Homily: August 11, 2026, Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Sweet as Honey)

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 “Feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.” Ezekiel tells us, “I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.”

Sweet as honey! Is that really how we experience the Word of God?

For many of us, the Word of God can actually be very challenging. It corrects us, directs our conduct, and forms us in Christian discipline. Beginning with the Ten Commandments, we hear many “You shall nots.” Do not do this. Do not do that. Forgive your enemies. Love those who hurt you. Be faithful. Be honest. Carry your cross. Deny yourself.

Sometimes God's Word may feel less like honey and more like medicine—something good for us, but not always pleasant to take.

So was Ezekiel simply using beautiful symbolic language when he said that God's Word was sweet as honey?

Our responsorial psalm today tells us the same thing: “In the way of your decrees I rejoice.” “How sweet to my taste is your promise!” And again, “The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”

How can God's law become so precious and so sweet?

I think we begin to understand it when we look at the bigger picture. God's commandments are not given to make our lives miserable. They are given because God wants to lead us somewhere. He has a plan for our salvation. He has promised us eternal life. He has prepared a place for us, and He desires that we live with Him forever.

Once we understand the destination, the road begins to make sense.

Think about someone making a long and difficult journey to reach a person they deeply love. The road may be tiring. There may be sacrifices along the way. But those sacrifices become lighter because the person knows who is waiting at the end of the journey.

That is our Christian life. Heaven is our destination, and God is waiting for us.

Compared with the joy God has prepared for us, the sacrifices His commandments require are small. When a believer truly understands this, obedience to God's Word is no longer simply a burden. It becomes the road that leads us home. And then God's Word really can become “sweet as honey.”

A child may not always understand why a loving parent says, “Don't do that,” or “You need to do this.” But the child learns to trust: My father loves me. My mother loves me. They want what is good for me.

We are invited to have that same trust in our Heavenly Father.

God loves us. He wants us to be with Him for eternity. So today, like Ezekiel, let us receive His Word. Let us take it in, swallow it, allow it to nourish our souls, and most importantly, live by it. Amen 


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