Oct 10 Monday:
The context: Since there had been many false prophets and false messiahs in the past,
and since their pride and prejudice did not permit them to see the Messiah in a carpenter-from-Nazareth-turned-wandering-preacher, the Jewish religious leaders demanded that Jesus should show some “Messianic” signs and miracles taken from their list. They would not accept that Jesus’ numerous miraculous healings were the Messianic signs foretold by the prophets.Jesus’ negative response: Calling them an apostate
generation who refused to believe in their own prophets and denied the hand of
God in the miracles he worked, Jesus warned these religious leaders that they
would be condemned on the Day of Judgment by the people of Nineveh and by the
Queen of Sheba from the South. (Sheba (or Saba)
was a southern kingdom centred on Yemen or Ethiopia (and
possibly including both) (Yemen to Jerusalem 2084 miles) This is one of the
instances in which Jesus held up Gentiles as models of Faith and goodness
(other examples: the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15, the centurion in Luke 7,
the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10; etc.). The pagan Ninevites heard the voice
of the Lord God in the prophet Jonah, repented, and were spared. The Queen of
Sheba recognized God’s Wisdom in King Solomon and traveled to Israel to receive
more of it. Nevertheless, Jesus gave the religious leaders challenging him,
“the sign of Jonah.” It was the undeniable Messianic sign of his own
Resurrection from the tomb on the third day after his death, just as Jonah had
spent three days in the belly of the giant fish before finally going to Nineveh
to accomplish the mission God had originally given him.
Life messages: We need to recognize God-given
signs in our lives: 1) Each Sacrament in the Church is an external sign
representing God’s grace. 2) On the altar we re-present Christ’s sacrifice on
the cross using liturgical signs and prayers. 3) Everyone living with us or
working with us is a sign of God’s living presence in our midst, inviting us to
love and honor him or her as God’s child and the living Temple of the Holy
Spirit. 4) All world events and events in our lives are signs of God’s care and
protection for us, His children. 5) The Holy Bible is a sign of God
communicating His message to us every day. 5) So, let us learn from these
God-given signs instead of looking for signs in weeping Madonnas, bleeding
crucifixes and daily messages of visionaries. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 11 Tuesday: (St. John XXIII, Pope):
The context: In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus accuses
the Pharisees of hypocrisy. Jesus was invited by a Pharisee for a dinner at
which Jesus violated the ceremonial law by purposely omitting the ritual
washing of hands before the meals and between the courses. Pious Jews were
expected on each occasion to wash their hands by pouring two ounces of water
from finger tips to wrist and in the reverse order, and then to cleanse each
palm by rubbing the fist of the other hand. Water was stored in big stone jars
for this washing ceremony. Omitting the ceremony was considered a sin and that
is why Jesus’ host was astonished.
Jesus teaches the essence of religion: Jesus tells his host
that the essence of religion is offering to God a clean heart filled with love,
mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. Mere external observance of rituals without
a cleansing of the heart is hypocrisy, which God hates. Jesus uses the occasion
to accuse the Pharisees of harbouring evil thoughts like greed, pride,
bitterness, envy, and arrogance in their hearts. Jesus concludes by suggesting
that one method of expressing real love of God and neighbour originating from a
compassionate heart and making one pure and clean is giving alms to the poor.
Almsgiving in the proper sense means realizing the needs of others and letting
them share in one’s own goods, especially by way of spiritual help, financial
and emotional support, consolation, fraternity, and love. St. John of the Cross
explains this passage, remarking that in the evening of our lives we will be
judged on our love expressed by works of charity.
Life messages: 1) In order to have interior
cleanliness, let us do some charitable acts which externally express our loving
relationship with God and our eagerness to do His will. Since we are offering
our hearts and lives on the altar, let us expel everything evil from our hearts
by true repentance Love is what we have to give others – love with
understanding, mercy, respect for their freedom, and deep concern for their
spiritual and material welfare. Giving this gift requires that we have love in
our thoughts, words and actions always. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 12 Wednesday:
The context: In today’s text, taken from Luke’s
Gospel, Jesus expresses his moral indignation and sorrow at the hypocrisy of
the scribes and the Pharisees who have put obstacles between the common people
and God by overburdening them with unnecessary, impractical, and almost
limitless interpretations of Mosaic laws. In today’s text, Jesus levels three
accusations against these religious leaders, naming particular misbehaviors: 1)
They have misinterpreted the spirit of the Law, making the Law a heavy burden
for the God-fearing common people. Jesus gives the Law of tithing as an
example. God intended tithing for His people as an expression of their
gratitude to a providing God (Dt 14:22; Lv 27:30). The scribes instructed the
people to pay tithes on insignificant things, such as kitchen-garden plants,
with great mathematical accuracy, but they themselves neglected justice
and love of God in their private lives. 2) The second accusation is
that the scribes and the Pharisees are notorious for their status-seeking. They
demand that the common people give them special honors because of their
expertise in Mosaic Law and faithful religious observance. As a mark of
respect, they are to be given front seats in the synagogue and public greeting
in the streets. 3) Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees to the white-washed
tombs on the sides of the road leading to Jerusalem. In preparation for the
three major Jewish feasts, Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, the scribes and
Pharisees used to have the tombs whitewashed, so that the pilgrims would not be
ritually defiled by unknowingly walking over one. Jesus accuses the Pharisees
of moral filth, of hiding injustice and immorality inside themselves and of
covering the corruption with pretensions of piety and religious fervor. Thus,
they contaminate others with their rotten and dangerous ideas of God’s demands.
