💖 HOMILY - NOVEMBER 17 💖

First Reading - 1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-64

Gospel - Luke 18:35-43

When the world pulls us in different directions, when its noise grows louder than God’s voice, we sometimes find ourselves facing an important question: Will I hold on to my faith, or will I let go?

That question is at the heart of today’s readings.

In the first reading from Maccabees, we see people abandoning their faith because it seemed easier to blend in with the culture around them. They chose comfort over conviction, compromise over commitment. Yet a faithful few refused to let go of the covenant. Even when it cost them, they stood firm in who they were before God.

Then in the Gospel, a blind man sits by the roadside. The crowd pressures him to stay quiet, to stop calling out to Jesus. But instead of giving in, he cries out even louder. His persistence becomes the doorway to his healing. He shows us that sometimes faith means refusing to be silenced, even when others try to push us aside.

Dear friends, faith often grows strongest when it is tested. When the world pushes us to let go, that is precisely when we are called to hold on more firmly.

And this is something we all experience. There are times when prayer feels like a struggle, when doing the right thing brings inconvenience or misunderstanding, when pressure from friends, work, or society makes faith feel like a burden. There are moments when the voice around us—or within us—says, “It’s not worth it. Just give up.”

God sees the heart that holds on. He honors the person who chooses faith even when it is difficult. Like the faithful in Maccabees, we are invited to stand with quiet courage. Like the blind man, we are encouraged to keep calling on the Lord even when the world tells us otherwise.

And just as Jesus stopped on the road and listened to the cry of that man, he hears us too. He does not pass us by. He responds to the persistence of a trusting heart.

So wherever we feel pressured today—pressured to compromise, pressured to stay silent, pressured to turn away—may we hold fast to the One who never lets go of us. May we trust that God meets us in our perseverance and speaks the same words he spoke long ago: your faith has saved you.