Current Homily

RECTORÍA DE SAN JUAN DE DIOS

TWENTY THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, CYCLE C

 Wis 9:13-18b, 20; Ps 90:3-6,12-13; Phlm 9-10, 12-17; Lk 14:25-33

                                                                                                     Fr. Josué Arellano

LET US EMBRACE THE CROSS OF FIDELITY

Happy Sunday to all. As a family of faith, we joyfully receive the news of the canonization of the two young Italian men: Saint Carlo Acutis and Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati, and at the same time, we receive with the same joy the proclamation of the Gospel.

Like every Sunday, we receive this good news; which is at the same time a gift of God's love and a requirement for our Christian life.

Pope Paul VI affirmed that the Church exists to evangelize. And in this context,  September is the month of the Bible,  we are invited to have a greater closeness to the word of God, let us prepare our hearts for our reflection.

The first point for our reflection is to pause for a moment in the Gospel text, which says that a crowd was traveling with Jesus. In that multitude, all of us are represented. The Christian life is a continual movement for those of us who follow in the footsteps and teachings of Jesus.

But sadly, that crowd that followed Jesus was not with him at all times; they abandoned him at the moment of the cross.

That is why we are invited not only to walk with Jesus, but to become his disciples. Being a disciple implies following Jesus in every moment of our lives; not just when I go to Mass, but having him as my priority in my life.

It means keeping in mind the first commandment: to love God above all things.

Carrying the cross that Jesus speaks of is embracing following Jesus, always as a joyful choice that leads us to a commitment, to a demand.

It is a responsible and consistent choice with the lifestyle that Jesus proposes to us. If we decide to follow him, it is because we discover that he gives meaning to our lives.

We must understand the cross not as suffering, but as a response of concrete fidelity and persevering love.

It would be important to ask ourselves, to this day, have I only walked with Jesus, or have I become his disciple?

Depending on our answer to this question, we can make adjustments in our life of faith.

Just as spouses, when they enter into marriage, choose only one person as their life partner and renounce all others, so too, choosing Jesus as our path will lead us to renounce all that is not congruent with our being as disciples.

St Carlo Acutis said: Jesus in the Eucharist is the highway that will take me to heaven, and he also affirmed: To be always united to Jesus is my life's plan.

May the witness of these young people who achieved holiness inspire each of us to long to be with Jesus at all times, until eternal life.

May Mary, Most Holy Mother of all Saints, grant us this blessing.AMEN