October 3, 2025 Homily for First Friday (Luke 10:13–16)
Friday of the 26th week in ordinary time.
{Lent / Ash Wednesday themes]
1. Beginning with the End in Mind
There is a well-known line from the writer Stephen Covey:
“Begin with the end in mind.” People remember it from his book The Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People. In a sense, he stumbled upon something Christians
already know: life makes sense only when we keep the end in mind.
But for us, the “end” is not simply a career goal or
earthly success. Jesus Himself tells us what our true end is: eternal life with
God. As Pope Francis reminds us, “the end of our life is the communion of love
with God” (General Audience, 15 Feb 2023). If we keep that end before us, our
choices today will be different.
2. The Gospel Warning
In today’s Gospel Jesus gives a very sobering reminder: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! … And you,
Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades”
(Luke 10:13–15).
These cities had witnessed His mighty works, yet they
reused to repent. Their refusal was not about ignorance—it was about hardness
of heart.
The Catechism tells us: “The Word of God calls us to
conversion; the refusal of that call separates us from the grace of the
Kingdom” (CCC 2610). Jesus’ words today are not meant to frighten us, but to
awaken us. To ignore His call is to miss the very purpose of life. To respond
in faith is to enter into communion with His Kingdom.
3. First Friday and the Sacred Heart
This warning connects directly with why we gather on the
First Friday of the month. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is not just a
pious custom—it is an invitation to receive Christ anew in the Eucharist, to
repair with prayer the sins that wound His Heart, and to recommit ourselves to
conversion.
The Directory on Popular Piety explains that First Friday
devotion calls the faithful “to make reparation for the sins that wound the
Sacred Heart of Jesus” and that this practice only bears fruit when it leads us
back to the Eucharist, especially Sunday Mass. In other words, First Friday is
not an end in itself. It points us toward the great center of our week: the
Lord’s Day.
Just as Friday on the calendar prepares us for the
weekend, the First Friday of each month prepares us spiritually for the Sunday
Eucharist—the true source and summit of our life.
4. A Day of Penance and Preparation
Traditionally, every Friday is a day of penance, because
it recalls the Passion of the Lord. Sometimes people think of this only during
Lent, but the Church reminds us that every
Friday carries this character.
What can we do? Perhaps something simple and hidden: give
up a favorite snack, fast from social media, or take on an act of charity
without announcing it. Jesus tells us that our Father sees what is done in
secret. A small sacrifice, done with love, repairs the wounds of sin and unites
us to His Sacred Heart.
5. Forgiveness as Reparation
There is also a deeper act of reparation we can practice:
forgiveness. To forgive someone is to say, “I believe you can change—even if I
don’t see it yet.” That is exactly what God believes about us when He forgives
us in Christ.
The Catechism reminds us: “The Christian is obliged to
forgive those who have offended him” (CCC 2839). Forgiveness and reparation are
not political concepts here; they are spiritual ones. They are ways of
repairing love that has been wounded, of healing hearts—ours and others’—by
believing that God’s grace can transform us.
6. Conclusion
So today, on this First Friday, we are invited to:
____Keep the true end in mind: eternal
life with God.
____Hear the warning of Jesus: not to
resist His call to conversion.
____Practice devotion to His Sacred
Heart: through the Eucharist, reparation, and penance.
____Live forgiveness as an act of
faith in the power of God’s grace.
May this devotion prepare us not just for the weekend,
but for the Sunday Eucharist, the day of Resurrection. And may the Sacred Heart
of Jesus teach our hearts to love as He loves.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
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