2nd Week: Jan 19-24
Jan 19, Monday: Mk 2:18-22:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives Jesus’
reply to the question raised, perhaps by some well-meaning Pharisees who were
disciples of John the Baptist, asking why Jesus’ disciples ate and drank and
feasted, while they (John the Baptist’s disciples), and the Pharisees in
general, fasted and prayed. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving were the three
cardinal religious practices — the “good deeds” — of Jewish religious life.
Jesus’ reply: Jesus responded to their sincere
question using three metaphors: the metaphor of the “children of the bridal
chamber,” the metaphor of patching torn clothing, and the metaphor of
wineskins. First, Jesus compared his disciples with the children of the bridal
chamber. These were the selected friends of the bride and groom who feasted in
the company of the bride and groom during a week of honeymoon. Nobody expected
them to fast. Jesus assured the questioners that his disciples would fast when
the Bridegroom (Jesus himself), was taken away from them. In other words,
fasting is necessary when we sin, and our union with Christ begins to fade, as
happens when we get addicted to evil habits and evil tendencies, leading us to
sin. As Catholic Christians, we are uniquely blessed to experience Jesus’
presence in the Eucharist. In the same way, we are to welcome both the joys of
Christian life and the crosses it offers us. But Joy is the chief
characteristic of a Christian – Joy even in tribulation. Using the comparisons
of the danger of using new, unshrunken cloth to make a patch for an old
garment, or old wineskins to store new, still-fermenting wine, Jesus told the
questioners that they must have more elastic and open minds and larger hearts
to understand and follow his new ideas which were, in many cases, different
from traditional Jewish teachings. Jesus is challenging us to be open to
radical transformation so that we may receive him and, with his grace, reflect
his love, mercy, and forgiveness to others.
Life message: 1) We need to be adjustable
Christians with open and elastic minds and hearts. The Holy Spirit, working
actively in the Church and guiding the Church’s teaching authority (the Magisterium),
enables the Church to put into practice new visions, new ideas, new
adaptations, and new ways of worship in place of old ones. So, we should have
the generosity and good will to follow the teachings of the Church. At the same
time, we need the Old Testament revelations, the New Testament teachings, and
the Sacred Tradition of the Church as main sources of our Christian Faith. ) We
need to gain spiritual strength by fasting, prayer, and penance, especially
when we separate ourselves from Christ by our sins .
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Jan 20 Tuesday: St. Fabian, Pope, Martr; St.
Sebastian Martyr: Mk2:23-28:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives us
Jesus’ teaching on the purpose of the Sabbath and on its proper observance.
This was his response to a criticism and a silly accusation made by Pharisees
against his disciples who, on a Sabbath, to satisfy their hunger, plucked ears
of grain from a field and ate the grains after removing the husks by rubbing
the grains between their palms and blowing away the chaff. The Pharisees
accused them of violating Sabbath laws by performing three items of work
forbidden on Sabbath, namely, harvesting, threshing and winnowing.
Counterarguments: According to Matthew Jesus
gives three counterarguments from Holy Scripture defending his apostles. (1)
Basic human needs, like hunger, take precedence over Divine worship and Sabbath
observance. Jesus cites from the Scripture the example of the hungry David and
his selected soldiers. They approached Ahimelech, the priest of Nob, who gave
them for food the “offering bread” which only the priests were allowed to eat
(1 Sm 21:1-6). (2) No law can stand against Divine worship. That is why the
priests were not considered as violating Sabbath laws although they did the
work of preparing two rams for sacrifice in the Temple (Nm 28:9-10). (3) God
desires that we practice mercy: Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea to tell the
accusers God’s words: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Hos 6:6).
Life messages: Like the Jewish Sabbath, the
Christian Sunday is to be 1) a day for rest and refreshment with members of the
family; 2) a day for thanksgiving and the recharging of spiritual batteries,
through participation in the Eucharistic celebration (for Catholics) and
through (a worship service for the Non-Catholics); 3) a day parents should use
for teaching religious Faith and Bible lessons to their children; 4) a day for
doing works of charity in the neighborhood and in the parish; 5) a day for
socializing with family members, neighbors, and fellow parishioners. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Jan 21 Wednesday: St. Agnes, Virgin, Martyr: Mk
3:1-6:
The context: Today’s Gospel describes a
miraculous healing done by Jesus on one Sabbath as a public violation of
Sabbath law intended to demonstrate that God’s intention for the Sabbath
was to do good and to save life rather than to do evil or to destroy
life.
