27th Week: Oct 7-12
12:Oct 7 Monday: Our Lady of the Rosary:
Lk 10:25-37: or Lk 1: 26-38: This
feast was established by Pope St. Pius V in thanksgiving for the victory at
Lepanto, 7 Oct 1571, which stopped the Turkish invasion of Europe.
Importance: The word Rosary means “Crown of
Roses” and each prayer in the Rosary is considered a flower presented to Mary.
It is called the “Breviary of the Common People” (The Breviary has 150 Psalms;
The Rosary has 150 Hail Marys), and the “Psalms of the Illiterate.” The prayers
we repeat are Biblical and hence “inspired,” and the mysteries we meditate upon
are taken from the lives of Jesus and Mary. The “Our Father” is a prayer taught
by Jesus himself. The “Hail Mary” is also rooted in the Scriptures. Its first
half echoes the words of the Archangel Gabriel and those of Elizabeth, both
addressed to Mary. The third prayer — the “Glory be to the Father” (ancient in
its wording), surely reflects the unceasing prayer of adoration and praise
found in the Book of Revelation. The various events in the lives of Jesus and
Mary on which we meditate during the Rosary are expressions of the Paschal
Mystery, that is, the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, in which Mary
shared.
History: Prayer using beads is as old as
mankind. The Hindus in India used to recite the thousand names of their gods
and goddesses and their “mantra” prayers using a multi-beaded string and their
sages wear such strings around the neck, constantly rolling the beads in
prayer. The Jews used beads to repeat the psalms, the Laws of Moses and the
memorized sayings of the prophets. The Muslims use strings with a hundred beads
for their prayer. In the ninth century, the Christian monks who recited the 150
psalms instructed the illiterate common people to recite the Our Father 150
times. It was in the eleventh century that the Europeans added the Hail
Mary to the Our Father. According to a legend, in 1214,
the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic Guzman and instructed him to
pray the Rosary in a new form as an effective antidote against the Albigensian
heresy. The Rosary devotion attained its present form by 1500 A.D. An
additional boost to the Rosary devotion was given in 1917, when our Blessed
Mother, in her sixth apparition to the three shepherd children, on the
thirteenth of September, asked them to, “Say the Rosary every day… Pray,
pray a lot and offer sacrifices for sinners… I am Our Lady of the Rosary.”
The “Fatima prayer” “O, my Jesus…” was added in the twentieth century.
Pope St. John Paul II enriched the Rosary by adding the “Luminous
Mysteries” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae).
How to pray the Rosary: The ideal is to recite
at least five decades of the Rosary (and if possible, the entire twenty), with
one’s whole family daily. We need to say the Rosary slowly enough to make its
recitation devout and reverent. We are to reflect for a minute or two on the
mystery, and then concentrate on the meaning of the prayers as we say them, to
avoid distractions. Besides saying the Rosary with others in the family before
bedtime, let us make it a habit of reciting the Rosary during our journey to
the workplace and during our exercises. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 8 Tuesday:
The context: Today’s readings are about
hospitality and the necessity of listening to God before acting. Jesus welcomed
and tended to the needs of all, reflecting in His actions the very hospitality
of God. All four Gospels recount Jesus’ welcoming and feeding of the multitudes
of people who came to hear the Good News. The Gospel passage describes how
Martha, a true child of Abraham, wanted to extend the traditional generous
hospitality of her people to Jesus, the true Messiah, by preparing an elaborate
meal, while her sister Mary spent her time in talking and listening to Jesus.
Jesus’ advice: The episode is also intended to teach us
where we should place our priorities. Presenting Martha as a dynamo of action
and Mary as a true listener to the word of God, today’s Gospel invites us to
serve others with Martha’s diligence, after recharging our spiritual batteries
every day by prayer, listening to God and talking to God as Mary did. We are
able to minister truly to the needs of others only after welcoming God’s words
into our hearts, minds, and living.
Life messages: 1) We need to recharge our
spiritual batteries: Without the “fuel” of prayer, silence, and communion with
God, service can become a crushing responsibility, a burden rather than a
vocation, an annoyed grumbling rather than a response to the invitation of God.
