Dec 11-16:
Dec 11 Monday: St. Damascus I
The context: Beyond showing Divine authority
over temptation, over the lives of men, over nature, over demons, and over
sickness, in today’s Gospel we see Jesus demonstrating a new form of Divine
authority – the authority to forgive sins: Jesus offers the miraculous
restoration of a paralyzed man to health as proof. The healing episode presents
Jesus as God Incarnate, sent to save us, restore us, and make us new. So we
have to look beyond the boundaries of our religious experience if we are to
appreciate the healing and forgiving operation of our God in newer and newer
ways.
Many kinds of sickness were seen by the Jews as punishment
for one’s personal sin or the sins of one’s parents. This man’s paralysis was
also seen by the people around him as a punishment for some sin in his own life
or in the lives of his parents. It was a common belief that no sickness could
be cured until sin was forgiven. For that reason, Jesus had first to convince
the paralyzed man that his sins had been forgiven. Once Jesus granted the
paralytic the forgiveness of God, the man knew that God was no longer his
enemy, and he was able to receive the cure which followed. It was the manner of
the cure which scandalized the Scribes. By forgiving sin, they thought Jesus
had blasphemed, claiming to be God, because forgiving sin is the exclusive
prerogative of God. In addition to showing Jesus’ own direct connection to God,
this healing demonstrates the fact that we can never be right physically until
we are right spiritually, that health in body and peace with God go hand in
hand.
Life messages: 1) We need God’s forgiveness to
live wholesome lives. The heart of the Christian Faith is the “forgiveness of
sins.” In the Creed we say, “I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness
of sins.” While we have the power to forgive others, we need to be
forgiven ourselves by the One who has the authority to forgive. In Jesus we see
this authority, the same authority He gave to his Apostles and so to his
Church. 2) Today’s Gospel gives us an invitation to open ourselves to God’s
forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and to hear, in the priest’s
spoken words of absolution, the Voice of Jesus speaking to the paralytic: “Your
sins are forgiven.” 3) The Gospel also instructs us to forgive others their
sins against us and to ask God’s forgiveness for our daily sins every day of
our lives. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Dec 12 Tuesday: USA: Our Lady of Guadalupe:
Most of us know the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On
December 9, 1531, an elderly Indian man named Juan Diego had a vision of Mary,
the mother of Jesus, at Tepeyac, a poor Mexican-Indian village outside Mexico
City. Mary directed Juan Diego to tell his Bishop to build a Church in Tepeyac.
The Spanish Bishop, however, dismissed the Indian’s tale as mere superstition.
But to humor Juan Diego, the Bishop demanded that the visionary bring some sort
of proof. Three days later, the Virgin Mary appeared again and told Juan Diego
to pick the exquisitely beautiful roses that had miraculously bloomed amidst
December snows, and take them as a sign to the Bishop. When Juan Diego opened
his poncho to present the roses to the Bishop, the flowers poured out from his
poncho to reveal an image of the Virgin Mary painted on the inside of the
poncho. That image hangs today in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City and
is venerated by thousands of pilgrims from all over the world. This apparition
occasioned the conversion of nine million Indians to Christianity in twenty
years. It is estimated that ten million pilgrims visit the Basilica every year.
The original Church was built in 1533, the second in 1556 and the third in
1709. The Virgin of Guadalupe was declared the Patroness of Latin
America by Pope St. Pius X (1907), Queen of Mexico and Empress
of America by Pope Pius XII (1945), Mother of America by
Pope St. John XXXIII (1961) and Star of Evangelization by Pope
St. John Paul II (1979).
Life messages: 1) The story of the apparition
tells us how Jesus, as Emmanuel, and Mary his mother, want to be among us,
especially among the poor, the downtrodden and the marginalized in society who
have neither voice nor political or social influence. That is why Our Lady
appeared to a poor Indian in a village, not as a white woman but as a
brown-skinned Indian princess, speaking his native Nahuatal language,
and why Mary did not appear to any of the Spanish overlords. God wanted the
Basilica in honor of Jesus’ mother built in the village, not in the city.
