March 2 Monday: Matthew 25: 31-46: “When
the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will
sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and
he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from
the goats, 33 and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at
the left. 34 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you
gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you
clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
37 Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and
feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? 38 And when did we see thee a
stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? 39 And when did we see
thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ 40 And the King will answer them,
`Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren,
you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from
me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42
for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no
drink, 43 …46 USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: Today’s Gospel describes the Last Judgment and its criterion using as an image the Palestinian shepherds’ practice of the nightly separation of the over-active and less docile goats from the docile sheep. Jesus promises that he will come in all his glory as a Judge (Christ’s Second Coming), to reward the good people and punish the bad people. This will be the final and the public separation of the good people from the evildoers. The lessons: The parable teaches us that the main criterion of the Last Judgment will be the works of Christian charity, kindness and mercy we have done for others, in whom we have actually served Christ, knowingly or unknowingly. The parable tells us that Christ, the Judge, is going to ask us six questions, and all of them are based on how we have cooperated with God’s grace to do acts of charity, kindness and mercy for others, because Jesus actually dwells in them. The first set of questions: “I was hungry, thirsty, homeless. Did you give me food, drink, accommodation?” The second set of questions: ”I was naked, sick, imprisoned. Did you clothe me? Did you help me by visiting me in my illness or in prison?” If the answers are yes, we will be eternally rewarded because we have cooperated with God’s grace by practicing charity. But if the answers are negative, we will be eternally punished. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “If sometimes our poor people have had to die of starvation, it is not because God didn’t care for them, but because you and I didn’t give, were not instruments of love in the hands of God, to give them that bread, to give them that clothing; because we did not recognize Christ, when once more Christ came in distressing disguise.”
The context: Today’s Gospel describes the Last Judgment and its criterion using as an image the Palestinian shepherds’ practice of the nightly separation of the over-active and less docile goats from the docile sheep. Jesus promises that he will come in all his glory as a Judge (Christ’s Second Coming), to reward the good people and punish the bad people. This will be the final and the public separation of the good people from the evildoers. The lessons: The parable teaches us that the main criterion of the Last Judgment will be the works of Christian charity, kindness and mercy we have done for others, in whom we have actually served Christ, knowingly or unknowingly. The parable tells us that Christ, the Judge, is going to ask us six questions, and all of them are based on how we have cooperated with God’s grace to do acts of charity, kindness and mercy for others, because Jesus actually dwells in them. The first set of questions: “I was hungry, thirsty, homeless. Did you give me food, drink, accommodation?” The second set of questions: ”I was naked, sick, imprisoned. Did you clothe me? Did you help me by visiting me in my illness or in prison?” If the answers are yes, we will be eternally rewarded because we have cooperated with God’s grace by practicing charity. But if the answers are negative, we will be eternally punished. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “If sometimes our poor people have had to die of starvation, it is not because God didn’t care for them, but because you and I didn’t give, were not instruments of love in the hands of God, to give them that bread, to give them that clothing; because we did not recognize Christ, when once more Christ came in distressing disguise.”
Life messages:
1) The Holy Bible, the Seven Sacraments, the Ten Commandments and the precepts
of the Church are all meant to help us to practice corporal and spiritual works
of charity (mercy), in this life so that we may become able to receive God’s
love, our eternal reward of Heavenly bliss. 2) Sins of omission (in which, we
fail to recognize those in need as our brothers and sisters in Christ and we fail
to serve them in love), are very serious matters leading us toward eternal
punishment. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/20
March 3 Tuesday (St.
Katharine Drexel, Virgin (U.S. A.): Catholic online video:
https://youtu.be/_jv6IbFeMUI?list=PL58g24NgWPIzvBk2IQVES_xC4WTm6-CDI Mt 6:7-15: “And in praying do
not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be
heard for their many words. 8 ..15USCCB
video reflections: https://youtu.be/7WAUQUhA4sk?list=PLpTzvCOJa7DAoMqHc4moKtTJSI6gsth32
The context: In
today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs the crowd that
they should not pray like the Gentiles, repeating empty phrases. He means that
true piety is not so much a matter of the number of words as of the frequency
and the love with which the Christian turns towards God in all the events,
great or small, of his day. So, Jesus teaches a model prayer – Our
Father. After we place ourselves in the presence of God our Father,
there are seven petitions, the first three theological, for the glory of the
Father, which draw us towards Him, and the last four petitionary, as we present
our needs to Him and commend ourselves to His grace.
