15th Week: July 17-22
July 17 Monday:
The context: Jesus makes the controversial
statement that he has come to inaugurate a series of divisions in families and
in the society as a whole between those who accept him as Lord and Savior and
those who oppose him, his ideas and his ideals. He concludes his great
“missionary discourse” with an instruction to his twelve Apostles on the cost
and the reward found in the commitment to be his disciple. The first half of
these sayings of Jesus is about the behavior expected from his disciples, and
the second half is about the behavior of others towards the disciple. “I
have not come to bring peace, but a sword”:Jesus clarifies that he came
to give people lasting peace, not temporary, worldly peace — the simple absence
of war and freedom from all conflicts in the family and society. Our role is to
keep fighting against our evil habits and addictions using the spiritual sword
of the word of God which is “lively and active, sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and
marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). “Whoever
loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me….” : What Jesus
means is that all loyalties must give place to loyalty to God. In other words,
we cannot condone immoral practices even in members of our family. Jesus is not
speaking against the family, but rather reminding us that we are part of the
larger family of our fellow-Christians and, hence, we have more
responsibilities. We must be ready to lose our lives for Christ: By “losing
one’s life” Jesus means, not only suffering death rather than betray him, but
also that daily, we must stop living for ourselves alone. Instead, we must
spend our lives for others and care for those who are sick and hungry. We are
to give hospitality to strangers in Jesus’ name. (“offering a cup of cold
water”): There are four main links in the chain of salvation: i) God who has
sent Jesus with His message, ii) Jesus who has preached the “Good News,” iii)
the human messenger who preaches Jesus’ message through his words and life, and
iv) the believer who welcomes the message and the messengers. Hence, giving
hospitality to a preacher or a believer is the same as welcoming Jesus himself.
The basis of all hospitality is that we all belong to God’s family, and that
every person is our brother or sister.
Life message: 1) We need to be hospitable and
generous: Hospitality allows us to encounter the presence of God in others,
usually in those in whom we least expect to find Him, and to share our love
with them. We become fully alive as Christians through the generous giving of
ourselves to others. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 18 Tuesday: St. Camillus de Lellis, priest (U.
S. A.):
The context: Jesus reminds these cities that they
deserve God’s punishment because they have forgotten the responsibilities which
their numerous meetings with the Messiah in their midst have laid upon them.
They should have listened to his message, put it into practice, and borne
witness to the miracles he had worked for them.
Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum: Nothing is
mentioned in any of the Gospels about the “wonders” Jesus worked in these
cities. Bethsaida was a fishing village on the west bank of Jordan at the
northern end of the lake. Chorazin was a town one hour’s walking distance north
of Capernaum. Jesus expresses his holy anger and sorrowful pity from a broken
heart at the irresponsible disregard and indifference these three ungrateful
cities have shown to the Good News. Jesus warns them, “it shall be more
tolerable on the Day of Judgment for Tyre and Sidon .. [and] the
land of Sodom” than for them, because Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom were not
fortunate enough to hear Jesus and to receive the opportunity for conversion
given to Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum.
Life Messages: Privileges always carry responsibilities:
1) We are privileged to have the holy Bible, so we have the responsibility of
making use of it. 2) We are privileged to have the Eucharistic celebration
every day in our Churches, so we have the responsibility of participating in it
when we are able to do so. 3) We are privileged to have the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, so we have the responsibility of using it to be reconciled with
Jesus and his Church. 4) We are blessed to have the Holy Spirit guiding the
teaching authority in the Church, so we have the responsibility of studying and
following the Church’s directives and teachings. 5) We have the inestimable
gift of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as our Heavenly Mother, and the company of
numerous saints who serve as our role models, so we have the responsibility of
following Jesus in their footsteps. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 19 Wednesday:
The context: Jesus knew that ordinary people
with large, sensitive hearts, rather than proud intellectuals like the Scribes
and the Pharisees, were able accept the “Good News” he preached. Such people
would inherit Heaven rather than the learned and the wise who prided themselves
on their intellectual achievements. Hence, in the first part of today’s Gospel
Jesus prays loudly, thanking God his Father and praising Him for revealing
Himself to the simple-hearted, thus condemning intellectual pride. A person who
is full of self-centeredness fails to perceive supernatural things as real.
Jesus’ unique claim of being God’s perfect
reflection: “No one really knows the Father except the Son,
and him to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him” (Mt 11:27). The claim
that Jesus alone can reveal God to men forms the center of the Christian Faith.
John records Jesus’ claim in different words which He spoke at the Last
Supper: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9).
What Jesus says is this: “If you want to see what God is like, if you want to
see the mind of God, the heart of God, the nature of God, if you want to see
God’s whole attitude to men–look at Me!”
Life message: We need to learn how to know and love
God better by studying Jesus’ revelation about God his Father. We do this by
daily reading the Holy Bible, especially the Gospels, by meditating on the
passages read and by applying them to our lives. The more we study the Bible,
the more we learn about the Triune God, and especially about Jesus our Savior.
This knowledge will help us to love Jesus more, experience his presence in our
daily lives, see his face in everyone around us and surrender our lives to
Jesus by rendering humble service to everyone around us. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 20 Thursday: St. Apollinaris, Bishop, Martyr:
The context: In today’s Gospel, Jesus
offers rest to those who labor and are burdened, if they are
ready to accept his easy yoke and light burden. For the
Orthodox Jew, religion was a matter of burdens, namely, 613 Mosaic laws and
thousands of oral interpretations, which dictated every aspect of life. Jesus
invites the overburdened Israel, and us, to take his yoke upon our shoulders.
