It’s about what God does: Homily for Sunday, April 26, 2026

In the United States, what seems most important is that we are people of action. We are go-getters, driven, seeking success. Many want to be recognized for what they do. But as a Catholic, it’s about what God does. To know this makes all of the difference. Readings for Today.

It’s about what God does

What do you want to be when you grow up? What is your passion? Work hard to discover what it is to find out what God wants you to do. You, you, you. This all falls on you.

Except, in the Christian life, it does not. It is not that we find God. Rather, it is that God finds us. It is not that we decide what God wants. We discover it. The emphasis is not on us, but on God.

Unfortunately, we live in a country and a culture where we are told that all depends on us. Young people are told to find their passion. People are told if we work hard, we will be successful. Those who are poor are in this situation because of some fault of theirs. Maybe they’re lazy.

For a Christian, the focus is different. We look at what God does. We seek to be open to the ways in which God works in our lives. Discerning our own vocation is not that we put in more and more effort. But rather, we open our hearts to see how it is God is desiring to work through us.

But the phrase we need to focus on is expressed in Latin as “cor ad cor loquitur.” Heart speaks to heart. The Christian life is not about action, but rather about contemplation. Placing ourselves in the presence of God and being open.

This is at the heart of Dominican spirituality. Contemplating to share with others the fruits of our contemplation. As has been said of Dominicans, being active contemplatives is to remember that contemplative is the noun. Contemplation is what defines us.

And to be contemplative is not easy. It can feel like we’re doing nothing. We don’t typically give major awards to those who sit and wait for God. Rather, it is shakers and movers who often get recognized.

From a religious perspective, I think of men and women who are full-time contemplatives. In so many ways, they are all in. It is a life that may not have many visible accomplishments. It can be a life where those without faith wonder what possible value it could have.

The emphasis on action also means that we can be tempted to reduce discernment to what we do or do not want to do. Prayer can be reduced to seeking to make what we want to do become the will of God.

All of this leads to a question. How is it God is acting through you? When was the last time you had the experience of finding the will of God and finding that it challenged you to do something you did not want to do?

This Sunday is often referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday because the Gospels chosen in each of the three years of the reading cycle are Gospels focusing on Jesus, the Good Shepherd. It is not because we need to find God, but we need the Good Shepherd to find us.

How is it you place yourself into a position to be found by God? When thinking about how God loves you, where will you find the direction the love of God wants to take you? The answer to these and other questions are about making time in our lives to place ourselves into the quiet presence of God so we can hear his voice.

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we are reminded that our baptism gave to us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, you and I are equipped to hear the voice of God. You are equipped to hear the voice of God, but also all others are equipped in the same way.

And so what type of person is God calling you to become? What types of ministries should you engage in? Is God calling you to be a reader? Does God want you to become an altar server? Is God calling you to serve the poor at the St. Margaret of Costello Center or in the downtown lunch program?

Maybe God is calling you to be a lay Dominican. Or perhaps God is calling you to become a Dominican friar, sister, or nun. Maybe God is calling you to be a sister or priest.

Or maybe God has given you the ability to see gifts in others that they cannot see in themselves. God could be calling someone here to be a reader, even though that person cannot see such a gift in themselves. Perhaps you see in someone the call of God to be a religious sister or priest or friar.

Consider Pope Leo. His brothers saw in him as a little boy someone who would become a priest. A neighbor of his in Dalton, Illinois, saw in Pope Leo the little boy in first grade that someday he would become the pope.

Obviously, the pope recognized the call from God. But what role did others play in helping the young Pope Leo discover what and who God was calling him to become? And maybe God is calling you to be that person in someone else’s life.

Since God calls each one of us to become the person he has created us to be, then we must consider what God wants. Since God calls each other person to become the persons God has made them to be, we must have the openness and the courage to invite them to become this person.

We all have the same call. As St. Peter says in the first reading, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

To receive the Holy Spirit means to become like God, means to become someone who loves and is loved, and to see in the love of God the desire to become what it is that God wants for each one of us. And so, what is the Holy Spirit doing in your life?

Recognizing the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the lives of others means to be docile, to admit the Holy Spirit knows better than we do, to share God’s desire, let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified.

It is true that sheep recognize the voice of the shepherd. I have experienced this personally. I stood next to a shepherd once, said and did exactly what he did. But the sheep did not budge. Yet when he did the same thing, the sheep came running toward him.

Jesus is the good shepherd, and we were uniquely created to hear the voice of Jesus, the good shepherd. Our baptism also helps us to see how it is that God is active in others and in our world. When we place ourselves in the presence of God, when we open our souls to hear the voice of the shepherd, God’s goal for us and others is realized.

I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.

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