Homily for 18 June 2023

My dear friends on this 11 th Sunday in Ordinary Time the readings highlight the link between

being chosen by God and being sent as missionaries.

The first reading taken from the book of Exodus presents before us a very beautiful imagery –

an eagle carrying its young on its wings. After they escaped from Egypt the Israelites

gradually made it to the wilderness of the mount of Sinai. Now this wilderness was a desert

and there was little in the desert to sustain life. The Israelites were now completely dependent

on Yahweh, who led the nation of Israel just as an eagle cares for its young one. We have at

this juncture perhaps one of the most important events in the entire salvation history – the

election of Israel and the forming of the conditional covenant. Yahweh through Moses tells

the Israelites that they will be his segullah. Segullah was a kind of possession that was

valuable and cherished. So when Yahweh called people His segullah He was saying that they

were His richly adored, valuable belongings or treasured possession from among all the

peoples. We all belong to Yahweh; He treasures us, cherishes us, loves us and He does not

want to part with us.

Yahweh makes a covenant with the people of Israel. A covenant or berith in Hebrew is an

unbreakable mutual relationship between two parties in which one offers certain blessings

and the other has certain obligations. It is the closest possible relationship one can have with

the other outside the kinship relationship. However, this was a conditional covenant, why

conditional? It is because it involved an obligation on the part of the people to observe the

commandments of Yahweh. We also come across the reference that the entire nation of Israel

would be a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. Why would one want an entire nation to be

priests? Israel was chosen not to glorify itself but rather to be a light to the nations. Just as a

priest is responsible for leading the people closer to God, Israel as a nation was called to be a

model of holy living and bring people from other nations into a saving relationship with

Yahweh.

In the second reading taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul highlights the

importance of faith in our being reconciled with God. Reconciliation presupposes an

estranged relationship. God takes the initiative to restore the relationship by sending His own

son with a mission. The son dies for a cause and with his blood reunites us with the Father.

Paul further highlights the extent of God’s love by pointing out Jesus’ rather bizarre

behaviour. He died for sinners, for people who could not appreciate his death, and for people

who would time and again continue to fall into sin. Having been reconciled to God, all

humanity is free from the bondage of sin and free to be participants in God’s creative

movement. The church and its members are called to be channels of reconciliation in the

world. 

In the gospel taken from Matthew, we get a closer look into the loving nature of God in the

person of Jesus. Jesus sees the harassed and helpless crowds and is filled with compassion.

Recognising the need, he chooses and sends out the 12 apostles. We are chosen to be sent.

The Church too is missionary in nature as it participates in and continues the mission of

Jesus.

There are two points that I would like to focus on. First, the sensitivity of Jesus. Jesus senses

a need and responds. In his encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis speaks about a sense

of indifference that reigns in today’s world. An indifference that makes us turn a blind eye to

our neighbour in need. Referring to the Parable of the Good Samaritan he mentions, ‘ … it

shows that belief in God and the worship of God are not enough to ensure that we are actually

living in a way pleasing to God. A believer may be untrue to everything that his faith

demands of him, and yet think he is close to God and better than others.’ (FT 74) The

Kingdom of God doesn’t have indifference but rather the desire to make a difference.

The second point is something that is generally overlooked. It is the fact that by virtue of our

baptism and confirmation, we all are called to be missionaries. We all are sent on mission just

like the twelve apostles were. The apostles were called to cure the sick, raise the dead,

cleanse the lepers and cast out demons. Though we might not have all these gifts we still can

be missionaries today. Perhaps we cannot cure people physically but surely we can reach out

to people who need someone to talk to, spend time with the sick and give a shoulder to

someone to cry on. We might not be able to raise the dead physically but surely we can uplift

people emotionally and spiritually by giving them hope and love. Leprosy is curable today

but we still treat people as lepers when we purposely shun them due to their physical

appearances or financial status. We all are not exorcists but definitely, we all can exorcise the

demons of gossip, pride and hatred from our lives.

Just as God led and protected Israel, He leads and protects each one of us in our lives.

Unfortunately, quite often we fail to recognise Him. Let us spend some time this week

reflecting on some of the important events of our life, not only the joyful ones but also the

difficult ones and ask for the grace to be able to experience the presence of God in those

moments. I pray that each of us may realise that we are God’s segullah, his treasured

possession and that this realisation may lead us to be compassionate missionaries in our day-

to-day lives. May God bless us all.