A Definite Service
A Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This reflection is Father Rich’s Sunday homily, shared here with all who gather with Message from the Margins. It is rooted in the appointed readings for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Old Catholic Diocese of the Chesapeake Bay, of which this ministry is a part. For those worshiping in other churches or traditions, your readings this Sunday may be different, but the call of the Gospel is the same.
FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of Deuteronomy.
Moses spoke to the people; he said: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. Deuteronomy 18.15-20 I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: ‘If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.’ “Then the Lord replied to me: ‘They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. “‘Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak— that prophet shall die.’”
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 95.1-2, 6-7ab, 7c-9 (R.7c+8a)
R. If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.
O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
R. If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.
O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
R. If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.
O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
R. If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.
SECOND READING
1 Corinthians 7.17, 32-35++
A reading from the first letter to the Corinthians
Brothers and sisters,
Let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God has called you. I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman and the virgin are concerned about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is concerned about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.
The word of the Lord.
G O S P E L
Mark 1.21-28
A reading from the holy gospel according to Mark.
The disciples went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing the man and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once Jesus’ fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
The gospel of the Lord
A Definite Service in a Noisy World
“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.”
Those words from John Henry Newman have been echoing in my prayer all week.
Not because they are sentimental.
Not because they are poetic.
But because they are terrifyingly precise.
A definite service.
Not a vague sense of goodness.
Not a general call to be “nice.”
Not an obligation to fix everything that is broken in the world.
A specific work.
Entrusted to you.
And to no one else.
Newman was recently named a Doctor of the Church. That title does not mean he was flawless or that he had all the answers. It means the Church now formally recognizes that his way of seeing God, conscience, and vocation is medicine for the soul. Wisdom meant not just for scholars or clergy, but for ordinary people trying to live faithfully in confusing times.
Which makes his words even more unsettling.
Because if God has entrusted a particular work to you, then no amount of busyness, activism, or spiritual noise can substitute for it.
And we live in a very noisy age.
Everyone is expected to have a platform.
An opinion.
A reaction.
A cause.
A hot take.
We are constantly being told who we should be outraged for, what we should care about, how we should show up. And somewhere in that constant churn, the still, quiet voice of God gets buried.
That is why the readings this Sunday matter so much.
In Deuteronomy, the people admit something astonishing. They say, in effect: If God speaks to us directly like this again, we will die. The fire, the thunder, the raw presence of God is too much. So God does something merciful. God promises to speak through a human voice. A prophet. Someone from among them.
God chooses mediation over spectacle.
God chooses relationship over overwhelm.
And God is very clear: when that voice speaks, it will not be ambiguous. It will carry weight. Authority. Truth.
Fast forward to the Gospel, and we see what that looks like in flesh and blood.
Jesus teaches in the synagogue, and people immediately sense the difference. This is not recycled religion. This is not moral commentary. This is not spiritual performance.
This is authority that comes from alignment.
Jesus knows who He is.
He does not crowdsource His identity.
He does not audition for approval.
He does not soften His voice to keep the peace.
And when something unclean rises up and names Him, Jesus does not panic. He does not negotiate. He does not debate.
“Be silent. Come out.”
That is what authority sounds like when it flows from communion with God.
And here is the uncomfortable truth: Jesus is not only revealing who He is in this moment. He is revealing what happens when a human life is fully given over to its true purpose.
Which brings us to Paul.
Paul tells the Corinthians something we desperately need to hear again: different lives carry different responsibilities, different freedoms, different forms of devotion. There is no universal template for holiness. Anxiety comes from trying to live someone else’s calling.
Some people are called to build homes.
Some are called to leave them.
Some are called to public witness.
Some to quiet faithfulness.
None of these are higher or lower. But they are not interchangeable.
The Kingdom of God does not need duplicates. It needs fidelity.
And that is why the psalm lands with such force:
“If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.”
A hardened heart is not always cruel. More often, it is afraid.
We harden our hearts when we sense a calling but convince ourselves it is impractical.
When we feel a nudge toward courage but choose comfort instead.
When we know the truth, but delay obedience until conditions feel safer.
We tell ourselves we are being realistic. Sensible. Mature.
But deep down, we know what we are doing.
We are running from our definite service.
And Newman will not let us off the hook.
God has committed some work to you.
Not because you are exceptional.
But because you are available.
Someone else cannot do it.
Someone else will not be asked.
So the question this Sunday is not, What is God asking of the Church?
The question is simpler, and far more personal.
What has God asked of you… that you have been avoiding?
If today you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.
Run toward the work that is yours.
The Kingdom is waiting for it.
Prayer of St. John Henry Newman
A Prayer of John Henry Newman
God has created me to do Him some definite service;
He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission… I may never know it in this life,
but I shall be told it in the next.
I am a link in a chain,
a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good; I shall do His work.
I shall be an angel of peace,
a preacher of truth in my own place,
while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments
and serve Him in my calling.
Therefore I will trust Him.
Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him;
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him;
if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
He does nothing in vain.
He knows what He is about.
He may take away my friends.
He may throw me among strangers.
He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink,
hide my future from me…
still He knows what He is about.
Amen.
I’m also sharing a song I wrote this week, I’ll Be an Angel of Peace. It grew out of prayer, out of sitting quietly with Newman’s words and the slow realization that God rarely shouts, but often sings. I offer it to you as a companion to this homily, not to be analyzed, but to be received. Let it play as you would light a candle… and listen for the place where God is calling you by name.
That's beautiful. Thank you, Father
Much needed words in these noisy times.