June 26 Monday:
The context: In today’s passage, taken
from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus condemns our careless, malicious, and rash
judgments about others’ feelings, motives, behavior or actions.
Reasons why we should not judge others: 1) No
one, except God, is good enough, and only He has the right and authority, to
judge us, because only He sees the whole truth, and only He can read the human
heart. 2) We do not see all the facts or circumstances, nor
the power of the temptation, behind a person’s evil deed. 3) We
have no right to judge others because we have the same faults as the ones we
are judging and often to a higher degree (remember Jesus’ funny example of a
man with a wooden beam in his eye trying to remove the dust particle from
another’s eye?) St. Philip Neri commented, watching the misbehavior of a
drunkard: “There goes Philip but for the grace of God.” 4) We
are often prejudiced in our judgment of others, and total fairness cannot be
expected from us.
Life message: 1) Let us leave the
judgment to God and refrain from being critical and judgmental. Let us remember
the advice of saints: “When you point one finger of accusation at another,
three of your fingers point at you. Let us also heed the Jewish rabbi’s
reminder, “He who judges others favorably will be judged favorably by
God.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 27 Tuesday: (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop,
Doctor of the Church):
The context: Today’s Gospel passage,
taken from the Sermon on the Mount, speaks about the proper use of holy things,
the Golden Rule we have to obey, and the less-traveled narrow way we have to
take in our Christian lives.
1) Jesus advises his listeners to use holy things in
a holy manner. The Jews had a statement in their Scriptures (“Do
not put a golden ring in the nose of a pig or on the ears of a dog” Prv 11:22),
parallel to Jesus’ statement, “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do
not throw your pearls before swine” (Mt 7:12) The Jews understood the
injunction to mean the exclusiveness of their religion, which meant that they
should not teach the Law to the Gentiles. The early Church interpreted
Jesus’ statement in its earliest catechism, the Didache, to
mean that only the baptized should approach the Eucharistic table. This
view is reflected in the canons of the Oriental Churches, introducing a command
in the text of the Mass before Eucharistic prayer, “Let the catechumens,
hearers and unbelievers quit,” and a serious warning before Holy
Communion, “Holy things are for holy people.” 2) The
statement of the Golden Rule, “Whatever you wish that men would do to
you, do so to them” (Mt 7:12), is Jesus’ positive
contribution to ancient and negative Jewish principles, meaning that real
Christianity consists in doing good to others by loving service and works of
mercy. 3) Enter by the narrow gate: Supplementing
the instructions given by Moses (Dt 30:15-20), Joshua (Jos 24:15), and Jeremiah
(21:8), Jesus challenges his followers to “enter by the narrow gate and take
the hard way that leads to life.”
Life message: 1) Let us learn to
reverence and respect holy things in a holy manner. 2) Let us do to others what
we wish them to do to us. 3) Let us choose Jesus’ narrow way of
sacrificial love and humble service. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 28 Wednesday: (St. Irenaeus, Bishop,
Martyr):
The context: In today’s Gospel passage,
taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives his Church a warning against
false prophets and their false doctrines. Jesus compares them to wolves in
sheep’s clothing and tells us we can recognize them by observing the lives they
lead and the doctrines they teach.
False and true prophets: The Old Testament speaks of
false prophets and how they mislead God’s people. Jer 23:9-40 is a classic
example. The prophet condemns the false prophets of Baal. The Old Testament
gives three signs of true prophets: a) they honor God and promote
the worship of the one true God; b) they care for the poor; c) they fight for
justice. Modern false prophets in the Church try to remove the
cross from Christianity, dilute sin, and avoid teaching about God’s judgment
while teaching that morality is relative, which God abhors: “Woe to those
who call evil good and good evil, who change darkness into light and light into
darkness” (Is 5:20). They try to separate the people of
God from the Magisterium of the Church. But modern true prophets lead
exemplary and righteous lives, obey God’s laws and the Church laws, and
demonstrate the virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Prudence, Fortitude,
and Temperance. In addition, they produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit. “The
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gals 5:22-23). The pre
-Vatican II Baltimore Catechism expanded this passage
from Galatians to Twelve Fruits: “Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Benignity [Kindness], Goodness,
Long-suffering [Patience] Mildness [Gentleness], Modesty,
Continency, Chastity [three effects of Self-Control].
Life message: 1) As Christians, we
participate in the prophetic role of Christ. Hence, we have the duty of leading
others to Christ by our exemplary Christian lives. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 29 Thursday: (St. Peter & Paul,
Apostles)
Peter and Paul are the
principal pillars of the Church. Today we celebrate the feast of their
martyrdom. Peter was son of Jona and
brother of Andrew. He was a professional fisherman from Bethsaida, a
fishing town on the Lake of Galilee or Gennesaret. He might have been a
follower of John the Baptist. It was his brother, Andrew, who introduced him to
Jesus, and Jesus who changed his name from Simon to Cephas or Peter. Jesus made
Peter the leader of the apostles. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus
promised to make Peter the head of the Church, and the risen Jesus
confirmed Peter’s precedence. It was the Holy Spirit through Whose Presence and
Power, Peter’s speech on the day of the Pentecost, inaugurated the
active life of the Church. Peter made missionary journeys to Lydda,
Joppa and Caesarea He also offered the decisive argument settling the
question of Gentile converts and the Jewish Law at the first Council in
Jerusalem. He wrote two epistles to the whole
Church, and he was martyred in Rome by crucifixion under the
emperor Nero.
