Responding to God's Word - Weekday Homily Video

In today’s gospel, Jesus appears to be in a sort of foul mood. He had preached and performed many miracles in different cities, but these cities did not take his message seriously. He says that if the message he had preached had been preached in some other cities, those cities would have undergone a conversion and reordered how they lived.

His tone sounds a little tired, like when a mother has repeated the same warning over and over, and the kid isn’t listening. It is one of those moments when a mother says to the child, “Jimmy, listen to me. Listen to me.”

The heart of the gospel today is that hearing the word of God comes with a great responsibility. A person, a city, a community, and a country will be judged by the things they got a chance to know but simply ignored. There are things you are allowed to accept in a child because of their age and experience, and there are things you need to disapprove of or reproach in an adult because of their age. Hearing the word of God comes with a responsibility of aligning or reordering our lives according to the word of God that He has spoken to us.

Open to the Word of God

Sometimes we come to Church and the way the word is proclaimed is not as refined as it should be. The accent is foreign, the pitch is irritating, the tempo is too high, and the volume is just not right. And when the priest starts preaching, the homily is uninspiring, and there is no dynamism in the preacher! It may be all of that about the word of God, but if we listen with open hearts and minds, God will find His own way in His own time to speak to us. The only thing He asks of us is an openness that allows Him to speak to us.

A story is told of the famous, revered, and incorruptible Tanzanian former president Julius Nyerere. He was a devout Catholic who went to Mass almost daily, and regularly received the sacrament of reconciliation. He took his faith seriously, and after his death, the diocese started his cause for canonization. He is now a Servant of God. For an African politician, he set quite a standard.

Teach the Faith to Your Children

A story is told that one day in the rural parish Nyerere attended, the pastor asked the seminarian in the parish to give the reflection at the morning Mass. The seminarian prepared so well, but when he stood up at Mass to give the reflection, he saw the revered President at the back of the Church. The poor seminarian froze and forgot everything he had prepared. He could only remember a few words, “parents, please teach the faith to your children,” and he hurriedly left the lectern.

A couple of months later President Nyerere invited the pastor and the seminarian to dinner at his house. Nyerere asked one of his grandchildren to lead the grace before the meal. The grandchild led the grace so well, and Nyerere turned to the seminarian and told him that "those are the fruits of your homily. You asked parents to teach their children the faith and I have been working hard to teach my grandchildren how to pray." If the recipient of the word of God is open to the Spirit of God, it does not matter how the word of God is delivered, it will still bear fruit in the life of that person.

Let us ask ourselves, “How open are we to God’s word?” May His grace make our hearts tender and receptive to His word.

• Today’s Readings

• Father Fred's inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center this morning. Please view the video on our Facebook page. (You don't need a Facebook account to view.) 

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