Homily for October 19, 2019

As followers of Jesus, we must be fearless in our witness to Him, in our sharing with others His message of love, mercy, compassion, and redemption. Jesus promised us that in our efforts to follow His call, we will not be left to our own devices, that the Holy Spirit will help us and give us the words we need when we are faced with challenges and difficulties in this mission.

Sharing our faith in today’s world is very difficult; our culture can be very hostile to religion in general and, in particularly, to the Catholic faith, because of the many scandals in which our leaders have been involved, and which the media has so strongly publicized.

With so much negative commentary and feelings against our faith, we can be intimidated into silence and invisibility. But we need to be strong and share our faith with others. We have Jesus’ promise that the Holy Spirit will be with us and we have the hope that the same Spirit will bring healing to our Church and its members. As Paul says, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. We need to keep on praying for the courage to be true to the LORD who gave Himself for us, giving us life through His death on a cross. +