• Home
• >
• News & Events
• >
• News Articles
• >
• 2026
• >
• January
• >
• 1/25 Homilly for Third Sunday Ordinary Time
• >

News Articles

Bishop's Homily for the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

January 25, 2026

Homily of the Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu
[St. John Vianney Church, Kailua]

Hawaii, as we know, has a very diverse population. We have people of many different ethnic backgrounds, young and old, liberal and conservative and everything in between. Some cultures have been a part of our landscape for many generations, and many are newer arrivals, such as the 2,000 Ukrainian refugees who live on Oahu. And although we do have some tensions, I think we have a remarkable attitude of acceptance of one another – at least compared to many other places. In a sense, we are like the “Galilee” described in the first reading, the region where Jesus himself chose to live. This was a very diverse region, located on the trade routes between Asia, Europe and Africa. Since there was such a diverse population, there were often tensions, a spiritual darkness that enveloped the region. It was precisely this Northern region of Israel that Jesus chose to do most of his public ministry. And, of course, the light that the Prophet Isaiah predicted would come to that dark region turned out to be Jesus himself. Where there was sickness, he brought healing. Where there was enslavement, he brought liberation. Where there was darkness, he brought light.

Many say that Hawaii could have a unique role in bringing peace to the world by witnessing to the blessing we experience of living in harmony with so many different kinds of people. But left on our own, I think we would revert into emphasizing divisions rather than commonalities. With the awareness that we are members of the Body of Christ, however, we can stay focused on our role of bringing light to the darkness.

Today, the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, is a day Pope Francis designated as the “Sunday of the Word of God.” Of course, the Word of God is part of our worship and reflection every Sunday, but we are called upon in a special way today to treasure the Sacred Scriptures, because in them we encounter the living Word, who is Jesus Christ himself.

First, we see in the Word of God that Jesus preached the good news of the Kingdom of God. In a real way, this proclamation reminds us that some of the ideologies we treasure so dearly are passing things. In the Kingdom of God, Republicans and Democrats love and respect one another. People of different races appreciate one another. The rich and the poor share a common destiny and a common joy. It is our reflection on the living Word of God that can help us develop this attitude of the Kingdom of God. It is not that we become bland or “vanilla” in our beliefs, but we treat everyone with respect and dignity.

Reflection on the Word of God also brings us into an encounter with a person, because Jesus himself is the Word made flesh. We see Peter and Andrew, James and John immediately leave their careers as fishermen to become fishers of men when they encountered Jesus. If today were not a Sunday we would be celebrating the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the Word of God makes clear that this zealous persecutor of the followers of Jesus became a zealous proclaimer of the Lord Jesus, suffering a great deal himself, just because he had a life-changing encounter with the risen Jesus. We not only can encounter Jesus in the words of Scripture, but we encounter him here in the Breaking of Bread, the Eucharist.

Reflection on the Word of God impels us into mission, the mission that Jesus himself entrusts to us. This mission is to bring light to darkness, healing to the sick, and liberty to captives. We fulfill this mission in very simple ways, by living the Gospel in our families, honing the virtues of patience, forgiveness and love. We live this mission when we notice that the Word of God always sends us out in the power of the Holy Spirit to share the Good News with others. The Lord knows that one of the best ways to learn something is to know that you must teach it, and so he sends us out to teach others of the Kingdom of God. In this Catholic Schools Week, we remember that Catholic schools are meant to form our children in living the Word of God, but they should also reach out to parents and those whose faith may need some firing up. The parish itself should be a place not only for us to grow spiritually, but to prepare us for mission.

As we celebrate this Sunday of the Word of God, we thank God we have such a rich and diverse culture here in Hawaii, and we pray that we will appreciate this gift by letting it bear good fruit in bringing peace to our world in the name of the living Word of God, Jesus Christ himself.