October 5-10:
Oct 5 Monday (Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, Priest, U.S. A.) https://www.franciscanmedia.org/blessed-francis-xavier-seelos/ : Lk 10: 25-37: 25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, 34 and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: A scribe asked Jesus a very basic
religious question: “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” In answer
to the question, Jesus directed the scribe’s attention to the Sacred
Scriptures. The Scriptural answer is, “Love God and express it by loving
your neighbor.” However, to the scribe, the word “neighbor” meant another
scribe or Pharisee, never a Samaritan or a Gentile. Hence, the scribe
insisted on further clarification of the word “neighbor.” So, Jesus told
him the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable clearly indicates that
a “neighbor” is anyone who needs help. Thus, the correct approach is not
to ask who our neighbor is, but instead, to ask, “Am I a good neighbor to those
I meet, helping them in their needs?” The Good Samaritan is a symbol of Jesus,
himself, in his role as Savior of the world. The parable: In
the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus presents three philosophies of life
concerning our relationship with our neighbor: 1) the philosophy of the thieves
who robbed the Samaritan: “What is yours is mine; I will take it by
force. 2) the philosophy of the Jewish priest and the
Levite: “What is mine is mine; I won’t part with it.” 3) the
philosophy of the Samaritan: “What is mine is yours as well. I shall
share it with you.
Life message: We need to have hearts of mercy:
We need to remember that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho passes right
through our home, parish and workplace. Jesus is inviting us to show
mercy and kindness to those who are being hurt or mistreated on any of the
“Jericho Roads” of our lives in our family, neighborhood and parish. (Fr. Tony)
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/20
Oct 6 Tuesday (St. Bruno)( https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-bruno/) Priest, Blessed
Marie Ross Durocher, Virgin, U. S. A.( https://www.franciscanmedia.org/blessed-marie-rose-durocher/)
): Lk 10:38-42: 38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a
village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a
sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40
But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then
to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and
troubled about many things; 42 one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good
portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: Today’s readings are about
hospitality and the necessity of listening to God before acting. Jesus
welcomed and tended to the needs of all, reflecting in his actions the very
hospitality of God. All four Gospels recount Jesus’ welcoming and feeding
the multitudes of people who came to hear his teachings. The Gospel
passage describes how Martha, a true child of Abraham, wanted to extend the
traditional generous hospitality of her people to Jesus, the true Messiah, by
preparing an elaborate meal for him, while her sister Mary spent her time in
talking to him and listening to him.
Jesus’ advice: The episode is also intended to teach us
where we should place our priorities. Presenting Martha as a dynamo of
action and Mary as a true listener to the word of God, today’s Gospel invites
us to serve others with Martha’s diligence, after recharging our spiritual
batteries every day by prayer — listening to God and talking to God — as
Mary did. We are able to minister truly to the needs of others only after
welcoming God’s words into our hearts and minds.
Life messages: 1) We need to recharge our
spiritual batteries: Without the “fuel” of prayer, silence, and communion with
God, service can become a crushing responsibility, a burden rather than a
vocation, an annoyed grumbling rather than a response to the invitation of God.
2) We need listening Marthas and serving Marys: Martha has
become a symbol of action-oriented, responsible people who get the job
done. Our world needs such men, women, boys and girls who get the job
done. This is certainly true in the Church where we need the active
cooperation of many parishioners in its various ministries. (Fr. Tony) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
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Oct 7 Wednesday (Our Lady of the Holy Rosary) https://www.franciscanmedia.org/our-lady-of-the-rosary/ :
Lk 1:26-38: This feast was established by Pope St. Pius V in
thanksgiving for the victory at Lepanto, 7 Oct 1571, which stopped the Turkish
invasion of Europe. Importance: The word Rosary means
“Crown of Roses” and each prayer in the Rosary is considered a flower presented
to Mary. It is called the “Breviary of the Common People” and the “Psalms of
the Illiterate.” The prayers we repeat are Biblical and hence “inspired,” and
the mysteries we meditate upon are taken from the lives of Jesus and
Mary. The “Our Father” is a prayer taught by Jesus himself. The “Hail
Mary” is also rooted in the Scriptures. Its first half echoes the words of the
Archangel Gabriel and those of Elizabeth, both addressed to Mary. The third
prayer — the “Glory be to the Father” — ancient in its wording, surely reflects
the unceasing prayer of adoration and praise found in the Book of Revelation.
