Love God and Love Your Neighbor: Virtual Homily for October 25, 2026
Readings and Virtual Homily for October 25, 2026, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Nice and Easy Does It
Readings for Mass this Sunday:
Exodus 22:20-26
Psalm 18:2-4, 47, 51
1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Matthew 22:34-40
Dear Friends and Family,
In the passage from Matthew this week Jesus tells the Pharisees that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, body and soul. He then adds that the second greatest is like it, that we love our neighbor as ourself. Jesus assures the Pharisees that in these two commandments all the rest of the law subsists; that is, if we attend to these two commandments, we are fulfilling the will of God.
We get a striking set of examples of how to love others as ourself from the first reading. The passage is from chapter twenty-two in Exodus, one of the (many) "law code" chapters of the book. The several verses in today's reading mention the resident alien, the widow and the orphan; they mention the poor. They direct the reader to take responsibility for those less fortunate, for the marginalized and the vulnerable, assuring us how precious these least little ones are to God (vss. 22, 23, 26)).
Those marginalized and vulnerable in twenty-first century America certainly continue to include the resident alien, but by and large the "needy" in our day are not as noticeable as they were at the time of Exodus, or at the time of Jesus. With the exception of the homeless, who might be encountered anywhere, most marginalized folks today are out of sight. Most of us, going about our day-to-day routines, are unlikely to encounter them.
To fulfill the command to attend to the needs of the poor these days most likely translates to such possibilities as volunteering for our parish St. Vincent de Paul chapter, or at Open Heart Kitchen in the Tri-Valley or at St. Anthony's Dining Room in San Francisco. Financial support for these and so many other wonderful institutions is, of course, another way of "showing up" for the marginalized.
The need in the world is so great that it can be overwhelming just to sit down and really think about it. Since saving the world is God's job, not ours, we need not be overwhelmed. The best advice I have to offer on this business is to find a charity or some social service organization whose goals align with your values and support it as much as you are able. Volunteer, if so inclined; or support the organization with regular donations, but be active and consistent in your giving to it. Help it make a real difference in the lives of the less fortunate.
St. Paul assures us the Lord loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). My mom's great love was the effort of the missionaries in India. Not just because the missionaries were teaching the faith, but because they were building hospitals, clinics, schools, orphanages, soup kitchens and so on in some of the subcontinent's poorest areas. Every month after paying the bills, she would figure out how much she had to send to Maryknoll and/or the Salesians in Chennai or Varanasi or Delhi. She developed regular correspondence with leaders of a couple of the congregations she supported. After writing checks to pay bills, she would sometimes hold up the check going to India and say, "It's exciting to think what THIS check is going to pay for!"
Jesus' words, of course, go beyond charity or social activism; they invite us to treat everyone, not just the poor, as we ourselves would like to be treated. I think we all know just how hard this can, at times, be. It is especially challenging when we try to apply it to someone who has not treated us the way we would like to be treated.
These are the times when discipleship is stretched, is strengthened, is deepened. It takes conscious effort, a real self-direction of the will, sometimes, to fulfill this commandment. A real consideration of what is required here can lead into a discussion of forgiveness and its issues, and that is beyond the scope of this homily. So I will leave it there. The command itself is pretty simple, pretty straightforward, and if at times we struggle to fulfill it, the struggle itself has real value; we are building muscle as disciples.
Three weeks ago, as I was leaving Washington Hospital, I had doctor's orders to not even think about returning to work for ten days. I let folks know as much and I think, no, actually, now I know, I created a false impression about the length of my rehab period, as a result. I myself did not know what to expect, with the hospital-prescribed home rehab protocol. I have never been hurt like this in my life; it is all new to me.
Twenty days have passed since I left Washington and I have certainly another twenty days in rehab ahead, plus probably another ten or twenty beyond that. Without getting into too many specifics, let's just say that knee rehab tends to be tricky and slow, and that goes double for double knee rehab, which is where I am. I have canceled commitments into mid-November; we'll see then where I am and what I might be able to start picking back up with.
Because I have gotten questions about it, the November 7 Day of Reflection here in the parish has been canceled. I wanted to wait until this week to make a call on it, because I really was hoping to be able to do it. And though my progress so far has been glacial -- steady, but glacial -- I have been assured that because I broke nothing, there will come a point where my recovery should flow relatively smoothly and rapidly.
Well, I don't think I will have reached that point by November 7. So we need to let folks know that, with real regret, the day has been canceled. Along with, as mentioned, everything else into the middle of next month.
I remain in good spirits. I am convinced that, for all that this is, of course, a physical trial, the real reasons it has happened are spiritual and that I need to be open to promptings, insights, new understandings, as I progress toward full physical healing. There is a whole lot of spiritual growth possible here and I do not want to miss any opportunity to allow the Lord to maximize that growth in me. This is about a reset. A reset involving the next decade of my priestly service. So, as I said last time, please pray for my discernment, along with praying for full physical recovery.
Meanwhile, really, one of the great, great graces in this bizarre set of circumstances: I am in no pain. The PT exercises remind me that my knees remain fairly swollen and stiff. I can feel my knees being challenged to stretch and release, doing the exercises. But the exercises do not cause pain. I am doing more of these exercises each week; I have upped my exercise routine to between ninety and one hundred minutes a day, and -- given the fact that I am not in pain -- it kinda feels like "nice and easy does it." No need to rush anything. These exercises will get me to the other side of this, in their own sweet time.
Thanks again for the prayers, all the expressions of love and support -- the cards, the gifts, the flowers, etc. I am feeling the blessings.
Take good care. God bless.
Love,
Fr. Brawn