In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood and were carved to fit the ox
comfortably. The yoke of Christ can be seen as the sum of our Christian
responsibilities and duties. Jesus’ yoke is light because it is given with
love. It is the commandment to love others as Jesus did. Besides, the yoke of
Christ is not just a yoke from Christ but also a yoke with him.
So, we are not yoked singly to pull the plow by our own unaided power. We are
yoked together with Christ to work with him using his strength. Jesus is
inviting each one of us to be yoked with him, to unite our life with him, our
will with his will, our heart with his heart. By saying that his “yoke is
easy,” Jesus means that whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs
and our abilities exactly.
The second part of Jesus’ claim is: “My burden is
light.” Jesus does not mean that his burden is easy to carry, but that
it is laid on us in love. This burden is meant to be carried in love, and love
makes even the heaviest burden light. By following Jesus, one will find peace,
rest, and real refreshment. We are burdened with many things: business,
concerns about jobs, marriage, money, health, children, security, old age, and
a thousand other things. Jesus is asking us to give him our burdens and take on
his yoke. By telling us, “Take my yoke . . . and you will find rest,”
Christ is asking us to do things the Christian way. When we are centered in
God, when we follow God’s commandments, we have no heavy burdens.
Life messages: 1) We need to be freed from
unnecessary burdens: Jesus is interested in lifting from our backs the burdens
that drain us and suck the life out of us, so that he can
place around our necks his own yoke and his burden which bring to us, and to
others through us, new life, new energy, and new joy. 2) We need to unload our
burdens before the Lord. One of the functions of worship for many of us is that
it gives us a time for rest and refreshment, when we let the overheated
radiators of our hectic lives cool down before the Lord. This is especially
true when we unload the burdens of our sins and worries and evil addictions on
the altar and offer them to God during the Holy Mass. (Fr. Kadavil) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 21 Friday: St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Bishop, Doctor
of the Church:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives us
Jesus’ teaching on the purpose of the Sabbath and on its proper observance.
This was his response to a criticism and a silly accusation made by Pharisees
against his disciples who, on a Sabbath, to satisfy their hunger, plucked ears
of grain from a field and ate the grains after removing the husks by rubbing
the grains between their palms and blowing away the chaff. The Pharisees
accused them of violating Sabbath laws by performing three items of work
forbidden on Sabbath, namely, harvesting, threshing and winnowing.
Counterarguments: Jesus gives three
counterarguments from Holy Scripture defending his apostles. (1) Basic human
needs, like hunger, take precedence over Divine worship and Sabbath observance.
Jesus cites from the Scripture the example of the hungry David and his selected
soldiers. They approached Ahimelech, the priest of Nob, who gave them for food
the “offering bread” which only the priests were allowed to eat (1 Sm 21:1-6).
(2) No law can stand against Divine worship. That is why the priests were not
considered as violating Sabbath laws although they did the work of preparing
two rams for sacrifice in the Temple (Nm 28:9-10). (3) God desires that we
practice mercy: Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea to tell the accusers God’s
words: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Hos 6:6).
Life messages: Like the Jewish Sabbath, the
Christian Sunday is to be 1) a day for rest and refreshment with members of the
family; 2) a day for thanksgiving and the recharging of spiritual batteries
through participation in the Eucharistic celebration for Catholics and through
worship service for the Non-Catholics; 3) a day parents should use for teaching
religious Faith and Bible lessons to their children; 4) a day for doing works
of charity in the neighborhood and in the parish; 5) a day for socializing with
family members, neighbors, and fellow parishioners. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Juily 22 Saturday: St. Mary Magdalene:
The context: Today’s Gospel presents the great
recognition scene in the New Testament when Mary Magdalene, at the tomb early
in the morning, was not able to recognize the Risen Jesus until Jesus called
her by name. Gradual recognition, or misunderstanding, as a stage on the path
to belief and understanding occurs frequently in the narratives of John’s
Gospel. [See, for
example, the conversations Jesus had with Nicodemus (ch. 3), and the Samaritan woman
(ch. 4).] In today’s passage, we find it once again: Mary thought at first that
Jesus was the gardener.
Mary Magdalene failed to recognize Jesus because of her
false assumption that Jesus’ dead body had been taken away from the tomb. Her
attention was concentrated on the now-empty tomb. Her tears of intense grief
could also have blurred her vision. Once Mary heard Jesus call her by name, she
recognized him, exclaiming “Rabboni!” Jesus told her, “… go
to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’” Mary obeyed at once, her introduction to the
apostles being, “I have seen the Lord,” with Jesus’ message
following. This procedure and message became the basis and essence
of the later preaching of the apostles and of all Christian witness-bearing. St
Thomas Aquinas said that one old lady (una vetera), might have more
Faith than a host of learned theologians.
Life messages: 1) We need to be open in mind and
heart to experience the presence of the Risen Lord in our lives through our
prayer, our Sacramental life, and our meditative reading of the Bible. These
all enable us to bear witness to the Risen Lord in our Jesus, the Risen Lord.
2) Jesus, risen from the dead, is truly alive and present under the appearances
of the consecrated Bread and Wine. 3) Jesus, with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, one God, is also present, in our souls, and so in our daily lives; it
is the indwelling Triune God Who gives us the strength to fight temptations and
to serve our brothers and sisters in corporal and spiritual works of mercy with
love.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