The various events in the lives of Jesus and Mary on which we meditate during
the Rosary are expressions of the Paschal Mystery, that is, the Life, Death and
Resurrection of Jesus, in which Mary shared.
History: Prayer using rosary beads is as old as
mankind. The Hindus in India used to recite the thousand names of their
gods and goddesses and their “mantra” prayers using multi-beaded rosaries, and
their sages wear such rosaries around the neck, constantly rolling the beads in
prayer. The Jews used beads to repeat the psalms, the Laws of Moses and
the memorized sayings of the prophets. The Muslims use rosaries with a hundred
beads for their prayer. In the ninth century, the Christian monks who
recited the 150 psalms instructed the illiterate common people to recite
the Our Father 150 times. It was in the eleventh century
that the Europeans added the Hail Mary to the Our
Father. According to a legend, in 1214, the Blessed Virgin Mary
appeared to St. Dominic Guzman and instructed him to pray the Rosary in a new
form as an effective antidote against the Albigensian heresy. The Rosary
devotion attained its present form by 1500 A.D. An additional boost to the
Rosary devotion was given in 1917, when our Blessed Mother, in her sixth
apparition to the three shepherd children, on the thirteenth of May, asked them
to, “Say the Rosary every day… Pray, pray a lot and offer sacrifices
for sinners… I’m Our Lady of the Rosary.” The “Fatima prayer”
“O, my Jesus” was added in the twentieth century. Pope St. John Paul II
enriched the Rosary by adding the “Luminous Mysteries” (Rosarium
Virginis Mariae).
How to pray the Rosary: The ideal is to recite
at least five decades of the Rosary (and if possible, the entire twenty), with
one’s whole family daily. We need to say the Rosary slowly enough to make
its recitation devout and reverent. We are to reflect for a minute or two on
the mystery, and then concentrate on the meaning of the prayers as we say them,
to avoid distractions. Besides saying the Rosary with others in the family
before bedtime, let us make it a habit of reciting the Rosary during our
journey to the workplace and during our exercises. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/20USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
Oct 8 Thursday: Lk 11:5-13: 5 And he
said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say
to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a
journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from
within, `Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in
bed; I cannot get up and give you anything’? ..13 USCCB video
reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: After teaching a model prayer,
Jesus instructs his disciples to pray to God their Heavenly Father with the
same boldness, daring, intimacy, conviction, persistence, and perseverance that
both Abraham and the friend in need in the parable used. Jesus gives us
the assurance that God will not be irritated by our requests, nor will He be
unwilling to meet them with generosity. Jesus stresses the power of
intercessory prayer and the necessity for persistence, perseverance, trusting
Faith and the boldness of Faith in our prayer.
The parable: By presenting the parable of the friend in
need, Jesus emphasizes our need for that persistent and persevering prayer
which acknowledges our total dependence on God. In the ancient Hebrew
world, hospitality was the essence of one’s goodness, and, hence, to welcome a
visitor without food and drink was unthinkable. A traveler who was
traveling in the evening to avoid the heat of the afternoon might well arrive
late at night. So in this parable, when a man received an unexpected
guest late at night and found his cupboard bare, he went to the man next
door, woke him up, and asked him for a loaf of bread. Because of the
persistence of his neighbor, the unwilling householder got up and gave him the
bread he needed for his guest. This parable of Friend at Midnight is both
an assurance that prayer is always answered and an encouragement to pray. This
parable stresses the necessity for our persisting in prayer as the expression
of our total dependence on God. St. Paul says, “Be constant in prayer”
(Romans 12:12), “pray at all times” (Ephesians 6:18), “be
steadfast in prayer” (Colossians 4:2), and “pray
constantly” (2 Thessalonians 5:17). Jesus assures us, “Knock
and the door will be opened”(Luke 11: 10).
Life messages: We need to stop giving lame
excuses for not praying. Modern Christians give four lame excuses for not
praying: 1) We are “too busy.” This excuse should send us to
our priorities list, where God needs to be first of all, if we are to be able
to live in His peace. That settled, we will find that prayer in every form is
our living connection with Him through which He gives us Grace, fills us with
His love for us, and helps us to become our true selves. Then, with His help,
we will be able to discern the truly important things in our lives and
eliminate the unimportant and/or distracting, debilitating, and useless items.
