The context: The“Beatitudes” form the
introductory section in Mathew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. They
are the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, as the Sermon on the Mount is the
heart of the whole Gospel, or the “Compendium of Christian Doctrine." This
sermon contains the most essential aspects of Christian behavior that we need
to live out, if we are to reach Christian perfection. In essence, the
Beatitudes both fulfill and complete the Ten Commandments.
Bombshells: In both Matthew and Luke the Beatitudes have
been called a “series of bombshells” or blinding “flashes of lightning followed
by deafening thunder of surprise and shock," because Jesus reverses our
“natural” assumption that happiness lies in riches, power, influence, and
pleasure. We believe in personal pride: Jesus blesses poverty of spirit. We
seek pleasure: Jesus blesses those who mourn. We see the prosperity of
aggressive people: Jesus blesses the meek. We love good food and drink: Jesus
blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Thus, Jesus instructs
his disciples in the paradoxical blessedness of poverty, hunger, sorrow, and
persecution. In poverty, we recognize God’s reign; in hunger, His Providence;
in sorrow, true happiness; and in persecution, true joy. In other words, the blessed on
Jesus’ list are the poor in spirit, the compassionate, the meek, the merciful,
the clean of heart, the peacemakers, and those who are willing even to be
insulted and persecuted for their following of Jesus in action.
Life messages: 1) We need to respond to the
challenge of the Beatitudes in daily life. The Beatitudes propose to us a way
of life, inviting us to identify with the poor, those who mourn, who are meek,
and who hunger and thirst after justice. 2) They challenge us to become
compassionate people, to become men and women who are pure in heart, and to
become peacemakers in our dealings with one another, in our families and in the
society at large, even when this approach to things exposes us to ridicule and
persecution. 3) Let us remember that each time we reach out to help the needy,
the sick and the oppressed, we share with them a foretaste of the promises of
the Beatitudes here and now. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 13 Tuesday (St. Anthony of Padua,
Priest, Doctor of the Church): In the time of Jesus, salt was connected in
people’s minds with three special qualities. (i) Salt was connected
with purity because it was white and came from the purest of all things, the
sun and the sea. Salt was the most primitive of all offerings to the gods.
Jewish sacrifices were offered with salt. As the “salt of the earth,” the
Christian must be an example of purity, exercising absolute purity in speech,
in conduct, and even in thought. God calls His children to preserve and purify.
The Church is to preserve modesty (1 Tm 2:9), morality (Eph 5:3-12), and honesty
and integrity (Jn 8:44-47). (ii) Salt was the commonest of all
preservatives in the ancient world when people did not have fridges and
freezers. It was used to prevent the putrefaction of meat, fish, fruits, and
pickles. As the salt of the earth, the Christian must have a certain antiseptic
influence on life and society, defeating corruption and making it easier for
others to be good. Christians are to be a preserving influence to retard moral
and spiritual spoilage in the world. (iii) Salt lends flavor to food items. One
of the main functions of salt is to season food, to give it taste and flavor.
To be the “salt” of society also means that we are deeply concerned with its
well-being. We have to preserve the cultural values and moral principles Jesus
has given us, and in this way to make a contribution to the development of a
“Culture of Life” to replace the “culture of death” currently darkening our
world. Thus, we will be adding flavor to the common life, religious and social.
As salt seasoned and preserved food, and as salt keeps a fire burning uniformly
in an oven for a longer time, the disciples were to improve the tone of society
("season" it), preserve the Faith, and extend the fire of the Spirit
through their evangelization efforts.
The four roles of Christians as Christ’s light of the
world. (i) A light is something which is meant to
be seen. Christians are a lamp stand. Jesus therefore expects His followers let
his light be seen by the whole world (Jn 13:35; 17:21). In addition, they must
radiate and give light. "Let your light shine before men" (Mt 5:16).