2) We need listening Marthas and serving Marys: Martha has
become a symbol of action-oriented, responsible people who get the job done.
Our world needs such men, women, boys and girls who get the job done. This is
certainly true in the Church where we need the active cooperation of many
parishioners in its various ministries. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 9 Wednesday: Saint Denis, Bishop, and Companions,
Martyrs
The context: The disciples were fascinated by
watching their Master Jesus at prayer. They knew that John the Baptist had
taught his disciples how to pray. In response to the request made by one of the
apostles, Jesus taught the beautiful prayer, Our Father. The Catechism
of the Catholic Church teaches that the Our Father “is truly
the summary of the whole Gospel” (CCC #2761). The great mystical Doctor of
the Church Saint Teresa of Ávila gave this advice while praying the Lord’s
Prayer: “Much more is accomplished by a single word of the Our Father
said, now and then, from our heart, than by the whole prayer repeated many
times in haste and without attention.” And Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
said that the “Our Father” was one of the prayers she prayed when she felt so
spiritually barren that she could not summon up a single worthwhile thought.
A prayer in two parts: In the first part of the prayer, we
address God, lovingly acknowledging Him as our Heavenly Father, praising Him,
and worshipping Him. Then we ask Him that His Holy Will may be done by us in
our lives on earth as perfectly as it is done in Heaven. In the second part, we
ask our Father’s blessings on our present time (daily bread), our past
(forgiveness of sins) and our future (protection against the tempter and his
temptations). In this part we also invite the Triune God into our lives. We
bring in 1) God the Father, the Provider, by asking for daily bread, 2) God the
Son, our Savior, by asking forgiveness for our sins and 3) God the Holy Spirit,
our Guide, Advocate, Comforter, and Illuminator, by asking for protection and
deliverance from evil.
Special focus on the spirit of forgiveness: In
this prayer, Jesus instructs us to ask for forgiveness from others for our
offenses and to give unconditional forgiveness to others for their offenses
against us as a condition for receiving God’s forgiveness ourselves. (Fr. Tony)
(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 10 Thursday:
The context: After teaching a model prayer,
Jesus instructs his disciples to pray to God their Heavenly Father with the
same boldness, daring, intimacy, conviction, persistence, and perseverance that
both Abraham and the “friend in need” in the parable used. Jesus gives us the
assurance that God will not be irritated by our requests, nor will He be
unwilling to meet them with generosity. Jesus stresses the power of
intercessory prayer and the necessity for persistence, perseverance, trusting
Faith, and the boldness of Faith in our prayer.
The parable: By presenting the parable of the “friend in
need,” Jesus emphasizes our need for that persistent and persevering prayer
which acknowledges our total dependence on God. In the ancient Hebrew world,
hospitality was the essence of one’s goodness, and, hence, to welcome a visitor
without food and drink was unthinkable. A traveler who was traveling in the
evening to avoid the heat of the afternoon might well arrive late at night. So,
in this parable, when a man received an unexpected guest late at night and
found his cupboard bare, he went to the man next door, woke him up, and asked
him for a loaf of bread. Because of the persistence of his neighbor, Jesus
says, the householder, though not willing to get up for friendship’s sake,
would get up and give him the bread he needed for his guest. This parable of
Friend at Midnight is both an assurance that prayer is always answered and an
encouragement to pray. This parable stresses the necessity for our persisting
in prayer as the expression of our total dependence on God. St. Paul
says, “Be constant in prayer” (Rom 12:12), “pray at all times” (Eph
6:18), “be steadfast in prayer” (Col 4:2), and “pray constantly” (2 Thes 5:17). Jesus
assures us, “Knock and the door will be opened”(Lk 11: 10).
