💖 HOMILY - SEPTEMBER 25 💖

First Reading - Haggai 1:1-8 

Gospel - Luke 9:7-9

How often do we find ourselves saying, “I’ll get to it later”? Whether it’s fixing something at home, calling a loved one, or even making time for prayer, it’s so easy to delay the things that truly matter. But the danger of constant postponing is that “later” can quickly turn into “never.”

This is exactly what we hear in the first reading. The people had returned from exile, and instead of rebuilding God’s temple, they were busy building and decorating their own homes. They kept saying, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” In other words, God was not their priority. They were working hard, but without putting God at the center, their efforts felt empty.

In the Gospel, Herod hears about Jesus and is deeply perplexed. He’s curious, maybe even disturbed, but he never makes a real decision to follow the truth. Curiosity without commitment leaves him restless, just like putting off God’s call left the people of Haggai’s time unsatisfied.

Dear friends, when God is not first, nothing else will truly satisfy. We may be busy, successful, or admired, but without God at the center, something essential will always be missing. Like the people rebuilding their own houses, we might be comfortable for a while, but deep inside, we will feel incomplete.

So today, the readings challenge us: what place does God truly have in our daily lives? Do we give Him the first part of our time, our energy, and our priorities, or do we keep saying, “later”?

Let us not delay any longer. Let us place God first — in our families, in our work, in our decisions. When we give Him His rightful place, everything else falls into order. And instead of living restless like Herod or distracted like the exiles, we will live with peace, purpose, and joy, because our lives are rooted in God.