Homily for August 16: 20th Sunday: Romans 11:13-15,29-32

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(Please read the passage cited above first.)

My sisters and brothers,

The gifts of God and the choices God makes are irrevocable.  God chose the children of Abraham, the Jewish people and God will not change that.  This choice is for all ages and is certain.  Just as a leopard does not change his spots, so also God does not change the choices God makes: they are forever.

In the sacrament of baptism, God has made us God’s own children and the bride of Christ who is the bridegroom.  We are Christ forever and God is our parent forever.  We are members of God’s family in good times and in bad, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health.  We are united more closely to God than husband and wife are to each other.

We are members of our families.  We share the same DNA as our siblings and our parents.  We are sons or daughters, brothers or sisters and no one can separate us from our family connections.  We are always family in good times and in bad, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health.

God has made a covenant with us in our baptism for God to be our God and for us God’s people forever.

No sin can separate us from Christ and God.  No sin can destroy our baptism or the choice God has made of us.   No demon can separate us from Christ as the demon found out in today’s gospel.

The will of God and the choice God has made is that the whole world come to know God’s Son and share in the promises of God.  The gifts of God and the choices God makes are irrevocable.

It is through God’s mercy that God chose the children of Abraham, the Jewish people.  It is through the same mercy of God that God has chosen us to be children of God.  It is through the same mercy that God has called us away from our sins to receive forgiveness of them.  Why?  Because the gifts of God and the choices God makes are irrevocable.

God has made a covenant with day and night so that one always follows the other.  God has made a covenant with us at baptism that is stronger than the covenant with day and night.  We shall always have day and night and always God is faithful to the covenants God makes.  The gifts of God and the choices God makes are irrevocable.  God’s choices are forever.