Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, C, Vigil

September 3, 2022

 

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/9.3.22_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a joy for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday, when he will speak to us, with challenging or perhaps even scary words, about what being his disciple involves, what Christian faith really means and requires. He uses the images of how a contractor building a tower must make sure he has enough bricks to complete the work, and of a king going into battle ensuring he has enough troops to defeat his adversary to drive home the point. Jesus wants us to know the resources and commitment we will need to build a life of true faith and the type of strategy we will need to be successful in fighting the good fight, finishing the race and keeping the faith. Jesus challenges us this way not to scare us away, but to give us proper expectations so that we will open ourselves to receive the help he’ll give to complete the building project of Christian life and win the battle against the flesh, the world and the evil one.

* As we examine what Jesus tells us, I’d like to contextualize it within the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta, without doubt one of the greats and most compelling saints of modern times, the twenty-fifth anniversary of whose death, and birth into eternal life, the Church will celebrate this Monday. The saints are the living commentaries on the Gospel. Mother Teresa shows us how Jesus’ words — although perhaps initially scary because they are addressed to freeing us from the idols that we can occasionally make of our families, pleasures, health, possessions, and even life — are actually the path of happiness, holiness and heaven. Jesus out of love exposes the various excuses we can give to acting on the call he gives us by our baptism to be, like Mother Teresa, holy as God is holy, and to love others as he has loved us first. He describes for us that our Christian faith is meant to be the most defining reality in our life, more powerful than family, material goods, comfort, safety and even our life. Let’s ask Mother Teresa’s intercession as we seek to follow what Jesus tells us this Sunday, with as much faith, hope and love, with as much courage and commitment, with as much joy and fruit, as she did.

* Jesus gives us three conditions to being his faithful follower. The first is to love God above every reality. He says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” In other words, Jesus must be our greatest love. The word “hate” in Hebrew does not mean “detest” but to “put in second place.” Jesus, after all, calls us to honor our parents, not hate their guts. If he calls us to love even our enemies then we are certainly called to love our siblings. The point of Jesus’ expression is that we must love him more than we love ourselves or our loved ones. Jesus cannot just be a part of our life but the center. He clearly was for Mother Teresa, who was willing to leave her home in Albania and go first to Ireland, then to India and then to the ends of the earth because she knew that Jesus was calling her to satiate his infinite thirst for souls. Each of us in a similar way must put Jesus first — and this, frankly, will help us to love our loved ones more, not less, and to seek their ultimate good and happiness through a ...