And the way she did this was quite interesting and bold! 

 You see, there are two words for "dogs" in the Greek language of the Bible and the woman’s clever play on words is missed in most of our English translations. The word that Jesus used was "kunon" which meant a wild dog. But the lady used a related word "kunarion" which means a tame dog or a puppy. So in her quick wit, she responded by saying that not all dogs are feral and that some are beloved house pets who are well-cared for and fed by their owners! I think we can almost hear a chuckle in Jesus' response as perhaps he thought to Himself, "Good one! Great come back!" And so, the woman’s daughter was healed because of her faith in Jesus as Messiah of all people. She recognized correctly that if He so wished, He could open the door for Gentiles to share in the Lord’s table alongside the Jews. 

 This Gospel is showing us that the Heart of Jesus excludes no one from His mercy and kind love. That what counts is faith in Him and not who you are or where you come from. His mission expanded to grant her request and heal her daughter. This expansion of heart and mind is at the very core of the Gospel message, of what it means for us to live and think and act as Christians. We are to accept others because God accepts both us and them. We are to forgive others because God forgives both us and them. And we are to love others because God loves both us and them. Does this describe our outlook towards others, especially those we might think of as beyond the reach of God? It's a tall order but Jesus never asks the impossible of us. He knows it’s a struggle for us to love as He loves and that we simply cannot do it on our own. And so He gives us supernatural power by coming to dwell within us through Holy Communion. 

 The Risen Lord working from within us can expand our own hearts if we allow it by giving Him permission to do so. He can heal us of the spiritual cancer of exclusivity and superiority and enable us to see the reflective image of God even in those whom we do not naturally like. Through consistent and mindful reception of the Eucharist He can transform us and re-make us from the inside out so that we accept those whom God accepts, so that we forgive those whom God forgives, and so that we love those whom God loves. And that, my friends, is everyone.

In Silence & In Storms

 

Deacon Dave · In Silence & In Storms

Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 9, 2026. Readings: 1 Kings 19:9-13, Gospel of St. Matthew 14:22-33. Theme: In Silence & In Storms 

 Have no fear…Do not be afraid! Did you know that those words form the most common message in the entire Bible? The God who created us, the God who became one of us, knows that fear, born out of a sense of powerlessness over things we simply cannot control, lies in the deepest recesses of our hearts. In today’s readings God reminds us that in those times when we experience our powerlessness, we can reach out to Him for encouragement and strength. 

 In our first reading we hear about the great prophet Elijah, who lived about 800 years before Christ, hiding out in a cave. But it leaves out what happened to him to bring him to this place of refuge. You see, he had been on a crusade of preaching against the idolatrous deeds of the Israelite King Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel. They were worshiping false idols and leading the people away from the One True God of Israel. Elijah spoke out vehemently against this apostasy and as a result got his name put on the royal death list. And so in his powerlessness he fled into the wilderness where he hid in a cave and asked the Lord to take his life before Jezebel’s men could do so. In response, God made Himself known to Elijah in the quiet stillness of a gentle calming voice. Elijah immediately humbled himself before the Divine Presence by hiding his face in his cloak. 

 This story became a powerful lesson in Christian spirituality about prayer and meditation as the foundation of our relationship with God. It emphasizes that God comes to us in the quietness of silence more so than in the hectic busy-ness of the daily grind. And so we are encouraged to follow Elijah's example and go to a place in the quiet that can be our refuge in the midst of a busy day. This can be any place that allows us to be undistracted by all of our devices and duties, even if just for a short time, while we pray. Elijah’s story teaches us that without this time alone with the Lord in solitude we will more easily give in to our sense of powerlessness which then leads to a loss of serenity as we become focused on our fears.              

Our Gospel reading today shows us that God also comes to us amidst the ups and downs of daily life. The storm at sea can symbolize how we are so easily tossed about by various disturbances and situations that are beyond our control. Such experiences make us feel the depth of our powerlessness and so fears naturally arise. But this Gospel is telling us that at such times we need to muster up courage and realize that though we may be powerless we are not helpless. We can depend on the presence of Christ to be our anchor of hope and He is always only a whisper and a prayer away. 

