Homily for the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, 2026
Readings: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13; Psalm 146; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12a
1 February 2026
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In today’s gospel we hear the all too familiar Beatitudes from Matthew’s gospel. These nine beatitudes speak of the blessing or happiness of the gentle, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for what is right, and those who are persecuted in the cause of right.
Nowadays, these beatitudes are all time favourites at weddings and funerals, especially when it is expected that not many of the congregation will be churchgoers and that many of them will be non-believers.
Last year, the New York Times columnist Ross Douthat published a best selling book entitled Believe: Why Everyone Should be Religious. Recently he was interviewed by Bishop Robert Barron[1] who recalled that French President Mitterand, brought up Catholic, had once been asked about Christian belief. Mitterand affirmed the utility of Christian ethics, but as to the metaphysics, he simply shrugged, as if to say that no serious person could believe all the things said about Jesus because no serious person nowadays would believe in God.
Douthat replied that nowadays there were not just those lapsed Catholics who accepted the social justice message while ditching the rest of the Christian package. There were also those who wished the whole package might be true but presumed it was not. In his book, Douthat recounts that whenever he writes about religion in the New York Times nowadays, as compared with 10 or 15 years ago, ‘More and more of my readers seemed to experience secularism as an uncomfortable intellectual default, not a freely chosen liberation. More and more seemed unhappy with their unbelief.’[2] He wrote his book Believe to demonstrate that ‘religious belief might be not only socially or psychologically desirable but also an entirely reasonable perspective on the nature of reality and the destiny of humankind’.[3]
Those of us who are believers are indeed happy, content, or blessed because we are in relationship with our God who accompanies us every inch of the way whatever the ups and downs of that way. Douthat writes:
‘To people who hover on the threshold of religion, open to belief but unable to quite get there, the implied advice is to set aside your skepticism, swallow your doubts, and just act as if you actually believe: pray and go to church, love your neighbour, sing the hymns or keep kosher, immerse yourself in religious literature and art, try to reap the psychological and communal benefits of faith. The idea is to embrace religious practice somewhat in defiance of the reasoning faculties, making experience rather than argument your guide, and see what happens next.’[4]
In today’s second reading, Paul tells the Corinthians that Christians come in all shapes and sizes: those who are bright and those who are not too bright; those who are influential and those who are the little ones often crushed and overlooked; those with flash backgrounds and those from humble origins. Each of us is blessed because we are chosen by God. We have no other boast than the Lord who is the source of our righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
Like many of you, I have been watching a bit of the tennis these recent days. It’s surprising to see the increasing number of players wearing crosses around their necks. And we are now well used to the Serbian Orthodox Novak Djokovic invoking God’s name and giving thanks to God after his every win. Having defeated Jannik Sinner over five sets to get into tonight’s final against the first ranked Carlos Alcaraz who is 16 years younger than him, Djokovic told Channel 9’s Jim Courier: ‘I just hope that I’ll have enough gas to stay toe to toe with him (Alcaraz). You know that’s my desire. And then let the God decide the winner’. With all respect to Novak and his supporters, I don’t think God is too interested in deciding the winner of tonight’s final. But Novak is indeed blessed to know that God is with him in his quest, whether he wins or loses.
I thought there was one truly blessed moment on the court this past week. That was when the umpire awarded a critical point to Novak having determined that Lorenzo Musetti’s return shot had gone out. If it were cricket we would have had all sorts of technology to make the decision including the snickometer and the third umpire. There’d have been no room or need for human virtue. The technology would have decided the issue. Without that technology, Novak volunteered: ‘I touched the ball’, thereby yielding the point to Musetti. It was a gracious act by Novak, a blessed moment on the court.
It’s those sorts of moments we recall in the life of the deceased at a funeral – the moments when, without self-interest, publicity or assurance of reward or advantage, they were gentle, merciful, pure of heart, a peacemaker, poor in spirit, mourning, hungering and thirsting for what is right, and even being persecuted in the cause of right.
May the person who plays the best game win tonight and may both players count themselves blessed. And let each of us do what we can to make sure that we have enough gas to do what is asked of us, and then let’s leave the rest to God. Win, lose or draw, we are indeed blessed.
How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever,
who is just to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry,
the Lord, who sets prisoners free.
How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind,
who raises up those who are bowed down,
the Lord, who protects the stranger
and upholds the widow and orphan.
How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
It is the Lord who loves the just
but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign for ever,
Zion’s God, from age to age.
How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBz7T0oBwPw
[2] Douthat, Ross. Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, Kindle Edition, p.2.
[3] Ibid, 3.
[4] Ibid, 4.
Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO, Adjunct Professor of Thomas More Law School at ACU and Adjunct Research Professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, is a former Rector of Newman College, University of Melbourne, and CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA). His latest books include Pope Francis: the Disruptive Pilgrims Guide (ATF Theology, 2025), and Gerard Brennan’s Articles and Speeches: Maintaining the Law’s Skeleton of Principle (2 volumes) (Connor Court, 2025).
