The Liturgy is a public worship. In this worship, we have a two-way communication between God and God’s people. For example, in the Holy Mass, God speaks and the people listen; then the people speak, and God listens. A careful study of the Mass reveals where God speaks and where the people speak. In the Liturgy of the Word, the people listen when God speaks through the readings from the Bible. The people also speak during the Liturgy of the Word through the Responsorial Psalm.
There are two main reasons for the choice of the name Responsorial Psalm for that part of the Liturgy of the Word that comes after the First Reading. One reason concerns the structural nature of the text, where there is a response after each verse. The other reason we call it Responsorial Psalm is that the Psalm is the people’s response to the Word of God. So, after the First Reading, the Psalm is not just filler music, a commercial break, or a pause before the second reading. It is our response to the Word of God we have just heard in the First Reading. God speaks to us through the prophets, and then we, as a people, respond or answer back, not with our own words, but with words the Holy Spirit inspired long ago. If this information is new to you, begin to pay attention at Mass to the connection between the First Reading and the Responsorial Psalm.
Today, we first heard from the prophet Amos with some strong words against those who trample upon the poor. He denounces merchants who cheat in business, exploit the needy, and think only of profit. He warns: God will not forget their deeds. He adds: if you oppress the poor, you are not just hurting another human being, you are offending the living God.
And what is our response to that prophetic word? We answer with Psalm 113: “Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor.” In other words, we declare that God’s heart is on the side of those the world forgets. While the wealthy and greedy merchants step on the vulnerable, the Lord bends down to lift them. Where society sees only dust and refuse, God sees sons and daughters worthy of honor.
This Psalm was written in a time when poverty meant absolute vulnerability, no voice, no power, no protection. To be poor was to be exposed, to be seen as worthless. But Israel sang this Psalm as a reminder that the God they worshiped is unlike the idols of the nations. Other gods were believed to dwell only in heavenly places, but the God of Israel sees both heaven and earth. He cares about the poor widow, the abandoned child, the forgotten laborer. This Psalm is the song of a people who know God is not only almighty but also merciful.
And here is the Good News for us: the God who lifted the poor from the dust in ancient Israel is the same God who, in Jesus Christ, stooped down into our dust. Remember, Jesus was born not in a palace but in a manger. He grew up not among princes but in a carpenter’s home. On the Cross, he took upon himself the dust of our sins, the dunghill of our failures. And through his resurrection, he lifted us, not just to sit with princes, but to be sons and daughters of the King of kings.
There are three points we can pick from this Good News: First, we must never lose hope. No matter how low life seems to drag us, whether it is financial struggles, family tensions, loneliness, or guilt from past mistakes, God sees us in the dust. He does not ignore us. The same Lord who delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt, who anointed David even when his father left him with the sheep, who raised Mary from her humility to become the Mother of God, this same Lord delights in lifting us.
Second, we are called to imitate God. If God stoops down to lift the poor, then as God’s people, we must not look away from those in the dust around us. Who in our parish, in our school, in our family, in our neighborhood, in our city feels forgotten, unseen, left behind? The elderly neighbor who lives alone? The single mom struggling to provide? The absent neighbor who is the subject of the present gossip? Or the person experiencing homelessness whom we pass by on the street? If God raises the poor from the dust, then he is asking us, his children, to be his voice, hands, and feet to lift the lowly up with dignity and love.
Third, our praise must come not just from our lips but from our lives. When we gather at Mass and sing, “Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor,” it is not only a song of worship, it is a commitment. We are saying, “Lord, I praise you by lifting up the poor around me. I praise you by treating every person with dignity. I praise you by seeing the world as you see it.
My dearly beloved in Christ, the God who sits enthroned above the heavens is also the God who kneels in the dust with us. The God who is “high above all nations” is also the God who raises us when we fall. That is why we praise him, not only with our words, but with our lives. So today, let us make this Psalm our life; let us make this Psalm our song: “Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor.” Amen.
Homily for 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2025
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