Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
January 31, 2021 7:00 am · Sergio Muñoz Fita
My words this weekend are an invitation to all the men of our community. I invite you on a spiritual journey that will begin on Sunday, February 14th and end on Holy Thursday evening. I ask you to take this invitation to heart and discern in silence whether the Lord is addressing it to you through this priest. If he is, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO WELCOME THE PROMPTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOUR SOULS AND ACT ON IT, in accord with the psalmist’s plea, "If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart."
Mission Ecce Homo is aimed at men 15 years of age and older. It is going to be a pilgrimage that I trust will lead all of us who participate in it to a better life, a life more pleasing to God, in union with the Lord Jesus. I know that in a community as large as St. Anne, there is a great diversity of spiritualities, and I have always respected the path that each one has chosen to reach God, as long as it is faithful to the Deposit of Faith. We are all free to choose our vocation, as Saint Paul tells us in the second reading, and also the way in which we wish to live our Christian life. For this reason, I have tried to keep the principle of subsidiarity in mind as a criterion for action: respect the path that each one is taking and build from there, so I believe that the Mission can have value for many of us.
I know that Mission Ecce Homo is not for everyone, not even for all men. I do not arrogantly think that all the men in our parish have a moral obligation to join this path. Some men will not be able to participate because the commitments that must be undertaken in the Mission cannot be embraced at this moment in their life. Others, perhaps because they are already participating in other similar ministries or programs and it does not make sense to replicate something that they are already experiencing. Others simply will not feel called to it for various reasons. I'm not going to force any man to join the Mission. I respect your decisions, just as I ask you to respect mine, as long as they are in accordance with the Will of God
I am not asking all of you to participate, but I do ask all of you to make the discernment. I ask that you listen to what I have to say and decide on the basis of knowledge, not ignorance. In the first reading, God himself says: "whoever will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it". The Lord asks us to listen: that is the least that He and I ask of you today. Do not say yes or no before hearing what we have to present to you. From there, choose what gives you the most inner peace.
I believe that many of us need a miracle in our life of faith: that we have evil spirits inside that Christ wants to expel from us, as we heard in today's Gospel. That we could be more than we are. That we carry a great dissatisfaction in our hearts because we know that we could fly higher. That years are passing us by, and we cannot seem to take flight. That we wish there was more light in our hearts, instead of so much darkness. We feel an inner tension between what we are and what we are called to be, and that sometimes leads to discouragement or loss of hope.
Make everything begin anew this Lent. Let Christ heal you. To those men who want to hear what this mission will consist of, I encourage you to participate in the Holy Mass on Wednesday, February 3rd at 6:15, in person or online. I will explain the path that we are going to undertake together, with the purpose of finding Christ and, in Him, the goal and the fullest expression of what it means to be a son of God and a man after the heart of God. Reserve that time to hear an invitation that could be the beginning of a new and more beautiful life.
May the Lord, through the intercession of Saint Joseph, touch the hearts of the men whom He has chosen for this mission and move them to set out with their brothers on the road to Jesus Christ, the only Redeemer of man.
