HOMILY FOR THE ANNUAL CATHOLIC CAMPAIGN 2022
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
In the Gospel Jesus speaks of the narrow door and says that “many will try to enter but will not succeed”. The door may be narrow but it is always God’s will that everyone get through. The prophet Isaiah makes this clear when he has God saying, “I am coming to gather the nations of every language”. God may have chosen a people for himself, but only in order to gather every people and nation to himself. The divine plan embraces everyone; no-one is excluded. Not all will make it, but all are called to come through the narrow door into the fulness of life.
No-one is excluded because all are members of God’s family, flesh and blood of the God who has no favourites, even if he keeps an eye out especially for those who are excluded. They have a special place at the family table “at the feast in the kingdom of God”.
Jesus tells us that many will try to enter by the narrow door but will not succeed. They will be excluded because they themselves have excluded others. That is the sole criterion for entry. You will enter if you have allowed others to enter, even helped them to enter. But you will be excluded, will exclude yourself, if you have excluded others, especially the poorest and weakest.
The Annual Catholic Campaign is all about the radical inclusiveness of God. It’s all about helping others to enter through the narrow doorway into life, especially the poorest and the weak, those who weep and are wounded; and it’s all about helping others to enter through the narrow so that we ourselves may enter and come to “the feast in the kingdom of God”.
Supporting these ministries through the Annual Catholic Campaign involves renunciation, even sacrifice. I ask you to make an assessment of what you can give and to do so in recognition of where your true security lies, what your life really depends upon.
The Annual Catholic Campaign intends to call the Catholic people of the Archdiocese into the unfolding plan of God – not just to help the needy but to help change bad systems and bring to birth a new ordering of human relationships, a society where sisters and brothers can walk together through the narrow door and take their place, all of them, “at the feast in the kingdom of God”.
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
In the Gospel Jesus speaks of the narrow door and says that “many will try to enter but will not succeed”. The door may be narrow but it is always God’s will that everyone get through. The prophet Isaiah makes this clear when he has God saying, “I am coming to gather the nations of every language”. God may have chosen a people for himself, but only in order to gather every people and nation to himself. The divine plan embraces everyone; no-one is excluded. Not all will make it, but all are called to come through the narrow door into the fulness of life.
No-one is excluded because all are members of God’s family, flesh and blood of the God who has no favourites, even if he keeps an eye out especially for those who are excluded. They have a special place at the family table “at the feast in the kingdom of God”.
Jesus tells us that many will try to enter by the narrow door but will not succeed. They will be excluded because they themselves have excluded others. That is the sole criterion for entry. You will enter if you have allowed others to enter, even helped them to enter. But you will be excluded, will exclude yourself, if you have excluded others, especially the poorest and weakest.
The Annual Catholic Campaign is all about the radical inclusiveness of God. It’s all about helping others to enter through the narrow doorway into life, especially the poorest and the weak, those who weep and are wounded; and it’s all about helping others to enter through the narrow so that we ourselves may enter and come to “the feast in the kingdom of God”.
Supporting these ministries through the Annual Catholic Campaign involves renunciation, even sacrifice. I ask you to make an assessment of what you can give and to do so in recognition of where your true security lies, what your life really depends upon.
The Annual Catholic Campaign intends to call the Catholic people of the Archdiocese into the unfolding plan of God – not just to help the needy but to help change bad systems and bring to birth a new ordering of human relationships, a society where sisters and brothers can walk together through the narrow door and take their place, all of them, “at the feast in the kingdom of God”.
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