This homily distinguishes between optimism and Christian hope, emphasizing that while optimism expects things to turn out well, Christian hope assures God's presence regardless of the outcome.

Boys and girls who are involved in the Cub Scouts, it is all the little things you do and all those little badges you earn; they are all trying to assure you of your value. All those little things matter. All those little things build up your character to who you are. And for our part, because you are part of St. Simon’s and part of a religious community, we do it also for the Lord. We do not just build up our character but we do this because we want to be of good character and good girls and boys in the Lord’s name.

To truly follow Jesus, we must move in close to Him. From a distance, His teachings may seem unreasonable, but proximity reveals the truth and makes discipleship possible.

As we celebrate Christian Unity Week, we are invited to pray for Christians outside our immediate circle and reach out to the weak and broken in our community by being the Body of Christ God calls us to be.

Mary’s words, “Do whatever he tells you,” remind us to follow the Lord’s guidance and use our gifts for the good of the community, bringing about abundant joy.

In the early Church, the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist caused great scandal. In fact, in one of the gospels, John’s, it is not even mentioned. Even in Luke’s gospel, it is mentioned by saying, “Oh, and he was also baptized.” It was almost like a secondary comment. The reason why they struggled with this was that John the Baptist was only a prophet. If Jesus was the Messiah then why did Jesus, if he was the Son of God and the Messiah, need to have his sins forgiven? Why was he baptized? Because the baptism of John the Baptist was a baptism of repentance, one for the forgiveness of sins.