Homily | September 22, 2026 | Hearts On Trial (Episode 280)

There's a very strong line in today's first reading.

It says, All the ways of man might be right in his own eyes, but it is the Lord who proves hearts.

In other words, you can convince yourself that you are right.

You can justify almost anything.

You can explain your behavior, you can defend your decisions, you can even convince everyone around you.

But there's one person you cannot fool, and that's God.

Because God does not simply see what we do, God sees why we do it.

And Proverbs is relentless about this.

Pride, dishonesty, greed, arrogance, indifference to the poor, rash decisions.

The reading almost sounds like an examination of conscience.

And right in the middle of it comes this extraordinary sentence To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

That's strong language, because sacrifice was religious.

Sacrifice was something you offered to God.

And Scripture is warning us that it is possible to perform religious actions while our hearts remain far from God.

We can go to mass every day, we can say our prayers, we can wear a crucifix, we can know Catholic teaching, we can even spend our lives working for the church and still resist conversion.

Religion can never become a substitute for holiness.

Then Jesus takes that teaching even deeper in the gospel.

His mother and his brothers come looking for him.

Now that word brothers has confused Christians for centuries, so it's worth explaining.

The Catholic Church does not teach that Mary had other children after Jesus.

In the earliest centuries the church has professed Mary's perpetual virginity.

The scriptures themselves identify some of the men elsewhere called Jesus' brother in relation to another Mary.

So this passage does not require us to conclude that Mary had other biological children.

But once we sweat that question, don't miss what Jesus is actually trying to teach.

Someone tells him, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside.

And Jesus responds, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.

Jesus here is not diminishing Mary.

Actually, he's revealing the deepest reason for her greatness.

Why?

Because before Mary carried the word of God in her womb, she received the word of God in faith.

She says, Let it be done to me according to your word.

She heard and she acted.

And that brings us the entire day together.

Because Christianity is not ultimately about how religious we appear.

It's about what happens when the word of God confronts my life.

Do I obey it?

And that's the question.

Not do I hear the gospel?

Not do I agree with the gospel?

Not even do I know what the church teaches, but am I living it?

Because there's a dangerous kind of Christianity where we become experts at hearing what without changing.

We hear about forgiveness but keep the resentment.

We hear about generosity but remain selfish.

We hear about chastity but make exceptions for ourselves.

We hear about the poor but close our ears to their cry.

We hear about humility while secretly needing everyone to recognize us.

And eventually we become very good at explaining to ourselves why our particular exception is reasonable.

That's exactly where Proverbs finds us.

All the ways of man might be right in his own eyes, but it is the Lord who proves hearts.

So perhaps the prayer for today should be very simple.

Lord, show me where I have become good at justifying what you are asking me to change.

Because Jesus does not say, Blessed are those who hear my word and admire it.

No, he says his family are those who hear the word of God and act on it.

That's the invitation today.

Not simply to stand near Jesus, not simply to know about Jesus, not simply to call ourselves Christian, but to truly allow his word to reach that one place in our lives where we are resisting change.

Hear the word and then do something about it.

Because the distance between hearing Christ and following Christ is measured by one thing obedience.

Amen.