Homily
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time A2
5 July 2026
Independence Day weekend 250 years!
St. Ann Church - Prairie Village, KS
AMDG
How dominant am I?
The word dominant comes from Dominus - the term used for kings and lords in antiquity. The be dominant is to have power. To be dominus is to have supreme power. How much power do I have? How dominant am I?
For 250 years now, the United States has been kicking ass so to speak! We are undefeated, never having been vanquished or occupied. That's quite a winning streak of kicking ass. The fireworks shows should be bigger than ever, a sign of our firepower as the most dominant and powerful nation on earth. Happy 250 years USA! What an incredible run and an incredible experiment these United States are. A government of, by and for the people it governs. No people in history have enjoyed the liberty and prosperity Americans enjoy, no matter whether you like the current politics or not. No matter how you slice it, we are the most blessed people of all time.
Does being a citizen of the most powerful country that is by and for the people make me dominant? What makes someone dominant? We should take our clue from the ultimate Dominus Himself, the most powerful person ever to cross the face of the earth, our Lord and King Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ has a different way of kicking ass. He rides on an ass, making an ass his chariot, a cross his throne and taking thorns as his crown. This is what domination really looks like. Having ultimate power, and using it to give life instead of take it, to serve rather than to use. Whoever wishes to be dominant among you will be the be last of all and servant of all. That is true domination.
Even if the most powerful country on earth, our heroes are not the killers but those killed. No one has greater power than this, than to lay down one's life for one's friends. That's domination. Nobody is truly free unless he has overcome the fear of death. That's domination. Jesus is pre-eminent in this. He has power to lay down his life and take it up again. This is ultimate freedom, not merely freedom from tyranny nor the freedom of choice. It's the freedom to love to the end, to glorify God by choosing to sacrifice for one another in the same manner that He has first loved us.
That's why Catholicism is the ultimate and dominant religion, and why it is meant to flourish in these United States more than anywhere. Under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, we have a chance to live our faith anew on this land. A religion is a shared rule of life, in common pursuit of a highest good which is God Himself. Catholic worship is based in sacrifice, a making things holy by giving life instead of taking it. It is the building up of a Kingdom that attain peace not through war, but by mercy. Its ministers participate in the sacrifice of the King who established an eternal and universal kingdom from sea to shining sea by taking a donkey as His chariot, thorns as His crown and the cross as His throne. That's domination.
The dynamite of this true Lord is how to win the ultimate victory over evil without a shot being fired. Nobody else has found a way to do it.
Our great country exists to preserve the freedom of religion, the right according to one's conscience to pursue the ultimate and common good which is God Himself. The best and ultimate use of one's freedom is to glorify God alone, and to be dominant just how Jesus Christ the Lord is.
Freedom from the yoke of tyranny is meant to embolden the freedom to easily lay down one's life according to one's conviction. Let's use our freedom in awe and wonder and in courageous pursuit of what it truly means to be dominant!
+mj
