17th Week: July 28- Aug 2:
July 28 Monday: Mt 13:31-35:31
The context: Today’s Gospel contains two of
Jesus’ one-line parables about the Kingdom of God. The parable of the mustard
seed probably shows that Gentiles in the Church will one day outnumber Jews.
The parable of the yeast indicates that all are invited to salvation, and that
the power of the Holy Spirit working within the Church will enable it to grow.
The small beginnings and great ending: Using a pair of
mini-parables of the mustard seed and yeast, Jesus explains how the Kingdom of
God, or rule of God, grows within us by the power of the Word of God and the power
of the Holy Spirit living within us. When we surrender our lives to Jesus
Christ and allow his Word to take root in our hearts, we are transformed and
made holy by the power of the Holy Spirit Who dwells in us. In the parable of
the mustard seed, the primary point of comparison is the contrast between the
smallness of the seed and the greatness of the result (“the largest of
plants”). The life-principle in a small mustard seed enables it to grow into a
large bush by a slow but steady process. The microscopic yeasts within a small
piece of leaven transform a thick lump of dough overnight into soft and spongy
bread. Christianity had a small beginning, like a mustard seed or yeast, with
Jesus and a band of twelve apostles in a remote corner of the world. But
through the power of the Holy Spirit living in individual Christians,
Christianity has become the largest religion in the world, spreading in all
countries embracing all races of people.
Life messages: 1) We need to allow the Holy
Spirit to transform us, changing our evil ways and tendencies to a life of
holiness; from unjust and uncharitable conversations to speaking with God and
listening to Him (prayer); from a judgmental attitude expressed in scornful
criticism, to non-judgmental acceptance of people as our brothers and sisters
in Christ, and from destructive gossip to a loving, welcoming attitude, lived
out in willing help, patience, and consoling, encouraging, inspiring support.
2) We need to act like yeast, influencing the lives of
others around us: Just as Christianity in the past transformed the treatment of
women, children, slaves, the sick, and the poor by the power of Jesus’ Gospel,
we Christians, in our time, have the duty to transform the lives of people
around us by our exemplary lives, led according to the promptings of the Holy
Spirit. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 29 Tuesday: Saint Martha: (St. Martha, Mary
& Lazarus)
Jn 11:19-27 (or Lk 10: 38-42):
July 29th was traditionally celebrated as the feast day of
St. Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus. But on February 2, 2021, Pope Francis
expanded this memorial to include Martha’s sister and brother, Mary and
Lazarus. They were close friends of Jesus. Since they lived in Bethany, less
than two miles from Jerusalem, Jesus visited their home each time he with his
disciples participated in a major feast in the Temple of Jerusalem, and Martha
prepared meals for them. It was during one of those meals that Jesus praised
Mary for finding time to listen to him and lovingly scolded Martha for being
too much anxious and busy in the kitchen.
Pope Francis decided in February, 2021 to include all three
siblings, Martha, Mary and Lazarus, in today’s feast. Martha is presented as a
woman of great dynamism and action who despite her deep sorrow at her brother’s
death, believed in Jesus as the Lord of life and death and proclaimed him by
her strong profession of Faith as the Messiah and God. Mary is included in the
feast as a model of the keen listener of the word of God who was keen on
applying the word she heard into her life. Correcting the unbiblical belief
that Mary of Magdala and the sinner woman who anointed the feet of Jesus at the
house of a Pharisee was Mary the sister of Lazarus, the Pope approves the
unanimous opinion of modern Bible scholars that all these three are distinct
and different Marys. Lazarus is included in the feast because of his courageous
and strong testimony of his resuscitation by Jesus, despite the Pharisees’
threat to arrest him. When this memorial was established, the Congregation for
Divine Worship said, “In the household of Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced
the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and for this
reason the Gospel of John states that he loved them.”
