Homily Tuesday the First Week of Ordinary Time (2021) “Know Who You Are”
Homily Tuesday the First Week of Ordinary Time (2021) “Know Who You Are”
During these first days of ordinary time, we read from the Letter to the Hebrews. There are a couple of misconceptions about this piece of scripture that we should correct. The first things we could clarify would be that the Letter to the Hebrews is not written to the Hebrews. More than likely, it was written to a church in Italy. We could say that it is written to the whole church. The theology in the letter is a theology that does not address particular problems in a church community, but it seeks to address questions Christians have in all times in every place.
The second misconception about the Letter to the Hebrews is that it was written by St. Paul. The Letter to the Hebrews has an unknown author. For that reason, it is included in the canon after the letters of Paul. New Testament works are grouped according to author. Hebrews is paired with no other writing because its author wrote no other piece of Scripture.
The writer of Hebrews says to us in the passage for today that we need to remember who we are. We were created as people who are a little less than the angels. We could also say that we were meant to be sons and daughters of God.
We are frustrated because we cannot live up to our lofty statues. We know that we sin and that we fall short of who we were meant to be. We might fall into despair, but if we do, we need to remember Jesus came to save us from despair.
Jesus is the model of who we should be. He has made the one perfect sacrifice for our sin. We did not deserve God’s help, but we have received it, nonetheless. We can be confident in the Lord. The Lord will never stop loving us or reminding us who we really are.
Reflection Questions:
- Do I believe that I am created as a being that is an image of the divine? What stops me from believing this?
- Am I frustrated at times because I believe I will never get my act together? What would Jesus say to me about this?
Dear Parishioners,
As we come to know more about the events of January 6th in Washington, it is horrifying. What is sobering is that we are reminded what can happen in a mob. People can be pulled along. Perhaps they come to an event, believing that they are trying to achieve some noble purpose, but they get caught up in the moment and manipulated by others who have evil intentions. We need to be wary.
We need to pray hard in the next week because it looks like there is the possibility of more violence. And we need to be wary of people who try to push us into an agenda that looks anything, but Christian. Too often people use Christianity to mask a sinful message. We know what Jesus taught. Love God and love your neighbor. If people are asking us to hate our neighbor, we should realize that is not the message of Jesus.
May Our Lady and all the Angels and Saints watch over us all.
Fr. Mark