 Like those disciples in the boat, we may have to look hard to see Him in the midst of our fears but He is, indeed, there. And once we catch sight of Him we must call out to Him with the faith of Peter. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus he was fine, but as soon as he focused on the seas around him, he began to sink into its waves and Peter's fear turned into panic. This story is teaching us to keep our focus on Jesus, not on our worries or troubles around us, and then take that first step out of the boat of fear in an act of trust. 

 This is a good image for us to keep in mind as we approach the Lord to receive Him in Holy Communion. When we are standing in line making our way towards the altar, we carry within our minds all the issues, all the turmoils and all the fears of our day. But let’s bring these concerns to Jesus and reach out our hands in faith to Him as we receive the Eucharist. And then let’s say to Him with confidence, “Lord, save me!” Jesus will indeed pull us safely to His side as He did for Peter. The winds of fear swirling around us will die down and the waves of worry will stop crashing around us because we know the Lord is with us, grasping us by the hand.

All Will Be Well

 

Deacon Dave · All Will Be Well

Homily for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 26, 2026. Romans 8:28-30. Theme: All Will Be Well 

 In praying with the Scriptures to prepare for my homily today, I asked the Holy Spirit to draw me to what he might want me to see and share. And as a result, my attention kept being drawn to the second reading. Even though it’s very short, it’s quite full of theological language that can make its message of hope and encouragement easy to miss. So let’s look at it once again, bit by bit, and delve into what God might be saying to us. 

 St. Paul begins by saying, “We know that all things work for the good of those who love God.” So, who are “those who love God”? Well, Jesus told us at the Last Supper, that those who love God are the ones who cherish and obey his word. And what does St. Paul mean when he states that “all things work out for the good”? Well, he means that everything - no matter what it is, even if it’s something terrible- can and will be used by God for our ultimate well-being even if we can’t see it or understand how it will all work out, because God has a plan and a purpose for our lives and nothing is going to derail it. It can be kind of like being on a roadtrip with a GPS to guide us that has Heaven set our destination. As we make our way there we can turn a deaf ear to the voice guiding us and end up taking wrong turns or encountering unexpected obstacles. But just like a GPS, God can reroute us and put us back on the right path. So, even if we have a few zigzags on the way and need to make a u-turn or two, we will surely reach our destination as long as we do our best to listen to God’s word and obey it. 

 In the next part of the second reading, St. Paul goes on to say, “For those God foreknew he also predestined…And those he predestined he also called…“ Now, I find these words to be utterly amazing because they say that God has had plans for each one of us from way before we were even conceived and born! From all eternity, eons before any of us existed, God foresaw each one of us clearly and perfectly and completely. He beheld both the good and the bad, both the beautiful and the ugly about us. But here’s the best part: he totally fell in love with what he foresaw! Right then and there, God predestined you and me, each one of us, to one day live on planet Earth. And not only that. but he furthermore called each one of us into existence at a particular time in history and a particular place on the globe that would be most conducive for each one of us to achieve salvation. We aren’t just randomly put here! Isn’t that awesome? 

 And what this means is also amazing and awesome! It means that none of us are a mistake! None of us are an accident no matter what the particular circumstances of our conception and birth might have been. None of us are just one face lost in a sea of a billion faces to God, because he knows and loves each one of us, individually and personally and passionately. Now with this kind of love in mind, how can we doubt that God will not make all things work out for our ultimate good? With this kind of love in mind, how can any one of us ever question if we are lovable or worthwhile? God brought us into existence precisely so that we could live both a reasonably happy life in this world and then a-forever-happy-one in the next! 

