HOMILY
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 26, 2025
Saint Ann’s Novena Closing Mass
What a joy to be together this night! Praise God for the gift and blessings of this Novena! … I know that you join me in offering words of gratitude to Father Jim O’Shea, Provincial of the Passionist community, to Father Richard Burke and the members of Saint Ann’s Monastery, to Father Jim Paisley, pastor of Saint Ann’s Parish, as well as to the parishioners, friends and supporters of Saint Ann’s for making this incredible time of prayer and worship available to us all. On your behalf, I especially want to extend our thanks to Father Martinez and Father Kiddy for preaching this 101st novena to Saint Ann. You have touched our community deeply and we thank you.
We don’t often have the opportunity to hear a gospel like the one that was just proclaimed as we bring this solemn Novena to Saint Ann to a close. While we’re celebrating the Memorial Mass for Saints Ann and Joachim as we do every year on July 26th, the readings this evening come from those of Sunday, of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time. These scripture passages are quite providential as we bring these nine days of prayer to a close, aren’t they?
Listen again to Jesus’ words: “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened to you.” They sound like the blueprint that we’ve been following throughout this novena. I suspect that there has been a good amount of asking – seeking – and knocking our parts, imploring Saint Ann and a host of heaven’s saints to intercede on our behalf with God.
Let me share with you a conversation that I had with a parishioner, years before I was appointed Bishop of Scranton. I’ve never forgotten it. The parishioner was a devoted, albeit feisty member of the parish who, despite her candor – and probably because of it – was one of my favorites. She was extremely faithful and omni-present at parish events, always eager to help those who were struggling and always capable of making you laugh, being blessed with an incredible Irish whit!
One day as she was reflecting upon a prayer that she had offered for some time that had recently been answered, she said to me with all seriousness, “Father, when I die, I think I’m going to go to hell!” I was knocked over by her words and asked, “Why on earth would you, of all people, ever say such a thing?” Her response, “God has been so good to me throughout my life and has answered so many prayers, I can’t imagine that he can put up with me for all of eternity. At some point, he’s going to have to give up on me!”
Now, I chalked a bit of this conversation up to the blarney that she often tossed about. But I also believe that through what she said, we can all discover something about ourselves … and God.
Simply put, that parishioner’s assessment of God begs a question. How do we understand – how do we see God in relationship to us – his people? More than we might want to admit, many of us often approach that relationship and prayer as if we’re in control and it’s our responsibility to get God’s attention and more significantly, to warrant God’s love and mercy. … How many of us have said something like this to God during this novena or at some point in your prayers: “I have a problem here Lord, which you may or may not know about.” … “I recognize that you must be a little busy these days, Lord. Just saying that I could use a little attention!” … Or worse yet, sometimes we feel we have to wriggle things out of God, and we yield to the “let’s make a deal mentality.” … “I know I don’t deserve a response from you Lord, but if you do this for me, I promise to do that!” … We’ve all been down these roads at some point or another, haven’t we?
If we’re honest enough to admit such struggles with prayer – which I hope we are – it would be well to go back to the question I raised a moment ago, “What is my image of God?” “How do I perceive God in relationship to me?” … Our answers to those questions have a lot to do with how and why we pray. … So too do these words that come from the sacred scriptures: God is love! … So, let’s look at how Jesus teaches us to prayer.
In this evening’s gospel, Jesus teaches us that the first thing that we need to do in our prayer is to begin by saying, “Our Father in heaven, holy be your name.” … In other words, right out of the gate, we acknowledge that any relationship with God automatically places us in relationship with one another. And so, we pray our Father, not my Father or your Father. We are bound to one another – to every soul who is humble enough to approach the Lord – at least from God’s perspective. And in that reality, the first movement on our part in prayer is to praise God for his holiness, mercy and love for all people.
We continue, “Your kingdom come.” Not my kingdom or my will or my way – but yours. For you, O God, have put this entire creation in place and have given us life. Your will should be good enough for us!
We then pray, “Give us each day our daily bread.” … Give us what we need this day – not ten years down the road or when we retire. Give us today what we need today to be your faithful followers.
And finally, we conclude by asking God to forgive us our sins, mindful of the fact that if we are bold enough to ask for forgiveness, we must be generous enough to forgive those who have hurt us.
Do you see anything unique about this prayer that Jesus taught us? Do you sense what lies at its heart? Prayer is not about manipulating or convincing God to respond to what we need or want. … Prayer – as Jesus experienced it and taught it – is all about trust – trusting that the God who has given us life and loved us through his Son, Jesus, all the way to the cross, is not about to let us go.
Brothers and sisters, we’re called to be faithful disciples – but we will never be righteous enough to warrant God’s mercy and love. That is pure gift. As such, it’s not up to us to keep our world patched together. It’s up to God – by God’s choice and according to God’s plan! … Recall these words from Saint John’s gospel, “For God” – God, not us – “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
These are difficult and challenging times, just as they were for Jesus’ disciples. … Our world is polarized and filled with voices of hate, often rooted in religious and cultural differences. … In our own brokenness, some of us unwittingly discriminate against others because of the color of their skin, the way they speak, their country of origin, their lifestyle, and what they don’t have. … The poorest among us suffer while the privileged pay little heed to their needs. … Immigrant and refugee families – the foundation for this great land – are struggling today and living in fear, right here in our city. … And far too many of us grieve losses and suffer due to the consequences of age, illness and sin.
In such unsettled times, brothers and sisters, this novena has given us the opportunity to turn to the only power that can sustain us and carry us forward with hope. God! That’s why we’ve gathered once again in this sacred space as faithful souls have done for 101 years. And we gather, not because we are righteous but because we are all in need of God’s mercy and love!
These days of prayer during this annual Novena to Saint Ann are a treasure beyond imaging for those of us who seek God in our lives. … Why? … Because God is here, giving us hope in times of struggle and challenge. What a gift!
As we bring this novena to a close, may we hold within our hearts words from our late Holy Father, Pope Francis. “Let us follow the path that the Lord desires. … Never allowing ourselves to be tarnished by pessimism or sin, let us seek and look upon the glory of God, which shines forth in us all, men and women who are fully alive through faith.”
So, brothers and sisters – ask, seek, knock until God does something. And he will – for those who trust in his love and mercy. He waits to hear us and to answer our prayers.