3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: January 24/25, 2026

Welcome to the beginning of Catholic School’s week.  I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that having a Catholic School in our parish is one of God’s gifts to us, and I will get back to this toward the end of my homily, although what I have to say between now and the end, is not unrelated. . .

As I was looking at the line-up of Scriptures for these 6 weeks of Ordinary Time before Lent begins, I decided I wanted to take these Sundays to talk about something very central to our faith and very important to our faith, and that is stewardship, not because I think we are bad stewards, quite the opposite, I think we are very good stewards of the gifts God has given us in this parish, and I just want to re-enforce that by a little extra attention to the Scriptures.

Through our Baptism and commitment to Christ, we are called to be good stewards:

Those who receive God’s gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them with others lovingly, and return them with increase to the Lord.  So, stewardship is not just a thing we do, rather, it is at the core of who we are as followers of Christ.  For instance, the words from the Prophet Isaiah gives us the image of light once again: “The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shown.”

We are among those blessed people on whom the light of Christ has shone.  Because of our Baptism, we, who were once in the darkness and gloom of sin, have been born again into the great light that is God’s grace shining in us.  We are cherished members of God’s family! What a privilege, what a gift, and we should receive it with great gratitude and cultivate it responsibly But, do we always see our life as a gift? or do we simply take it for granted?  And with the privilege of being a member of God’s family, the Body of Christ, comes the responsibility to actually live for God and to bring the Good News of the Gospel to others, at work, at school, in our community and most especially, right in our own home.

Unless we live in the grace this privilege brings us, divisions and rivalries crop up in our lives, like the ones St. Paul talks about in Corinth.  That is why he needs to encourage them, and us   to “be united in the same mind and the same purpose,” because it was Christ, and only Christ, who suffered and died for us, to free us from our sins and to gain for us eternal life.  Our lives then, are not about us, our egos, our personal ambitions, our loyalties.  But our very lives belong to God, and so our priority must be to bring the light of Christ to others, sharing our gifts, lovingly.

And St. Matthew in the Gospel reminds us that there is a certain urgency that comes with the call of being a follower of Christ, “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  In other words, turn away from selfishness, turn toward God, and live as a disciple now, not tomorrow, not next week, but now.

Simon Peter and his brother Andrew were going about their business, casting their nets into the sea, when Jesus called. They AT ONCE left and followed Jesus, possibly even just leaving their fishing nets in the water!  They followed Jesus not tomorrow, not next week, but right then.

And then two other brothers, James and John, who were working alongside their father, who, when Jesus called out to them, IMMEDIATELY left the boat and their father and followed Jesus… not tomorrow, not next week, but right then: they did not wait or put it off.

There is a certain urgency that comes with the call to follow after Jesus. It’s something that cannot be put off to a more convenient time, or something that can wait. NO, right here, right now, Jesus is calling us, and we need to respond:  to say, “hear I am Lord, I come to do your will” as Deacon Jim challenged us last week, and as we sang in our opening song.

AND YOU HAVE RESPONDED TO THAT CALL OF JESUS, by being good stewards, giving of your time, your talent, your treasure, receiving those gifts gratefully, cultivating them responsibly, sharing them lovingly, and returning them with increase to the Lord.

Nowhere is that more clear than in the primary ministry of our parish, our ministry of education. If you don’t know, our school is growing. This year we have 196 students, and we have the privilege of not only teaching them math, and science, and history, but teaching and modeling for them how to be a good person, how to be a holy person, a saint in the making,  a good disciple by holding up to them the example of Christ who was kind, peaceful, generous, good, loving, gentle, faithful and joyful:  the core values we try to teach our students every day.

And this could not be done without the help of everyone in our parish who are willing to make the sacrifices needed to educate students in our school, and in El Salvador, where we have 22 high school students and 23 university students that we sponsor.  We also have 27 students preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation, and 25 preparing for their First Communion.

No doubt we are able to be the stewards God is calling us to be, by consistently being nourished at this table of the Lord where little by little we are changed more and more into the image and likeness of Christ and serve him by serving one another.

So, thank you for being good disciples, good stewards, good images of Christ for all to see.  Thank you for being the light that brings others out of the darkness and points them to Christ.  Thank you for supporting and nurturing those in our school and religious education programs,  the next generation of stewards in our community of faith!