Life messages: 1) Let us invite Jesus into our
families by consecrating our families to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and by
allowing him to rule our lives. 2) We need both Marthas and Marys in the Church
– women of action and women of contemplation. How would the Church survive if
not for the Marthas and Bills who sing in the choir, teach in the Sunday
school, work with the youth, run the altar guild, work with the homeless, and
build the Church? The same is true with the family. We need responsible people
to do the work in the house: to cook, to clean, to keep the house operating, to
pay the bills, to keep the cars running, not to speak of rearing the children
and loving the spouse. Households can’t survive without Marthas and Bills. Nor
can offices, schools or businesses. 3) But we must all find time to listen to
God speaking to us through His word and time to talk to God. Where would we all
be without the cloistered monks and nuns who spend their lives praising God and
praying for all of us? Jesus clearly told us to be hearers and doers
of the word; he never reversed that order. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 30 Wednesday: Saint Peter Chrysologus,
bishop and doctor: Mt 13:44-46:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives
us twin parables with a common message. Both the pearl and the treasure
represent the Kingdom of God, or God’s rule in human hearts, or our close
relationship with God kept intact by our doing God’s will.
Treasure and pearl: Since Palestine was
the most fought-over country in the world in the first century, people hid
their valuables underground when they fled from invading armies. The owners did
not always get a chance to return to their land. Some other farm workers
occasionally found such treasures, and the rabbinic law gave the ownership of
the treasure to the finder. In order to avoid any later legal problems, the
intelligent treasure-finder bought the land containing the treasure, selling
all his other possessions to do so, if he had to. Pearls were the most valuable
of the treasures. A merchant who located a superior pearl would be wise to sell
the rest of his stock and property to acquire it.
Acquiring a treasure or a pearl of great value means accepting
the will of God in our lives and sacrificing everything to do God’s holy will —
in other words, living as God wants us to live. That is God’s Kingship over us
and within us in action. The Kingdom of God is also a group of people on
earth who, with God’s grace, work to do the will of God as perfectly as it is
done in Heaven. Hence, being in God’s Kingdom also means offering willing,
loving obedience to God.
Life message: 1) A right
relationship with God, or a state of Sanctifying Grace, is the most
valuable treasure in the Christian life because it gives us a close
relationship with God during this life and a life of everlasting bliss with God
after our death. The Holy Spirit, the Holy Bible, and the Sacraments are the
treasures in the Church which enable us to do the will of God and possess the
Kingdom of God. Hence, we must be ready to make any sacrifice to use these
treasures, to practice self-control and to offer to those we encounter generous
loving service, mercy, and forgiveness, thus keeping a right relationship with
God Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 31 Thursday: Saint Ignatius of
Loyola, priest:
Mt 13:47-53: 47
The context: Today’s Gospel
presents the third in a set of three parables Jesus preached on the Kingdom of
God/Heaven and the conditions for entering it. The parable of
the fishing net: In Palestine, there were two main ways of
fishing. The first was with the casting-net, which required a keen eye and
great skill in throwing the net at the correct moment. The second was
with a dragnet or seine. Galilean seine nets were tied to two boats
and drawn through the water. The catch was sorted only afterwards, with edible
(kosher) fish going to market and unacceptable fish being thrown
away. Just as a dragnet collects good and bad fish indiscriminately, so
the Church is bound to be a mixture of all kinds of people, good and bad,
useless and useful. This parable encourages the Church to adopt an open
approach to Evangelization. The parable also teaches that the time of
separation will come in the Final Judgment, when the good and the bad will be sent
to their respective chosen destinies. This parable is, thus, a counterpart to
the parable of the weeds and the wheat. The concluding simile or mini
parable: Jesus concludes his parables by advising the listeners to
imitate wise scribes (Jewish religious teachers who specialized in Sacred
Scripture and its application to life). A scribe/scholar need not give up his
scholarship when he became a Christian; rather he should use his learning for
Christ. Christians are also expected to be like scholars who study both the old
wisdom of their ancestors and the new vistas of knowledge. They have a duty to
pass on to others the Christian teaching they have received in language their
hearers can understand.
Life message: 1) We need to learn
tolerance and compassionate understanding.) The lesson of this parable is
that the Church is a mixed body of saints and sinners (good and bad
fish). There will be always a temptation on the part of some who feel
they are more “faithful” to separate themselves from the “unfaithful.” But
Jesus reminds us that the final judgment resulting in reward or
punishment is the work of God. 2) Thus, we must learn
to be tolerant, patient, compassionate, and understanding of those who seem to
us to fall far below the requirements of the Gospel and the Kingdom. Let
us humbly admit the fact that only Jesus and Mary were not a
mixture of good and evil. Let us acknowledge as St.
