20th Week: Aug 18-23:
Aug 18 Monday: Mt 19:16-22:
The context: Today’s Gospel reminds us that we do
not possess anything in our life that we refuse to surrender to the Lord.
Rather, the “thing” often possesses us. Thus, we become the prisoner of our
possessions, and so violate 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 to material goods, but to another person, a job, one’s own 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 19 Tuesday: Mt 19:23-30:
The context: Jesus told a rich, young man who
had expressed his desire to follow Jesus as a disciple that he had to share his
possessions with the less fortunate as a condition for becoming a perfect
disciple. But “when the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful; for he
had great possessions.”It was then that Jesus made the comment given in
today’s Gospel. Jesus uses a vivid hyperbole or “word cartoon” to show how
riches bar people from Heaven. The camel was the largest animal the Jews knew,
and the eye of a needle the smallest hole. “The needle’s eye” is
variously interpreted. a) Most probably Jesus used the image literally. b) The
little, low, narrow pedestrian gate on the outer wall of the city of Jerusalem
through which even a man could hardly pass erect was called, “The Needle’s
Eye” in Jesus’ time. c) The Greek word used in the passage for camel
is kamelos, which can also mean a ship’s thick cable or hawser
rope. In any case, Jesus is saying that it is not impossible, by the grace of
God, for a wealthy person to keep his spiritual integrity, but it is extremely
difficult and uncommon. Why do riches prevent one from reaching God? First, the
rich think that they can buy their way out of sorrow and into happiness, so
they don’t need God. Second, riches shackle one to this earth, and one ignores
an afterlife.; taught by Scriptures (Mt 6:21). Third, riches tend to make one
selfish. The Bible doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil; it says
that “the love of money is the root of all
evil” (1 Tm 6:10). Jesus also challenges the Jewish belief that
material wealth and prosperity are signs of God’s blessings, and poverty is the
sign of His punishment. Jesus condemns a value system that makes “things” more
valuable than people.
Life messages: 1) We need to accept God’s
invitation to generosity. Jesus’ Infinitely generous Self-gift to us has the
crucifix as “Exhibit A”; we find “Exhibit B” in the Eucharist, for there, Jesus
actually becomes our spiritual Food and Drink. To follow
Jesus, we must have a generous, self-giving heart, and we should be willing to
use it by sharing our blessings with others. God does not ask us to give up our
riches, but to use them wisely in His service. How do we use our talents? What
about time – do we use it for God? We each get 168 hours every week. How do we
use our time? Are we too busy to pray each day? (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 20 Wednesday: Saint Bernard, abbot and doctor: Mt 20:1-16:
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, saying He will give them what is just. 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 21 Thursday: Saint Pius X, Pope: Mt
22:1-14:
The context: The parable of the Royal Wedding
Banquet speaks of the Kingdom of God and about the people who will eventually
belong to it. It is also the first of three parables that challenge the
legitimacy of the Jewish leadership. The parables all contrast the true Israel
with the attitudes and lives of the Pharisees, demonstrating the claims of the
Pharisees as false. In addition, the Parable of the Royal Banquet and the
Wedding Garment is Jesus’ interpretation of the History of Salvation.
Finally, it was one of the three parables of judgment or rejection
parables that Jesus told at the Temple in Jerusalem during the last
week of his public life, addressing them to the “chief priests and
elders of the people,’ i.e., Israel’s religious and civic leaders.
By telling an allegoric parable of judgment in the Temple of
Jerusalem two days before his arrest, Jesus accused the Jewish religious and
civil leaders of rejecting God’s invitation to the Heavenly Banquet given to
them through God’s Own Son, Jesus himself. They rejected the invitation by not
listening to the Good News preached by Jesus and by not reforming their lives.
This invitation was repeatedly extended to Israel through the prophets,
including John the Baptist. But the leadership contemporary with Jesus rejected
the reality that Jesus was the fulfillment of all prophecy, refused to accept
God’s invitation to righteous living given, first through John the Baptist,
then through Jesus. At this point, they have already planned to kill God’s own
Son, Jesus. Hence, God is inviting the sinners and Gentiles to His banquet, and
that is why Jesus is keeping the company of sinners.
Life messages: 1) We need to keep wearing the
wedding garment of holiness and righteousness, the state of grace, all the
time, do good for everyone, receive God’s graces and use them with grateful
appreciation through the Church: a) We received the wedding
garment of sanctifying grace in Baptism; the other Sacraments provide
the additional graces we need to retain it. b) Our participation in the
Eucharistic celebration and in personal and family prayers helps us to recharge
our spiritual batteries and enables us to lead Spirit-filled, prayerful lives,
doing good for all. c) Jesus nourishes us in the Church through the
proclamation of word of God and through His Body and Blood offered to us as
spiritual Food and Drink in Holy Communion. 2) We need to participate in the
Eucharistic banquet with proper preparation by repenting of our sins and by
actively participating in the prayers and singing during the Holy Mass.
Participating in Holy Mass is the best preparation and greatest Source of power
for our future participation in the Heavenly banquet.
FRIDAY AUGUST
22 Memorial Queenship of the Virgin Mary: Lk 1:39-47:
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-Mother 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 Rv 12:1-2 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, for instance, “Here then, O House of David! Is it too little for
you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord Himself will
give you a sign: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call
his Name Emmanuel’” (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 Kgs 2:20), In this case, though, hearing the
petition and discovering that the real petitioner (for whom Bathsheba, not
knowing his motives, spoke), was Adonijah, 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). 2) 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.
FRIDAY AUGUST 22, WEEKDAY Mt 22:34-40:
The context: The Pharisees, who believed in both
the written Law and the oral tradition, were concerned to see how easily 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 He lives.
Jesus’ novel contribution: Jesus gave 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 Him
daily for His blessings and expressing our gratitude by obeying His
Commandments; b) by being reconciled with Him daily, confessing our sins, and
asking His forgiveness; c) by acknowledging our total dependence on Him,
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 23 Saturday: Mt 23:1-12:
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, responded sharply and clearly to Israel’s religious
leaders’ refusal to see him as the Messiah, in spite of his mighty
deeds. He pronounced eight woes against the religious leaders, called
them hypocrites and publicly humiliated them charging that they were more
concerned about self-promotion than serving others.
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/)
