Jan 31 Monday: (St. John Bosco, Priest
The context: Today’s Gospel episode demonstrates Jesus’ power over the devil in a Gentile town of the Decapolis, east of the Jordan, called Gadara (Matthew), or Gerasa (Mark and Luke). A demon-possessed man (two men in Matthew) came out of a tomb-filled desolate place.
The demons, recognizing Jesus as the Son of God, begged Him to send them into a herd of swine. The possessed man’s demons named themselves Legion (ca 5000 men), indicating their number. Jesus did as the evil spirits requested, and the now-possessed swine ran down the slope and drowned in the sea. The frightened people of the city asked Jesus to leave their city. The people considered their swine more precious than the liberation given to the possessed man. If we have a selfish or materialistic outlook, we fail to appreciate the value of Divine things, and we push God out of our lives, begging Him to go away, as these people did.Life messages: 1) We need to come out of our
tombs: Jesus is calling us to come out of the tombs. Our tombs are the
closed-in, sealed-off areas of our hearts where Life in the Spirit of God has
died because we haven’t let Jesus minister to us through others. Such ungodly
persons are lonely. They try to fill their inner emptiness by packing their
lives with money, promiscuity, addictions, or compulsive work, but nothing and
no one can finally satisfiy them.
2) Jesus the Liberator is ready to free us from the tombs of
our evil addictions and habits If we will only let go of everything and give
Jesus a chance, He can, and will, help us to experience the joy and freedom of
the children of God. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/22
Feb 1 Tuesday:
The context: Today’s Gospel is a beautiful
presentation of two miracles, a healing, and a revival and restoration of life.
These miracles were worked by Jesus as rewards for the trusting Faith of a
synagogue ruler and of a woman with a hemorrhage. Though the ruler may have
trusted Jesus out of desperation, and the woman’s Faith may have been a bit
superstitious, their Faith, even if defective, was amply rewarded.
The ruler and the woman: The ruler of the synagogue
supported Jewish orthodoxy. He could have despised Jesus who befriended
sinners. But he bravely approached Jesus as a last resort when all the doctors
had failed, and his daughter was dying. Since the Jews believed that one was
not actually dead until three days had passed after he stopped breathing, when
word came that the child had died, the ruler showed courage and Faith in
staying with Jesus, ignoring the ridicule of fellow-Jews. In the same way, the
woman with the bleeding disease was ritually unclean, and she was not supposed
to appear in public. She had the courage and Faith to ignore a social and
religious taboo in order to approach and touch the garment of Jesus from
behind. Both the ruler’s child and the sick woman
were brought back to life and to the community.
Life messages: 1) Jesus accepts us as we are. Hence,
we need not wait until we have the correct motive and strong Faith to bring our
problems before Jesus. 2) Let us bring before him our bodily and mental wounds
and ask for his healing touch today. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
L/22
Feb 2 Wednesday (The Presentation of the Lord):
Lk 2:22-32:The context: Today’s Gospel presents the
head of the Holy Family, Joseph, faithfully obeying God’s law given through
Moses concerning the purification of the mother and the redeeming of the child
by presenting Mary and the Baby Jesus in the Temple. The events recounted
appear elsewhere in the liturgical year but are those we traditionally
celebrate today, February 2nd, with the Feast of Presentation of Jesus
in the Temple. This is a combined feast, commemorating the
Jewish practice of the purification of the mother after childbirth and the
presentation of the child in the Temple. It is known as the Hypanthe feast
or Feast of the Purification of Mary (by the offering two
pigeons in the Temple), the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (by
prayers and the payment of “five shekels to a member of the priestly family”
(Nm 3:47-48; NAB Note on Lk 2:22), to redeem or buy the firstborn male child
back from the Lord’s service), and the Feast of Encounter (because
the New Testament, represented by the Baby Jesus, encountered the Old
Testament, represented by Simeon and Anna). On February 2nd, we celebrate these
events as a formal ending of the Christmas season. The same day, we also
celebrate the Feast of Candlemas(because candles are
blessed then for liturgical and personal use).
Purification and redemption ceremonies: The
Mosaic Law taught that, since every Jewish male child belonged to Yahweh, the
parents had to “buy back” the child (“redeem” him), (The
“Pidyon haBen” Service) )with the payment of “five shekels (=15 Denarius=
wage for 15 days of work) to a member of the priestly family” (Nm 3:47-48; NAB
Note on Lk 2:22). In addition, (Nm 18:15) every mother had to be purified after
childbirth by prayers and the sacrifice of a lamb (or two turtle doves for the
poor) in the Temple. Joseph kept these laws as an act of obedience to God.
The encounter with Simeon and Anna: By the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the old, pious, Spirit-filled Simeon and the
very old widow, Anna, both of whom who had been waiting for the revelation of
God’s salvation, were present in the Temple the day Joseph and Mary brought
Jesus to present him to the Father. Simeon recognized Jesus as the Lord’s
Anointed One, and in his prayer of blessing, he prophesied that Jesus was meant
to be the glory of Israel and a Light of revelation to the Gentiles. While he
blessed Mary, Simeon warned that her child would be “set for the fall and
rising of many in Israel, and for a sign of
contradiction” and that “a sword will pierce through your own
soul. Simeon was prophesying both the universal salvation that would
be proclaimed by Jesus and the necessity of suffering in the mission of the
Messiah.
