Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily (2025)

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Jeremiah 17:5-8
Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6 (40:5a)
1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Luke 6:17, 20-26
February 16, 2025

When you face a problem who do you go to for help?

Do you expect the government to fix everything with little or no effort on your part or do you take your problems to the Lord to seek his guidance and assistance?

The Lord says through Jeremiah, “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord.”  There is nothing wrong with human beings helping each other.  In fact, Jesus tells us we should.  The problem comes when we trust in human beings in a way that shows we have turned our hearts away from the Lord.

The better way is to trust the Lord.  “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.” 

We have hope because we know that Jesus was crucified and rose.  The Resurrection points us to hope in eternal life.  Jesus came down from Heaven so that we might spend eternity with him in Heaven.

Jesus offers us blessings.  “Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.”  Do you hunger, not so much for earthly food but for righteousness?

If people hate you and insult you “on account of the Son of Man,” rejoice, for “your reward will be great in Heaven.”

What does it mean to be blessed?

Some translations of the Bible equate happiness and blessed.  To me happiness is a worldly feeling.  We are happy because of what we have in this world.  What makes us blessed is the grace of God.  Our faith in God, especially the Resurrection, gives us hope.

Hope is the “desire and expectation of good things to come” (Pope Francis, Spes Non Confundit, 1).  With hope, we persevere through our sufferings in this world because we see something greater ahead with God.

The world needs hope.  We find hope when we encounter the Lord (see my reflection from last week regarding encountering the Lord). 

Knowing the world needs hope we are now in a jubilee year of hope.  Pope Francis’ Bull of Indiction, Spes Non Confundit, for the jubilee begins with Paul’s words from Romans 5:5, “Hope does not disappoint.”  With hope in our Lord, nothing can separate us from the love of God (see Romans 8:35-39).

Hope points us beyond darkness to the Light of Christ.  Pope Francis calls us to examine the signs of the times to find hope.  He calls us to “recognize the immense goodness present in our world” (Spes Non Confundit, 7).  We might wonder where he sees this hope in a world of violence and sin.  One example of hope is the humanitarian aid response to natural disasters.  There are still people who care.

When we receive hope ourselves from our Lord, we also receive a responsibility to share that hope with others.

We need to share hope with those who are sick by showing them that we care (Spes Non Confundit, 11).  Here, we might especially think of the elderly and terminally ill who might “feel lonely and abandoned.”  This may leave them without hope, leading them to a wrong decision to end their lives.  We need to show them we care so that they have hope (Spes Non Confundit, 14).

In Spes Non Confundit Pope Francis points us to various people who need hope and offers ideas on how we might bring them hope.  I want to focus now on one particular group, immigrants (13).

Immigration is a very controversial issue for many. 

You might be wondering if I am going to discuss politics now.  You probably don’t want that.  I am not looking to discuss politics.  I don’t want to discuss politics.  I am here to discuss faith.  I am to discuss what it means to be Catholic.  I do so mindful of our Spanish parishioners.

In faith we are called to love our neighbors.  In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches us about the meaning of this (Luke 10:25-37). 

I need to make a very important distinction here.  I am concerned with how we treat immigrants in general.  It is true that we have a right to protect ourselves against violent offenders.  Several bishops have stated this, included our own Bishop Matano in his letter that we had in our bulletins last week (copies available in back of church).  I also realize we can’t just open our borders to everyone.  For more on this, you can find an article I wrote this week on immigration on my blog (“Treating Them with Dignity”).

We have a right to protect ourselves against violent offenders, whether they are legal citizens or not.  What we do not have a right to do is let a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch.  We cannot let our entire approach to all immigrants be governed by a few who are bad.

Legitimate concern about a few is leading to fear among many.  Even some immigrants who are here legally are presently living in fear of raids.

God doesn’t want us to make them fear.  God wants us to share hope with them. 

In my blog article “Treating Them with Dignity” I cite a number of Bible verses where God teaches how to treat immigrants.  I will offer just one here.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells us that we will be judged based on whether we help those in need or not.  He specifically includes, “a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35).  How do you welcome the stranger?  Do immigrants not count as strangers?

Let us offer them hope through our love shown in our actions.