32nd Week: Nov 8-13:
Nov 8 Monday:
The context: In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus gives us two warnings: 1) We should not give scandal to anyone. 2) We need to practice unconditional forgiveness. Jesus also stresses our need for trusting Faith in God’s power if we are to avoid giving scandal and to practice forgiveness.
The great sin of scandal: Literally, scandal is a trap or
stumbling block. The catechism defines it as any saying, action or omission
which causes an occasion of sin for another. Giving scandal to children and
beginners in the Faith is a serious sin because it causes a chain reaction of
sins for years, affecting so many, taking away the life of grace from the
victims. That is why Jesus says that it would be better for its perpetrators to
have their necks inserted in heavy circular millstones and to be drowned in the
sea than to suffer God’s punishment for this sin.
The necessity of practicing forgiveness: Jesus commands his
followers to forgive their offending brothers and sisters repeatedly, as often
as they are repentant. Further, we need to offer fraternal correction to the
offender with charity, without humiliating him or offending his feelings. At
the same time, we should not allow the offender to violate our just rights.
Sincere forgiveness leads us to forget the particular offense and to extend the
hand of friendship, which in turn helps the offender to repent. Jesus concludes
his instructions by reminding his followers that avoiding scandals and
forgiving the offenders are possible only if they have the trusting faith in
God which enables Him to work miracles in their lives.
Life messages: 1) We need to avoid giving
scandal to any one because it causes a series of sins and does damage to a
number of innocent victims. 2) We should ask God to enlarge our hearts to
forgive others and to help us to be ready to grant forgiveness to those who
have offended us. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/21
Nov 9 Tuesday (Dedication of the Lateran Basilica): (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/dedication-of-saint-john-lateran/):Jn 2.13-22 Historical
note: Today the Church celebrates the anniversary of the dedication of
the Cathedral Church of Rome by Pope Sylvester I (AD 314-335), in AD 324. This
Church serves as the Episcopal seat of the Pope as the Bishop of Rome and,
hence, is called “the mother and head of all Churches of Rome and the world.”
The basilica and baptistery were built originally by the Emperor Constantine
and called Basilica Constantinia. Later it was named the Arch-Basilica of the
Most Holy Savior. However, it is now called St. Johns Lateran Basilica because
it was built on property donated to the Church by the Laterani family, and
because the monks from the monastery of St. John the Baptist and St. John the
Divine served it. The name St. Johns comes, first, from the Baptistery, rebuilt
after its hard treatment by the Visigoths (AD 410), by Pope St. Sixtus II (AD
432-440), and dedicated by him to St. John the Baptist. Later, Pope St. Hilary
(AD 461-468), dedicated it to St. John the Evangelist, in thanksgiving to that
apostle for saving his life. [Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the
Popes (San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997), pp. 58-58,
71-72, 77-78.]. USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: Today’s Gospel gives us the dramatic
account of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem. He drove out its
merchants and moneychangers with moral indignation at the unjust
commercialization of a House of Prayer and the exploitation of the poor
pilgrims in the name of religion. The merchants charged exorbitant prices for
animals for sacrifices, and the moneychangers charged unjust commissions for
the required exchange of pagan coins for Temple coins. The Temple Jesus
cleansed was the Temple in Jerusalem. Originally built by Solomon in 966 BC and
rebuilt by Zerubbabel in 515 BC after the Babylonians had destroyed it, the
Temple was renovated for the last time by King Herod the Great starting in 20
BC. The abuses which infuriated Jesus were 1) the conversion of a place of
prayer to a noisy marketplace and 2) the unjust business practices of animal
merchants and moneychangers, encouraged by the Temple authorities. Hence, Jesus
made a whip of cords and drove away the animals and the moneychangers, quoting
Zechariah the prophet, “Stop making my Father’s house a
marketplace”(Zechariah 14:21).
