Two-Minute Homily by Fr Kevin Smith for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023.
“Unless we are united with Christ in this journey then suffering becomes even more meaningless and more difficult to bear.”
- Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane
You have seduced me Lord and I let myself be seduced; you have overpowered me; you were the stronger. These are the words of the truly torn Jeremiah. He was captured by the seductive Word of God and all its beauty, to be a prophet of that same Word and remind the people of the way of life to which it called them. But the people were not interested, and they made Jeremiah suffer terribly. And still in the face of that suffering, a fire burned in his heart. Jeremiah could not stop his preaching because even trying to do so wearied him more than the insults he endured. Peter, when informed that living and proclaiming the message of Jesus was going to also bring suffering Peter quickly decided that there must be another way and we then hear the most scathing criticism from the mouth of Jesus recorded in the scriptures.Belief in Jesus means his cross becomes our cross. While the cross we carry as disciples may be unique to each of us, the cross of Jesus unites us together. Unless we are united with Christ in this journey then suffering becomes even more meaningless and more difficult to bear. Jeremiah, Peter and countless other followers of the Word of life have experienced suffering and rejection. The followers of Jesus in the example of Jeremiah bring the Word of life to the issues of our society today and seek to have a conversation about them. Are late term abortions, and killing the child that survives a late term abortion, and is offering the option of euthanasia to 14-year-olds a humane society at its best? Does the reflex action of, when faced with life’s most difficult dilemmas, then kill perhaps become the mentality that can simmer through the human community in other unwelcome ways.
Of course, as we know such an opinion is too quickly dismissed, and the respectful conversation rarely occurs. But this is not our Word that we live and preach it is the Word of God, the Word of life and life will always triumph over injustice, suffering and death. God’s love will prevail. Have a wonderful first Sunday of Spring.