NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - AUGUST 10, 2025

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

You are a significant part of God’s Creation. Among eight billion other souls roaming around the earth, you might sometimes feel insignificant, overlooked, or unappreciated by those around you, yet God not only shines his radiant love upon you, but has particularly chosen you to be counted among His most beloved Creation. The very fact that you exist as you are today is monumentally exceptional; taking all accidents into account that could have brought about any other alternatives, the chances of you existing today as you are is about 1 in 800 trillion. Out of those trillions of options, God chose you–you won a race, and have been rewarded with being counted as a beloved son or daughter of our Almighty God. But the race of life is far from over.

READ THIS SUNDAY'S MESSAGE

Realizing that life is a race has been so ingrained within us, that we might accidentally see life as a competition. Even though our existence is miraculous, we still wish to strive for perfection, constantly comparing ourselves and particularly our weaknesses with those around us. By doing so, we become self-conscious, bitter, even angry at God that He did not make us exactly who we want to be. But our identities, the essence of who we are as individuals in this world, contribute to our participation in the race of life. Life is a race, but it is not a competition. Rather, we have been placed at the starting line apart from God and we are meant to spend the rest of our lives running after Him. When Paul reflected on the end of his life, he went to his death satisfied with his participation in that race, telling his friend Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” For Paul, the race of life was a race motivated by this virtue of faith, and in this Sunday’s Second Reading, he defined the virtue for us, calling it “the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” Faith was the spark that led Abraham to leave the only life he knew for a land and a future entirely unknown. Faith was what led the Israelites to flee in the middle of the night, leaving behind the comforts of slavery for a life of freedom where nothing was known beforehand. Faith was what led the Apostles to drop everything and run after their Master for an end they could never have predicted. Faith makes us realize that there is an end, a destination, a Telos, that is worth fighting for and running after. Faith makes the potential tangible and the mystical present. Faith motivates us to run this race of life, and all along that race, hope keeps us energized to maintain the distance. At the finish line, we find love. We find our Master. We find God.