A prayer in two
parts: In the first part, we address God, lovingly acknowledging Him
as our Heavenly Father, praising and worshipping Him, and asking that His Holy
Will be done on earth and in our lives as perfectly as it is done in Heaven. In
the second part, we ask God for our present needs (daily bread), our past needs
(forgiveness of sins) and our future needs (protection against the tempter and
his temptations), and we ask for His blessings. In this part we also bring the
Trinitarian God into our lives. We bring 1) God the Father, the Provider, by
asking for daily bread, 2) God the Son, our Savior, by asking forgiveness for
our sins and 3) God the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete Who is our Guide, Advocate,
Comforter and Illuminator, by asking for protection and deliverance from evil.
Special stress on the spirit of forgiveness: We are told to
ask for forgiveness from others for our offenses against them and to give
unconditional forgiveness to others for their offenses against us as a
condition for receiving God’s forgiveness. Jesus further clarifies, “If you
forgive others their wrongs, your Father in Heaven will also forgive yours. If
you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you either” (Mt 6:14-15).
“For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, now and
forever. Amen.” The manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew do not contain this
phrase, nor do any of the Catholic translations. Martin Luther added this
doxology to Our Father in his translation of Matthew’s Gospel, and the King
James editions of the Bible keep it. The
doxology is actually taken from the Divine Liturgy or Catholic Mass.
Known as the final doxology, it takes up the first three petitions to our
Father. By the final “Amen,” which means, “So be it”, we ratify what is
contained in the prayer that God has taught us. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/20
March 4 Wednesday (St.
Casimir): Catholic online Video: https://youtu.be/oeE2KCJQwWw?list=PL58g24NgWPIzvBk2IQVES_xC4WTm6–CDI Lk
11:29-32: 29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say,
“This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be
given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the
men of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. 31 The queen of
the South will arise at the judgment with the men of this generation and
condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of
Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of
Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for
they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than
Jonah is here. USCCB video
reflections: https://youtu.be/a3Ya79Exxcw?list=PLpTzvCOJa7DAoMqHc4moKtTJSI6gsth32
The context: Since
there had been many false prophets and false messiahs in the past, and since
their pride and prejudice did not permit them to see the Messiah in a carpenter
from Nazareth turned wandering preacher, the Jewish religious leaders demanded
that Jesus show some “Messianic” signs and miracles taken from their
list. They would not accept that Jesus’ numerous miraculous healings were
the Messianic signs foretold by the prophets.
Jesus’ negative response: Calling them an apostate
generation who refused to believe in their own prophets and denied the hand of
God in the miracles he worked, Jesus warned these religious leaders that they
would be condemned on the Day of Judgment by the people of Nineveh and by the
Queen of Sheba from the South. This is one of the instances in which
Jesus held up Gentiles as models of Faith and goodness (other examples: the
Canaanite woman in Matthew 15, the centurion in Luke 7, the Good Samaritan
story in Luke 10; etc.). The pagan Ninevites heard the voice of the Lord
God in the prophet Jonah, repented, and were spared. The Queen of Sheba recognized
God’s Wisdom in King Solomon and traveled to Israel to receive more of
it. Nevertheless, Jesus gave the religious leaders challenging him, “the
sign of Jonah.” It was the undeniable Messianic sign of his own Resurrection
from the tomb on the third day after his death, just as Jonah had spent three
days in the belly of the giant fish before finally going to Nineveh to
accomplish the mission God had originally given him.
Life messages: We
need to recognize God-given signs in our lives: 1) Let us examine our conscience
and see if we are able to see God’s presence in ourselves and in others, His
hands behind the small and big events of our lives and His provident care in
our lives. 2) Let us open our ears to hear God’s message given to us by others
and by nature. 3) Let us read God’s message in the Bible and adjust our
lives accordingly. 4) Let us try our best to be open to God and receptive to
His Spirit through our active participation in the liturgy instead of looking
for signs in weeping Madonnas, bleeding crucifixes and visionaries. Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/20
March 5
Thursday: Mt 7:7-12: 7 “Ask, and it will be given you; seek,
and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks
receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or
what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if
he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is
in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 12 So whatever you wish that
men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: In
today’s Gospel, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus outlines the
conditions for fruitful and effective prayer.
1.
The first condition is trusting Faith in the
goodness and promises of a loving Father. As a loving Father, God knows what to
give, when to give and how to give, irrespective of what we ask for. As One who
knows our past, present and future, God knows what is best for us at any given
time. He is a loving Father, and He will not give us evil things as the
grudging and mocking gods in Greek stories gave their worshippers. Jesus
explains this with two examples. Even a bad parent will not dare to give a
bread-shaped piece of limestone to his child asking for bread, or a stinging
scorpion instead of a fish. So, all the experiences in our lives, including
illnesses and tragedies, are permitted by a loving God with a definite purpose
– to work in us for our ultimate good
2.
Persistence in prayer is the second condition
Patient, trusting persistence reflects our dependence on, and trust in, God.
That is why Jesus asks us to keep on asking, seeking and knocking.
