Following is the prepared text from Bishop Olmsted’s homily for the third Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“This is the time of fulfillment.”
January 24, 2021
“After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God” (Mk 1:14). John was arrested for telling the king that living with his brother’s wife was wrong. As soon as John’s arrest was reported to Jesus, He knew it was time to leave behind the hidden life of Nazareth and to proclaim the Kingdom of God. He did so with no illusions of what awaited Him. If King Herod detested the prophetic witness of John, he would show even greater disdain for the witness of Jesus. Like John before Him, Jesus called people to repentance; but, in addition, He called them to faith in God.
Listen again to the first words of Jesus, “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). Nothing remained the same after Jesus began His public ministry. He “inaugurated the Kingdom of heaven on earth” (CCC, 542), raising up men and women to share in His own divine life” and gathering them into the Church (Lumen Gentium, 5). What a wondrous fulfillment of the Father’s plan was set in motion when Jesus began to proclaim God’s Kingdom through words and signs. “…Above all through His death and His Resurrection – He accomplished the coming of His Kingdom” (CCC, 542). Sin, disease and death were about to lose their power. St. Paul would write (1 Cor 15:54f):
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? …The sting of death is sin…But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
As disciples of Jesus, we celebrate this victory of our Savior at every Mass. Through the mystery of the Eucharist, we are one with all the saints and angels in Heaven, giving glory and praise to the Father.
However, for reasons known only to God, He allows the forces of evil to continue to battle for a time against Christ’s Body the Church. You and I are constantly reminded of Satan’s battle against the Kingdom of God. The devil’s weapons are lies and violence directed against the most innocent and vulnerable, as happened to Jesus in His suffering and death on the Cross. Still, in unexpected times and ways, God can rescue the lost who seem to be beyond the reach of Redemption.
God did this through the Prophet Jonah whom he called to be a servant of His mercy; but Jonah tried to avoid his mission because he hated the people of Nineveh. Wrong is wrong, Jonah insisted; punishment is what they deserve, not mercy. But God kept on calling Jonah to be His messenger of repentance – not only for the sake of Nineveh but also for the conversion of Jonah. Much to his dismay, Jonah was immensely successful among the people of Nineveh, even though it took much longer for God to successfully bring about the conversion of Jonah himself. Through Jonah, the Lord teaches you and me never to lose hope in the power of God’s mercy to change lives—our own and those whom He gives us to love. God desires not that evildoers be lost but that they be converted and live.
As we gather for Mass today, we cannot forget that two days ago, January 22, marked the 48th anniversary of a day that brought terrible evil to our country: the infamous US Supreme Court decision, Roe v Wade. That shameful and unjust decision removed legal protection of all babies in their mother’s womb; it made legal and led to the killing of over 60 million pre-born children in our land. Millions of these would be in their 30s and 40s today, some would be present here in Church today, if not for “the unspeakable crime of abortion.” What does God say to us, in His holy word, about this national travesty? At least three things:
In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul tells us that every evil, even the most notorious, will come to an end (1Cor 7:29ff). The Apostle writes, “I tell you… the time is running out. …the world in its present form is passing away.” We must not lose hope; the victory over death and sin has been definitively won by Christ. We do not know how long God will allow unspeakable crimes like abortion to continue; but the days are numbered. And as St. Peter wrote, “…with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day” (2 Pet 3:8). In the meantime, it is for us to keep doing our part, bearing faithful witness to the Gospel of Life and condemning the horrific evils happening in our day as John the Baptist did in his day.
Recall the time Jesus told a rich young man (Cf. Mt 19:17), “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” When the young man asked which precepts he should observe, Jesus responded, “You shall not kill.” Why, of the Ten Commandments, did Jesus mention this one first? Perhaps because “You shall not kill” is so frequently ignored, and because so many falsely contend that killing can solve problems. How could killing a baby be good for the baby’s mother? It’s the opposite of what motherhood means.
Reasons given for abortion are built on lies hidden by clever misuse of language. For example, two days ago, on the 48th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Biden stated, and I quote, that he is “…deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to …productive health care.” What he meant by productive health care is abortion. How can killing an infant in the womb be called healthcare? We cannot remain indifferent in face of this great evil built on lies. It is our duty to speak out against such lies and to pray for the conversion of those who espouse them.
At the same time, we must remember that the conversion of those who support abortion will never come about unless our words are animated by love, supported in prayer, and built on God’s mercy. We do well to remember the words that Saint John Paul II addressed to women who had experienced an abortion. In his encyclical The Gospel of Life (#99), he said
“The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly, what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you His forgiveness and His peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost, and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord. With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone’s right to life.”
Dear sisters and brothers, sons and daughters in Christ, now is the time for action. “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” The Lord who called Simon and Andrew, James and John, to be fishers of men, is calling you and me now, in AD 2021, to be faithful witnesses to His Gospel of Life, to insist on the dignity and right to life of every human person from the moment of conception. The stakes are higher now than ever before. God calls us to respond with truth and love, with clarity and charity, to this tragic injustice. No one is ever converted by hate, but neither are they converted by a failure to act.
“The Kingdom of God is at hand.” Wherever God’s Kingdom is accepted in faith, the foreign occupation of Satan, with its ugly products – sin and death – is being overthrown and brought to an end. Only God’s Kingdom will endure. As Jesus said (Mt 24:35), “Heaven and earth will pass away; but my words will not pass away.” These words are as true today as they were 2000 years ago. With unfailing hope, then, let us continue to be Christ’s faithful witnesses. As long as abortion is legal in our land, out of love for Jesus and His Kingdom, like His first disciples, let us stand up against the culture of death and to allow Him, working within our minds and hearts, to build a culture of life.