Life messages: We need to stop giving lame
excuses for not praying. Modern Christians give four lame excuses for not
praying: 1) We are “too busy.” This excuse should send us to our priorities
list, where God needs to be first of all, if we are to be able to live in His
peace. That settled, we will find that prayer in every form is our living
connection with Him through which He gives us Grace, fills us with His love for
us, and helps us to become our true selves. Then, with His help, we will be
able to discern the truly important things in our lives and eliminate the
unimportant and/or distracting, debilitating, and useless items. 2) We “don’t
believe that prayer does that much good, other than giving us the psychological
motivation to be better persons.” Such people forget the fact that
prayer establishes and augments our responsive relationship with God, the
Source of our power. 3) “A loving God should provide for us and protect
us from the disasters of life, such as diseases or accidents, without our
asking Him.” True – and He does! Prayer is not meant to inform God; it
expresses our awareness of our need for God Who loves us unconditionally, and
of our trusting dependence upon Him. Further, if we haven’t asked Him for what
we need, we may well not recognize it when He gives it to us! 4) “Prayer
is boring.” People who use this excuse forget the fact that prayer is
a conversation with God: listening to God speaking to us through the Bible and
talking to God through personal and family prayers. We can’t have a close
relationship with anyone, including God, without persistent and intimate
conversation. ((https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 11 Friday: Saint John XXIII, Pope
The context: When Jesus healed a mute man by
exorcism, the jealous scribes and the Pharisees spread the malicious slander
that Jesus was collaborating with Beelzebul, the head of the devils, to cast
out smaller devils.
Jesus’ response: Jesus makes his counterattack,
first by asking the rhetorical question “By whom do your sons (the
Jewish exorcists), cast them out?” The implication is that, if
what they say about Him, Who casts them out with a single command, is true, the
Jewish exorcists, who require so much more prayer and so many more exercises to
do exorcisms, must certainly have to seek the help of the big devil to exorcise
minor devils. Then Jesus asserts that no kingdom, divided against itself, can
survive for long. Obviously, then, the chief devil will not help any exorcists
to cast out devils. Jesus then claims that His exorcisms are proof that He has
brought the Kingdom of God. When people are liberated from the control of evil
spirits, it is a sure sign that the loving power of God (the finger of God),
is at work. Then Jesus uses the image of a strong man guarding his house and
keeping his possessions safe until someone stronger attacks and overthrows him.
Jesus claims that Jesus is the stronger one driving away the evil spirits. They
are helpless before him. This liberation of people and society from evil powers
is one of the most dramatic proofs that the all-powerful reign of God is
present in the Person of Jesus.
Life messages: 1) Jesus teaches us that the
devil is relentless in his struggle against man. The devil continues to lay his
traps, in spite of man’s rejecting him with the help of grace. That is why St.
Peter warns us to be sober and vigilant because, “your adversary the devil
prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm
in your Faith” (1 Pt 5:8-9). 2) We have to fortify ourselves against
the devil by prayer, penance, the Sacraments, and the effective use of the word
of God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 12 Saturday:
The context: A woman in the audience was so
impressed by Jesus’ powerful refutation of the slander (that Jesus collaborated
with the devil in exorcisms), that she shouted a blessing, praising the mother
of Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you
sucked!” She meant that any woman would be proud to have such a great son.
Jesus tells her that His mother is more blessed for obeying the word of God
throughout her life.
The reason for real blessedness: Completing the truth of the
blessing the woman had pronounced, Jesus states that the real source of
blessedness is the willingness to hear and the readiness to obey, the word of
God. Mary heard God’s message at the Annunciation, and her prompt response was,
“I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk
1:38). That is why she could boldly proclaim to her cousin Elizabeth
in her canticle, “All generations will call me blessed”(Lk 1:48). No
one listened more attentively to the word of God than Mary did. She was
absolutely obedient, humble, loving and faithful. Jesus clarified the same
truth on another occasion, stating that his “mother and brothers and sisters
are those who hear the word of God and do it (Lk 8:21), just as Mary had
always done. In today’s Gospel, Jesus declares that that those who hear God’s
word and keep it are more blessed than those who are related to Him only by
blood.
Life messages: 1) We become the members of the Heavenly family of the Triune God, that is, we are made children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus, by our Baptism. But it is our fidelity in hearing the word of God and in putting that word into practice in our daily lives that makes us really blessed. What makes a person happy in this life and in the life to come is precisely the fulfillment of God’s will, as we learn through the attentive reading of, and listening to, His words. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
