We Are the Lord's

Homily for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Paul’s words in Romans today are simple, yet they open a vast horizon: “None of us lives for oneself, and none of us dies for oneself… whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” It is a sentence that gathers our whole existence—our choices, our relationships, our hopes—and places them gently within God’s embrace. To belong to the Lord is not a restriction; it is the deepest freedom. It means our lives are held, guided, and invited into a purpose larger than anything we could construct on our own.

The other readings help us see what this belonging looks like in practice. Sirach speaks of anger and resentment—those heavy stones we sometimes carry. They weigh down the heart, distort our vision, and make us forget who we are. But when we remember that we belong to the Lord, forgiveness becomes possible. Not easy, but possible. It becomes an act of trust: we release the burden because God holds us, and God holds the one who has hurt us.

Psalm 103 sings of that divine mercy. The Lord is “slow to anger, rich in compassion,” removing our sins “as far as the east is from the west.” This is the mercy that claims us. This is the mercy that shapes the life of those who belong to the Lord. And this is the mercy that Mary, whose name we honored yesterday, allowed to shape her entire being.

Jesus’ parable in Matthew brings the point home. The servant forgiven an impossible debt refuses to forgive a small one. The tragedy is not simply his harshness; it is his forgetfulness. He forgets the mercy he has received. He forgets to whom he belongs. And when we forget that, our hearts close, our relationships fracture, and our world suffers.

Here, the Season of Creation offers a gentle invitation. If we belong to the Lord, then we also belong to the world God has made. Creation is not an accessory to our spiritual life; it is part of the communion Paul describes. The earth is the place where God’s mercy is revealed—through renewal, through beauty, through the quiet resilience of life. When we carry anger, resentment, or indifference, we often extend those same patterns to creation: we take more than we need, we ignore the wounds of the earth, we forget the gift entrusted to us.

But when we remember that we are the Lord’s, our posture changes. We begin to walk more gently. We notice the small signs of life around us. We choose actions that heal rather than harm. Forgiveness, compassion, and care for creation all flow from the same source: a heart grounded in the Lord’s mercy.

Paul’s words are the anchor of today’s homily: we are the Lord’s. That belonging frees us to forgive, strengthens us to reconcile, and inspires us to tend the earth with reverence. It is the belonging that Mary lived, the belonging Christ reveals, and the belonging creation itself reflects in its beauty and fragility.

May this Sunday deepen our awareness of that truth, and may it shape the way we live with one another and with the world entrusted to our care.