By this metaphor Jesus means that our Christianity should be visible in our
ordinary activities and interactions in the world, for example, in the way we
treat a shop assistant across the counter, in the way we order a meal in a
restaurant, in the way we treat our employees or serve our employer, in the way
we play a game, or drive or park a motor car, in the daily language we use, and
in the daily literature we read. (ii) A lamp or light is a
guide to make clear the way. So then, a Christian must make the way clear to
others. That is to say, a Christian must of necessity be an example, showing
the world what Jesus would do in every situation. iii) A light
can often be a warning light. A light is often the warning which tells us to
halt when there is danger ahead. It is sometimes the Christian’s duty to bring
to one’s brother/sister a necessary warning of dangers, present or ahead. If
our warnings are given, not in anger, not in irritation, not in criticism, not
in condemnation, but in love, they may be effective. iv) Light exposes
everything hidden by darkness. (Note Jn 3:19; 1 Cor 4:5; Eph 5:8–11). Let us
pause for a moment and ask ourselves whether we are carrying Jesus in our
lives, shining through our Christian living, as the Light Who lovingly warns
and guides.
June 14 Wednesday:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage, taken
fromJesus’ Sermon on the Mount, presents Jesus as giving the highest
compliments to the Mosaic Law. These words of Jesus which Matthew reports
touched the communities of converted Jews, helping them to overcome the
criticism of the brothers of their own race who accused them saying, “You are
unfaithful to the Law of Moses.” Ironically, Jesus himself would be falsely
condemned and crucified as a Lawbreaker. Jesus says that the Old Testament, as
the word of God, has Divine authority and deserves total respect. The Mosaic
Law was ultimately intended to help people honor God by practicing love. Its
moral precepts are to be respected and obeyed because they are, for the most
part, specific, Divine-positive promulgations of the natural law. But Christians
are not obliged to observe the legal and liturgical precepts of Old Testament
because they were laid down by God for a specific stage in Salvation History.
Jesus’ teaching: In Jesus’ time, the Law was
understood differently by different groups of the Jews to be: 1) The Ten
Commandments, 2) The Pentateuch, 3) The Law and the Prophets, or 4) The oral
(Scribal) and the written Law. Jesus, and later Paul, considered the oral Law
as a heavy burden on the people and criticized it, while honoring the Mosaic
Law and the teachings of the prophets. At the time of Jesus, the Jews believed
that the Torah (Law given to Moses), was the eternal, unchangeable,
Self-Revelation of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that he did not come to
destroy the Torah but to bring it to perfection by bringing out its inner
meaning because He IS the ultimate self-Revelation of God, the
Lawgiver. That is why the Council of Trent declared that Jesus was given to us,
“not only as a Redeemer, in whom we are to trust, but also as a Lawgiver whom
we are to obey" ("De Iustificatione," can. 21). Jesus
honored the two basic principles on which the Ten Commandments were based,
namely the principle of reverence and the principle of respect. In the first
four commandments, we are asked to reverence God, reverence His holy Name, reverence
His holy day, and reverence our father and mother. The next set of commandments
instructs us to respect life, the marriage bond, one’s personal integrity and
others’ good name, the legal system, another’s property and spouse, and one’s
own spouse. Jesus declares that he has come to fulfill all Divine laws based on
these principles. By “fulfilling the law,” Jesus means fulfilling the purpose for
which the Law was given: that is, justice, or “righteousness,” as the
Scriptures call it – a word that includes a just relationship with God).
Life messages: 1) In obeying God’s laws and Church
laws, let us remember these basic principles of respect and reverence. 2) Our
obedience to the laws needs to be prompted by love of God and gratitude to God
for His blessings. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 15 Thursday:
The context: For the Scribes and the Pharisees, the
external fulfillment of the precepts of the Mosaic Law was the guarantee of a
person’s salvation. In other words, a man saved himself through the external
works of the Law. Jesus rejects this view in today’s Gospel passage, taken from
the Sermon on the Mount. For Jesus, justification or sanctification is
a grace, a free, strengthening gift from God. Man’s role is one of cooperating
with that grace by being faithful to it, and using it as God means it
to be used. Jesus then outlines new moral standards for his disciples.
Control of anger: Anger is the rawest,
strongest, and most destructive of human emotions. Describing three stages of
anger and the punishment each deserves, Jesus advises his disciples not to get
angry in such a way that they sin.
1) Anger in the heart (“brief stage of insanity” Cicero): It
has two forms: a) a sudden, blazing flame of anger which dies suddenly. b) a
surge of anger which boils inside and lingers, so that the heart seeks revenge
and refuses to forgive or forget. Jesus prescribes trial and punishment by the
Village Court of Elders as its punishment.
