Our Mission To Be Ambassadors Of The Good News

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

June 30, 2025

in Spritual Growth

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June 29, 2025:
Readings: 1 Kings 19: 15-16, 19-21
Galatians: 5:1, 13-25
Luke 9: 51-62
3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time 2025 Homily – Abp. Hines

Christ had a big job to do. He did not fail to fulfill every single assignment He was tasked to do. He understood His major task of redeeming and restoring the world. He knew it was His time to go to Jerusalem to fulfill this task. Jesus could have ignored God’s instructions, but He did not. His relationship with the Father was complete. It wasn’t going to be easy, but He was ready to face whatever things that were to come. It came about that when He, James and John were going to the town of the Samaritans, who hated the Jews, He told them not to mind what they were doing. But James and John began being defensive by asking Jesus if they could summon fire from heaven to come down and scare the Samaritans, but Jesus said no. His attitude was that of forgiveness and love.

Christ knew that He was going to suffer in Jerusalem. But He looked beyond the cross because He was determined in His heart to fulfill His task to redeem the world. What about us when we are going through the toughest challenges? Shouldn’t we maintain the right attitude and not let unfavorable things take away our confidence in God? Christ came with the purpose of redemption, not destruction. 1 Timothy 3:16 “Beyond question, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.” The enemy tried to put so many hindrances in His pathways, but never once did He fight back, but He only did what God told Him to do. Galatians 5:19-23 “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” God gave us sacredness, holiness and righteousness. We are expected to live out this kind of life. The deeds of the flesh keep us from doing what pleases God. They keep us from walking in the ways of God. When we find ourselves being tempted by the devil, and if we succumb to these temptations, we will find ourselves in conflict and not be in peace.

God gave us peace, joy and love. This is how God wants us to live. If someone attacks us, or do things to malign us, we should not retaliate. If we allow ourselves to get upset and frustrated rather to ignore it, our bodies will react negatively. It takes a lot of determination to not let these things bother us.

We should be on a mission as ambassadors of the Good News. The day will come when He will be proclaimed as Lord of lords. We need to accept what Christ has done for us. If we do, it will not cause any anxiety in us. God does not want us to be boastful. He does not want us to compete with one another. If we do not fight back and know in our hearts that Christ is in us, we will have the victory. We need to bring the good news to the world.