God is Merciful

Homily for Saturday in the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time

My homily for today is largely taken from the reflections of a doctoral student at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He writes: “In his First Letter to Timothy, Paul has but one message for us this day: God is merciful. Following this, Psalm 113 tells us that we should praise the name of the Lord. To cap off these scriptures, we hear Jesus say in the Gospel of Luke that every tree is known by its own fruit.

“Begging pardon for my brevity in referencing today's scriptures, I intend this brevity to underscore what seems to me to be a single, unified message emanating from them: As God is merciful and as we are to give praise to God, so we should be merciful. And what is the fruit of this tree of mercy? Peace.”

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

For many, this day will always be a source of pain. September 11^th is a day that is seared into the minds of anyone who is more than 25 years old. It is because of that pain that I think Mr. McClure’s reflection on these readings is so important. As he wrote and as many have asked since that day, is our world any more peaceful today than it was twenty years ago? Dare we call ourselves peacemakers? Dare I call myself a peacemaker? If a tree is known by its fruit, what fruit do we see ourselves bearing right now?

St. Paul goes to great lengths in his First Letter to Timothy to recall the parts of his past which were less than peaceful. By recalling these moments, he realizes again just how dependent he is upon God’s mercy. Indeed, we are all dependent upon that mercy.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator