Homily for Wednesday, 8 October 2014– Ferial

Wednesday of the 27th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14; Psalm 117:1bc, 2; Luke 11:1-4

We hear at some length from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians today how St. Paul began his ministry as an Apostle of Christ. First, he preached to Gentiles, but only “to those of repute.” When he had gained the confidence of “James and Cephas” (Peter) “and John,” the three most trusted of Jesus’ first Apostles, St. Paul expanded his ministry to non-Jews. But what is at the core of St. Paul’s message for his own time and for us? Who is to be the main focus of our bringing Christ into our world; the same people as were the main focus for St. Paul in his time?

The question in Paul’s letter to the Galatians of how readily the Christian faith should be handed on to the Gentiles is secondary. St. Paul identifies the primary focus of his ministry when he says, “Only, we were to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do.” Is this not also a beautiful, if challenging, invitation to us, too: “Be mindful of the poor”? Again I say that we do not need to look far to find the poor; the homeless; the unemployed. And right here among us are our sisters and brothers who have lost loved ones. Do we perhaps know people; families who are estranged from the Church; estranged within themselves? These are our poor today. These are the people to whom St. Paul invites us to reach out and with whom to identify; to empathize.

This week, I read an article in the British newspaper The Guardian on the immediate reaction of Pope Francis to his election as pope. As the two-thirds majority of votes to become pope was surpassed, Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil embraced then-Cardinal Bergoglio (who took the name Francis) and said to him, “Don’t forget about the poor.”

At my ordination to the priesthood in May, I was greeted by Fr. Frank Amico, my Basilian superior from Cali, Colombia where I taught on two occasions while I was a seminarian. Fr. Amico said to me, “Remember the poor.” It is a message that I have taken to heart.

“Only, we were to be mindful of the poor,” St. Paul says to the Galatians. To all the baptized in Christ; to every one of us; to priests; to the pope, this invitation; this challenge still rings out in our time: “Be mindful of the poor… Don’t forget about the poor… Remember the poor.”

The poor are to be the focus of our service; our ministry as Christians, the people we are asked to be most eager to serve; to lift up; to welcome as sisters and brothers in Christ. How might we take up the invitation; the challenge of St. Paul; of Cardinal Hummes; of Pope Francis; of my brother Basilian, Fr. Frank Amico? They all echo this message, from the Letter to the Galatians to our own time: “Only, we were to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do.”