33rd Week: Nov 15-20:
Nov 15 Monday (St. Albert the Great, Bishop, Doctor of the Church):
The context: Jesus was going to Jerusalem to
participate in the feast of Passover. At Jericho, there was a big crowd of
pilgrims walking along, listening to Jesus’ teaching. Beggars used to sit on
both sides of the road, as the pilgrims were very generous, and the people used
to line up on the roadside to greet the pilgrims. A blind beggar on the
roadside was told by his friends that Jesus of Nazareth, the miracle-worker,
was passing by. So, the blind man repeatedly cried out at the top of his
voice, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The pilgrims
listening to Jesus’ teaching tried to stop the beggar’s loud cry, but in vain.
Jesus stopped, called the beggar to him and asked him, “What do you want Me
to do for you?” The beggar answered, “Lord, let me receive my
sight,” and Jesus replied, “Receive your sight; your Faith has
made you well,” and at that moment the beggar was able to see. This
miracle was Jesus’ reward to the blind man for his trusting Faith in the
healing power and compassionate heart of the Messiah. St. Augustine described
the urgency with which we should respond to God’s gift, to His passing us on
the road: “I fear Jesus may pass by and not come back.”
Life messages: 1) We, too, need healing from our
spiritual blindness which makes us incapable of seeing and appreciating the
living presence of God within ourselves and others. For that healing, we also
require the same trusting Faith the blind man displayed in the healing power
and mercy of Jesus, and the same persevering persistence in our prayers. We
need to pray with conviction, urgency and constancy. 2) We need to repeat the
prayer of the blind man, “Lord, let me receive my sight,” when
our Faith is feeble, when we cannot understand the reason behind God’s plans,
and when our commitments become shaky. God gave us eyes so that we can see. God
gave us a heart so that we can see better. Let us use them all the time. (Fr.
Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/21
Nov 16 Tuesday (St. Margaret of Scotland)
The context: The theme of today’s Gospel is the
benevolent and forgiving mercy of God for sinners and the response of
repentance and conversion expected from us. The story is that of the
instantaneous conversion of the tax-collector, Zacchaeus. As the chief
tax-collector in Jericho, Zacchaeus was probably a man of much wealth and few
friends. Since he worked for the Romans and extracted more tax money than
required by the law, he was probably hated by the Jews who considered all
tax-collectors as public sinners. The account describes how Jesus recognized
Zacchaeus for exactly who he was – a lost sinner in need of a Savior. Jesus’
response lets us see how God’s grace worked in Zacchaeus to lead him from idle
curiosity to repentance, conversion, and the making of restitution. The episode
emphasizes the fact that such a conversion can only result from a person’s
fully receiving the love, acceptance, and grace of a merciful Lord. The story
of Zacchaeus reinforces the lessons of the fifteenth chapter of Luke in which a
lost sheep and a lost coin are found, and a lost son is embraced. It also
demonstrates the fact that nobody is beyond the possibility of conversion.
Life messages: 1) We need to accept the Divine
invitation to repentance. We are all sinners to a greater or lesser degree.
Jesus is inviting each one of us to total conversion today by means of this
Gospel lesson. Let us remember that Jesus loves us, in spite of our ugly
thoughts, broken promises, and sullied ideals, our lack of prayer, our lack of
Faith, our resentments, and our lusts. Hence, let us confess to Him all our
weaknesses and sins, repenting, and ask Him trustfully for His Mercy. 2) We
need to love others in spite of their sins, as Jesus loves us. Jesus loved
Zacchaeus—a great sinner — and by that love, Zacchaeus was transformed. As
parents or teachers, can we lovingly accept our children without first
setting up for them standards of behavior as conditions for
being loved? Just as Jesus loved Zacchaeus, even though he was a public sinner,
so we must love others in spite of their sins. Jesus expects this of us. 3) We
need to be set free from selfishness and choose generosity: Zacchaeus was
changed from being greedy to being generous, from selfishness to selflessness.
When we feel the warmth of God’s presence within us, that warmth will, in
itself, melt our coldness and selfishness, leading us to repentance and
generosity. (Fr. Tony) https://frtonyshomilies.com/ L/21
Nov 17 Wednesday (St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious)
The context: The central theme of today’s Gospel
is an invitation to live in such a way that we make the best use of the talents
God has given us, so that at the hour of our death Our Lord will say: “Well
done, My good and faithful servant! Come and share the joy of your Master.” The
parable of the talents challenges us to do something positive, constructive,
and life-affirming with our talents here and now.
The parable: A very rich Master, about to set off on a
journey, entrusted very large sums of money (talents), to three of his
servant-slaves (10 according to Luke 19), each according to his personal
ability: five, two, and one. He wanted them to do business with the money in
his absence. Through skillful trading and investing, the servant-slaves with
the five talents and the two talents managed to double their master’s money.
But the servant-slave with one talent buried it in the ground for fear of loss
in business. On the day of accounting, the Master rewarded the two clever
servant-slaves and punished the third servant-slave whom he called “wicked and
slothful.” He took the third servant-slave’s talent and gave it to the first
servant-slave.
