Homily: June 14, 2026, Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary time (Covenant)

 “… you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people… You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”

What beautiful assurance from our God, stated so clearly in our first reading today.

Imagine the Almighty Creator of the universe saying to us mere human beings that we are His special possession, that we are so dear to Him. He, Who is all powerful, declaring His endearing love for us, who are nothing.

We are truly blessed.

Deep in every person’s heart, there is a longing to be special to somebody, to belong, to be loved and valued.

I have a friend from childhood. His name is Dijol. I have known him since kindergarten. We are somewhat different in a lot of ways.

His parents were teachers, and from a young age he did well in his studies, he would always top the class for tests and exams. He had dreams and ambitions. He always knew he wanted something bigger in life.

My parents were farm people. From young, I helped my parents milk the cows, feed goats and chickens, cut firewood, and work in the fields, even before and after school. I was good with those chores, but very poor in my studies. I would always fail my tests, especially math. And I did not have any big ambition. I thought I would simply become a farmer like my father.

But despite the differences, Dijol and I were the best of friends. He constantly motivated me to put effort into my studies, challenging me to just better my previous scores, even if by a small margin. But I always failed him. He would be so disappointed.

On the other hand, I knew the forests, the fields and the rivers very well. I could hunt, collect wild honey and trap wild chickens easily. Sometimes over the weekends I would take Dijol with me on those adventures, because on his own, he would be lost.

So often we would drift apart when I failed my exams, then we came back together for more adventures together. We kept up because I know, the friendship mattered more to him than my failures.

To this day, although we have gone our separate ways, we are still in touch and could just call each other and pick up from where we left off, like there was never a lapse of time.

Such is our friendship. The differences, the failures, the distance do not determine the strength of our connection.

This is how God’s relationship with humanity is like. God made a covenant of love with His people, yet again and again we failed Him. He made His covenant first with Adam, who disobeyed Him, then with Noah, but sin returned. Then with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon… and His people broke the covenant every time.

Yet God never stepped away. He remains faithful and draws us to Himself, generation after generation, year after year, day after day.

And truly, we can always call on God anytime, and He will pick us up from where we left Him, like we have never been separated at all. He is ever ready to forgive and erase all our sins.

St. Paul says in the second reading: “While we were still helpless… Christ died for the ungodly…While we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

God did not wait for us to become holy before loving us. He loved us first. Even when humanity continues to reject Him, betray Him, and sins against Him, He does not change His mind. We are still His special possession, His holy nation.

That is the story of salvation: an unfaithful people with a faithful God.

Today Jesus invites us again, into a deeper covenant with Him, a deeper relationship.

Let us not hold back anything anymore, let us want to belong to Jesus completely.

Amen.