(Given at the 8:30 and the 10:30 am Sunday Masses at OLP)
I love our second reading from St. Paul this morning. He starts by asking his listeners to pray for everyone, and especially those in authority. Today, this includes politicians we may not agree with, even priests we may not be fond of. At the time, it meant the Roman emperor Nero! He was the guy who persecuted Christians and blamed the fire in Rome on them! Why pray this way? That Christians might live peaceful and tranquil lives in the world, while not of the world. And, because God wills everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. This divine desire includes people like Trump, Biden, Obama, Bush, Fr Brad, myself, Pope Francis, Pope Leo, Mao Tze Tung, Vladimir Putin, etc., etc. God wants to convert all people to himself in his Catholic Church. He wills the good of everyone. Whether one responds to his grace in another matter, but our Father in Heaven wants people to come to the knowledge of the Truth, his Son, Jesus Christ. Paul continues that Christ died for all, he is the one mediator who has reconciled the one God and all of humanity in himself. Christ died for you, me, and everyone on the list I just mentioned and more. He even died for those whom he knows will reject him. That is the radical nature of his love for us. And it is from the love, that Paul received his vocation as an apostle to the Gentiles. Same with us, my brothers and sisters. Anyone can be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Christ has paved the way and made it possible for anyone to be a saint. Our job is to pray for everyone, whether we like them or not. Who can you and I pray for today that maybe we don’t like?