Reflection for Sunday – August 3, 2025

August 1, 2025Brigit HurleySunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 2: 21-23; Colossians 3: 1-5, 9-11; Luke 12: 13-21
Preacher: Brigit Hurley

I spent last week at the Alex Haley farm in Tennessee attending the Hall-Proctor Institute for Faith-based Child Advocacy. The Children’s Defense Fund holds this event annually as a gathering place for faith leaders and children’s advocates who work to improve the systems that serve vulnerable children.

The original Children’s Defense Fund’s logo was iconic—a small boat on a large ocean surrounded by the words, “Dear Lord, be good to me, the sea is so wide and my boat is so small.” It tugs at our heartstrings and calls to mind the need to protect weak children from the dangers of the world.

Several years ago, CDF created a new logo, a small boat atop the words “Unleashing the joy in growing up.” It signals a more positive approach to CDF’s mission —to create a world where all children are able to enjoy the freedom to explore, learn, and play, unhampered by racism, violence and inequity. That world seems very distant now, when we see our country dismantling the progress we’ve made against those very things.

But there is hope!

In May 2024 Pope Francis promulgated a Papal Bull on the Jubilee of the Year of 2025, beginning with the words “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). The Church celebrates the Jubilee every 25 years in accordance with scripture and tradition. It is a year set aside to take more time to rest, tend to relationships and restore justice. Pope Leo continues to honor this special year, saying “The Jubilee we are now celebrating helps us to realize that hope is a constant source of joy.”

These are not just pretty words. In Leviticus 25, the Year of the Jubilee mandates cancelation of all debt and release from all types of bondage. All prisoners and captives were set free, all slaves were released, all debts were forgiven, all property was returned to its original owners, and laborers were given respite. It is a stark acknowledgement that the way we relate to each other and to the Earth regularly becomes off balance and in need of a reset. We hear a similar message in today’s second reading, when Paul urges the Colossians to “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth . . . Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.” Does this ancient tradition have relevance today? Imagine if instead of relentlessly pursuing economic growth, we re-ordered our economic arrangements on a regular basis?

The theme of this year’s Proctor Institute was taken from Zechariah 8:4-5. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.” It resonates with the message in today’s readings to invest our precious resources (time, money, and, perhaps most importantly, our attention) in bringing to fruition a vision of the world we want to live in, to store up treasures that are rich in what matters to ß

Research on how to motivate people to change behavior concludes that one important element is to help people visualize themselves taking an action and seeing the difference it makes. Even more important is that people feel a sense of community when they are taking the action. As much as possible, let’s support each other in relentlessly pursuing God’s dream for us. Together, we can act courageously not out of despair but led by a vision of a world that does not yet exist, where all children are fed, cared for, and free to play with joy and laughter.

In the words of Pope Francis, “May the light of Christian hope illumine every man and woman, as a message of God’s love addressed to all!”

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Brigit Hurley

Brigit Hurley is a Policy Analyst with The Children's Agenda, an independent children’s advocacy organization in Rochester, NY.She serves as staff to The Children’s Agenda’s Interfaith Collaborative. Previously, Brigit worked at Catholic Family Center in Rochester, where she spent ten years in the Office of Social Policy working on issue advocacy and faith-based education and outreach on topics such as poverty, children's mental health, and immigration reform.Previous to that she served as Coordinator of the Rochester Toy Library.Brigit earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.She lives outside Rochester with her husband and 4 children, and worships at St. Monica’s parish on Genesee St.