Homily for Tuesday of the 6th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus seemed annoyed and frustrated with His disciples in His conversation with them. Despite all they had seen Him do in their time with Him, it looked to Jesus that they had no idea who He was, but there was more to come. They not only failed to understand Him, but they would also eventually abandon Him. And yet, these same disciples would begin the now 2,000-year tradition of handing on the faith.

In the closing chapter of Mark's Gospel, the young man sitting in the tomb tells Mary Magdalene and Salome, "Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid Him. But go and tell His disciples and Peter, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you." Despite their failure, Jesus met them again in Galilee to renew their call.

The Gospel shows that Jesus is faithful to us even when we fail to be faithful to Him. He goes ahead of us into all the places we find ourselves. He is there, calling us from our failures in faithfulness to begin anew.