Homily for Thursday, September 2, 2021

Be prepared. There is certainly a value in being prepared. We know when a hurricane approaches, people prepare. Those who do well on a presentation have taken the time to prepare. Athletes prepare. Those in business prepare. Musicians prepare. But what does it mean for Christians to prepare?

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri.

How often do we reduce the Christian life to our effort alone? It can be easy to think that the priority of growth in faith life is more effort on our part. We need to do this. We need to put more work into doing this. It can feel sometimes like all spiritual growth is something we accomplish in ourselves. But the starting point of every good action is the grace of God which enables us to do good works. And so our spiritual conversion starts with our openness to God’s grace, to seeing what it is he longs to do for us. To be sure, we need to cooperate with God’s grace. And when we do that we begin to see all that God can do for us.

Readings for Today