2026 Cycle A - 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34

Homily Theme

Your Will

This week, I really felt the Holy Spirit choosing the theme for the Homily for me.  In the opening alternate prayer, the priest prays. ‘Help us to embrace Your Will and give us, the strength to follow your call.’  It really hit me in the Psalm Response, which will either be sung or recited, during Holy Mass on Sunday. ‘Here I am Lord; I come to do Your Will’. Let those words really strike us this week as we will recite them five times.  In a psalm verse we will also hear, ‘To do Your Will Oh God is my delight’.  It is further confirmed for me in the words of Paul in the Epistle. ‘Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the Will of God.’ Paul a persecutor of the Christians hears the call of the Lord Jesus and follows it to painful death. Not his will but the Father’s.

This New Year, may our resolutions be to pray each morning to know the Will of the Father for us that particular day. In the evening, before going to bed, I go over the day to see if I have been successful in keeping it, or I look for the occasions when I have failed to do so. How do we know if we are really listening to the Father in our prayers to Him? How do we know His Will for us?  If we listen carefully to His Word in the readings of the Day, we can pick a word that pops out from the readings and then we can endeavor to live it. That is my method when I write these weekly homilies. The Word that speaks to me the strongest is the Word that I choose for the weekly theme for the Homily. I high light it, so that it jumps off the page for you also. Many  times since the beginning of January, I have received several confirmations, to seek His Will in everyday ordinary things. It has made a major difference to my life. It will make a difference in your lives also. That is why this week’s readings really spoke to my heart and I hope they will speak to your hearts too.

Last week in the Gospel, John the Baptist gives in to the Will of God by baptizing Jesus in the Jordon. It was not what the Baptist wanted to do, but what God the Father Willed. Too many of us want the Father to do our will. We must learn to be more open to the promptings from God in our prayers. We pray not to change the mind of God, but to learn how to know and live His plan for us.  Each day there will be plenty of opportunities for us to stop and ponder the Father’s Will.  When things aren’t going according to our plans, let us remember and mean what we have prayed this Sunday. Here I am, I come to do your Your Will.