Twenty-second Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Good morning. As Father Thomas so kindly introduced me
earlier, I am Father Steve Nyl, a Redemptorist currently stationed in sunny
If you know anything about
the city of
But when yeast is used
properly, as my mother did. You know,
you put it in with the flour and the water and the other ingredients, you put
it in a bowl, cover it up, set it aside, what a difference. It transforms. It’s alive.
It’s living. And it makes a
difference.
Today we hear St. James
talking about the word of God. Humbly
accept the word of God planted within you.
The word of God is living not simply words on a page in a beautiful book. It is alive.
And the word of God takes root in our hearts for a purpose. Like yeast it transforms, it changes, it
grows within us if we permit it, and it purifies us. It prepares us. Among other things it prepares us to receive
the Eucharist which continues that transformation, that gives us life and
nourishment and strength to live the word of God beyond these walls. And so that word is planted in each of
us. A living word to transform our
hearts, to purify them, to prepare them.
In the gospel today Jesus
goes through a litany of not-so-nice thing that defile us, that make us
unclean, none of which come from out there but from within ourselves. The word of God, once planted in our hearts
purifies, cleanses, prepares us so that all of those dirty thing are set aside. That we can grow in holiness. That we can live that word of God, so rich,
so wonderful, no alive in our hearts. We
do that as church.
I am here today on behalf of
my brother Redemptorist missionaries who go out throughout the world precisely
to plant that seed, that word of God in the hearts of all the people they
encounter. People who have never had an
opportunity to hear the word. Our men
who go to Brazil, to the remotest villages up and down the Amazon, other parts
of the country preaching, proclaiming that living word with joy to a people who
perhaps have never had an opportunity to hear it, but who receive it with grace
and with warmth and with joy. They bring
with them the truth of the faith, the life giving sacraments that help the
people of Brazil to grow in holiness.
That that living word of God can transform their hearts as well.
Our men in Thailand working
with the poorest of the poor. The slums
of Bangkok, working with prostitutes, with those who have been discarded or
abandoned by society, the handicapped, those who have AIDS, children, adults,
orphans, with the people that normally no one wants to associate with. Our men are there joyfully proclaiming that
living word, bringing hope to people who otherwise wouldn’t have any.
In Nigeria, a church truly
growing. On a Sunday you couldn’t get in
a church. So may people. Thousands come, participate actively in the
sacraments to hear that living word.
With joy they walk for miles to be able to receive the life that only
Our Lord Jesus can bring. And our men
are there to share.
As Redemptorists we have
been missionaries now for 277 years.
Going throughout the world to those who have been abandoned, who
normally no other opportunity to hear that word, to receive Jesus Himself, to
have their marriage blessed, to be reconciled with the Lord, to be baptized,
confirmed, to heal the sick. And we do
it freely. The word of God is free.
There is no cost whatsoever except if we accept it, then we give our lives in
return. We give our very selves in
service to God. But the word is free. The sacraments are free. The truth of our Catholic faith is free.
But my brothers and sisters
I am here to ask your help. First of all
your prayers. Please pray for the
Redemptorist missionaries. Prayer supports
and sustains us in our ministry. It’s
necessary that we pray for one another, for the spread of the gospel, the
spread of the faith in a world so dearly in need of it. Pray that our men may persevere.
Pray also for the people of
God to whom they are sent. In Brazil,
Thailand, Nigeria, in all other parts of the world where there are more or less
6000 Redemptorists for the Lord. Please
pray for vocations in this Year of the Priest.
I selfishly ask you to pray for Redemptorist vocations so that the
people throughout the world can continue to be served by men who truly wish to
do so in far flung places and here in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota as well so
that we can continue to do what St. Alphonsus founded us to do.
Pray for yourselves as well
because you see, brothers and sisters, while there may be almost 6000 of us
that’s not enough and we are not the only laborers in the vineyard of the
Lord. Every single one of us is a
baptized Christian has that mission. And
so we, gathered here today, who have been able to hear that living word of God,
and in a few moments will be able to receive Jesus Himself in His body and
blood, we too are sent forth as missionaries.
If that word of God is transforming our hearts, then as a church
wherever we find ourselves outside of these walls, we can participate in the
transformation of the world by making the word of God visible in our actions,
in our words, in the way that we treat one another. All of us together have that mission.
Because you see that word of
God doesn’t only transform our hearts, but once transformed together our
mission is to transform the world. That we are, as James said, unstained by the
world. That we don’t allow the world and
its ways to transform us, but that by our presence as the people of God, we,
through God’s grace and the action of Jesus, we transform the world.
And so I ask your
generosity, brothers and sisters. In
prayer and also in support. And so for
your greater pleasure and enjoyment we will have a second collection after
Communion. And I do ask you to be as
generous as is possible. As I say, our
men go out freely and don’t expect anything in return but we know that in the
world, in the reality of our daily existence everything else as a cost and so
we do need your help to support our houses, or ministry, or seminaries, to
support the work of God out there. So
please be generous. Pray for us. I will pray for you.
I thank you and may Almighty
God bless you!