Paul did, “I am what I am with the grace of God
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 1 Friday: Saint Alphonsus Liguori, bishop and
doctor: Mt 13:54-58
The context: Today’s Gospel describes
how, on a Sabbath, Jesus stood before the people in the synagogue of his
hometown, Nazareth, reading and interpreting what Isaiah had prophesied
about the Messiah and his mission. Jesus claimed that he was the One sent
“to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberation to captives, recovery of sight
to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed.” To the great amazement and
disbelief of his own townsmen, Jesus declared that Isaiah’s prophecy was being
fulfilled at that very moment “in your hearing,” because the prophet was
foretelling and describing Jesus’ mission and ministry. Luke reports
that the initial reaction of the people was surprise at the power and eloquence
of this son of their soil. They were amazed that one of their fellow
villagers could speak with such grace and eloquence and with such authority.
Luke says they were “amazed at the gracious words that came from his
lips,” because they knew him only as a carpenter from a poor family,
with no formal training in Mosaic Law. But their amazement turned into
displeasure when, during his “Inaugural Address” or “Mission Statement,” Jesus
took upon himself the identity of a prophet, different from the image of the
miracle-worker that people wished to see. Then their
displeasure turned into anger when Jesus claimed that he was the promised
Messiah of Isaiah’s prophecy. They challenged his Messianic claim,
asking, and “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” They could not
understand how a mere carpenter could be the Messiah who
would liberate them from Roman rule and reestablish the Davidic kingdom. Jesus explained
their attitude by saying “No prophet is accepted in his native place.”
Life messages: 1) We need
to face rejection with prophetic courage and optimism. Perhaps we have
experienced the pain of rejection, betrayal, abandonment, violated trust,
neglect, or abuse, even from friends and family members, when we reached out to
them as God’s agents of healing and saving grace. Perhaps we ourselves are
guilty of the same rejecting of God in His agents. Perhaps we, too, have
been guilty of ignoring or humiliating people with our arrogance and
prejudice. Let us learn to correct our mistakes and to face rejection
from others with courage. 2) Let us not, like the people in
Jesus’ hometown, reject God in our lives. We reject God when we are
unwilling to be helped by God, or by others. Such unwillingness
prevents us from recognizing God’s directions, help and support in our lives,
through His words in the Bible, through the teaching of the Church, and through
the advice and examples of others. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 2 Saturday: Saint Eusebius of Vercelli,
bishop & Saint Peter Julian Eymard, priest :
Mt 14:1-12: The context: Today’s
Gospel presents the last scene of a tragic drama with three main characters,
Herod, Herodias, and John the Baptist. Herod Antipas, (4 BC –
AD 39), was a jealous and weak puppet-king with a guilty conscience. He feared
the prophet John because John had publicly scolded him for divorcing his legal
wife without adequate cause and for marrying his sister-in-law, Herodias, thus
committing a double violation of Mosaic Law. Herodias was an
immoral, greedy woman, stained by a triple guilt and publicly criticized by
John. 1) She was an unfaithful woman of loose morals. 2) She was a greedy and
vengeful woman. 3) She was an evil mother who used her teenage daughter for the
wicked purposes of murder and revenge by encouraging her to dance in public in
the royal palace against the royal etiquette of the day. John the
Baptist was a fiery preacher and the herald of the Promised Messiah.
He was also a Spirit-filled prophet with the courage of his convictions who
criticized and scolded an Oriental monarch and his proud wife in public.
God’s punishment: After the martyrdom of John,
Herod was defeated by Aretas, the father of Herod’s first wife. Later, both
Herod and Herodias were sent into exile by Caligula, the Roman emperor.
Life messages: 1) As Christians, we need to live out the moral integrity and the courage of our convictions as John did. 2) Let us remember that sins of revenge and cruelty will never go unpunished. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/
