Homily for Tuesday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time

For daily readings see http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/061708.shtml

Mary, Queen of Vocations, pray for us!

Well, so much for defining human nature as the propensity to make mistakes. We see this all the time. To err is human. I'm only human. I'm afraid that Jesus who speaks in today's Gospel at the end of the Sermon on the Mount would not agree with these assessments of humanity. It is true, that every human person except two sinned. It is true that the likelihood that we will stop making mistakes on this side of heaven is next to nothing. Still, however, Jesus will not allow us to define being human as the propensity to make mistakes. Concupisence is present, but it does not define what a human person is. Jesus came to restore what was lost when human persons saw the law given them by Moses as the highest point to which humanity could aspire. Jesus think human persons should not just follow good laws, but should go beyond and strive for the perfections that come from God. Through the incarnation, Jesus elevated what it meant to be a human. Because of the Incarnation, to be a human is to have the capacity to be filled with divine perfections. Through his paschal mystery, Jesus redeemed the human heart, and made the human heart capable of sharing in the heart of God. This is what it means when Jesus tells his disciples at the end of the sermon on the mount that they are to no longer to confine themselves to being merely children of this world. No, because Jesus has redeemed humanity, it is possible for us to be children of our heavenly Father. This now it what it truly means to be human, to share in the infinite perfections of God, and to be called children of God insofar as we belong to His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ. So the next time someone tells you that they are only human, take the chance to remind them that Jesus does not see them this way. He is there to forgive our sins, and to transform our hearts, so that being human is something to unequivocally celebrate, not something to be lamented. +m