06/14/2026
Father Rudy said the 4p Mass today. Here is his homily.
- 11TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Ex 19:2-6; Rom 5:6-11; Mt 9:36-10:8
Brothers and sisters, today the Word of God offers us a message that is deeply tender and, at the same time, very challenging. It reminds us who God is for us, who we are for Him, and what He expects from His people.
In the book of Exodus, we contemplate a God who never grows tired of accompanying His people. He brought them out of Egypt, sustained them in the desert, and now He tells them: "You will be my treasured possession." How beautiful it is to hear this today. God does not look at us as a number or just another case. He looks at us as
His most precious treasure.
And like every loving father or mother, God not only cares for us: He also entrusts us with a mission. He invites us to be light, to be a blessing, to be a bridge between Him and others.
In our families, in our workplaces, in the parish... each one of us is called to be a living sign of God.
In the second reading, Saint Paul reminds us of something that should shake our hearts:
God loved us first. He loved us when we did not deserve it, without conditions or calculations.
In a world where love is often negotiated or measured, God offers us a tove that is free, faithful, and patient — a love that sustains us when we fail, when we grow tired, when we feel we cannot go on.
This love is not an abstract idea. It is a love that becomes presence, companionship, and embrace. It is a love that does not withdraw when we stumble, that is not disappointed in us, that does not measure us by our successes or our failures. It is a love that enters our wounds with the tenderness of someone who heals without hurting, who lifts up without humiliating.
Christ knows our struggles and contradictions... and yet He looks at us with tenderness.
He does not wait for us to be perfect before coming close; on the contrary, He approaches us just as we are, with our burdens and doubts. He loves us not to leave us where we are, but to lift us up and teach us to walk again.
When we allow ourselves to be loved in this way, something changes inside. The heart becomes more compassionate, life becomes less heavy. We no longer walk alone: we walk sustained by a love that never fails.
Today's Gospel shows us the heart of Jesus: a heart that is alive, attentive, and full of tenderness. Jesus looks lovingly at the tired, feels compassion for those who wander without direction, and acts without delay to lift up, heal, and accompany. His compassion becomes mission. That is why He calls the Twelve and sends them out. And today He says to us: “Go... proclaim... heal... comfort... give freely what you have freely received."
It is as if Jesus were saying: "Be my hands that caress, my eyes that notice the one who suffers, my heart that embraces and encourages." Because the world needs that love that does not stay still, but goes out to meet others with simplicity and joy.
Brothers and sisters, God loves us without conditions. His love does not depend on our merits; it is a love that embraces us just as we are. God calls us to be His people, His most cherished treasure, and from that love He sends us to bring hope wherever life becomes difficult.
And this mission does not begin far away, but in the everyday moments: - when we listen patiently to someone who needs to open their heart; - when we forgive so that peace can return home; - when we accompany the sick with a visit, a prayer, or a simple "I'm with you"; - when we encourage a young person searching for direction; - when we offer a word of faith to someone who is sad or confused.
May this Eucharist renew in us the certainty that we are God's beloved peopte, called to live with a heart like the heart of Jesus: a heart that serves, listens, embraces, and gives itself without fear.
And may Mary, our Mother - the first disciple and missionary — take us by the hand and teach us to respond like she did, with simplicity and courage, every morning and in every situation of life: "Here I am, Lord, send me." Amen.