Life messages: 1)
We need to stop giving lame excuses for not praying, like a) we are too
busy; b) we believe that prayer doesn’t do that much good, other than giving us
psychological motivation to be better persons; c) a loving God should provide
for us and protect us from the disasters of life, such as disease or
accidents, without our asking Him; or d) prayer is boring.
2) We need to remember the fact that prayer is a
conversation with God that is, listening to God speaking to us through the
Bible and talking to God.
3) We can’t have a close relationship with anyone,
especially with God, without daily, persistent, and intimate
conversation. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/20
March 6
Friday: Mt 5:20-26: 20 For I tell you, unless your
righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven. 21 “You have heard that it was said to the men of old,
`You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I
say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to
judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and
whoever says, `You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if
you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother
has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go;
first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 ..26USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: For
the Scribes and the Pharisees, the external fulfillment of the precepts of the
Mosaic Law was the guarantee of a person’s salvation. In other words, a man
saved himself through the external works of the Law. Jesus rejects this
view in today’s Gospel passage, taken from the Sermon on the Mount. For
Jesus, justification or sanctification is a grace, a free, strengthening gift
from God. Man’s role is one of cooperating with that grace by being faithful to
it, using it as God means it to be used. Jesus then outlines new moral
standards for his disciples.
Control of anger: Anger is the rawest, strongest and most
destructive of human emotions. Describing three stages of anger and the
punishment each deserves, Jesus advises his disciples not to get angry in such
a way that they sin.
1) Anger in the heart (“brief stage of insanity”
Cicero): It has two forms: a) a
sudden, blazing flame of anger which dies suddenly. b) a surge of anger which
boils inside and lingers, so that the heart seeks revenge and refuses to
forgive or forget. Jesus prescribes trial and punishment by the Village Court
of Elders as its punishment.
2) Anger in speech: The use of words which are
insulting (“raka“=“fool”), or damaging to the reputation (“moros”
= a person of loose morals). Jesus says that such an angry (verbally abusive)
person should be sent to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religion’s Supreme Court,
for trial and punishment.
3) Anger in action: Sudden outbursts of uncontrollable
anger, which often result in physical assault or abuse. Jesus says that such
anger deserves hellfire as its punishment. In short, Jesus teaches that
long-lasting anger is bad, contemptuous speech or destroying someone’s
reputation is worse and harming another physically is the worst.
Life messages: 1) Let us try to forgive, forget and move toward
reconciliation as soon as possible. St. Paul advises us “Be angry (righteous
anger), but do not sin” (Eph 4: 26). 2) When we keep
anger in our mind, we are inviting physical illnesses like hypertension and
mental illnesses like depression. Let us relax and keep silence when we are
angry and pray for God’s strength for self-control. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/20
March 7 Saturday (St.
Perpetua & Felicity):
Catholic online Video: https://youtu.be/Tg4ax1E2p-E
Mt 5:43-48: “You
have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your
enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes
his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the
unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not
even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you salute only your brethren,
what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48
You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. USCCB video reflections:
The context:
Today’s Gospel passage is perhaps the central and the most famous section of
the Sermon on the Mount. It gives us the Christian ethic of personal
relationship: love one’s neighbors and forgive one’s enemies. Above all, it
tells us that what makes Christians different is the grace with which they
treat others, interacting with them with loving kindness and mercy, especially
when those others don’t deserve it. The Old Law never said to hate enemies, but
that was the way some Jews understood it. Jesus commands that we are to
love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us in order to demonstrate
that we are children of a merciful Heavenly Father. From the cross, Jesus
prayed for all of those who were crucifying him – which includes all fallen
humankind, and so ourselves — saying, ‘Father forgive them; they know not
what they do.’” (Lk 23:34). A Christian has no personal enemies.
If we only love our friends, we are no different from pagans or atheists.
We need to love our neighbors and our enemies, too: The
Greek word used for loving enemies is not storge (affection or
natural love towards family members), or philia = friendship (love
of close friends), or eros (=romance) (passionate love between a
young man and woman), but agápe =unconditional love which
is the invincible benevolence or good will for another’s highest good. Since agápe or
unconditional love is not natural, practicing it is possible only with God’s
help. Agápe love is a choice more than a feeling. We choose to
love, not because our enemies deserve our love, but because Jesus loves them so
much that he died for them, and they, too, are the children of our God.
We have in the Acts of the Apostles the example of St. Stephen, the first
martyr, who, like Jesus on the cross, prayed for those who were putting him to
death.
Life Messages: We
are to try to be perfect, to be like God: 1) We become perfect when we
fulfill God’s purpose in creating us, with His help, to become
God-like. 2) We become perfect when, with His ongoing help, we try to love
as God loves, to forgive as God forgives and to show unconditional good will
and universal benevolence as God does. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/20