 You see, it’s not enough to God that we simply exist on planet Earth. He wants to do even more good for us. And so, he justifies us, which means that by grace through faith we are put into a right and intimate relationship with him. And then he goes even further and promises to one day glorify us, which means bestowing upon us the gift of eternal life in Heaven. And this is what St Paul meant when he said that, “those God called he also justified and those he justified he also glorified.” Now if God has gone to all the trouble, so to speak, of doing these things for us, why should we ever doubt the plans of his wisdom, the depth of his goodness and the sureness of his love? 

 Of course, St. Paul isn’t saying that only good things will happen to those who love God. If he was, our lived experience would prove him dead wrong! Right now, there are probably some of us living through some very difficult situations that make no sense. A loved one may be struggling with addiction. A relationship may be under stress and in danger of breaking apart. Someone may have lost a job, or received a frightening diagnosis, or be grieving because of a death. And in those kinds of moments, this message of Romans 8:28 about all things working for the good can sound impossible to believe. I’m sure St. Paul experienced this temptation as well for he wasn't writing these words from the comfort of an easy life. In his years of missionary work for Christ, he had been beaten, imprisoned, stoned, shipwrecked, and rejected by both family and synagogue. He knew terrible suffering firsthand and so he wasn't offering us cheap optimism or talking about the power of positive thinking. He is writing about a strong living faith in a God of wisdom, a God of goodness and a God of love, who had carried him - and will carry each one of us - through every hardship. 

 So, when things get difficult and we wonder why we are undergoing a personal struggle, the best thing for us to do is to just let go and surrender ourselves with confidence into the hands and heart of God. We need to trust in the Creator who called us into existence simply because he foresaw us and loved what he saw. We need to trust in the Lord who justified us in the waters of Baptism which put us on the trajectory to be glorified in Heaven. And we need to trust that the Savior, who transforms our simple gifts of bread and wine into His very own Sacred Body and Life-giving Blood at Mass, can and will ultimately transform our sorrowful crosses into resurrection joy. For when all is said and done, the promise of Romans 8:28 is not that everything we experience will be good, but that everything we experience will work out in the end for our good and that “all will be well.”

Finding By Losing

 

Deacon Dave · Finding By Losing

Homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 28, 2026. Gospel of St. Matthew 10:37-42. Theme: Finding By Losing 

 At first hearing, the opening lines of today’s Gospel sound harsh. As a matter of fact because of this they have come to be called the “hard sayings of Jesus”. But what they are telling us is that our relationship with Christ and commitment to His Gospel teachings must be the primary focus of our lives. These hard sayings bring us into daily confrontation with ourselves, because they call us to follow Jesus along His way of self-forgetting love which runs contrary to our natural inclinations. 

 The most mysterious of these sayings is called “the great paradox of finding by losing.” Jesus proclaimed it when He said, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." This sounds like a riddle to us, but what He was saying was that the key to unlocking the real meaning and purpose of our lives is found in His Great Commandment of love in which we are taught that when it comes to the priorities of life, God comes first, others second and ourselves last. Christian spirituality calls this “ the way of forgetting self” and what it teaches us is that the more tightly we cling to ourselves, to our self-focused ambitions, the more the real meaning and purpose of life will slip right through our fingers. 

 You know, this reminds me of a conversation I had with a man who from our culture's point of view had everything going for him. He had spent the best years of his life climbing the ladder of success. He worked hard, earned a great salary, had a beautiful spacious home, and gained the admiration of his peers. As he shared his story I noticed that there was not even one mention or thought of God or neighbor in his words. So I was saddened but not surprised when he ended his story by saying, "I have everything I thought I ever wanted and more, so why do I still feel so empty deep inside?" You see, in expending all energy to find the social status he yearned for, he had in the process lost his life. And his experience is not unique. Many people give everything they’ve got to seek happiness according to our culture’s definition of success only to discover later in life that they had traveled down a dead-end street. True joy, real peace and authentic self-fulfillment can only be found in the practice of Christian love which is what the hard sayings of Jesus are really all about. 

