From Israel to the Nations: God's Plan for a Global Church
Readings and Mini Virtual Homily for June 14,2026, Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time; Hackers and Hell; Love from London
Dear Friends and Family:
It is Wednesday morning as I am writing this. The homily is more like a homilette as I am flying to London later today and the time I set aside to do a real homily -- last evening -- was caught up cleaning up a hack of my Bishop O'Dowd e-mail account. Thank the good Lord for a friend whose business is cybersecurity and who was on it before I knew the hack had happened. Without his help, I would still be trying to get it all fixed.
It IS fixed, but I lost last evening and do not have time this morning for a real homily. I always leave packing -- and almost everything else with regard to travel 'til the last minute. I have to give the several hours between now and when I leave for the airport to preparations for the trip.
All the same, here are this Sunday's readings and a brief synopsis of each:
Exodus 19:2-6
Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5
Romans 5:6-11
Matthew 9:36 - 10:8
The reading from Exodus includes God's promise to the Israelites that if they are true to the covenant, they will be his "treasured possession among all peoples" (vs.5) and that the Lord will make of them "a kingdom of priests, a holy nation" (vs. 6). This is the real start of the Jews as the Chosen People -- explaining why is something I would do, if I were not flying to London in a few hours!
The psalm predicts the time -- our time -- of the global faith. "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all you lands" Psalm 100 starts, adding "we are his people, the flock he shepherds" (vs. 3). The time of the nations coming to faith is predicted repeatedly in the psalms and the prophets. The Christian faith is found today in every nation on earth; we are the fulfillment of these Old Testament predictions.
The reading from Romans describes God's great saving act in the self-sacrifice of Jesus. Though the Roman community included many Jewish converts, it -- like all the first-century faith communities -- included Gentiles as well. Paul, of course, describes himself as the apostle to the Gentiles, that is, the pagan peoples who would flock to the faith at the preaching of the apostles. The Good News is for all peoples and for all time.
The passage from Matthew describes the call and the commissioning of the apostles. Jesus sends them out at first specifically to the Jewish people -- "Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town" (10:5). Jesus focused his ministry on the Jewish people. But after the Resurrection Jesus explicitly mentions Samaria as one of the places from which the Gospel will originally be spread -- not just to Jews and Samaritans, but to the whole world (Acts of the Apostles 1:8) and so, of course, begins the great work of evangelization which brought about the conversion of our own pagan ancestors and makes us heirs to the promise, echoing today's first reading and set forth in 1 Peter 2:9
"You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart so that you might show forth the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
That'll have to do it, for this one!
Having now been hacked twice (the first time was in march of 2020, right at the start of the COVID shutdowns) I have taken a moment or two to consider the sort of human being who can justify to his conscience committing not just this crime but also this sin. Unrepentant, I do not think it will go lightly for such persons in the Particular Judgment. This strikes me as a pretty serious sin. I told my hi-tech buddy who intervened so effectively on my behalf last night that I suppose I should pray for the salvation of hackers...
A mortifying thought, but after all, Holy Mother Church encourages all of us, and priests in particular, to accept mortifications as a means to sanctity along our pilgrim way. I'll offer a Hail Mary sometime tonight, high above the Canadian Arctic.
Meanwhile...London. Only a few days -- the coming week did not work out for Paris, and a last-minute attempt to add Boston to my itinerary later next week also fell through. Given my brand new novel, which is traveling to London with me, I am okay with this. With the pastor here away most of July on a pilgrimage and with our wonderful and so reliable helper priest (Fr. Celestine, who is studying at the GTU) on a six week scholarship to study in Germany late July til Labor Day...
I am the only priest who is going to spend the summer in Hayward. I take it to mean I will get a lot of writing done. Not gonna complain.
Take good care and God bless.
Cheerio!
Fr. Brawn