2) Anger in speech: The use of words which are insulting (“raka“=“fool”),
or damaging to the reputation (“moros” = a person of loose morals).
Jesus says that such an angry (verbally abusive) person should be sent to the
Sanhedrin, the Jewish religion’s Supreme Court, for trial and punishment.
3) Anger in action: Sudden outbursts of uncontrollable
anger, which often result in physical assault or abuse. Jesus says that such
anger deserves hellfire as its punishment.
In short, Jesus teaches that long-lasting anger is bad,
contemptuous speech or destroying someone’s reputation is worse and harming
another physically is the worst.
Life messages: 1)Let us try to forgive,forget,
and move toward reconciliation as soon as possible. St. Paul advises us “Be
angry (righteous anger), but do not sin” (Eph 4:26).
2) When we keep anger in our mind, we are inviting physical illnesses like
hypertension, and mental illnesses like depression. 3) Let us relax and keep
silence when we are angry and pray for God’s strength for self-control , and
for the grace, first to desire to forgive, and then actually to forgive, those
who have injured us Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 16 Friday: (Most Sacred Heart of Jesus): Mt
11:25-30:Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the second most popular
Catholic devotion (the first being the Rosary). The other devotions are morning
and evening prayers, prayers before and after meals, the Angelus,
visits to the Blessed Sacrament, making the Sign of the Cross praising
the Holy Trinity, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, novenas, the Stations of the Cross,
Litanies, etc. The “Holy Hour,” the "Litany of the Sacred Heart,"
"The Act of Consecration of the Family and the Human Race to the Sacred
Heart,” the “First Friday Devotion” and the “Novena to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus” are different forms of this devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: The infinite love and
mercy of God is shown in many different metaphors and symbols. First of all,
his undeserved mercy is shown in the fact of the Incarnation symbolized by the
image of baby Jesus in the manger: God so loved the world that He gave His
only-begotten Son who became one of us. The early Church expressed the love of
Christ in the symbol of the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep.
The symbols of this love vary from age to age. The Medieval Period used the
symbol of the crucifix which showed the tortured body of Jesus. In the
seventeenth Century, the symbol of the Sacred Heart of Jesus began to be used.
The Sunday after Easter has been designated by Pope John Paul II as Divine
Mercy Sunday: This commemorates the lavish and undeserved love of God for all
of us.
History: The devotion to the sacred Heart is based
on the apparitions of Our Lord from 1673 to 1675 to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque,
a nun of the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial in France. In her mystical
experiences, Jesus revealed to St. Margaret Mary the great mystery of his
infinite love for us, represented by his flaming Sacred Heart. Jesus asked that
homes be consecrated to his Sacred Heart as a sign of his living presence with
us in the Church, especially through the Holy Eucharist. The Gospel passage,
"They shall look on him whom they have pierced" (Jn
19:35-37) is at the foundation of the whole tradition of devotion to the Divine
Heart. The practices of the “Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” in the
home and the consecration and dedication of the family to the Sacred Heart were
begun by Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts
of Jesus and Mary. His work was first confirmed and blessed by Pope St. Pius X
and then by every later Pope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting
Pope Pius XII’s beautiful encyclical Haurietis Aquas (1956),
states, "[Jesus] has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, ‘is quite
rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that…love…." (no. 478).
The objectives of this devotion and the aims of
“enthronement” of the picture of the Sacred Heart in a prominent place in the
house are:
a) "Official and social recognition of the rule of
Jesus over the Christian family" (Mateo Crawley-Boevey). b) The
Enthronement is a way of life, the acceptance of Christ as King of our hearts,
as our constant Companion, as our Brother, and as our Friend, helping us and
guiding us in the small and big matters of daily life. c) The Enthronement
daily reminds each member of the family to follow in Christ’s royal way by
making reparation for sins committed and by striving to serve God and neighbor
more lovingly. d) The Enthronement gives every member of the family an occasion
daily, and perhaps, many times daily, to gaze upon the Face of Christ and to
have Christ gaze upon his/her face, thus reminding him/her that s/he is under
the protection of Jesus. e) The Enthronement is a source of special blessings
to the members of the family from the Lord. f) The essence of this devotion is
to create awareness in us of the merciful love of Christ, a love he offers to
all who come to him with Faith and the willingness to obey his teaching.
