Aug 21-26:
Aug 21 Monday: St. Pius X, Pope:
The context: Today’s Gospel reminds us thatwe do
not possess anything in our life that we refuse to surrender to the Lord.
Rather, it often possesses us, and we become the prisoner of our possessions,
violating the First Commandment, which demands that we give unconditional
priority to God. Jesus reminds the rich young man of the Commandments that deal
with his relationships with other people and challenges him to sell what he has
and give it to the poor. Jesus’ challenge exposed what was missing in the young
man’s life: a sense of compassion for the poor and the willingness to share his
blessings with the needy.
The incident of the
rich, young ruler: The rich young man who came to Jesus in search of eternal
life really wanted to be accepted by Jesus as a disciple. The young man claimed
that from childhood he had observed all the Commandments Jesus mentioned. His
tragedy, however, was that he loved "things" more than people, and
his possessions “possessed him.” Jesus told him that keeping the Commandments,
while enough for salvation, was not enough for perfection and challenged him to
share his riches with the poor. "There is one thing lacking. Sell all
you have and give to the poor, and then you will have real treasure. After
that, come and be with me." Jesus asked him to break his selfish
attachment to wealth by sharing it. But “when the young man heard this, he went
away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.” (This young man has become a
symbol of the kind of Christian whose mediocrity and shortsightedness prevent
him from turning his life into a generous, fruitful self-giving to the service
of God and neighbor. (Navarre Bible commentary).
Life messages: 1) Jesus makes the same challenge
to each of us today. Our following of Jesus has to be totally and absolutely
unconditional. Our attachment may not be to money or material goods, but to
another person, a job, one’s health, position, or reputation. We must be ready
to cut off any such attachment in order to become true Christian disciples,
sharing our blessings with others. 2) To follow Jesus, we must have generous
hearts and the willingness to share our blessings with others to show our
generosity. St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) puts it in her own
style: “Do SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL for God. Do it with your life. Do it
every day. Do it in your own way. But do it!” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 22 Tuesday: The Queenship of Blessed Vigin Mary: This
special Liturgical Feast was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII on October 11, 1954
through his Encyclical Letter Ad Caeli Reginam. But Mary’s
title as "Queen of Heaven and Earth" is a great scandal to many
non-Catholic Christians. Here is the Biblical argument supporting her Queenship
given in the encyclical.
Theology of Mary’s queenship: Since Holy
Scripture presents Jesus Christ as a king, his mother Mary is the Queen-Mother.
Jesus is King by Nature, as God; but Mary is Queen by "Divine
relationship," that is, by being the Mother of God. Mary is also Queen by
grace. She is full of grace, the highest in the category of grace, next to her
Son. She is Queen by singular choice of God the Father. If a mere human can
become King or Queen by choice of the people how much greater a title is the
choice of the Father Himself! Biblical basis: Our Holy Father
gives three Biblical citations supporting Mary’s queenship.1) The messianic
prophecies. In most of the Messianic prophecies given in the Old Testament
books of Samuel, Micah (5:1), Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel (7:13-14), Christ,
the Messiah, is represented as a King, an identity given to Jesus in the New
Testament: Lk 1:32-33, Mt 2:2, Lk 19:38, Jn 18:37. 2) The Annunciation scene:
The beginning of the concept that Mary is a Queen is found in the Annunciation
narrative, given in today’s Gospel (Lk 1:26-38). For the angel tells Mary that
her Son will be King over the house of Jacob forever. So, she, His Mother,
would be Queen-mother.3) Vision of Mary in the Book of Revelation: Mary’s
Queenship can be seen in the great vision described in Revelation: "And
a great portent appeared in Heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon
under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and
she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery" (Rv
12:1–2). Thus Revelation 12 portrays Mary as the new Queen-Mother in the
Kingdom of God, sharing in her Son’s rule over the universe.
Role of Queen-mother in the Bible: In the monarchy of
King David, as well as in other ancient kingdoms of the Near East, the mother
of the ruling king held an important office in the royal court and played a key
part in the process of dynastic succession. In fact, the king’s mother ruled
as queen, not his wife or one of his wives. The prophet Jeremiah tells how the
queen-mother possessed a throne and a crown, symbolic of her position of
authority in the kingdom (Jer 13:18, 20). Probably the clearest example of the
Queen-mother’s role is that of Bathsheba, wife of David and mother of Solomon
(1 Kgs 1:16–17, 31; 1 Kgs 2:19–20; 1 Kgs 2:19–20). Some Old Testament
prophecies incorporate the Queen-mother tradition when telling of the future
Messiah. One example is Is 7:13-14.
