By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during Mass on the third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jan. 25, 2026, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral. The Mass preceded his annual Motorcycle Ride to raise funds for St. Luke’s Center, a Catholic Charities facility for addiction recovery, located next to St. Mary Cathedral in Miami.
We celebrate the third Sunday of Ordinary Time, but January 25th is also the feast day that commemorates the Conversion of Saint Paul. You might remember the story: Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians that fled there. On his way, Saul became Paul: he was thrown from his horse and encountered Jesus, who asked him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
Well, a few weeks ago, I rode up to Ocala on my bike, went horseback riding, and fell off. With a couple of cracked ribs and a broken clavicle (which was surgically fixed on Tuesday), I won’t be riding on the bike with you to Key Largo (I’ll go in the cage). But today, we ask St. Paul and, of course, our guardian angels to look out for us so our ride will be safe both coming and going. Remember, keep the sunny side up.
And remember this ride is about having good, clean fun, but also about supporting Catholic Charities in its work at St. Luke’s Center, which serves people with Alcohol and/or Substance Abuse problems. The program provides assessments, outpatient services, and short-term residential treatment as needed.
Today, the Gospel reading places Jesus at the very beginning of his public ministry in the region of Zebulun and Naphtha, in the same Galilee of the Gentiles that Isaiah talks about in the first reading. He has a simple message: Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is a simple but comprehensive message. At the same time, we see Jesus choosing his disciples. For those first disciples — and each one of us — being chosen is a humbling experience (and for St. Paul, who was knocked off his high horse, it was also a quite dramatic experience).
The fact of being chosen reminds us of our unworthiness, of the distance between God and us, for we all are sinners in need of redemption. But God, in his mysterious ways, chooses to need us to cooperate with him; he always needs someone for a mission. He invites us to bet our lives on the good news he is announcing. Our response must be obedience to the God who calls us. That is true for all of us — from the pope on down.
You know, Jesus never tells his disciples to play it safe. Rather, he challenges us: “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” He challenges us to embrace the risks of fidelity.
As Pope Francis was fond of repeating, we are called to be “missionary disciples.” Missionary discipleship in the Church – whether we are as a parish priest, a catechist, head of a family, or whatever task we take on as a member of the Body of Christ, the Church, we should be trying to be “fishers of men,” that is, leading others to follow Christ. Christian discipleship is not about us, nor is it a matter of following this or that Christian leader. It is always about following Christ.
Christian discipleship again is not about leading others to oneself but to the Lord. It does not exalt itself or point to itself. It points to Christ. This is the point St. Paul is making in the Second Reading. Who are you for? During these times of hyper-partisanship, of people dividing themselves into different camps, liberal or conservative, republican or democrat, progressive or traditional, there is one possible answer for St. Paul to the question, “Who are you for?” With St. Paul, we must answer: “I am for Christ.”