Life messages: 1) We need to avoid the business
mentality of profit and loss in Divine worship. Our relationship with God must
be that of a child to his parent, one of love, respect and desire for the
common good, with no thought of gain or loss. 2) We need to remember that we
are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we have no right to desecrate God’s
temple by impurity, injustice, pride, hatred, or jealousy.
3) We need to love our parish Church and use it. Our Church
is the place where we come together as a community to praise and worship God,
to thank Him for His blessings, to ask pardon and forgiveness for our sins, and
to offer our lives and petitions on the altar. Let us make our Church an even
more holy place by adding our prayers and songs to community worship and by
offering our time and talents and treasure in the various ministries of our
parish. (Fr. Tony) https://frtonyshomilies.com/
Nov 10 Wednesday (St. Leo the Great, Pope, Doctor of
the Church)
The context: Jesus was on the border between
Galilee and Samaria when he was met by a band of ten lepers, both Jews and
Samaritans. By describing Jesus’ miraculous healing of the ten lepers from a
physically devastating and socially isolating disease, today’s Gospel presents
a God Who desires only gratitude from us for the many blessings we have
received from Him and Who feels pain at our ingratitude. The Gospel story tells
of a single leper (a “Samaritan heretic”), who returned to thank Jesus for
healing him, while the others went their way, the Jews perhaps under the false
impression that healing was their right as God’s chosen people. They did not
seem to feel indebted to Jesus for the singular favor they had received.
Instead, they hurried off to obtain a health certificate from the priests. “Where
are the other nine?” Jesus asked the Samaritan leper. “Did only one
come back to say ‘thank-you?’” Today’s reading also presents Faith and
healing going hand in hand, as do Faith and reconciliation.
Life messages: 1) We need to learn to be
thankful to God and to others. Often we are ungrateful to God. Although we
receive so much from Him, we often take it all for granted without appreciating
His gifts. Often we are ungrateful to our parents and consider them a nuisance,
although in the past we were dependent on them for literally everything.
Similarly, we owe a great debt of gratitude to our friends, teachers, doctors
and pastors — but we often fail to thank them. Hence, in the future, let us be
filled with daily thanksgiving to God and to others for the countless gifts we
have received. Let us pray: “Please, God, heal my heart of ingratitude.”
2) We need to celebrate the Holy Eucharist as the supreme
act of thanksgiving. When we celebrate Holy Mass together, we are thanking God
for the great gift of His Son, whose sacrifice formed us into the People of God. We
thank God for the gift of the Spirit, through whom we bring the presence of the
Lord to others. 3) We all need healing from our spiritual leprosy. Although we
may not suffer from physical leprosy, when we suffer from the “spiritual
leprosy” of sins, Jesus, our Savior, wants to heal us through the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. (Fr. Kadavil) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/21
Nov 11 Thursday (St. Martin of Tours, Bishop)
The context: The Jews believed that the sudden
and unexpected arrival of the promised Messiah would be accompanied by special
signs. They also believed that he would be a political Messiah, who would rule
Israel forever after overthrowing all other rulers. Hence, they asked Jesus
about the signs accompanying his arrival as the Messiah – if he were the
Messiah.
Jesus’ reply: Jesus replied that the kingdom of God was
already within them, and that was the greatest messianic sign.
The Greek word we translate as “within” means both within you and among
you. Considering the kingdom of God as within you, we are to understand
that the Messiah is going to rule the hearts and minds of individuals, creating
a revolution in human hearts and converting them from stony hearts to
Spirit-filled loving, merciful, and compassionate hearts. Considering the
kingdom of God as among you, we are to understand that God Himself is present
among His people in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, representing the Kingdom
of God and doing God’s will in the most perfect way possible. Jesus also warned
the Pharisees not to search for the Messiah anywhere else. He would appear
again in Jesus’ Second Coming, quite unexpectedly, and as unmistakably as a
flash of lightning that “lights up the sky from one side to the other.”
Life message: 1) Let us be Kingdom people by allowing
Jesus the true Messiah to have complete control of our lives. Let us allow Him
to rule our lives by giving priority to him in all our actions. (Fr.
