NOTE: This week’s livestream crashed — homily only this week. God Bless, ~Mitch+
Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2/16/25 – Father Mitch
Readings: Jer 17:5-8, Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6, 1 Cor 15:12, 16-20, Luke 6:17, 20-26
Luke 6:17, 20-26 World English Bible
Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon.
20 He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for God’s Kingdom is yours.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when men hate you,
and when they exclude and mock you,
and throw out your name as evil,
for the Son of Man’s sake.
23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich!
For you have received your consolation.
25 Woe to you, you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe,† when‡ men speak well of you,
for their fathers did the same thing to the false prophets.
Brothers and sisters, today’s readings lay out two paths: one leading to spiritual life and one leading to spiritual death. Jeremiah says the person who follows one of the paths like a withered bush standing in a desert, a salty dry lake bed, and the person who follows the other path is like a tree planted by a river, green and yielding fruit.
Our Psalm for today describes, in similar language, the same two paths. If we stick to the path of the just, we can see our way to safety. But if we follow the other path, the trail slowly fizzles out, it fades, leading nowhere. In the last lines, we sing, “For the LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes.” This path of the wicked is literally a dead end.
St. Paul lays out these two paths and explains brilliantly the crux of the issue – the crucial difference between the two paths. I said the “crux” of the issue, and “crucial” difference, because both of these words share the same origin in the Latin root “crux” and “crucis” from which we get “cross” and “crucifix.” Yes, the difference between the two paths is the Cross. St. Paul says, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain.” (1 Cor 15:14). He says that because, if Jesus is just another man among many, he’s going to fade away like any other, and his wisdom goes away with him. There have been millions of books written, full of wit and wisdom, educational stories and such, that are now lost to the sands of time. They’re gone, forgotten, irrelevant. But if an author never dies – like Jesus Christ, who was, is, and ever shall be, who is the author of life itself – his wisdom endures forever because it continues to be spoken by him, through the Holy Ghost, and by us, his disciples!
If we trust in mortal men, we’re on the wrong track. Politicians die, heroes and heroines perish, parents and respected elders go into the ground. Houses and possessions break, fall apart, and decay. Food rots. Assets depreciate. Everything in this world is crucified on the cross of this material world and dies. Even the Lord. Even he, when he came to earth, was subject to the reality of the cross. But the difference is that Jesus Christ came back of his own accord. Nothing and no one that has ever done that. Even Lazarus, who Jesus brought back from the dead, didn’t do it on his own. Only Jesus has done this.
Standing on the plain, Jesus warns his disciples not to place their faith in the praises of mortal men. Not to seek the false sense of security that comes from wealth and money, not to seek final satisfaction in creature comforts, like eating yummy food and yucking it up with our pals. Mind you, he is not calling all men and women to be monks. There’s nothing wrong with paying our bills, enjoying good food and the company of friends and family. Jesus is only saying that when we sacrifice money, food, and laughter for his sake, we’re on the right path. When we demote the people and things of this world to a status lower than him and his priorities, which are Love, Truth, Hope and Faith – and especially Love (1 Cor 13:13) – then our reward will be great in heaven.
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† 6:26 TR adds “to you”
‡ 6:26 TR adds “all”
