Homily - 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 06/25/23 - Fr James Nadeau
June25,2023
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time June 25, 2023
Why do some people succeed, while others with equal talents and opportunities fail? To answer this – the University of California studied 17,000 people for 6 years following them through the key growth years. The results: the most important factor contributing to the success or failure is a person’s self-image. In other words, if we perceive ourselves to be valuable and loveable, we will succeed at what we do…Interestingly, studies show that our Christian self-image is key to how we live our faith lives. Our success as Christians is measured by how we love God and our neighbor. It’s because love is a self-gift. Love is a gift of ones self to another person. If we don’t think we are valuable or loveable, we will not be able to give ourselves as a gift to another person.
Today’s Gospel reading gives us some good news and challenges us at the same time. As Christians, we believe that God made us in His own image. If anyone should have a Christian self-image, we should. The Gospel re-emphasizes this fact. It is important, then, that we treat one another in the same way that the father has treated us. It is important that we convey the same message He has conveyed to us. If we treat others in a way less than this, we convey to them a lie, a terrible lie. We tell them they are not valuable or loveable…It is up to us to speak Jesus’ message of love to one another. The future of the world and the world to come depend on it.