Life messages: 1) We need to trust God enough to
make use of the gifts and abilities He has given us. We may be especially
talented in teaching children, or cooking meals, or repairing homes, or
programming computers. Let us use our particular gifts in the service of our
families, our Christian community, and the wider society. 2) We need to make
use of our talents in our parish. We should be always willing to share our
abilities in creative worship in the Church and in the various ministries in
our parish, such as Sunday-school teacher, singer in the choir, volunteer,
and/or member of one or more of the various parish organizations and community
outreach programs. 3) We need to trade with our talent of Christian Faith: All
of us in the Church today have received at least one talent namely, the gift of
Faith. Our responsibility is not just to preserve and “keep” the Faith, but to
work with it and grow with it We need to promote and add value to Faith by
living it out. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/21
Nov 19 Thursday (The Dedication of the Basilicas of
Saint Peter and Paul, , Apostles),
Context: It was when two-and-a-half million
people were present in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast of Passover that
Jesus’ followers paraded with him for a distance of two miles from the Mount of
Olives to the city of Jerusalem. But when the procession reached the spot from
which there was a magnificent view of the city of Jerusalem, Jesus started to
weep. Later, Jesus explained why he loved the city, which was the center of
Judaism, Yahweh’s promised place of terrestrial residence and the culminating
point of Jesus’ public ministry. He could not foresee without tears its
destruction in A.D. 70 by Titus, who would totally demolish the Temple and the
city after massacring most of its residents. Jesus explained the destruction of
the city as a punishment from God because its inhabitants had failed to
recognize the time of their visitation. In other words,
Jerusalem had closed her doors, and her inhabitants had closed their hearts, to
the salvific coming and message of the Redeemer. In spite of Jesus’ preaching
and healing ministry among the Chosen people, they had largely rejected him,
and their leaders were planning to crucify him.
Life messages: 1) Jesus visits each one of us as
our Lord and Savior and teaches us through the instruction and preaching of the
Church. We hear Jesus’ voice when we read Holy Scripture, and Jesus offers us
forgiveness of sins and grace through the Sacraments. So we should not reject
Jesus or Jesus’ message as the Jews did, nor remain indifferent to Jesus, but
listen to God’s warning about our need to repent, renew our lives, and walk in
God’s ways of peace and holiness.
2) We are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and we have no
right to desecrate God’s temple by harboring jealousy, discrimination,
injustice and impurity in our hearts (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/21
Nov 20 Friday
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 God’s
House of Prayer and the exploitation of the poor pilgrims in the name of
religion. The merchants charged exorbitant prices for the animals to be
sacrificed, 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, rebuilt by
Zerubbabel in 515 BC after the Babylonians had destroyed it, and in Jesus’ day
was still being renovated, a work begun by King Herod the Great in 20 BC. The
abuses which infuriated Jesus were: 1) the conversion of a place of prayer into
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, the dealers and the moneychangers,
quoting the prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, “Stop making my Father’s house a
marketplace”(Lk 19:46; see also, Is 56:7; Jer 7:11).
Life messages: 1) We need to avoid the business
mentality of loss and profit in Divine worship. Our relationship with God must
be that of child-to-parent, with no thought of loss or gain, but only of mutual
love, respect and the common good. 2) Secondly, we need to remember that we are
the temples of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we have no right to desecrate God’s temple
by acts of 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 receive His offered healing and
nourishment. 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 in
the various ministries of our parish. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/21
Nov 20 Saturday:
The context: Jesus reached Jerusalem for His
final Passover feast. As part of a well-planned plot to trap Jesus, the chief
priests, the scribes and the Pharisees met Jesus with controversial questions.
The Sadducees did not believe in resurrection of the dead because they claimed
that Moses wrote nothing about it. If Jesus defended the concept of the
resurrection, the Sadducees would be angered; if Jesus failed to do so, the
Pharisees would be enraged. In either case, one group would be alienated.
Hence, in their hypothetical question, they asked Jesus who, in Heaven, would
be the husband of the woman who had been married (levirate marriage) in
succession to seven of her brothers–in-law (levires), and had died
childless.
Jesus goes on the offensive as defense: Jesus begins the
counterargument by pointing out the ignorance of the Sadducees about the
existence and nature of life after death with God. Then Jesus provides positive
Biblical proof for the reality of resurrected existence. Jesus is presuming
that Yahweh’s burning bush statement demonstrates that these three patriarchs
were still alive at the time of Moses, 600 years after their deaths. Since God
declared Himself to be God of the patriarchs, He must somehow still be
sustaining the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, thus granting them
resurrection and eternal life. Thus, Jesus uses the Sadducees’ sacred text of
the Torah to refute their anti-resurrection belief. Second, Jesus explains that
the afterlife will not be just an eternal replay of this life. Things will be
different after death. Normal human relationships, including marriage, will be
transformed. Then Jesus tells the Sadducees that those to whom God has granted
resurrection and Heavenly life with Him will be immortal, like the angels, and
hence “children of God.”
Life messages: 1) We need to live the lives of Resurrection people: That is, we are not to lie buried in the tomb of our sins and evil habits. Instead, we are to live joyful and peaceful lives, constantly experiencing the Real Presence of the Risen Lord Who gives us the assurance that our bodies also will be raised. 2) The salutary thought of our own resurrection and eternal glory should also inspire us to honor our bodies, keeping them holy, pure and free from evil habits and to respect those with whom we come in contact, rendering them loving and humble service. (Fr. Kadavil) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