Life message: 1) Identifying Mary as
Queen-Mother provides an explanation of her important intercessory role in the
Christian life. (Once, King Solomon responded to a request made by the
queen-mother of the Davidic kingdom , Bathsheba, with “Ask it, my Mother,
for I will not refuse you”1 Kings 2:20), In this case, though, hearing the
petition and discovering that the real petitioner, was a rival who desired to
kill him and usurp the Kingdom entrusted to him by God through David, Solomon
refused, not his Mother (whose will was always one with her son’s,) but the real
petitioner whom he had killed at once (1 Kgs 2:21-25). In the same way, Jesus,
the king of the universe, responds to Mary, his Mother, whose will is
completely one with that of God, and who serves Him in acting as our advocate
before her Divine Son. Hence, we should approach our Queen-Mother with
confidence, provided our requests are consonant with the Will of God of course,
knowing that she carries our petitions to her Royal Son.
Aug 23 Wednesday: St. Rose of Lima, Virgin:
The context: The parable described in today’s
Gospel is known as the “Parable of Workers in the Vineyard” or the “Parable
of the Generous Landlord.” This remarkable and rather startling parable is
found only in Matthew. There is Gospel, or “Good News,” in this parable because
it is the story of the landlord’s love and generosity, representing God’s love
and generosity. The question in God’s mind is not, “How much do these people
deserve?” but rather, “How can I help them? How can I save them before they
perish?” It’s all about grace and blessings. God is presented in the parable as
a loving mother who cares about each of her children equally. The parable in a
nutshell: The Kingdom of Heaven, says Jesus, is like a landowner who goes out
early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He rounds up a group at
6 AM, agrees to pay them the usual daily wage and then puts them into action.
At 9 AM, he rounds up another group. At noon, he recruits a third team, and
then at 3 PM, a fourth. Finally, at 5 PM, he finds still more laborers who are
willing and able to work. He sends them into the vineyard to do what they can
before sundown. As the day ends, the landowner instructs his manager to pay
each of the workers one denarius, the daily living wage, and to begin with
those who started at 5 PM.
Life messages: (1) We need to follow God’s
example and show grace to our neighbor. When someone else is more successful
than we are, let us rejoice with him and assume he has earned the success. When
someone who does wrong manages to escape discovery, let us remember the many
times we have done wrong and gotten off free. We mustn’t wish pain on people
for the sake of “fairness,” for that is envy, and we become envious of others
because of our lack of generosity of heart. 2) We need to express our gratitude
to God in our daily lives. God personally calls each of us to a particular ministry.
He shows his care by giving us His grace and eternal salvation. All our talents
and blessings are freely given us by God, so we should thank Him by avoiding
sins, by rendering loving service to others, and by listening and talking to
Him.
(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 24 Thursday: St. Bartholomew, Apostle::
Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus.
The Aramaic name means son of Tolmai. His first name might have been Nathaniel.
Only John calls him by that name (Jn 1:43-50). He is paired with Philip in the
list of apostles in Mt 10: 3 and Lk 6: 14. John introduces him as one of the
earliest followers of Jesus, suggesting that he became one of the Twelve. In
addition, Nathaniel is introduced in John’s narrative as a friend of Philip.
Since Bartholomew is paired with Philip on three of our four lists of Apostles,
it seems likely that they were associated. Along with his fellow-Apostle, Jude, Bartholomew is
reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the
1st century. Thus, both saints are considered the patron saints of
the Armenian
Apostolic Church. According to tradition, Bartholomew was finally skinned
alive and beheaded in Armenia. The 13th century Saint
Bartholomew Monastery was a prominent Armenian monastery constructed
at the site of the martyrdom of Apostle Bartholomew in the Vaspurakan Province of
southeastern Turkey. Other traditions record him as serving as a missionary
in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, and Lycaonia and even India.
The festival of St Bartholomew is celebrated on August 24 in the western
Church and on June 11 in the Eastern Churches. The Armenian
Apostolic Church honors Saint Bartholomew, along with Saint Thaddeus, as its
patron saint. The Coptic Church remembers him on January 1.
In today’s selection from the Gospel of John (John
1:45-51), Nathaniel is introduced as a friend of Philip. He is described as
initially being skeptical about the Messiah’s coming from Nazareth, saying:
"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" But he accepts
Philip’s invitation to meet Jesus. Jesus welcomes him saying, "Behold,
an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" Jesus’ comment "Before
Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you" is
probably based on a Jewish figure of speech referring to studying the Torah. Nathanael immediately
recognizes Jesus as "the Son of God" and "the King of
Israel". Nathanael reappears at the end of John’s Gospel (John
21:2) as one of the disciples to whom Jesus appeared at the Sea of Tiberias after
the Resurrection.
The Gospels thus present Bartholomew as a man with no malice and lover of Torah
with openness to truth, and readiness to accept the truth. Nathaniel was the
first Apostle to make an explicit confession of faith in Jesus as Messiah and
as Son of God.