2) The vision challenges us to listen to the ordinary people who do not look or
act like important people and to treat them with reverence. While it is true
that God loves each and every one of us, there is a special place in God’s
heart for the poor and the powerless – God’s preferential option for the poor.
So the feast challenges us to see and serve Jesus in the poor and the
broken-hearted in our communities.
Anecdote: About sixteen years ago a priest (Fr.
Phil Bloom) received a very unusual request: A young woman asked
him if he would help her get rid of her unborn child. The priest was obviously
surprised, but he tried not to react negatively. “Why do you want to end your
pregnancy?” he asked. She replied that when she told her boyfriend, he said he
was going to leave her. She loved him and desperately wanted him back. The
priest resisted the temptation to say, “your boyfriend is a rat.” Instead he
asked her to do three things: First, to allow the priest to pray with her and
bless the baby. Second, to see a medical professional that he knew. And, third,
to watch a short video. The video showed the development of the human embryo.
After she left, the priest thought about the young woman and wondered what she
would do. In his room he had a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He noticed the
black ribbon below her folded hands and he remembered that the ribbon signified
pregnancy. The child within her, of course, is Jesus. The priest asked Our Lady
to help that young woman. A month or so passed. The priest heard a knock on his
office door. When he opened the door, he saw a shy, smiling face. It was the
young woman. she told the priest she had decided to keep her baby. A year later
he saw her again. She was holding a lovely baby girl. After some conversation,
the priest asked her, “Would you give up your baby for anything?” “No,” she
said, “she is my treasure.” The girl is now a teenager. She lives with her mom
and grandmother. In their home they have a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe
that the priest gave to mom.
(http://www.homilies.net/e/E-10-12-12.asp)
Dec 12 Tuesday: Our Lady of Guadalupe:
The context: Today’s Gospel describes the story
of the Annunciation, explaining how God began to keep the promise He had made
to King David through the prophet Nathan, that David’s descendant would rule
over the world as its Messiah. The Archangel Gabriel’s salutation to Mary: “Hail,
full of grace,” reminds us of God’s words to Moses at the burning bush (Ex
3:12), and the angel’s salutation to Gideon, (Jgs 6:12). Mary is described
as “full of grace,” filled with God’s favor and graciousness.
She is to be the new Ark, a tent and temple. God will be in her, literally and
physically, and thus she will be the greater House God promised to David.
Mary’s believing question, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” is
natural. That is why Gabriel reminds Mary, “For with God nothing will
be impossible.” God will “empower” her (“the Spirit will come upon
you“) and “protect” her (“overshadow you“). Luke’s narrative points
out that the Child will not only be a distant grandson of David — He will be
God’s own Son. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most
High, and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His ancestor David.” Mary
does not require confirmation but responds in Faith. She agrees to carry out
the Word Gabriel has addressed to her.
Life messages: 1) We need to be humble
instruments in the hand of God, trusting in His power and goodness. St.
Augustine reminds us that God Who created us without our permission cannot save
us without our active cooperation. Hence, let us cooperate in the fulfillment
of God’s plan for us with Mary’s trusting Faith and humility. 2) Like Mary, who
brought God to us as Jesus our Savior, it is our duty to carry Jesus everywhere
and bring Jesus to the lives of others around us through love, mercy,
forgiveness, and service. “Let the soul of Mary be in each one of you
to magnify the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each one to exult in Christ.” (St.
Ambrose). 3) We should treasure these words of the Gospel and use them often,
for example, by practicing the Christian custom of saying the Angelus every day
and reflecting on the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. (Navarre Bible
Commentary).
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Dec 13 Wednesday: St. Lucy
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/)
Dec 14 Thursday: St. John of the Cross
The context: John the Baptizer preached the
coming of a fiery Messiah. But what he heard about Jesus from prison was that
Jesus was a loving, merciful, and forgiving preacher who befriended tax
collectors and sinners. Hence, John sent some of his disciples to Jesus to
learn whether Jesus was, or was not, the expected Messiah. After sending them
back to John to report the actions by which He was fulfilling the Messianic
prophecies, Jesus gave the highest compliments to John in today’s Gospel.
