3A Sunday Homily, Matthew 4:12-23,
January 25, 2026
By Fr. Vincent Corbelli, MM
1) STORY
During the war,
after fierce fighting in a small town, a soldier found a beautiful statue of
Jesus with his two hands missing. He did
not want to throw it away, yet he feared to place it anywhere as it was. He solved this problem by putting it at the
entrance of the town with a sign in front of it, “LEND ME YOUR HANDS.” In today’s gospel Jesus asks us to lend him
our hands.
2) GOSPEL:
MATTHEW 4:12-23
A) COME AFTER ME
Christ asks us to
follow him. We do this because
i) He is the
light of the world leading us to happiness. The first reading tells us that "The
people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.”
ii) He is the
bread of life who gives us the spiritual strength to live as his friend in a
world filled with temptations and difficulties.
B) I WILL MAKE
YOU FISHERS OF MEN
Christ wants us
to bring people to him. Many do not know
that he exists and is the source of the gifts which they are searching for:
happiness, joy and peace.
3) APPLICATION TO
LIFE
A) FOLOWING JESUS
We follow Jesus,
our teacher and guide, by listening to his instructions as found in the bible
and by ideally reading it each day. We
hear his word during Mass.
B) BRING OTHERS
TO JESUS
We bring others
to Jesus:
i) By word. We should share with others what we know about
Jesus, how he helped people when on earth, and how he continues to help us each
day. He is the source of our happiness,
joy, and peace.
ii) By our
actions. We bring others to Jesus by our
kind and caring acts, by willing to listen to those in pain, and by helping
those in pain, and by helping those in need.
4) CONCLUSION
In the story we
learned that we are the modern hands of Jesus. We follow Jesus by listening to him as he
speaks to us through the bible, by praying to him, and by receiving the
Eucharist. We bring others to Jesus
by our kind and caring
words, by
listening to those in pain, and by helping those in need. Jesus is the source
of our joy, happiness and peace.