Life message: Let us pray for the grace to love
the word of God as Bartholomew did and to accept the teaching of the Bible and
the Church with open heart and open mind without pride or prejudice. Fr. Tony
Aug 25 Friday: St. Louise; St. Joseph Calazan, Priest:
The context: The Pharisees, who believed in both
the written Law and the oral tradition, were pleased to see how Jesus defeated
the Sadducee who had tried to humiliate him with the hypothetical case of a
woman who married seven husbands in succession. So, a lawyer challenged Jesus
to summarize the most important of the Mosaic Laws into one sentence. Jesus’
answer teaches us that the most important Commandment isto love God in loving
others and to love others in loving God. In other words, we are to love God
completely, and express our love by loving our neighbor who is a son or
daughter of God in whom God lives.
Jesus’ novel contribution: Jesus gives a
straightforward answer, quoting directly from the Law itself and startling his
listeners with his profound simplicity and mastery of the law of God and its
purpose. He cites the first sentence of the Jewish Shema prayer
(Dt 6:4-5) “…Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." Then
He adds its complementary law (Lv 19:18): “You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus combines the originally
separate commandments and presents them as the essence of true religion. We are
to love our neighbor as our self because this is a way to love God: God gives
us our neighbors to love and be loved by, so that we may learn to love Him.
Life messages: 1) How do we love God? There
are several means by which we can express our love for God: a) by thanking God
daily for His blessings and expressing our gratitude by obeying His
Commandments; b) by being reconciled with God daily, confessing our sins, and
asking His forgiveness; c) by acknowledging our total dependence on God,
presenting our needs before Him with trusting Faith; d) by keeping friendship
with God, daily talking to Him in prayer and listening to Him in reading the
Bible; and e) by recharging our spiritual batteries through participating in
Sunday Mass, receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, and leading a Sacramental life.
2) How do we love our neighbor? Since every
human being is the child of God and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God,
created in the “image and likeness of God” and saved by the precious Blood of
Christ, we are actually giving expression to our love of God by loving our
neighbor as Jesus loves him, and by loving Jesus in our neighbor. This means we
need to help, support, encourage, forgive, and pray for every one of God’s
children patiently, without discrimination based on attractiveness,
responsiveness, color, race, creed, gender, age, wealth, or social
status.
(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 26 Saturday:
The context: For Jesus, it was the third day of
the very first “Holy Week” in Jerusalem, a day of controversy and personal
attacks. Jesus, under fire from the religious leaders of Israel who reject Him
as the Messiah, faced them in the public forum and, in agape love, turned the
Light of Truth on their behavior. He showed them, in detail, where and how they
were failing themselves and their vocation and so the Lord God. Then He laid
out the consequences of their mistaken choices, pronouncing eight woes against
them, and clearly identifying their behavior as hypocritical because they were
more concerned about self-promotion than serving others. These home truths,
spoken publicly, were intended to humble them, in order to cause them to see
themselves as God saw them, and, horrified, to reform. USCCB video
reflections:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
Three sins of the Scribes and Pharisees: Jesus raises three
objections to the Pharisees: (1) "They do not practice what they
teach" (v. 3). They lack integrity of life and fail to practice what they
preach, namely, justice, mercy and charity. (2) They overburden the ordinary
people (v. 4). The scribes and the Pharisees, in their excessive zeal for God’s
laws, split the 613 laws of the Torah into thousands of rules and regulations
affecting every movement of the people, thus making God’s laws a heavy burden.
(3) "They do all their deeds to be seen by others" (v. 5). Jesus
accuses the scribes and Pharisees of seeking the glory that rightly belongs to
God. They express their love of honor in several ways, thereby converting
Judaism into a religion of ostentation: (a) "They make their phylacteries
broad and their fringes long" (v. 5). b) They "love to have the place
of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues" (v 6). (c) They
"love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people
call them rabbi" (v 7).
Life messages: 1) We need servant-leaders in a
serving community: The Church is a servant-community in which those who hunger,
and thirst are to be satisfied; the ignorant are to be taught; the homeless are
to receive shelter; the sick are to be cared for; the distressed are to be
consoled; and the oppressed are to be set free. Hence, leaders should have a
spirit of humble service in thought, word and deed. 2) We need to live the
Faith we profess. Our Faith tells us that we are all brothers and sisters,
children of the same Heavenly Father. Hence, we should always pray for each
other. Instead of judging the poor, we should be serving them both directly and
through our efforts on behalf of economic justice. Instead of criticizing those
of other races, we should be serving them both directly and through our efforts
on behalf of racial justice. Instead of ignoring the homeless, we should be
serving them through efforts to supply them with adequate housing. 3) We need
to accept the responsibilities which go with our titles. Titles and polite
forms exist to remind each of us of our specific responsibilities in society.
Hence, let us use everything we are and have in a way that brings glory to God,
by serving His children.
Fr. Tony(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
