Homily for Saturday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel passage today shows how Jesus wants us to share His message. He has shared a meal with many, sinners, tax collectors, and with others who would have been classified as not the equal of law-abiding Pharisees. He broke bread with sinners at table and, at the same time, more likely than not, He broke open God’s Word for them — God’s healing and merciful Word. In defense of this, He said, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Jesus reveals His Father who does not withhold His living Word or His grace from us, even when we show that we are unworthy of it. The Lord continues to speak that word of love and light into the darkest and most troubled places of our lives. He keeps offering us the bread of His word to satisfy our deepest hunger. As He does so, He waits for us to take and eat.

We are called to mirror God’s mercy; we are called to invite all people to the table of the LORD and not only those who seem to measure up to the ideal of Christian living. All are called, especially sinners. God’s grace and mercy are not rewards for perfection but, instead, are a necessity in our striving to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.+