Paul, the “Apostle to the Gentiles”
and the greatest apostolic missionary, was a Roman citizen by birth, as he had
been born in the Roman colony of Tarsus. His original name
was Saul. As a Pharisee, he was sent to Jerusalem by his
parents to study the Mosaic Law under the great rabbi Gamaliel. As
a student, he learned the trade of tent-making. He was present at
the stoning of Stephen and “consented to” this
deed (Acts 8:1). But he was miraculously converted on his way to
Damascus to arrest the Christians. He made several missionary
journeys, converted hundreds of Jews and Gentiles and
established Church communities. Paul wrote 14 epistles. He was
arrested and kept in prison for two years in Caesarea and
lived under house arrest for two more years in Rome. Finally, he
was martyred by beheading at Tre Fontane in Rome.
Life Messages: 1) Just as Peter and the
other apostles did, we must open our eyes, ears, and hearts wide to see, hear
and experience the Risen Lord coming into our life in various disguises,
circumstances, and events, reminding us of our mission to proclaim the Good
News in deed and in word. 2) We need to love, obey, and pray for Pope Francis
and the bishops and priests who are the successors of Peter and the Apostles as
they continue the work of the Risen Lord with and for us. 3) Each one of us has
a unique mission in the church, as a believer, parents etc., and we are
challenged to do it. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 30 Friday: (First Martyrs of the Holy Roman
Church):
The context: Today’s Gospel
describes Jesus healing a leper as soon as he had finished his Sermon on the
Mount and come down the mountain. In those days, all skin diseases were
considered leprosy, and leprosy was known to be highly contagious. Hence
“lepers” were separated from their families and society and considered ritually
unclean. In addition, they were treated as sinners who had been punished
by God with a contagious disease. The punishment given to Miriam, the
complaining sister of Moses (Nm 12:9-10), to Gehazi the greedy servant of the
prophet Elisha (II Kgs 5: 27) and to the proud king Uzziah (Chr 26:19)
supported this Jewish belief. As a general rule, when a Jewish leper was
healed (from any of the skin diseases considered as leprosy), he had to go to
the local priest to have him confirm that the healed one was now clean and was
permitted to mix with the general public.
Jesus rewards the trusting Faith of a humble leper:
It is such a leper who has the courage to approach Jesus in public with
trusting Faith in Jesus’ power to heal him. In all humility he kneels
down and says to Jesus, “Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean.” Jesus violates the social taboo against touching a
leper, and He heals the leper by a single command, “I will; be clean.”
Life message: 1) We all need
healing from our spiritual leprosy. Although we may not suffer
from physical leprosy, we all suffer from the “spiritual leprosy” of
sins. It is sin that we carry with us that keeps us
unclean. Jesus, our Savior, wants to heal us. Since Jesus
is not afraid to touch our deepest impurities, and knows all of them
better than we do, let us not try to hide them, nor fear to confess them in the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. Just as the lepers cried out to Jesus for
healing, let us also ask Jesus every night before we go to
sleep to heal us from the spiritual leprosy of sins, and let us approach Jesus
in the Sacrament of Reconciliation whenever we are in grave sin. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 1 Saturday: (St. Junipero Serra, Priest (U.S.A.)
The context: Following the Sermon
on the Mount in which Jesus laid out the program for his Messianic Mission to
the lost sheep of the House of Israel, he headed for Capernaum, healing a leper
on the way. Entering the town, he was met by a Centurion who presented the problem
of his dying servant in great pain. A man of Faith, this pagan asked for
nothing, like Mary being content with simply stating the case and leaving the
rest to Jesus, and Jesus responded at once, saying he would come and heal the
servant. But the centurion displayed great humility, which underlined his Faith
that Jesus was from God, saying, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should
enter under my roof but only say the word and my servant shall be
healed.” It was the Centurion’s citation of the chain of command that
governed his own life as the basis of his request, “Just say the word
and my servant will be healed,” that so amazed Jesus, for this pagan
had more genuine Faith in Him and in God than anybody he had yet met in Israel,
the land which called the Lord God their God and worshipped Him in the Temple
daily.
Following the dismissal of the Centurion with the assurance
that what he believed would be done for him (at that very moment as it turned
out), Jesus retreated to the house of Simon Peter, found Simon’s mother-in-law
seriously ill with a fever that had put her in bed, and immediately, “touched
her hand, and the fever left her.” Here we see that God in His mercy
does not require a request to pour out His mercies on us; in other accounts,
the apostles had brought Jesus to the woman, thus making silent intercession
for her, and the healing followed. In both cases, in was the Faith of the
people making intercession of the one in need that opened the door for Jesus to
perform the healings. And that explains why, when we pray in Faith for others,
even without their knowledge, God can, and sometimes does, respond
with a miracle.
The next scene occurred after sundown, when, technically,
the Sabbath was finished. All the people who had heard about Jesus brought all
their sick and possessed from their homes to Simon Peter’s house and laid them
on the ground, begging for healing for their dear ones. Jesus obliged, and,
Matthew reports, “…he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the
sick…” adding the telling proof of Jesus’ Messianic identity for
those who may have missed the point, “…to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah
the prophet: ‘He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”
Life messages: 1) The Centurion
serves as our model of power rightly managed, with respect and obedience, of
Faith in God, of love for those who serve us, and of humble appreciation for
the greatness of God and His love for and willingness to help those in need,
even though they are not part of His Chosen People.
2) Jesus’ humble readiness to answer with compassion the
needs of all who ask, even of pagans, is our model for interactions with
everyone we encounter, especially those most in need.
3) Let us approach the Lord with the Centurion’s humble, loving trust when we receive Holy Communion by really praying, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
