Do you listen? Homily for Thursday, March 12, 2026

Do you listen? How it is that God has loved us enough that we, cooperating with his grace, do something really magnificent and great? But it’s God that deserves the credit. It’s God that is great. It is God that is successful. Readings for Today.

Table of Contents

Do you listen?

What does it mean to be great? Or what does it mean to be a success? Particularly a success in the faith or to be great in holiness. In our Western culture we tend to associate greatness and success with accomplishments. We are great or successful if we do great things. If we’re successful in what we set out to do.

But today’s readings remind us that our holiness, our greatness, our success does not come from ourselves. It is not the case that we’ve done all kinds of amazing things that make us successful. It is that we listen. It’s that we recognize the voice of God that dwells deep within us, who guides and directs us.

And yet this is really a countercultural attitude because there’s a certain bit of satisfaction that comes when we are successful. When we do something that could be considered great, there is something in it for us. We feel good about our accomplishments or what we’ve done. But the Christian life is not about taking pride in our own works, but rather taking pride in what God in his goodness has done for us.

How it is that God has loved us enough that we, cooperating with his grace, do something really magnificent and great? But it’s God that deserves the credit. It’s God that is great. It is God that is successful.

Consider today’s gospel. People in some ways are getting caught up with what’s happening through Jesus. The demon being cast out. But in some ways they’re missing the fundamental point that Jesus tries to bring home to them in the gospel. That when we cooperate with God, all these actions are occurring in unity. We’re not against God. We’re not against each other when we throw ourselves onto the mercy of God and recognize his great goodness.

That’s what Jesus is getting at in the gospel. It is not possible for Jesus to do the works of God if in fact he is opposed to God. And the first reading is interesting too because it really I think says to us or points out to us in our age a problem. It’s easy to say, “Well, you know, there’s this other country over there. They are the nation that shall be called those who do not listen to God.”

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