 We American Catholics have an amazing example of this paradox of finding by losing in one of our very own saints, Katherine Drexel. She was heiress to the immense Drexel banking and business fortune based in Philadelphia and New York. She was also a devout Catholic with a heart of mercy and a thirst for justice for the poor and forgotten. When Katherine was 26 years old her widower-father died leaving her a $250 million inheritance trust fund. She was young and had a very promising life opening up before her. Now stop for a moment and think… what would you do with your life if you were 26 and suddenly had $250 million at your disposal?” 

 Well, Katherine used it to start a religious order of Sisters dedicated to serving the spiritual and material needs of Black and Native Americans. Every last penny of her inheritance went to building parishes, hospitals and schools, including the now world famous Drexel University of Louisiana, which she funded so that the segregated minorities could have equal access to higher education. In Katherine's long life (she died in 1955 at the age of 96) we can see the three hard sayings of Jesus lived out in stark flesh and bone reality. First, she cherished her relationship with Christ above all others. Second, she didn’t run away from the cross but lived constantly in its shadow because she was a voice for racial harmony long before the civil rights movement. And thirdly, she found the real purpose of her life by losing her fortune to something greater than herself. 

 The more Katherine gave away of her inheritance, the richer she became in heavenly treasure. The more she surrendered herself to God, the freer she became to live a truly meaningful life. The more she belonged to Jesus Christ, the more she was filled with joy in becoming the woman she was created to be. Katherine knew full well that she didn't have it within her to live the hard sayings of Jesus and that she could only do so through the power of Christ living in her! And so, she made the Eucharist the center of her daily life As a matter of fact, she named her religious community the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament precisely so that they would never forget where their source of love was to be found and where they would get the spiritual fuel they needed to keep on loving as Jesus loves. That’s an important lesson for us as well! 

 But here’s the thing we need to keep in mind. The saints are not some kind of special class of super-human beings. They were just like us in every way. They had the same hopes, dreams, and desires for a good and happy life as we do. They also had our same struggles, fears, character defects, temptations and sins. But they never turned back from the path of “finding by losing”. When they failed they just got right back up, dusted themselves off, and kept on trying as best they could to love as Jesus loves. So we can’t simply admire them from a safe distance and excuse ourselves from following their example by saying, “Oh well, of course they could do it. After all, they were saints.” 

 Now I'm pretty sure that most of us here don’t have a multimillion dollar trust fund to give away like Katherine did. But that's not the point. That was just an extraordinary example in one person’s life. But any one of us here can become just like her in the way of Jesus, the way of finding by losing, if we choose to give Christ first place in our lives, if we choose to carry whatever cross may come our way because of our fidelity to the Gospel, and if we choose to do our best to love as Jesus loves. By living in this way we’ll discover the happiness that we’re all searching for as we live out our lives here on planet Earth. We’ll discover our purpose for which we were each created, which is to know, love and serve God in this world so as to be happy with Him forever in the next.

Bonding with Christ Through Two-Way Prayer

 

Deacon Dave · Bonding with Christ Through Two-Way Prayer

Homily for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 21, 2026. Gospel of St. Matthew 10:26-33. Theme: Bonding With Christ Through Two-Prayer 

 In today's Gospel we heard some sayings of Jesus that are pretty easy to understand at face value. Well, maybe the first one about shouting from the housetops needs a little bit of explaining? Back in those days news was spread by literally shouting it from housetop to housetop for all in a village to hear. So, Jesus is saying that His Message is not to be kept secret because it is Good News for everyone. And so He’s telling the disciples to go out and make some noise about the Gospel! Traditionally, we call this spreading of the Gospel “evangelization” (from the Greek word for Gospel which is evangelion) but Pope Francis made it more personal by calling it “missionary discipleship”. With this in mind, we can paraphrase this “housetops message" of Jesus as saying, “Go out as my missionary disciples and spread the good news that I can give anyone a brand new start on life from the inside out!” 

