Homily for Monday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time I
20 July 2009
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center
Holy Year for Priests
St. John Vianney, pray for us!
JMJ +m AMDG
Doesn't it stink when a sin we thought we had left behind shows itself in our rearview mirror again? Like the Egyptians showing up again in the rearview mirror of the Israelites. The Israelites thought they were free. Then here they come again. Those darned Egyptians. Coming faster than ever. Stronger than ever.
I talk to a lot of people who get exasperated and discouraged because the same sins seem to haunt them. Even if they are able to get away from those sins for a few weeks or even a few months, they never seem to be completely free. A lot of people wonder if they will ever be able to put a sin behind them forever. It can be disheartening to have to keep dealing with something that we thought we had conquered, like the Egyptians coming after the Israelites.
The story of the Red Sea is a story of how God himself puts an end to sin once and for all, not us. It is God who conquered the Egyptians, and used their stubbornness against them. It was up to the Israelites to have faith that God would conquer their enemies. They had only to allow him to do so, according to his plan, his will and his timetable not theirs. It was hard for the Israelites to trust God, especially when the Egyptians were still pursuing them after all the signs and wonders God had worked. But God was true to his promise.
The desire to put an end to sin has less to do with our gameplans and timetables, as important as it is for us to do everything in our power to avoid the near occasions of sin. No, our desire to put an end to sin ultimately is a question of whether we will trust God enough to unwrap the gift of holiness that he has in mind for us, and for no one else, and to allow God to conquer sin within us according to his plan for us, his will for us and his desire for us to be holy. +m
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