Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
February 14, 2021 11:30 am · Sergio Muñoz Fita
As you may know, today we begin Mission Ecce Homo here at St. Anne. This Lent, from Ash Wednesday until Holy Thursday evening, a large group of men from our community are going to set out toward the cross of Christ. They want to approach the Lord with the same request as the leper, who at Jesus' feet, begged: "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean." They want Christ to touch their hearts, as He touched the rotting skin of that poor wretched man. They want, they need, they seek a miracle no less than the one we have just heard in the Gospel: the healing of their souls, the grace of a new life. They want to unite themselves to the Lord in such a way that they can say with Saint Paul, " Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” That is, they want to be a reflection of the Lord in their families, in their environments, in the world.
These words of Saint Paul are meant to be pondered over, meditated on. His life was so similar to that of Jesus Christ that, in him, men could see the Lord! Imitating Paul was the same as imitating Jesus, for the simple reason that Jesus and Paul were one. How beautiful is holiness, which makes us decrease so that Christ may manifest himself in us!
We have over 150 men participating in Mission Ecce Homo, but this morning I would like to say that all of us are engaged in this apostolic endeavor. Perhaps not all of us are participating in the commitments of the Mission, but it is up to all of us to pray for the fruits of it. From that perspective, Mission Ecce Homo belongs to everyone and is for everyone. Beginning today at all Masses in the parish, we will pray for this intention.
I encourage all parish ministries to include this request in their personal and community prayers, especially in the recitation of the Holy Rosary here or at home. The brave men participating in the Mission count on your prayers: perhaps the Lord has even made the conversion of their hearts depend on them, and so we cannot fail them.
I want to thank so many people for the effort that they are putting into this Mission: all of the volunteers and especially, the spiritual guides who have become the visible presence of the Lord for these men. I want to thank you and your families for the sacrifices you are making out of love for Christ and your brothers.
Let us ask the Lord that the life of at least one man will be transformed during this Mission. Maybe you think that I'm asking for too little, but I believe that a holy life is a great gift for the whole Church. Imagine what a great gift it would be for our parish and for the family of that man, if the Lord gave us a saint, a man completely conquered by the love of Christ. Perhaps it seems that in today's Gospel that Jesus only touched a sick man. In reality, through that man He gave life to many others: his family, who recovered the father and the husband that leprosy had taken from them; all those who heard from his lips the story of his own healing and were moved to seek a personal encounter with Jesus Christ; and finally, to the whole world, that even today we can still hear in Sacred Scripture the story of that healing and encourage ourselves with the hope of a similar miracle in our lives.
We ask Saint Joseph for the grace of a Holy Lent for everyone. As we prayed in the psalm, may we all be filled with the joy of salvation. May we be healed from the leprosy of sin and released from the chains that bind us. In a special way, we pray for the men beginning the spiritual pilgrimage of Mission Ecce Homo, that God will give them a new heart and a new life, a life of holiness, fidelity and grace.