 To be a missionary disciple is a big responsibility given to us by the Lord. It means that he is willing to actually trust us. A missionary simply means “one who officially is sent out” and it doesn’t require that we go to a foreign land, which most of us typically associate with that word. The next word, disciple, means “student” , “learner”, “follower”. Being an attentive disciple is necessary because we cannot give what we do not ourselves possess. So, if we hope to spread knowledge of Jesus and Christianity among others then we have to learn it and live it ourselves! To do so we become lifelong students in the School of Jesus where we learn from His Word and train ourselves to follow His example of loving God and neighbor more than oneself. In this way we become more credible and effective missionary disciples among those with whom we live, work and socialize. The spaces and places of our daily routine become the “missionary field” in which we work. Being a missionary disciple thus gives added meaning and purpose to our lives. 

 But only a truly deep personal bond with Jesus will give us what it takes to be faithful missionary disciples, especially when we face opposition or ridicule. And Jesus warns us about this challenge in today’s Gospel as well. So, it seems to me that if we discern that our relationship with Him isn't at that level of commitment that it should be, then we need to get it there. To do this we only need to look and learn from how we build any significant relationship in our lives. We get to know someone deeply by spending quality time with them, by opening ourselves up to them honestly from the heart. We speak and we listen. Christianity calls this dynamic process of building an intimate relationship with God “prayer”. 

 However, for most of us the word “prayer” doesn’t conjure up an image of friends spending time together. Instead it usually makes us think of speaking, talking, telling, and asking. Too often when we pray we engage in what can be called “One-Way Prayer” which means going on and on with God about this thing or that event in my life. It’s me doing all the talking. But the kind of prayer that begins to form a deep bond with Christ can be called “Two-Way Prayer”. This implies that along with speaking we also listen and allow time for God to have His say. In other words, prayer becomes a person-to-person conversation and not just a monologue.  And so we need to approach prayer in the same way that we would arrange a get-together with any friend. 

First, we need to make the time for it, perhaps even schedule it into our day. We need to arrange a meeting place, which can be anywhere that will allow us to engage in our prayer-conversation with God uninterrupted. We need to do our best to leave distractions behind so as to focus on Who we are with. And it’s important that this prayerful exchange takes place in an atmosphere of silence because the voice of Christ is most clearly heard in the quiet depth of our hearts and in the stillness of our minds. We begin our prayer-time by remembering that we are in the Presence of God who dwells within us by grace through faith. Then in our own words we express our love, adoration and gratitude to God. We ask forgiveness for our failings and invoke the Holy Spirit to help us to pray, for that is His special task for us believers. Then we take up the Bible or some other solid spiritual book and choose a passage. We go over it slowly, thoughtfully. We ponder what the Word might be saying to me, what it might mean for me, right here and right now in my life as it is today. We speak to the Lord and share our thoughts about what comes to mind. We ask Him for insight and remain interiorly quiet with the ears of our hearts open so as to hear whatever God might want to say to us. 

 And that raises an important question: how does God speak to us? It’s kind of difficult to explain but experience shows that He typically communicates through thoughts, words or images that come to mind during prayer and which impress themselves upon us in a distinct way. The more a person grows in the practice of prayer the more they will learn to recognize God’s response. It brings with it a deep sense of inner peace and spiritual joy, even when the message challenges us to do something demanding or difficult. The saints are unanimous in saying that we need to have this kind of a deep prayer-life in order to form a tight bond with God. It will bring us to a spiritual experience of Christ that rests upon the personal conviction that He is not simply a figure in the Bible or a holy man of history but rather. Rather, we will come to see more fully and clearly that He is truly risen and alive and very much interested in my life right here and right now. Such prayer experiences will deepen our bond with Jesus and strengthen us to acknowledge Him publicly before others no matter what might come our way.

Being Called and Chosen

 

Deacon Dave · Being Called & Chosen

Homily for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 14, 2026. Gospel of St.Matthew 9:36-10:8. Theme: Being Called and Chosen 

 Have you ever wondered why out of the billions of people who inhabit planet Earth, you and I have been freely gifted with the Christian Faith? How is it that we are among the mere 30% of the world’s population that has received this grace? It’s certainly not as if any one of us has done something spectacular to grab God’s attention. And it’s not like we stand head and shoulders above the rest of humanity as more worthy or less sinful. It’s a great mystery to be called by God, to be chosen, to become part of a people uniquely His own. Yet this is what today’s readings are all about. 

