Sept 9 Monday (St. Peter Claver (U.S.A.): Lk
6:6-11: 6 On another Sabbath, when he entered the synagogue
and taught, a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes
and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so
that they might find an accusation against him. 8 But he knew their thoughts,
and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he
rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the
Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And he
looked around on them all, and said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did
so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed
with one another what they might do to Jesus.
The context: Today’s Gospel describes a miraculous
healing performed by Jesus one Sabbath as a public violation of Sabbath laws,
in order to prove that God’s intention for the Sabbath was for His people to
do good and to save life rather than to do evil or to destroy
life.
The incident and the reaction: Ex 20:8 and Dt 5:12
instructed the Jews to keep the Sabbath holy. But the scribes
and the Pharisees had amplified God’s law on the Sabbath, misinterpreting it
and making it burdensome for the common people through man-made laws. Jesus
wanted to demonstrate in public the original intention of God in declaring
Sabbath holy. For Jesus, the Sabbath was a day of rest on which Israelites were
meant to adore God, to learn and teach His laws, and to do good to/for others.
Hence, Jesus took the liberty of healing a man with a withered hand in the
local synagogue immediately after the worship service, thus infuriating the
scribes and the Pharisees.
Life messages: 1) Our Catholic “Sabbath”
observance of participating in the Eucharistic celebration on Sunday, is meant
to recharge our spiritual batteries for doing good to/for others and avoiding
evil. 2) Our Sunday observance is further meant to be an offering of our lives
to God on the altar, to praise God, to thank Him for His blessings, to ask
God’s pardon and forgiveness for our sins, to present our needs before the Lord
and to participate in the Divine Life by receiving Holy Communion. 3) It is
finally a day to spend with the members of the family and to help our neighbors
in the activities of our parish and neighborhood. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/19
Sept 10 Tuesday: Lk 6:12-19: 12 In those days
he went out to the mountain to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to
God. 13 And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them
twelve, whom he named apostles; 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his
brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and
Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16
and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. 17 And he
came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his
disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and
the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their
diseases; 18 and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19….
The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives a
short account of the call of the Apostles and of the preaching and healing
mission of Jesus. Jesus was the first missionary; he was sent by his Father
with the “Good News” that God his Father is a loving, merciful, and forgiving
Father Who wants to save everyone through His Son, Jesus. Today’s Gospel
describes how this first missionary selected and empowered twelve future
missionaries as Apostles to continue his mission.
Special features: Jesus selected very ordinary people, most
of them hard-working fishermen with no social status, learning or political
influence, because he was sure that they would be very effective instruments in
God’s hands. It was a strange mixture of people. Matthew was a hated tax
collector serving the Roman Empire, while Simon the Cananaean was a Zealot, a
fanatical nationalist or terrorist of those days, determined to destroy Roman
rule by any means. The others were mostly professional fishermen with a lot of
good will, patience and stamina. It was only their admiration and love for
Jesus and his for them that united them. Jesus selected them after a night of
prayer and gave them his own powers of healing and exorcism and his own mission
of preaching the “Kingdom of God.”
Life Messages: 1) God wants to show us that a
calling for ministry, or a vocation to priestly or religious life or family
life, is an initiative of God. 2) As Christians we have the same mission that
Jesus entrusted to his Apostles. We fulfill this mission of preaching the word
of God, primarily by our living out of Jesus’ teachings and by promoting and
helping world-wide missionary activities of the Church. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/19
Sept 11 Wednesday: Luke 6:20-26: 20
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 “Blessed are you that hunger now, for you
shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. 22
“Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you,
and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! 23 Rejoice in
that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so
their fathers did to the prophets. 24 “But woe to you that are rich, for you
have received your consolation. 25 “Woe to you that are full now, for you shall
hunger. “Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 “Woe to
you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
The context: Luke presents the Sermon
on the Plain as following immediately upon the choosing of the twelve
Apostles. Today’s Gospel passage, taken from Luke’s Sermon on the
Plain, teaches us that true happiness or beatitude lies in the
awareness of who we are and what we are supposed to do. The eight beatitudes
Jesus gives in Mathew, like the four in Luke, contradict the ideas of “real”
happiness prevalent in the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day (and in our modern
society as well), according to which wealth, health, power, pleasure and
influence are the true beatitudes.
The Beatitudes: Jesus instructs his disciples in the
paradoxical blessedness of poverty, hunger, sorrow and persecution
because they contradict our natural expectations in every way. Blessed
are those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, insulted, and
denounced because in poverty, we recognize God’s reign; in hunger, His
providence; in sorrow, true happiness; and in persecution, true joy.
Experiencing these miseries opens the way for us to receive the true riches,
the food, comfort and acceptance we find only in His love and His presence here
and in His Kingdom forever. The Beatitudes are commands for how we should live,
and what we should do. What makes one blessed is not simply poverty or hunger
or sadness or suffering for one’s Faith, but commitment to Jesus and His spirit
of sharing.