Life message:1)Every Holy Mass in which we
participate is our presentation. Although we were officially presented to God
on the day of our Baptism, we present ourselves and our dear ones on the altar
before God our Father through our Savior Jesus Christ at every Holy Mass.
Hence, we need to live our daily lives with the awareness both that we are
dedicated people, consecrated to God, and that we are obliged to lead holy
lives. Let us also remember and pray for our God-parents who presented us to
the Lord on the day of our Baptism Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Feb 3 Thursday: (St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr)
The context: Today’s Gospel describes the
commissioning of the twelve Apostles. They were sent out in pairs with power
and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. They wereto preach
the coming of the Kingdom of God, or God’s rule in their lives, to the people
whom Jesus would visit. They were also to show those they visited how to
prepare their hearts for God’s rule by repenting of their sins and asking for
God’s forgiveness and liberation from their evil habits. The Apostles were also
expected to follow Jesus’ detailed action-plan.
Jesus’ instructions and travel tips. From his
instructions, it is clear that Jesus meant his disciples to take no supplies
for the road. They were simply to trust that God, the Provider, would open the
hearts of believers to take care of their needs. Jesus’ instructions also
suggest that his disciples should not be like the acquisitive priests of the
day, who were interested only in gaining riches. Rather, his disciples should
be walking examples of God’s love and providence. The Jews supported their
rabbis and judged doing so a privilege as well as an obligation, because
hospitality was an important religious tradition in Palestine. The Apostles
should choose temporary accommodation in a reputable household, should bless
the residents with God’s peace, should be satisfied with the food and
accommodation they had received, and should not search for better ones. They
were to preach “’the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,’ heal the sick, raise the
dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons.”
Life messages: 1) We all have a witnessing
mission: Each Christian is called, not only to be a disciple, but also to be an
apostle, bearing witness to Christ. As apostles, we have to evangelize the
world by sharing with others not just words, or ideas or doctrines, but our
experience of God and His Son, Jesus. It is through our transparent Christian
lives that we must show Jesus, whom we have experienced, to others as
unconditional love, overflowing mercy, forgiveness, and concern for the people
around us. 2) We also have a liberating mission. There are many demons which
can control the lives of people around us making them helpless slaves —the
demon of nicotine, the demon of alcohol or drugs, the demon of gambling, the
demon of pornography and promiscuous sex, the demons of materialism,
secularism, and consumerism. We need the help of Jesus to liberate ourselves
and others from these demons. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Feb 4 Friday:
The context: Today’s Gospel presents the last
scene of a tragic drama with three main characters, Herod, Herodias and John
the Baptist. Herod was a jealous, weak, puppet-king with a guilty conscience.
He feared the prophet John, because John had publicly scolded him for divorcing
his legal wife without adequate cause and for marrying his sister-in-law
Herodias, thus committing a double violation of Mosaic Law. Herodias was an
immoral, greedy woman, stained by a triple guilt and publicly criticized by
John: 1) She was an unfaithful woman of loose morals. 2) She was a greedy and
vengeful woman. 3) She was an evil mother who used her teenage daughter for the
wicked purposes of murder and revenge by encouraging her to dance in public in
the royal palace against the royal etiquette of the day. John the Baptist was a
fiery preacher and the herald of the Promised Messiah. He was also a
Spirit-filled prophet with the courage of his prophetic convictions who dared
to criticize and scold an Oriental monarch and his proud wife in public.
God’s punishment: After the martyrdom of John, Herod
was defeated by Aretas, the father of his first wife. Later, both Herod and
Herodias were sent into exile by Caligula, the Roman emperor.
Life messages: 1) Our sins will haunt us,
ruining our mental peace, as happened to Herod and Herodias. 2) Brutal sins
against others will not go unpunished. 3) We need to stand up for truth and
justice in the spirit of John the Baptist. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Feb 5 Saturday: (St. Agatha, Virgin, Martyr)
The context: Today’s Gospel passage presents the
sympathetic and merciful heart of Jesus who lovingly invites his Apostles to a
desolate place for some rest. Jesus realized that the Apostles he had sent on a
preaching and healing mission to be neighboring towns and villages needed some
rest on their return. He was eager to hear about their missionary adventures as
they proudly shared their experiences. In no time, however, they were
surrounded by the crowd, and Jesus resumed his preaching and teaching because
he saw the crowd as sheep without shepherd.
Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus became a Good Shepherd.
The Old Testament describes God as shepherd of His people, Israel. The
Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (Ps 23:1). The prophet Isaiah
prophesied that the Messiah would feed his flock like a shepherd, he
would gather the lambs in his arms (Is 40:11). Jesus told his
disciples that he was the Good Shepherd who was willing to lay down his life
for his sheep. In his epistle, Peter calls Jesus the Shepherd and
Guardian of our souls (1 Pt 2:25).
Life messages: 1) Let us find time to be with Jesus at the end of every day to share with him how we have shared his love with those entrusted to our care. 2) Let us show the mercy, compassion, care, and concern of Jesus the Good Shepherd to those entrusted to our care. 3) Let us become good sheep of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, by leading pure, innocent, humble, selfless lives, obeying Christ’s commandment of love and gaining daily spiritual strength from the word of God and from the Body and Blood of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in Holy Communion. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
