28 May 2026 - homily for Thursday of the 8th week of Ordinary time - 1 Peter 2:2-5, 9-12

The apostle Peter, who is credited as being the author of today’s first reading from first letter of Peter declares to us today:  “Once you were no people – now you are God’s people.  Once you lived with no mercy – now you live in the light of God’s mercy.”  Peter states that as aliens and sojourners in this world, we are to separate ourselves from earthly desires. Do we feel like aliens in this world? That is a strong word to use, isn’t it?  Or are see ourselves attached to the things of this world, identifying ourselves with the things of this world, so much so that they separate us from God and our journey of faith?

Today, as we hear this interesting reading from the first letter of Peter, we celebrate the feast day of a saint from South America who perhaps is not very well known here in the United States.   Mariana de Jesus de Paredes was born at Quito, Ecuador of noble Spanish parents. She was orphaned as a child. She then was raised by her older sister and her sister’s husband. Mariana was drawn to the Catholic faith as a child.  Later, under the guidance of a Jesuit priest confessor, she lived a consecrated life as a lay woman, practicing austerity in devoting her life to prayer and prophecy with little sleep and little food. An earthquake and an epidemic struck Quito in 1645. Mariana felt herself being called by God to offer herself as a sacrifice for the sins of the people of her city. When the epidemic began to subside, Mariana was stricken with illness and died on May 26th. She is known by the faithful as Mariana de Jesus or Mariana of Quito. She was canonized in 1950. She is the patron saint of the city of Quito. I remember arriving in Ecuador in May 1996 as a lay missionary with the Comboni Missionary religious order. I remember that on the first Sunday we were in the Ecuador, we went to Mass on her feast day.  I remember seeing many different religious sister in their habits attending Mass. It is a beautiful memory I have from my time in Ecuador, an experience which brought me here to the priesthood. I love the story of St Mariana de Jesus. In her faith and in her humility, she brought the mercy of God to the people of her hometown.  Her example of faith calls out to us today.