A homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 5, 2021
Is 35:4-7a, Jas 2:1-5, Mk 7:31-37
Every day is a day for miracles. And every day is a miracle in itself.
The sun rose today (well, actually, the Earth rotated so that we could see more and more of the Sun, but let’s not get too astrophysical …). Out there in the east, cruising through the south toward the west, with or without clouds, Sol is shining on Terra Firma.
A miracle.
God loves us and showers us with gifts, often when we don’t realize it.
More miracles.
Miracles for today and every day of our lives.
But what happens when we start to take miracles for granted and, more to the point, when we remove the role of the Almighty from miracles?
Pause to ponder
Modern life is awash in miracles.
Miracles of technology and instant communication. Miracles that fit in our pockets and ring at the worst possible times.
(No, I don’t need an extended warranty!)
Miracles of transportation, individual or shared, that make it possible for us to leave our villages and be halfway around the world in a matter of hours. To meet, even to bond with or marry, people we’d never otherwise even know existed.
Miracles of agriculture, giving us wide varieties of fresh food every day of the year, regardless of the local growing season.
Miracles. Every one of them. Crafted by human hands but inspired by the intelligence and skills that God gave us and made possible by the raw materials in the world God gave us.
And then there’s the miracle of modern medicine, which parallels and then builds upon what Jesus did among the Israelites in the First Century.
Let’s take a moment to thank God and thank our caregivers for all they do and especially all they have done throughout our ongoing pandemic.
Pause to pray
It has become all too easy for people to do something great, to perform literal miracles of science or technology or philosophy or agriculture or art or … or … or, and then say, “Look at what I did!” all the while expecting kudos or applause or a trophy. Some sort of praise.
And, yes, human achievements are praiseworthy, especially when they approach the level of miracles.
But whenever we succeed, whenever we do anything with a hint of greatness, true humility demands that we show our deepest gratitude to whom it belongs.
To God.
True humility demands that we give the credit to whom it belongs.
To God.
To God, who gave us the miracle of life, to begin with.
To God, who gave us the intelligence or the physical skills or the senses or the insight to accomplish a WOW!
We humans heal. We humans build. We humans communicate. We humans perform miracles that seem just as mind-blowing as the healing that Jesus did.
Wow, indeed.
Let’s do them in God’s name, and not our own.
