Homily for 26th Sunday

Tom and Jerry are identical twins in their early 30s. Because neither of them is married, they live together not only to save money but also because they like and enjoy doing the same things. This is rather unusual. Nonetheless their neighbors and even their family wonder just how long this will last. Even more astonishing, Tom and Jerry are devout, practicing Catholics attending Mass every Sunday. Their pastor, Father Francis, has come to depend on them and asked them to take charge of grounds of the church campus (church, rectory, and school) as well as the parish cemetery. There is a lot of work which they enjoy. Giving a lot of time to keeping the grounds in shape, they were wise enough to ask other members of the parish to help them. The twins, well liked in the community, are dependable and always in good humor. Their optimism and joviality are infectious; thus, everyone enjoys working together. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Surely, there must be a dark side to their relationship. Well, there is.

While in their twenties, Jerry got into trouble with drugs, and they started to grow apart. Tom would not give up on his brother whereas the rest of the family had written Jerry off. Tom decided that he would work with his brother showing him unconditional love if that meant for the rest of his life. How and why could Tom do this?

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells a story to the chief priests and elders of the people about two brothers who were asked by their father to do some work. The one brother told his father that he was too busy and would not do the work, while the other brother said that he would, but never did. Actually, the first brother changed his mind and did the work as asked by his father. What caused this brother to change his mind? The chief priests and the elders should have known the answer. Jesus told them that tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the kingdom of God before them. Again, how could this be?

The answer may be found in two virtues: humility and obedience. Jesus’s presence and effect on sinners caused great change. Humility is the opposite of pride. Pride reigns when the individual thinks only of self and has no need to answer to a higher authority. Humility recognizes that whatever can be done is possible because of the presence of God’s grace that makes it all possible. Then with this realization, obedience follows. The first brother was humble enough to recognize the father’s authority and obeyed him. The other brother failed, gave into pride, and did not do what the father asked of him. Hence, he was disobedient.

In my story, Tom wanted to have his brother back and help him to break the bonds of addiction. He asked God for help, and he kept asking God until God revealed to him humility. Tom realized that he could only win his brother back when he accepted the grace of God to heal his addicted brother. Every day he prayed depending on God to show him what to do and he obeyed the best he could. Eventually, he won his brother back. And so, we pick up the story of Tom and Jerry in their thirties.

What about you and me? We also have a good side and a dark side to our character. There are days when everything goes well, and we are happy. There also those days when our stubbornness prevents us from seeing God’s will and we refuse to do what He asks of us. Pride is self-centered and does not allow us to see what we must do to bring peace and justice to our culture that has turned against God’s plan for creation. When we recognize that we need God and are not self-sufficient, we need to obey his will and do what He asks of us. Then will peace and justice be restored.

No matter where you are on your journey of faith, do not be discouraged. There will be many rough days when you just do not want to fulfill God’s will and just want to be selfish with time and love. But there will also be many good days when you generously give yourself over to the will of God, loving God, and your neighbor with all your strength. So, prepare to receive the grace of God into your life everyday so that you will be able to fulfill God’s will with both the self-doubt and the joy of knowing that His grace makes all things possible.

God be blessed! Now and forever. Amen.