STM Homily | Msgr. Joseph Donnelly | October 25, 2026

Many of us, just a couple of weeks ago, enjoyed a wonderful night here for the conferral of the St. Thomas More Medal. And it was a great night, good meals, nice camaraderie with people back and forth, superb music, all sorts of things like that. It was a wonderful night, and as it wound down, I was getting ready to go home, and I must have been kind of later, because there weren't too many people leaving at the same time I was leaving, and I got to the door of the Golden Center, and I looked out at that plaza that's right in front of the center, that I always remember Father Bob said that that was constructed like that to talk about, you know, the connection of the Catholic community on the campus of Yale and and it was dark kind of and I looked out and there was nobody else in that square, But there was one man out by the on the sidewalk and he was bent over and he was talking to someone. And as I kind of approached him silently, I saw there was a person obviously walking the streets and in particular need. And this person who was coming from the event was talking to him and had his wallet out, was going to offer him a little offering. and it struck me.

That's what the wonderful celebration was meant for. It was supposed to, as best we could, imbue one another and celebrate with one another this unique characteristic of the followers of Jesus, the ones that Jesus pointed to in the gospel tonight, Or this morning, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and your neighbor as yourself. It was one of those they say that you can't really believe in God unless you notice things. Noticing things are important, they kind of call our attention. And and and this was a just a really powerful thing. And as I all the way home I'm, I was kind of touched by that. Yeah, that's. That's what we're all about, once again, responding to the needs of God's poorest.

It is a refreshing change from a lot of once again, the the divisive, partisan, back and forth, us and them delineation of peoples that we hear over and over and over again. The implications of all that, the harsh suffering that goes on there, NBC, at the end of their newscast, has a segment every day, And it says something like. and we have good news today. They said all these other things. We have good news today, too. And they tell a wonderful story about somebody who was really gracious and kind and compassionate and helpful to somebody else. Again, much more to the point.

It wasn't uncommon then, with 613 laws within the Law of Moses, that people would ask someone who was seen to be a rabbi or a wise teacher. You know which one's, which one's the best, which which is the one that we need to do, that we need to put on the top of our list.

And, you know, the way that that has, we missed the point. I was reading in one of the commentaries today that in the book of Exodus, our first reading today, when they talk about the resident alien, that means migrants. That means the people who are coming to our shores for one reason or another, and you know, sometimes are oftentimes are not treated real well. And we need to do something about that anyway.

It's such a sobering thing. And again, Jesus' answer was so crystal clear It's loving God with all your heart, and the second is like it. It's not just that, it's similar to it. It's just as important as loving God and being faithful to God, it's just as important and it's part of. As I said at the beginning of the liturgy, it's part of the bottom line about you and I. And what we believe and what we're doing here, what we're trying to enrich ourselves with. Listening to the Scriptures and sharing the Eucharist here so regularly each week, several months ago, Vice President Vance, who was recently converted to becoming a Catholic a couple of years ago. And explaining some of the cutbacks in foreign aid and the like that our country has taken upon itself, referred to something that he called the order of loving. And it was an old explanation from the Middle Ages. St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas all made reference to it that there is a listing of people that are closest to us. We We have our family and we have our neighbors, and then we have the people of our country. And then we have, and then, at the end, others who are in, who turn to us in one way or another. And was explaining it like that, but Pope Francis responded to it very, very insightfully, I thought. And in explaining it, he used the parable of the Good Samaritan. That there isn't a hierarchy of. You know, I need to take care of these people first, and then I take care of these people and if I have anything left over, I do something with that. It's not a hierarchy like that, It's it's a way for us, you know, to to respond as Jesus would respond. And that would say that, you know, in the order of loving those who are in need, those who are in need have a particular prominence and a particular call on our attention and our care and our sharing.

It is a, again it's just kind of a sobering thing that we would hear that. I forgot to set up something here. This is on the wall of the Children's House, run by St. Teresa of Calcutta's missionaries of charity in New Delhi. And she has this little saying. It's attributed to her. I'm not sure if that's exactly true, but anyway. It kind of sums it up nicely.

It says, people are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you're kind, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends, and sometimes some enemies. Succeed anyway. If you're honest and sincere, people will deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. If you spend years building, someone could destroy what you build overnight. Build it anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do the good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough, but give them your best anyway. way.

You see, in the final analysis, it's between you and God. It never was between you and them anyway.

The wisdom of Mother Teresa, blending well with the wisdom and teaching of Jesus this morning. May we find ourselves more and more drawn to follow the way of Jesus.