3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily (2026)
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14 (1a)
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Matthew 4:12-23
January 25, 2026
In a world full of political, moral, and religious differences Paul’s thought of everyone agreeing can seem wonderful. It doesn’t just sound wonderful, it is wonderful. We long with hope for agreement.
In a society where more and more people follow a cancel culture where they ignore, discredit, or silence anyone who disagrees with them, the polarization and cancelling can leave us in darkness.
Yet, we do not need to remain in the darkness. We have a reason for hope. It is our faith in our Lord.
In days of our reading from Isaiah, the Israelites in Zebulun and Naphtali were in darkness because the northern kingdom of Israel had fallen to Assyria. Yet, they were not without hope because the Lord promised that a day would come when He would restore Israel. Thus, they had reason for hope. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!”
Reunited they will have hope, light, and joy.
We sang “The Lord is my light and my salvation” in our psalm response. If we truly make our Lord our light, it means we will follow him. If everyone follows him, divisions and polarization will end, for we will be united in doing His Will.
We might fear what others will think or do to us if we do not go along with what they say. Yet, if our Lord is our refuge, we need not be afraid. We do well to seek to dwell in the house of our Lord all the days our lives.
God has always presented a consistent message. His message is that He loves us. Sometimes we see the Old Testament as portraying God as a punishing God while Jesus brings a message of love. God has always loved his people.
His only punishes sinners to lead them to what is good. When God has punished His people like in the fall of Zebulun and Napthali, He has always restored them to goodness when they repent.
We know this because it is a story repeated over and over in the Bible. That’s part of why it is good for us to know the Bible.
Unfortunately, as Catholics many of us don’t know the Bible well. The importance of knowing the Bible is something we can learn from our Protestant brothers and sisters just as there is much they could learn from us like the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
Many Protestants will talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To many Catholics this sounds forbidden. It is not. Actually, every one of us has a personal relationship with Jesus. It just may not be a very good relationship.
Jesus acknowledges there will be divisions (see Luke 12:49-53) when we accept him but others do not. However, the prayer Jesus offers to his Father in John 17 shows clearly that what Jesus wants for us is unity. He prays that we may be one.
As Paul writes, there should be no divisions among us. We should “be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.”
This is true among all people but it is especially true among Christians. Reports found on the internet this week say there are now over 45,000 Christian denominations in the world.
There have always been some differences. Paul writes of those who claim they belong to him or to Apollos or to Cephas. What we should all be saying is we belong to Christ. He is the one who is crucified for us. We are not baptized in the name of human religious leaders. We are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit form a perfect unity. We are called to that same unity. Yet, differences remain among us. That is why every year from January 18th to January 25th (today) there is a Week of Prayer of Christian Unity. It is organized by a World Council of Churches in which our Catholic Church participates.
This week does not get much attention. Perhaps this is because in a world were there is so much polarization and division, having some different Christian denominations does not surprise us. I hope that there is as many as 45,000 does surprise you and concern you.
What does it mean to have unity?
It is not just a matter of finding what we agree on and then dropping everything else.
Our call to unity is not a call to give up believing in what we disagree on. It is a call to hear and study the teachings of the Lord to know His Will for we will not find unity in our individual beliefs.
We have freedom to choose to believe what we want. This does not mean we should choose what whatever we want. God has worked through His Church for 2,000 years to teach us. It is His Church. It is God who decides what is good and what is evil. God determines what truth is.
We can find unity in doing our Father’s Will. We proclaim the gospel when we preach what Jesus teaches over human ways.