Homily: June 4, 2024, Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

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“But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

We all have our hobbies, areas of passion and interest. At one point in my life, I was very interested in cars, and I followed closely all the new technologies and happenings in the car industry. I could identify every car on the street and knew all their technical aspects. Although now I'm not as crazy as before, I still pay attention to new makes and models of cars launched.

I am sure you too have your passion in sports, music, the arts, or other areas of interest, and you would also follow closely all the updates and changes relevant to your interest. What you know about this area would be more in-depth and extensive than the normal person.

What about the knowledge of God? The Catholic Church? The faith?

Do we also put in much effort to know, understand and follow closely all that involve and are relevant to our faith?

In today’s first reading, St. Peter urges the people to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord. Growing in grace means living in communion with God through the frequent reception of and participation in the sacraments. It is being interested and passionate about this area of our lives.

We also need to grow in the knowledge of the Lord. There is a lot of depth in our faith, and people who study Scripture, Tradition, and Theology seriously are usually very fascinated by what they discover from the study.

We need to know our church, our faith. In his first letter, St. Peter says, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”

Do we know what we hope for in our faith?

Without a good understanding of our faith, we will be easily influenced and swayed by contradictory views. That always leads to dissatisfaction with the church and in time, our faith will be shaken.

As Fulton Sheen said so wisely, “There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.”

If we misunderstand the church, we will hate it. But if we know the church correctly, we will love it and be ready to die for it, we will pursue to know even more and will love even deeper.

To grow in grace and in knowledge of God, is to grow stronger in love with God and His church. While we like to pursue our interests, let us channel more energy and attention to engage and grow in the most important pursuit, which concerns our eternity.

To know, to love, to serve. Amen.

 


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