Homily: 3rd Week of Ordinary Time - Friday - "You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised."

Since Monday of the first week of Ordinary Time our first reading from daily mass has been from the letter to the Hebrews, and we’ll continue to hear from it until the Saturday before Ash Wednesday.

In the New Testament you can find the Letter to the Hebrews immediately after the thirteen Pauline letters.  No one but God knows who wrote this letter.  A passing reference to Saint Timothy seems to suggest that it was written by someone in the circle of Saint Paul and his assistants, but it’s authorship is unknown.

It seems to be addressed to a group of Jewish Christians who were undergoing persecution for their new faith, but we do not know where this group of Jewish Christians lived.  To these Jewish Christians, the author of this letter shows Jesus to be the fulfillment of Old Testament promises. 

Over the past few days, we’ve heard that Jesus is the fulfillment of the old priesthood.  That where the priests of the old covenant offered sacrifice after sacrifice which could not truly take away sins, Jesus is the priest who offers one sacrifice for all of time to take away all of the sins of the world. 

So we find the author of Hebrews in today’s reading, urging those Jewish Christians who are facing persecution not to give up faith. Though you are tempted in the face of hardship, don’t forsake your faith in Christ, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises, and therefore Jesus’ promises will be fulfilled. "You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised."

If you surrender your faith you have lost.  But if you surrender your life to God, you share in Christ’s victory.

What made Christ’s death meritorious was his obedience to the Father, and our sufferings to can become meritorious when we endure our hardships with confidence in union with Him.

A gentleman called the rectory one afternoon asking if he could be a Godparent for a relative.  He hadn’t been to church in two years because he was unemployed and he didn’t see the point.  And I said coming to mass is precisely what you should be doing, so that you and your family could pray together for God’s assistance and you can receive strength in your time of trial.

We will endure hardship in this present age, and our faith shows us how our crosses are part of the road to heaven.

May all that we suffer in the present age but united with the sufferings of Christians throughout the centuries and in the future, a suffering that is united to Christ, a suffering which leads to new life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.