Tony) https://frtonyshomilies.com/ (L/21)
Nov 12 Friday (St. Josaphat, Bishop, Martyr)
The context: In today’s Gospel, Jesus is
prophesying three endings: 1) the end of his public life, 2) the destruction of
Jerusalem, and 3) the end of the world. He warns his listeners to be ready and
not to think that they can postpone their preparations, because when the end
strikes it will already be too late. Through this prophecy and warning, Jesus
asks us, too, 1) to be ready to meet him as our Judge at his Second Coming,
whenever that may take place, and 2) to be prepared to meet him and to give an
account of our lives at the moment of our death, which is also unknown to us.
We need to learn lessons from the past: Jesus gives the
example of the Flood during Noah’s time, when people ate and drank right up to
the moment of disaster. Similarly, He goes on, in the days of Lot, people were
leading their ordinary, sinful lives when fire and brimstone rained down on the
wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Only Lot and his family, who had been
previously warned, and directly assisted, by the angels, escaped. The same
events would be repeated at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70),
and will be repeated again at the end of the world. Some will be saved and
others destroyed. Some will be prepared to meet their God and will be rewarded,
while the unprepared will be punished. The criterion of selection will be our
intimacy with Jesus in a life of grace. If we really want to see the Kingdom of
God on earth in our times, we need only look at people’s lives. The Kingdom is
there when people are reflecting in their lives the vision of life and the
values that Jesus revealed to us, that is, loving God in offering loving
service to all they encounter.
Life messages: 1) We need to stay ready always
by living holy and prayerful lives spent in doing good for others. 2) We need
to make reparation for our past sins and to prepare our lives to meet our
Savior as our Judge by living lives of penance and prayer and by doing works of
charity. (Fr. Tony) https://frtonyshomilies.com/ (L/21)
Nov 13 Saturday (St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin,
(U. S. A.)
The context: Today’s Gospel gives a parable
Jesus told during his last trip to Jerusalem. When Luke recorded this passage,
the Parousia or Second Coming of Jesus had
been delayed beyond what the early Church had expected. Further, the Church was
experiencing persecution from both the Jews and the Romans. The persecuted
early Christians were finding it increasingly difficult to maintain their
Faith. Today’s Gospel lesson, addressing the issues of Faith in difficult
times, must have reassured those disciples, as Jesus reassured His own
contemporaries, that God was listening to their persistent prayers and would
grant them justice and vindicate their Faith in the end. Jesus presents the
widow in today’s Gospel as a model of the trust and tenacity with which all his
disciples are to pray.
The parable: This parable is based on the corrupt Roman
legal practices prevalent in Palestine at the time of Jesus. The judge in the
parable was a magistrate appointed either by Herod or by the Romans. Such
judges were avaricious, corrupt, and without fear of God or the public. By
publicly badgering the judge every day, the woman was trying to shame this
shameless person. Finally, the unjust judge was forced to yield. Hence, this
parable is not only about the efficacy of persistent prayer, but also about the
character of God, His Trustworthiness and Justice. His is a Justice that
reaches out to the poor and the weak, enabling them to fight against injustice.
The parable teaches us that the purpose of all our prayers is the augmentation
of our trusting Faith in a loving and caring God Who is our Father.
Life messages: 1) Prayer attunes our minds to God’s, enabling us to do what God wants. The parable teaches us that our prayers do not change God’s will. Instead, they bring our hearts into line with His purposes. Sincere and persistent prayer makes us ready to accept and live out His will in love and trust. 2) We should not expect to get whatever we pray for. We prefer to get from God what we want , when we want it! God hears all our prayers. But He knows how and when to grant our prayers. Only God sees time whole, and, therefore, only God knows what is good for us, and when, in the long run. Hence, we have to leave it to God’s decision saying, “Thy will be done,” and to express our trusting Faith in, and dependence on, Him by persevering in our prayers. (Fr. Tony) https://frtonyshomilies.com/
