17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 26 Homily

July 26, 2026

Homily in English

As I’ve shared with you at least a couple times previously, my favorite verse in all of Scripture is that which we hear in today’s second reading from Romans – “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  Now just quickly reading this, we might be tempted to hear “All things work out good for those who love God”.  In other words, if I just try to love God more or be a more virtuous person, then everything should work out just fine for me – perhaps even minimize or reduce suffering in my life.  Now, that might be nice if things worked out that way – but they don’t.  None of us is spared suffering, not even in the richest country in the world.  Suffering’s a necessary part of our reality because of sin, stretching back to the origins of humanity with Adam and Eve.

Now, whether it’s explicit or implicit, many people do hold to this type of view – my life should go better because I’m a Christian.  In fact, some preachers out there even proclaim a so-called “gospel of wealth” – which can tend to focus on the blessings of God, sometimes to the exclusion of the reality of trials and difficulties.  And yes, of course our heavenly Father delights in giving us, His children, good gifts.  But our experience tells us that’s not the whole story.  In other words, just because we live out our Catholic faith; just because we pray daily; just because we come to Mass weekly, doesn’t mean that everything will have a fairy tale ending.  And all we have to do is look to Jesus’ life, not to mention His suffering and death, to really understand. 

So, if we hold to a view of Romans 8:28 like that – namely, everything should just go well for me – then, we might slowly get disillusioned, thinking this whole Christian thing’s not all what it’s cracked up to be.  I mean, it’s hard, and we have to take up our cross daily and follow after Him – and lots of non-believers look like their doing just fine without Jesus.  We might even be tempted to give up our faith, or at least drift away little by little.  

So, it’s a good thing, then, that that’s not what St. Paul is talking about in today’s second reading.  Rather, he says that “all things work for good for those who love God.”  What this means is that for those who love God, He takes everything that happens to us in life and wills to bring forth good from it for us – good stuff, bad stuff, in-between stuff.  Everything.  You see, God is truly a good and loving Father.  And as such, because He is good, He can and will bring forth good in the lives of those who love Him.  

Now we might think, well if He’s an almighty and all-loving Father, then why doesn’t He just take away the bad so that all things are good.  But that’s not the way things work.  Parents instinctively know this.  Despite your deepest love and desires for the well-being of your children, you cannot control their lives in such a way to prevent suffering and hardship.  Why?  Because we all have free-will.  And this is necessarily so.  If we didn’t have a free will, then we couldn’t choose to love others.  But this also means that we can choose to not love and hurt them, and cause suffering.  And this reverberates throughout all of creation from the time of Original Sin.

I will tell you that loving God and trusting Him enough to believe that He can and will bring forth good from all things does not come naturally, at least beyond the level of lip-service.  Rather, to really trust that our Father only desires our true and eternal good no matter what the circumstances or occasions requires a true act of faith.  Faith is what pleases Him.  Certitude or knowledge or control, even with the best of intentions does not.  But loving faith in God allows Him to release the power of working good in our lives, because we trust He’s got our back, even when everything else in the natural order might say otherwise.  Now that’s faith that can move mountains.

One of my favorite Catholic psychologists, Dr. Peter Malinoski once shared the following from his decades of clinical practice: “Over and over and over, again, without fail, I have seen that when someone comes to believe, by faith, that all is gift; when a person holds with great confidence that God is pure love, and that all His active and passive acts are good; that He is intimately aware of our suffering and pain; and when that person responds by loving back – then that person experiences a sense of peace and joy that surpasses human understanding.”  God truly desires to work all things for good for those who love Him.

And so, Lord, through this holy Eucharist that we celebrate today – the very sign of your Resurrection from the dead, by which you triumphed over evil, suffering, and death – may we receive a deeper faith to believe in the depths of our hearts that you bring for good for us who love you who are called according to your purpose.  God bless you.