Trusting in God's Power and Might

Homily for Wednesday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

In our first reading, young David stands against the longtime Philistine warrior. Neither trained in battle nor able to lift a mighty sword, David defends himself with just five stones. He understood and believed in the power and might of God, and was therefore successful in his mission. In the Gospel Jesus refused to accept the legalism of the Pharisees, choosing to save life rather than to destroy it, even when it put him in mortal danger.

We are asked by the United States bishops to pray today using the votive Mass giving thanks for the gift of human life as we mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision known as Roe vs. Wade. All men and women of good will can and will continue to debate the types of policies that would be most effective to protect the dignity and life of the unborn, the life of those who have slipped into dementia, the imprisoned, the refugee, the victims of human trafficking, and so on. The list grows ever longer as more and more vulnerable people become expendable in what Pope St. John Paul II called a “Culture of Death.”

Jesus came among us to give us life in abundance. Today we give thanks to Almighty God for all the gifts of creation, but most especially for the gift of human life. As with David, defending the Israelites, and Jesus, curing the withered hand of the man at the synagogue, God can work through us to destroy the evil that threatens vulnerable lives. Each of us has a role. David and Jesus were not afraid to face the obstacles that stood before them, and with understanding and belief in the power and might of God, we can ask for the courage, the strength and the fortitude to do the same.

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