Life messages: a) An invitation for a “heart
transplant.” Our hearts become stony and insensitive through our daily
exposure, virtual or in person, to acts of cruelty, terrorism, injustice, and
impurity. Hence, God prescribes a change of heart through His prophet Ezekiel
(Ez 11:19-20) to make our hearts soft, elastic, large and sensitive:”
I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove
the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with a natural heart.”
The Sacred Heart of Jesus should be the ideal heart for this medical
procedure: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Let
us have and use the Heart of Jesus as He wishes.
b) An invitation to love. The Sacred Heart of Jesus
challenges us to love others as Jesus loved: selflessly, unconditionally and
sacrificially, and to express this love in humble and loving service done to
others.
c) An invitation to pray: First, let us pray for all suffering
from, and killed by Covid-19. Then, let us continue to pray for the grace of
healing for those who have been the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, as
the Church expresses its sorrow and seeks forgiveness from these victims. Let
us also pray that these victims may, in turn, accept the grace to forgive those
who have harmed and betrayed them. Next, let us pray for the grace of courage
for our bishops to be true shepherds in caring for their flocks; in restoring
restore discipline in clerical and religious life and in ending the dissent
that has undermined the Magisterium. Finally, let us pray for the
grace of perseverance, that clergy and laity alike will keep the Faith and not
lose hope in this difficult time of purification. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 17 Saturday: (The Immaculate heart of Blessed Virgin
Mary):
This feast commemorates the joys and sorrows of the Mother of
God, her virtues and perfections, her love for God and her Divine Son and her
compassionate love for mankind. … In 1969, Pope St. Paul VI moved the
celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to
the Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a special form of devotion to the
venerable person of Mary, similar to devotion to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus. Mary’s Immaculate Heart represents her interior
life and the beauty of her soul.
Devotion to the Heart
of Jesus is especially directed to the Divine Heart as
overflowing with love for
men. This devotion is an attempt to respond to Jesus’ love and to make
reparation for the lack of love on the part of mankind. In the devotion to the
Heart of Mary, on the other hand, what seems to attract us above all else is
the love of
Mary’s Immaculate Heart for Jesus and
for God.
The objective is to love God and Jesus better,
by uniting ourselves to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues. In
this devotion, we think of the love,
virtues, and sentiments of Mary’s interior life and try to put them into
practice.
Scriptural basis of this devotion: It was mostly the love,
humility, faith, and other virtues of the Heart of Mary that attracted early
Christians to Mary, the mother of Jesus. They saw Mary’s heart in its true
color at the foot of the Cross. Simeon’s prophecy furnished this devotion with
its most popular representation: the heart pierced with a sword. St. Augustine
remarks: “At the foot of the cross, Mary cooperated with Jesus in the work of
our redemption through charity.” One Scriptural passage in support of this
devotion is the twice repeated (Lk 2:19; 2:51) saying of St. Luke given in
today’s Gospel that “Mary kept all the things [the saying
and doings of Jesus] in her heart,” that she might ponder on
them and live by them. A few of the sayings of Mary recorded in the Gospel,
particularly the Magnificat, disclose new features in Marian
psychology. Elizabeth proclaims Mary blessed because she has believed the words
of the angel. The Magnificat (Lk 1:46-56) is also an
expression of her humility. The last words of Mary recorded in Scripture were
spoken at the wedding feast in Cana when the wine ran out, and Mary approached
Jesus, as usual, to tell them of this calamity. He had answered her that this
was not His responsibility any longer, nor was it hers, for His Hour had not
yet come. Mary understood that being the Messiah of God had changed Jesus’
position radically, and she humbly accepted this necessary change in their
relationship as Mother and Son as God’s will for both of them, turning to the
serving boys telling them, “Do whatever He tells you!” (Jn 2:5), the
same instruction she gives all of us on every occasion! Finally, answering the
woman in the crowd who praised Jesus’ mother as blessed, Jesus commented "Blessed
rather are they that hear the word of God and keep it"(Lk 11:28). It
was Mary’s readiness to hear and do the will of God that endeared her to God
and caused her to be selected as the Mother of Jesus.
Life message: Let us take Mary as our role model and
practice her virtues of trusting Faith, serving humility and readiness to do
God’s will in our daily lives, thus becoming immaculate children of an
Immaculate Heavenly Mother. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