2) We don’t believe that prayer does that much good, other than giving us the
psychological motivation to be better persons. Such people forget
the fact that prayer establishes and augments our responsive relationship with
God, the Source of our power. 3) A loving God should provide for us and
protect us from the disasters of life, such as diseases or accidents,
without our asking Him. True – and He does! Prayer is not meant to inform
God; it expresses our awareness of our need for God Who loves us
unconditionally, and of our trusting dependence upon Him. 4) Prayer is
boring. People who use this excuse forget the fact that prayer is a
conversation with God: listening to God speaking to us through the Bible and
talking to God through personal and family prayers. We can’t have a close
relationship with anyone, including God, without persistent and intimate
conversation. ((http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
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Oct 9 Friday (St. Denis, Bishop & Companions
Martyrs) (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-denis-and-companions/)
, (St. John Leonardi, Priest) https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-john-leonardi/ :
Lk 11:15-26: 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by
Beelzebul, the prince of demons”; 16 while others, to test him, sought from him
a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every
kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18
And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For
you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by
Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your
judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the
kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his
own palace, his goods are in peace; 22 but when one stronger than he assails
him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides
his spoil. 23 He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather
with me scatters. 24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes
through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, `I will return
to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes he finds it swept and put
in order. 26 Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than
himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes
worse than the first. USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: When Jesus healed a mute man by
exorcism, the jealous scribes and the Pharisees spread the malicious slander
that Jesus was collaborating with Beelzebul, the head of the devils, to cast
out smaller devils.
Jesus’ response: Jesus makes his counterattack, first by
asking the rhetorical question “By whom do your sons (the Jewish exorcists),
cast them out?” The implication is that, if what they say about Him, Who casts
them out with a single command, is true, the Jewish exorcists, who require so
much more prayer and so many more exercises to do exorcisms, must certainly
have to seek the help of the big devil to exorcise minor devils. Then Jesus
asserts that no kingdom, divided against itself, can survive for long.
Obviously, then, the chief devil will not help any exorcists to cast out
devils. Jesus then claims that the fact that he has expelled demons is
proof that he has brought the Kingdom of God. When people are liberated
from the control of evil spirits, it is a sure sign that the loving power of
God (the finger of God), is at work. Then Jesus uses the image of a
strong man guarding his house and keeping his possessions safe until someone
stronger attacks and overthrows him. Jesus claims that he is the stronger
one and the evil spirits are being driven away by him. They are helpless
before him. This liberation of people and society from evil powers is one
of the most dramatic proofs that the all-powerful reign of God is present in
the Person of Jesus.
Life messages: 1) Jesus teaches us that the
devil is relentless in his struggle against man. The devil continues to
lay his traps, in spite of man’s rejecting him with the help of grace.
That is why St. Peter warns us to be sober and vigilant because, “your
adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to
devour. Resist him, firm in your Faith” (1 Peter 5:8-9). 2) We
have to fortify ourselves against the devil by prayer, penance, the Sacraments
and the effective use of the word of God. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
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Oct 10 Saturday: Lk 11:27-28: 27 As he said
this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the
womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” 28 But he said, “Blessed
rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” USCCB video
reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: A woman in the audience was so
impressed by Jesus’ powerful refutation of a slander against him (that Jesus
collaborated with the devil in exorcisms), that she shouted a blessing,
praising the mother of Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and
the breasts that you sucked!” She meant that any woman would be
proud to have such a great son.
The reason for real blessedness: Completing the truth of the
blessing the woman had pronounced, Jesus states that the real source of
blessedness is the willingness to hear and the readiness to obey the word of
God. Mary heard God’s message at the Annunciation, and her prompt
response was, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according
to your word” (Luke 1:38). That is
why she could boldly proclaim to her cousin Elizabeth in her canticle, “All
generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). No
one listened more attentively to the word of God than Mary did. She “kept
all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Luke 2:10). Jesus
clarified the same truth on another occasion, stating that His true mother
and brothers and sisters are those who hear the word of God and do it (Luke
8:21). In today’s Gospel, Jesus declares that that those who hear God’s
word and keep it are more blessed than those who are related to him only by
blood.
Life message: 1) We become the members of the Heavenly family of the Triune God, that is, we are made children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus, by our Baptism. But it is our fidelity in hearing the word of God and in putting that word into practice in our daily lives that makes us really blessedWhat makes a person happy in this life and in the life to come is precisely the fulfillment of God’s will, as we learn through the attentive reading of, and listening to, His words. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/20
