Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

                    Present Sufferings And Future Glory

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, July 12, 2026 

No one needs to be told that we live in a world of suffering, trial, and woe. Just watch the Nightly News, and you will see and hear crimes, injustice, violence, and human dysfunction on full display. Visit hospitals, homeless shelters, and care centers, and you will see several degrees of suffering everywhere. Drive through our streets, and you will see fellow human beings, people’s sons and daughters, languishing because of substance abuse or other problems. When I was in California, I visited a working-class couple. In the course of our conversation, the woman said to me, “Two of my children are homeless because of drugs. My husband and I did everything possible to get them the help they needed. They always checked themselves out of the rehab centers we took them to. Now they are out there sleeping on the streets. Sometimes, when I am going to work, I bring them hot meals. What kills me every day is that I see them every day on my way to work. I see them sleeping on roadside benches and on concrete walkways.” We surely live in a world where suffering is a universal reality. Either you are carrying the weight of a physical illness, an emotional or psychological illness, mourning a broken relationship or marriage, facing financial anxiety, or simply feeling the daily exhaustion of life’s unpredictable storms. Everyone has something that weighs them down. Even when life feels good and normal, you know it is only a matter of time before a storm rears its ugly head. Suffering is an inescapable part of the human experience, a reality acknowledged across philosophical, spiritual, and psychological traditions. As we wrestle with these storms, it is easy for the shadows of our current struggles to obscure our vision, making us wonder whether the heartache will ever end. 

In today’s second reading (Romans 8:18-23), the great St. Paul invites us to look beyond the immediate circumstances and do a little divine mathematics: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” Don’t forget, Paul was no stranger to suffering. In fact, he endured an extraordinary catalog of hardships while fulfilling his ministry. He faced physical assaults. He received 39 lashes from fellow Jews; he was beaten with rods on three occasions and subjected to countless blows. He was stoned and left for dead in Lystra by a hostile crowd (Acts 14:19). He was frequently jailed, notably enduring a severe beating and being chained in the inner prison in Philippi (Acts 16:23-24). He survived three shipwrecks. Paul also faced the perils of robbers; he was bitten by a venomous viper on the island of Malta (Acts 28:3). He also suffered internal and personal exhaustion, weariness, sleeplessness, hunger, and thirst. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, he lamented an affliction he asked God to remove, but was told, “My grace is sufficient for you.” 

Yes, Paul did suffer, and he suffered greatly. Yet amid so many events and episodes of suffering, Paul did not waver. The hope of future glory kept him going. He looked at his overwhelming afflictions—beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, and constant opposition—and called them “nothing.” Was St. Paul a masochist? Not at all! Masochists enjoy being subjected to excruciating suffering, cruelty, and domination. They gain gratification from pain and discomfort. But that’s not Paul. He prayed specifically for the end of his suffering. In one of his letters, he recounts pleading with God three times to remove a mysterious and agonizing hardship he called his “thorn in the flesh.” After weighing and comparing present trials against the reality of eternity, he knew that whatever this life brings is fleeting. Good times are fleeting. Bad times are fleeting, too. But the glory of God’s coming kingdom is everlasting. What God prepares for those who do not waver in the face of suffering and inconvenience is far greater, more beautiful, and far more enjoyable than the excruciating pains of earthly life. The glory to be revealed is a permanent state of life. It is joy, perfect and permanent joy. It is peace, perfect and permanent peace. It is ultimate fulfillment. When Paul speaks of the “glory,” he is not merely describing a beautiful afterlife. He is referring to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise: the complete restoration of our bodies, minds, and all creation. It is the moment when we will fully step into our inheritance as children of God, when every tear will be wiped away, and the pain we have carried will be swallowed up in overwhelming joy. 

It is important to note that Paul does not say our present sufferings don’t matter. He does not advocate stoicism or merely gritting our teeth and ignoring them. He calls them “labor pains”—the necessary, temporary groaning that accompanies the birth of something beautiful and completely new. Your suffering has purpose. Your pain is the refining fire that shapes your character, deepens your empathy, and roots your faith more firmly in Christ Jesus. Suffering strips away our hope in finite things, so we do not place our ultimate hope in anything finite. Do not allow today's struggles to blind you to the future glory to come. 

God bless you!