22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
August 29, 2021

My brothers and sisters in Christ, ¹

As we know that in recent weeks in our Sunday Masses, we have been listening to Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, from the Gospel of St. John.

And I think it was providential that we were reflecting on the beauty and centrality of the Eucharist in our lives at this time. So it was, as we would say, a special time in our lives to remember how important the Eucharist is in our lives and in our ministries.

So today, this Sunday, as we just heard, we are returning to the Gospel of St. Mark. And for the next several weeks we will follow Jesus’ ministry and listen as he instructs all of us in the ways of the Kingdom of God. 

So today, we find him in a confrontation with the Pharisees and the scribes. It is a disagreement over how God wants us to live, what God wants us to set our hearts on and give priority to. 

And Jesus speaks in strong language. As we heard, he calls them “hypocrites,” and quotes the prophet, Isaiah, saying: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me’ …  You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

And the message for us, my brothers and sisters, is that Our Lord is serious about our lives. Jesus talks this way because he loves us, and he does not want us to be deceived or confused.

So this is what Jesus is talking about today in the passage of the Gospel. Jesus is telling us that believing in his love means changing our hearts and our minds, our attitudes, and actions; how we see the world, and how we treat other people.

The first Christians, they called themselves “new men” and “new women.” Because their encounter with Jesus changed their lives forever.

As we know, some of the first Christians left everything and followed him, like the apostles. But most of them went back to their ordinary jobs, their homes, their neighborhood. But they were never the same again. Because they were followers of Jesus Christ.

And we are all followers of Jesus Christ. We are called to be the light to the world, to change every environment we find ourselves in — for the better, for God, for love.

There is a beautiful letter from the early Church that the saints often quote. It says: “What the soul is to the body, Christians are to the world." ²

So this is how we need to think about our lives. We are to “soul” of the world. Each one of us. We can bring Jesus into every element of our lives. We can do everything to spread his love, his joy, his peace. That is how God wants us to live. 

And so God gives us a plan for our lives, a way of living. And that is the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes of Jesus.

In the first reading today, we heard the words of Moses: “Hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”

So God gives us his Law to guide us on our journey in the world. But it is not about just following the rules. It is about becoming a new kind of person, a person who is less selfish, more generous, more loving. 

Because God’s Law is very simple, it comes down to one word. Love. To love God with all our hearts and all our minds and all our strength. And to love others as we love ourselves. This is the Law of God and it is a beautiful way to live, as we know. To make everything we do an act of love.

But my brothers and sisters, as we know, love is not just a feeling. Love is action. It is not enough to just have warm feelings about people. Our faith means we need to put our love into practice.

That is what our second reading of today’s Mass tells us. And if you have read the letter of St. James, you can see that St. James was maybe the more direct of the apostles. He speaks very clearly — he tells us what’s on his mind and with total clarity.

So he tells us today: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

So yes St. James is saying the same thing as Jesus. We should not be confused. God wants us to love

So our Catholic faith does not mean only following rules or certain customs and traditions. Our Catholic faith is a way of living, a way of love. We are called to be the “soul” of the world.

So if we follow God’s commands, it changes our hearts, we find a new and beautiful freedom. We become open to God’s will and we start living for him, doing everything to share his love with our families and our neighbors — the people that we deal with in our daily lives.

Because as St. James tells us, love means serving and doing good for others in concrete ways, in acts of love and works of mercy, really working to make life better for the poor and the vulnerable.

It is a beautiful vocation. It is a beautiful call.

So let us ask for the grace to reflect on our vocation, especially thing week. The beautiful plan of God for our lives — to know, follow, and love our Lord Jesus Christ. And following that to do what he’s teaching us to do: to give our lives for the service of God and others.

Let’s ask Mary our Blessed Mother to enlighten and inspire all of us. May she open our hearts to what her Son is calling us to do, and make us “doers” of his Word of love. And may she help all of us in the Church to be truly the “soul” of the world.