The incident and the reaction: Ex 20:8 and Dt 5:12
instructed the Jews to keep the Sabbath holy. But the Scribes
and the Pharisees had so amplified God’s law on the Sabbath by misinterpreting
it and had, through man-made laws, made it almost impossible for common people
to keep perfectly. Jesus wanted to demonstrate in public the original intention
of God in declaring the Sabbath holy. For Jesus, the Sabbath was a day of rest
to be used in adoring God, learning and teaching His laws, and doing good
to/for others. Hence, Jesus took the liberty of granting healing to a man with
a withered hand in the local synagogue immediately after the worship service,
thus infuriating the scribes and the Pharisees.
Life messages: 1) Our Catholic Christian
Sabbath, that is, our Sunday, observance of participating in the Eucharistic
celebration is meant to recharge our spiritual batteries for doing good to/for
others and avoiding evil. 2) Our Sunday observance is also meant to be an
offering of our lives to God on the altar, to ask His pardon and forgiveness
for our sins, to present our needs before the Lord and to participate in the
Divine Life by Holy Communion. 3) Sunday is also a day for us to spend time
with the members of the family and to participate in the activities of our
parish and neighborhood.
Fr. Tony(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Jan 22 Thursday Mk 3:7-12:
The context: Today’s Gospel describes how both
Jews and Gentiles from Galilee and all surrounding areas gathered around Jesus
practically every day of his public ministry of preaching and healing. Jesus
preached the Good News of God’s love and demonstrated by his healing ministry
the mercy and compassion of God the Father.
Jesus’ mission was universal, attracting Jews and pagans
alike. He exercised his Divine power of healing, using his human body to
demonstrate to the people that he was both God and man. Jesus instructed the
healed ones not to publicize him as the expected Messiah because he did not
want to bring his public life to a premature end. The ordinary Jews believed
that the expected Messiah would declare himself King of the Jews after
overthrowing the Roman rule. Hence, it was dangerous to let people regard him
as the Messiah.
Life message: 1) Jesus continues to preach the Good
News and heal the sick through his Church and through us, his followers. He
welcomes our response to him and calls us to come to him through the
Sacraments, especially through our participation in the Eucharistic celebration
with trusting Faith and confident expectation. “The holy human nature
of our Lord is our only route to salvation; it is the essential means we must
use to unite ourselves to God. Thus, we can today approach our Lord by means of
the sacraments, especially and pre-eminently the Eucharist. And through the
sacraments there flows to us, from God, through the human nature of the Word, a
strength which cures those who receive the sacraments with faith (cf. St.
Thomas Aquinas, “Summa Theologiae”, III, q. 62, a. 5). (Fr. Tony)
Jan 23 Friday: St. Vincent, Deacon, Martyr (USA); St.
Marianne Cope, Virgin (USA): Mk 3:13-19:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives a
short account of the call and mission of the Apostles. Jesus is the first
missionary. He, the Only-begotten Son of the Father, was sent to this world,
and particularly to His Chosen People, to proclaim “Good News” that God, his
Father and ours, is a loving, merciful, and forgiving Father Who wants to save
everyone through His Son Jesus. Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus selects and
empowers twelve future missionaries as apostles, giving them his own mission
along with a share of his power to preach, and to heal the sick as proof of the
truth of their message. Then, Jesus sends them in pairs to the Jewish towns and
villages as heralds, to prepare the people he is going to visit in Person to
receive the Good News.
Special features: Jesus selected very ordinary
people, most of them hard-working fishermen with no social status, learning, or
political influence, because he was sure that they would be very effective
instruments in God’s hands. It was a strange mixture of people. Matthew (Levi)
was a hated tax-collector for a foreign power, while Simon the Cananaean was a
Zealot and fanatical nationalist who belonged to a militant group determined to
destroy Roman rule by any means. The others were mostly professional fishermen
with a lot of good will, patience and stamina. At first it was only their
admiration and love for Jesus that united them. Jesus selected them after a
night of prayer and gave them his own powers of healing and exorcism and his
own mission of preaching the “Kingdom of God.”
Life messages: 1) As Christians, we have the
same mission that Jesus entrusted to his apostles: to proclaim the word of God
to all the world. 2) We fulfil this mission primarily by living out Jesus’
teachings and by promoting and helping the worldwide missionary activities of
the Church with prayer, moral support, and financial aid. (Fr. Tony)