Life message: 1) We need to respond to the
challenge of the Beatitudes in our daily life. Millions are
starving, persecuted, homeless, and leading hopeless lives. When we reach out
to help them, we are living out the Beatitudes. In addition, Jesus tells us that
we are serving him in these suffering people. We are also loving our neighbors
as Jesus loves us. That is why we are told that we will be judged on
the basis of our acts of mercy and charity (Mt 25:31-46). Let
us also remember that each time we reach out to help the needy, the sick and
the oppressed, we give them the experience of God’s love for them. Just as the
Apostles were called to minister to society’s untouchables, so all
Christians are called to minister to the untouchables, the discriminated against
and the marginalized in our own modern society, that they may meet God’s love
in human flesh. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/19
Sept 12 Thursday (The Most Holy Name of Mary): Lk
6:27-38: 27 “But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good
to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse
you. 29 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him
who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone
who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again.
31 And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. 32 “If you love
those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who
love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is
that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from
whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to
sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and
lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will
be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the
selfish. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37 “Judge not, and
you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive,
and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you; good measure,
pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the
measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is a part of
Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain as given by Luke. It
describes the power of Christian love when exercised by practicing
the golden rule: “Do to others as you would have
them do to you.” This golden rule is amplified by a string of
particular commands: 1) “Love your enemies…Do good to those who
hate you; bless those who curse you and pray for those who maltreat you.”
Jesus orders us to love our enemies. 2) Show your Christian love to everyone,
especially to your enemies by treating them with mercy and compassion because
our Heavenly Father is merciful and compassionate to all His children. “Be
compassionate, as your Father is compassionate.”3) Stop judging and
start forgiving.
Life messages: 1) We need to answer the invitation
to grace-filled behavior: What makes Christianity distinct from any
other religion is the quality known as grace, i.e., our
ability to treat others, not as they deserve, but with love, kindness, the
spirit of forgiveness and mercy. 2) We need to accept the challenges of
day-to-day life. Jesus challenges our willingness to endure unjust suffering
for his sake and the sake of his Gospel. 3) We need to pray
for the strength to forgive. At every Mass we pray the “Our Father”,
asking God to forgive us as we forgive others. We must forgive,
because only forgiveness truly heals our relationships and heals us. If
we remember how God has forgiven us, it will help us forgive
others. 4) We need to live our lives in accordance with “the Golden
Rule.” (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/19
Sept 13 Friday (St. John Chrysostom, Bishop & Doctor
of the Church): Lk 6: 39-42: He also told them a parable: “Can a
blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple
is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully taught will be like his
teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not
notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother,
`Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do
not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite first take the log
out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that
is in your brother’s eye.
The context: In today’s passage, taken from
the Sermon on the Plain given in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus condemns
our careless, malicious and rash judgments about the behavior, feelings,
motives or actions of others by using the funny examples of one blind man
leading another blind man and one man with a log covering his eyes trying to
remove a tiny speck from another’s eye.
Reasons why we should not judge others: 1) No one
except God is good enough to judge others because only God sees the whole truth
and only He can read the human heart. Hence, only He has the ability, right,
and authority to judge us. 2) We do not see all the facts or circumstances or
the power of the temptation which has led a person to do something evil. 3) We
are often prejudiced in our judgment of others, and total fairness cannot be
expected from us. 4) We have no right to judge because we have the same
faults as the one we are judging and often in a greater degree (remember the
critical man with a wooden beam in his eye?) St. Philip Neri commented,
watching the misbehavior of a drunkard: “There goes Philip but for the grace of
God.” Abraham Lincoln said that only he has the right to criticize who has the
heart to help (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/19
Sept 14 Saturday (The Exaltation of the Holy Cross): John
3:13-17: The Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross is one of
twelve “Master feasts” celebrated in the Church to honor Jesus Christ, our Lord
and Master. This feast is celebrated to remember the first installation of the
remnants of the true cross of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at
Mount Calvary, September 14, AD 335 and its reinstallation on September 14, AD
630. The original cross on which Jesus was crucified was excavated in AD 326 by
a team led by St. Helena the mother of the first Christian Roman Emperor,
Constantine. The Emperor built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Calvary, it
was consecrated on September 14, AD 335, and the remains of the cross were
installed in it by Archbishop Maccharios of Jerusalem. After three centuries,
the Persians invaded Jerusalem, plundered all valuables and took with them the
relic of the Holy Cross. In AD 630, Heraclius II defeated the Persians,
recaptured the casket containing the holy relic and reinstalled it in the
rebuilt Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The largest fragment of the holy cross is
now kept in Santa Croce Church in Rome.
In today’s Gospel, answering the question raised by
Nicodemus, Jesus cites the example of how, when the Israelites were in the
desert, the brazen serpent (representing the healing power of God), which God
commanded Moses to raise, saved from death the serpent-bitten Israelites who
looked at it (Numbers 21:4-9). Then Jesus explains how he is going to save the
world by his death on the cross.
Life messages: 1) We should honor and venerate
the cross and carry it on our person to remind ourselves of the love of God for
us and the price Jesus paid for our salvation. 2) The cross will give us
strength in our sufferings and remind us of our hope of eternal glory with the
risen Lord. With St. Paul, we express our belief that the “message of the
cross is foolishness only to those who are perishing” (1Cor 1:18-24), and
that we should “glory in the cross of Our Lord” (Gal 6:14). 3) We
should bless ourselves with the sign of the cross to remind ourselves that we
belong to Christ Jesus and to honor the Most Holy Trinity, asking the Triune
God to bless us, save us and protect us. 4) The crucifix should remind us that
we are forgiven sinners and, hence, we are expected to forgive those who offend
us and to ask for forgiveness whenever we offend others or hurt their
feelings. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/19