Jesus praised John first as a prophet and second as the
expected Elijah. As a prophet, John had God-given wisdom in his mind, God’s
truth on his lips, and God-given courage in his heart. He had been heralding
the Messiah with the courage of his prophetic convictions. John had lived like
the Prophet Elijah who was expected to come just before the Messiah. He had spoken
with the same prophetic authority and had corrected the self-righteous,
attracting Jewish followers by the hundreds to receive the baptism of
repentance. Jesus, however, stressed the fact that His own followers were
greater than John because, while John knew only God’s judgment and punishment,
we know God’s love, forgiveness and the salvation, given through Jesus. But
Jesus warned his followers that they would be persecuted for their trust in
God’s Kingdom, and that they would have to use force on their selfish and evil
tendencies to reach God’s Kingdom.
Life message: We need to have the courage of our
Christian convictions to profess in public what we believe and to practice what
the Church teaches.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Dec 15 Friday:
The context: The message of John the Baptist and
the message of Jesus fell on deaf ears and met with stiff resistance from the
self-righteous Scribes and the Pharisees because of their jealousy, prejudice,
and spiritual blindness. Hence, they attributed the austerities of John the
Baptist to the devil, and Jesus’ table fellowship with sinners as the behavior
of a glutton and a drunkard, evidence contraindicating any Messianic
possibility. In today’s Gospel, Jesus compares these Scribes and Pharisees to
irresponsible street-children.
Dog-in-the-manger attitude: Jesus compares the attitude of
the Scribes and the Pharisees to that of street-children who want to entertain
themselves by acting out weddings and funerals. They divide themselves into two
groups. But when one group proposes to sing wedding songs and asks the other
group to dance, the second group will propose funeral songs and ask the first
group to carry one of them on their shoulders as they act out a funeral
procession. In the end both groups will be frustrated. Jesus states that the
Scribes and Pharisees act exactly like these irresponsible and immature
children because of their pride and prejudice. Jesus criticizes the unbelieving
Jews for not listening either to John the Baptist, who preached a message of
austerity and repentance, or to Jesus preaching the Good News of love, mercy,
and salvation.
Life messages: 1) Jesus’ parable about
disappointed playmates challenges us to examine ourselves to see if we are
“buffet” Catholics with selective hearing, so that we hear only what we want to
hear and choose only those practices and laws which appeal to us. Jesus’
message of the kingdom of God is Good News and it produces
true joy and spiritual freedom for those who will listen, but it is also a
warning for those who refuse to listen and close their minds.
2) Hearing the Gospel implies the
total acceptance and assimilation of what we hear and the incorporation of it
into our daily lives. Like the generation of Jesus’ time, our age is marked by
indifference and contempt, especially in regard to the things of Heaven. Indifference
dulls our ears to God’s voice and to the Good News of the Gospel. Only the
humble of heart can find joy and favor in God’s grace.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Dec 16 Saturday:
The context: Today’s Gospel describes the
warning and instruction given by Jesus to Peter, James, and John as they were
coming down the mountain after witnessing Jesus’ Transfiguration. Jesus forbade
them to give any publicity to what they had seen, because people were expecting
a conquering political messiah with Elijah as his forerunner, and a powerful
reformer who would destroy evil and restore justice in the land for the Messiah
to rule.
The Expected Messiah. Then Jesus indicated that He was the
expected Messiah, and that John was the Elijah they had been waiting for.
John’s mission had been to prepare the way for the first coming of the Messiah,
as Elijah’s mission would be to prepare the world for the Messiah’s second
coming at the end of the world. The scribes misunderstood and taught that
Elijah would come before the first coming of the Messiah. But Jesus told the
disciples that (for those who were willing to believe it), John the Baptist had
served as Jesus’ Elijah in announcing and preparing the people to receive a
Messiah, who would fulfill the Messianic mission not by political power, but by
suffering and death.
Life message:1) Let us accept Jesus as our Lord and
Savior, Who became our Messiah by dying for us on the crossWe do so by
cooperating with our Savior in our eternal salvation, by obeying Jesus’
commandment of love, and by following the instructions given by the Church
Jesus founded and transforming our suffering to redemptive suffering..
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
