14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily (2025)
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Isaiah 66:10-14c
Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 607 16, 20 (1)
Galatians 6:14-18
Luke 10:1-12, 17-20
July 6, 2025
The Lord says, “Rejoice, with Jerusalem, and be glad.” Why? What reason do they have to rejoice? They had been defeated by their enemies. Many of them were taken away in exile. Why should they rejoice?
Because God has set them free and returned those in exile to their home in Israel!
We too have been celebrating freedom. Our Fourth of July holiday is a celebration of our independence as a nation and our freedom as a people.
We are free, but, if we choose to follow our Lord, we are not alone.
The Lord said to Isarel regarding Jerusalem, “Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort.” Jerusalem is a symbol of all that the Lord offers us. He offers us what we need and this gives us comfort, this gives us hope.
The first colonists of our land came looking for freedom. They came looking for hope and they found it. Our nation was founded as a place of hope for immigrants. With this hope, we have a responsibility to offer hope to new immigrants.
The Lord speaks of “prosperity” and “the wealth of the nations.” What defines prosperity and wealth for you?
Is it material wealth? Prestige? Power?
In eternity, will material wealth, prestige, and/or power mean anything? If we have these, do we have anything of eternal value?
Paul writes, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our greatest treasure, our greatest wealth is the love revealed to us in Jesus’ death on the Cross for us. Materials things cannot bring us eternal salvation. Only the love of Jesus on the Cross can bring us eternal salvation.
In Jesus’ love for us, we find our greatest comfort and our greatest hope. It is from his mighty deeds of love, that we “shout joyfully” and “sing praise to the glory of his name.”
We are to share the good news of what Jesus does for us.
This is not the work of a few. It’s not the work of just priests, religious, and deacons. It is the work of all of us. Jesus sends us all out “ahead of him” to “prepare the way of the Lord.”
The harvest, those called to eternal salvation, “is abundant, but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
He has sent out laborers. He has sent you. Are you willing to respond to Jesus’ love for you by serving him.
It is not easy. Jesus says, “I am sending you like lambs among wolves.” Are you willing to, like Paul, “bear the marks of Jesus” on your body?
Are you willing to suffer for the glory of God?
Many people today say we must end all suffering. We should do our part to help end suffering from things like hunger and thirst.
Yet, there is suffering that is natural and, united with the suffering of Jesus, leads us to salvation. One form in which we experience suffering that points to eternal life is the suffering that often comes as death approaches.
Those who think suffering is an evil to be eliminated succeeded in having our New York State legislature pass a bill to legalize assisted suicide. We are waiting for the governor’s action now as we pray for her to veto it (It’s not too late to contact the governor – https://www.nyscatholic.org/action-center).
It is not that we want people to suffer in agony and pain. Palliative Care has become a specialty of its own to manage the pain of people.
Hospice homes were created to bring comfort to the dying, not to kill them.
We pray for “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” to be with each person nearing death. We ask our Lord who suffered greatly for us, to take their suffering and unite it with his (see Colossians 1:24) for the redemption of all. (for more on redemption and suffering, see my article “Finding Value in Suffering”).
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to work to eliminate suffering from things like hunger. As his disciples, we are called to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him in his suffering on the way to salvation (see Matthew 16:24).