Life messages: 1) The essence of religion is to
love God, discovering Him in everyone. The basic principles of the Ten
Commandments are respect and reverence based on love of God and neighbor. When
we learn to reverence God, His holy Name and His holy Day and to respect our
parents, elders and all others, their lives, their goods and their good names,
we practice true religion without hypocrisy or selfish interests. True love is
sacrificial, encouraging us to help lift the burdens of others. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 13 Thursday:
The context: Today’s passage, taken from chapter
11 of Luke’s Gospel, gives two more accusations which Jesus made against the
Pharisees. According to Matthew, Jesus made these accusations on the third day
of what we call Holy Week in the Temple precincts of Jerusalem.
1) Jesus criticizes the blatant hypocrisy and false zeal of
the scribes and the Pharisees in decorating the old monuments and building new
monuments for the past prophets who had been persecuted and murdered by the
forefathers of these same Scribes and the Pharisees, while they themselves did
not obey the injunctions of these past prophets. Abel’s martyrdom is the first
recorded in the Bible (Gn 4:8). [Navarre Bible Commentary:
“Zechariah was a prophet who died by being stoned in the temple of Jerusalem
around the year 800 B.C. because he accused the people of Israel of being
unfaithful to God’s law (cf. 2 Chr 24:20-22). The murder of Abel (Gn 4:8) and
that of Zechariah were, respectively, the first and last murders reported in
these books which the Jews regarded as Sacred Scripture”.] Jesus remarks
that the blood-guilt inherited by the ancestors of the scribes and the
Pharisees throughout the Old Testament era will spill over when the priests
(most of them scribes), and the Pharisees conspired to execute Jesus the
Messiah.
2) Since the scribes (religious lawyers), were the official
interpreters of the Scriptures, they held the “office of the keys.”
Unfortunately, their interpretation of the Scriptures became so distorted and
difficult to understand that others were “shut off” from the Scriptures.
Life message: We need to be men and women of
integrity and character without any element of hypocrisy in our Christian life.
We should not make a show of holiness and religious fervor when we are not
internally holy. Holiness requires humility and giving God credit for any good
He does through us. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 14 Friday: (St. Callistus I, Pope, Martyr):
The context: Jesus continues his condemnation of
the hypocrisy of the Scribes and the Pharisees, comparing it to leaven or
yeast. The Jews considered yeast as something evil, corrupting the dough during
the process of fermentation. That is why the Law given through Moses prescribes
unleavened bread for offering to God. Jesus reminded the common people that the
Pharisees were hypocrites who pretended to be holy, and that they would corrupt
people as the yeast corrupts the dough. The teaching and example of the scribes
and the Pharisees influenced the crowd in a disastrous way, especially when the
teachers failed to practice what they preached. Jesus also warned these
religious leaders that their sins would be brought to light at the Last
Judgment (CCC #678).
Hearing in secret and announcing in public: According to
the Navarre Bible Commentary, most Palestinian houses had a roof in
the form of a terrace. There people would meet to chat and while away their
time in the hottest part of the day. Jesus pointed out to his disciples that in
these get-togethers, things said in private became matters of public
discussion. In the same way, despite the Pharisees’ and scribes’ efforts to
hide their vices and defects under the veil of piety, all they had hidden would
become a matter of common knowledge. A reverential fear of God: Since nothing —
not even the most insignificant thing — escapes God, no one should fear that
any suffering or persecution he experiences in following Christ will remain
unrewarded in eternity. But our fear of God should not be servile (based on fear
of punishment). It should be a filial fear (the fear of a son or daughter who
loves, and so does not want to displease, his or her father), a reverent awe
nourished by our trust in Divine Providence.
Life messages: 1) In contrast to the hypocrisy
of the Pharisees, the followers of Jesus must display transparency in their
Christian lives by practicing what they profess. 2) They should also maintain a
reverential fear of God, adjusting their actions in such a way that they may
not displease a loving heavenly Father. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 15 Saturday: (St. Teresa of Jesus of Avila)
Virgin, Doctor of the Church):
The context: The scribes and Pharisees
attributed Jesus’ miracles of driving demons out of possessed people to the
work of the devil rather than to God. Pride in their knowledge of the Hebrew
Scriptures and prejudice against Jesus, the wandering preacher, prompted them
to attribute Jesus’ exorcisms to the devil’s power and Jesus’ collaboration
with the devil. The first part of today’s Gospel is Jesus’ reply to their false
accusation.
Unpardonable sin: The Jews did not have any idea of a Triune
God. For them the Spirit of God was God Himself. It was this Divine Spirit Who
spoke through Moses and the prophets and Who enabled men and women to
understand the Sacred Scriptures. So, Jesus told the unbelieving Jews that they
were refusing to believe in the Spirit of God and in the Messianic prophecies
given by Him when they attributed Jesus’ miracles to the devil. Hence, theirs
was a sin of blasphemy against the Spirit of God. Since they remained
unrepentant, thus refusing God’s mercy and forgiveness, their sin against the
Holy Spirit of God was unforgivable. In the second part of today’s Gospel,
Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit as a Teacher and an Attorney Who would help
defend his disciples when they were brought to trial before the Jewish
synagogues and Roman authorities because of their Faith in Jesus as God and
Savior.
Life messages: 1) Let us have the generosity and good will not to close our eyes to God or to shut our ears to His voice, thus refusing the chances given us by our merciful God to repent of our sins and renew our lives. 2) Let us ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our fight against temptations, and let us pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
