Homily for Thursday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time

In our Gospel passage today, Jesus compares Himself to a mother hen who would gather her brood under her wings. He wanted to gather together the people of Jerusalem and show them the way to salvation. But His yearning to gather and save the people went unfulfilled because they refused to listen to Him.

Jesus could not force the people to accept His message or invitation. God gave us the great gift of human freedom and so, God needs to find in us some wish for salvation; He doesn’t impose it on us. While St. Paul said that nothing can “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our LORD,” he also taught us that we must put in some effort and cooperate with the grace of God.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will fill our hearts with a real desire to be with our God and the salvation offered by our LORD.+