Homily for Wednesday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Close relationships with family and friends are among the things we value most, along with health and life. Relationships and friendships are priceless; without them, we could hardly get through life.

In a significant moment, Jesus revealed the most crucial relationship in His life: His relationship with His heavenly Father. He spoke in terms of mutual knowing: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." This relationship has a profound and unique intimacy but is not a closed circle.

We all receive an invitation into this relationship of trust and love between Jesus and His Father in heaven. He shows us the Father and shares that bond with us. They invite us all into their mutual relationship, a relationship that fosters and protects. Our Psalm response says that God will not abandon us; the Father and the Son bring us into their shared love so that we can reflect that love to others. In response, our spirits must be receptive as a child rather than closed with the self-assurance of the learned.