 God calls and chooses whomever He wishes and He seems to have a special delight for those who by worldly standards are considered to be rather ordinary and unimportant. The Twelve Apostles who were all just ordinary guys with ordinary families working in various ordinary occupations. But then Jesus called and chose them, sending them out as missionary disciples of the Kingdom of God and made them the foundation of the Church. 

 This mystery of God’s manner of calling and choosing is exemplified for me in a powerful experience from my childhood that is still quite vivid and meaningful. If you were like me, growing up in a small town, then you might recall how the neighborhood kids (and there were tons of us back then) would often gather in a local field for a game of ball. The older guys, typically the jocks of the neighborhood, were of course always the captains. The rest of us wannabes lined up for the ritual of choosing sides where your talents and abilities (or lack thereof) were publicly acknowledged. Now, I could hit the ball pretty well but I just couldn’t run to save my life. While my typical at bat could send the ball far into the outfield, I’d be lucky to pull a single out of what most guys could turn into a double. And so, I dreaded those line-ups before my peers for I knew well where I stood in the neighborhood rankings. 

 But there was this one guy named Charles, who even at our young age stood head and shoulders above the rest of us. No one dared to question his choices or doubt his selections. But whenever I saw Charles take up a captain’s spot my fear of humiliation diminished and I would get a kinda smile on my face. Because you see, I knew that whenever Charles was captain I was safe from total and utter embarrassment before my peers. No, he wouldn’t pick me in the first couple rounds because he was after all a jock and wanted to win! But I also knew that with Charles I wouldn’t be left standing there as the last choice of the day. Why did he pick me so often? And why did he potentially risk the game by choosing me? Since I really had no extraordinary talent that would merit my selection the only answer I could come up with was that he was just that kind of guy. Within his towering athletic frame was a tender heart as big as his muscles. His action was and remains a mystery to me. But it also has become a reflection of Christ who also had a big tender heart and who also chose those who didn’t seem to have a lot to offer for the making of a “winning team”. 

 It seems that like Charles, Jesus has a “soft spot” for the underdog. I think this is how the Twelve Apostles must have felt when Jesus selected them to become his daily companions and share in his ministry as we hear in today's Gospel. They were a real mixed group of everyday guys who must have been amazed that the Messiah had called and chosen them! There was nothing special or outstanding about any one of them. Simon-Peter, was a shrewd impetuous fisherman; the brothers James and John were so emotionally explosive that Jesus nicknamed them the “sons of thunder”; Simon the Zealot was a vengeful guerilla freedom-fighter. We surely can’t forget Matthew the greedy turncoat tax-collector. And of course there was the infamous traitor, Judas Iscariot. But as unlikely as any of them were to become companions of Christ and sharers in his ministry, they were each called and chosen on no merit of their own. And even more amazingly, Jesus shared some of His divine power with these ragtag men! They were sent out by Christ on a mission in which they had spiritual authority to drive demons out of the possessed and gifted with the supernatural ability to cure the sick and heal the lame! 

 I have grown and changed in so many ways since those days of neighborhood games, but I’ve never outgrown the memory of Charles. I have never forgotten his mysterious graciousness in calling and choosing. And for me this experience from childhood throws some light on the mystery of Christ’s calling and choosing. Just as Charles’ kindness helped to boost me up and feel a bit less unworthy, so being called and chosen by God tells us that the Lord sees more about us than we can see or imagine about ourselves. So we no longer have to wonder if we are lovable or fixable. We no longer need to doubt as to if we have some value and mission in this world. God’s gracious and mysterious selection of each one of us has proven our worth! So let’s thank God for calling us and let’s praise him for counting us among the Chosen!