A Homily for Friday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
Friday, October 3, 2025
Prince of Peace Catholic Church – 8:00 Mass
Baruch 1:15-22; Psalm 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9; Luke 10:13-16
Audio Recording
I once heard someone say, ‘I don’t make mistakes — I thought I did once, but I was mistaken.’ Well, today’s readings remind us the people of Israel weren’t THAT stubborn. They eventually admitted their mistakes, their sins, and turned back to God, and that’s the kind of honesty that leads to mercy.”
Our first reading today comes from a prayer of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. They look back over their history and see clearly how they had turned away from God. Instead of making excuses, they confess: “We have sinned…we have disobeyed.” It is a moment of painful honesty, but also of hope — because they know that when they turn back to God, He is merciful.
In the Gospel, Jesus laments over the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. They had seen His miracles, heard His teaching, and yet they refused to repent. He says that if Tyre and Sidon — pagan cities known for corruption — had seen such wonders, they would have “sat in sackcloth and ashes.” That phrase — sackcloth and ashes — is worth reflecting on. In the ancient world, people wore coarse, uncomfortable sackcloth and covered themselves with ashes as a visible sign of sorrow for sin.
For example, when Jonah preached to Nineveh, everyone from king to beggar repented this way. Ashes symbolized destruction and purification. Sackcloth symbolized the rejection of false comforts. It was not just an interior act of sorrow — it was outward and visible.
We still experience this every Ash Wednesday, when we let the world see the cross of ashes traced on our forehead. But Jesus challenges us today to go further: our repentance should not only be interior but sometimes it must be visible, so that others are helped and healed by it. This is because our sins never hurt just ourselves; they damage others too, requiring acts of reparation.
It is never too late to respond to God’s grace. Today’s readings should give us hope. God’s mercy is always fresh, always offered, no matter how long we’ve remained a slave to a particular sin. If we’re willing to be honest like the exiles in Baruch — if we can name our sins humbly and ask for mercy — then God can use even our failures to glorify His name.
Perhaps we can think of one area of life where God has been nudging us to change: maybe a strained relationship that still needs healing, maybe a habit of gossip or complaining, or maybe a lack of patience with ourselves or others. Today is a chance to say: “Lord, I hear Your voice. I will not harden my heart.”
What might “sitting in sackcloth and ashes” look like today? We don’t need to wear goat hair or cover ourselves in ashes at home. But we can take practical, public steps to show that we are sorry. For example:
- If we’ve hurt someone with harsh words, we can make an effort to let them know we’re sorry for not controlling our tongue. Maybe send a note or give them a call to apologize.
- If we struggle with impatience, we should let the one we have hurt know that we regret our behavior and do something special for them, offering this kindness in reparation for the harm we’ve done.
The bottom line is that OUTWARD SIGNS OF REPENTANCE matter. They help heal relationships and strengthen our own resolve to change. They glorify God, who is so merciful when we repent and turn back to Him.
So, today let sorrow for our sins be not only in our heart, but also reflected in acts of reparation toward those who have been hurt by us. In this way they will tangibly experience our regret, helping them to forgive and reconcile with us, restoring our peace with one another. Amen?