June 8 Monday: Mt 5:1-12:
The context: The“Beatitudes” form the
introductory section in Mathew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. They
are the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, as the Sermon on the Mount is the
heart of the whole Gospel, or the “Compendium of Christian Doctrine.” This
sermon contains the most essential aspects of Christian behavior that we need
to live out, if we are to reach Christian perfection. In essence, the
Beatitudes both fulfill and complete the Ten Commandments.
Bombshells: In both Matthew and Luke the Beatitudes have
been called a “series of bombshells” or blinding “flashes
of lightning followed by deafening thunder of surprise and shock,” because
Jesus reverses our “natural” assumption that happiness lies in
riches, power, influence, and pleasure. We believe in personal pride: Jesus
blesses poverty of spirit. We seek pleasure: Jesus blesses those who mourn. We
see the prosperity of aggressive people: Jesus blesses the meek. We love good
food and drink: Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Thus, Jesus instructs his disciples in the paradoxical blessedness of poverty,
hunger, sorrow, and persecution. In poverty, we recognize God’s reign; in hunger,
His Providence; in sorrow, true happiness; and in persecution, true joy. In
other words, the blessed, the “happy,” on Jesus’ list
are the poor in spirit, the compassionate, the meek, the merciful, the clean of
heart, the peacemakers, and those who are willing even to be insulted and
persecuted for their following of Jesus in action.
Life messages: 1) We need to respond to the
challenge of the Beatitudes in daily life. The Beatitudes propose to us a way
of life, inviting us to identify with the poor, those who mourn, who are meek,
and who hunger and thirst after justice. 2) They challenge us to become
compassionate people, to become men and women who are pure in heart, and to
become peacemakers in our dealings with one another, in our families and in the
society at large, even when this approach to things exposes us to ridicule and
persecution. 3) Let us remember that each time we reach out to help the needy,
the sick and the oppressed, we share with them a foretaste of the promises of
the Beatitudes here and now.
Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 9 Tuesday: St. Ephrem, Deacon & Doctor of
the Church: Mt 5:13-16; (“You are the salt of the earth and light
of the world”): In the time of Jesus, salt was connected in people’s
minds with three special qualities. First, salt was connected
with purity because it was white and came from the purest of all things, the
sun and the sea. Salt was the most primitive of all offerings to the gods.
Jewish sacrifices were offered with salt. As the “salt of the earth,” the
Christian must be an example of purity, exercising absolute purity in speech,
in conduct, and even in thought. God calls His children to preserve and purify.
The Church is meant to preserve modesty (1 Tm 2:9) and morality (Eph 5:3-12),
and, so, teaches us how to live lives of honesty and integrity (Jn
8:44-47). Second, salt was the commonest of all preservatives
in the ancient world when people did not have fridges and freezers. Salt was
used to prevent the putrefaction of meat, fish, fruits, and pickles. As the “salt
of the earth,” the Christian must have a certain antiseptic influence on
life and society, defeating corruption and making it easier for others to be
good. Christians are to be a preserving influence to retard moral and spiritual
spoilage in the world. Third, salt lends flavor to food items. One of the main
functions of salt is to season food, enhancint its taste and flavor. To be the
“salt” of society also means that we are deeply concerned with our
society’s well-being. We have to preserve the cultural values and moral
principles Jesus has given us, and in this way to make a contribution to the
development of a “Culture of Life” to replace the “culture of
death” currently darkening our world. Thus, we will be adding flavor to the
common life, religious and social. In addition to seasoning and preserving
food, salt also keeps a fire burning uniformly in an oven for a longer time,
ensuring complete baking or cookin of the food. Similarly, the disciples were
to improve the tone of society (“season” it), preserve the Faith, and extend
the fire of the Spirit through their evangelization efforts.
The four roles of Christians as Christ’s light of the
world. First, a light is meant to be seen. Christians are
a lamp stand. Jesus therefore expects His followers to let God’s light be seen
by the whole world (Jn 13:35; 17:21). In addition, they must radiate and give
light. “Let your light shine before men” (Mt 5:16). By this
metaphor Jesus means that our Christianity should be visible in our ordinary
activities and interactions in the world, for example, in the way we treat a
shop assistant across the counter, in the way we order a meal in a restaurant,
in the way we treat our employees or serve our employer, in the way we play a
game, or drive or park a motor car, in the daily language we use, and in the
daily literature we read. Second, a lamp or light is a guide
to make clear the way. So then, a Christian must make the way clear to others.
That is to say, a Christian must of necessity be an example, showing the world
what Jesus would do in every situation. 3) A light can often
be a warning light. A light is often the warning which tells us to halt when
there is danger ahead. It is sometimes the Christian’s duty to bring to one’s
brother/sister a necessary warning of dangers, present or ahead. If our warnings
are given, not in anger, not in irritation, not in criticism, not in
condemnation, but in love, they may be effective. 4) Light exposes
everything hidden by darkness. (Note Jn 3:19; 1 Cor 4:5; Eph 5:8–11). Let us
pause for a moment and ask ourselves how effectively we are carrying the Light
Jesus IS as we live our daily lives, allowing that Light to shine on everyone
we encounter through our Christian living — the Light Who lovingly warms, warns
and guides us all. L/26
June 10 Wednesday: Mt 5:17-19: The context: Today’s
Gospel passage, taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, presents Jesus as giving
the highest compliments to the Mosaic Law. These words of Jesus, which Matthew
reports, touched the communities of converted Jews, helping them to overcome
the criticism of the brothers of their own race who accused them saying, “You
are unfaithful to the Law of Moses.” Ironically, Jesus himself would
be falsely condemned and crucified as a Lawbreaker. Jesus says that the Old
Testament, as the Word of God, has Divine authority and deserves total respect.
The Mosaic Law was ultimately intended to help people honor God by practicing
love. Its moral precepts are to be respected and obeyed because they are, for
the most part, specific, Divine-positive promulgations of the natural law.
ButChristians are not obliged to observe the legal and liturgical precepts of
Old Testament because they were laid down by God for a specific stage in
Salvation History.
Jesus’ teaching: In Jesus’ time, the Law was
understood differently by different groups of the Jews to be: 1) The Ten
Commandments, 2) The Pentateuch, 3) The Law and the Prophets, or 4) The oral
(Scribal) and the written Law. Jesus, and later Paul, considered the oral Law
as a heavy burden on the people and criticized it, while honoring the Mosaic
Law and the teachings of the prophets. At the time of Jesus, the Jews believed
that the Torah (Law given to Moses), was the eternal,
unchangeable, Self-Revelation of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that he did
not come to destroy the Torah but to bring it to perfection by bringing out its
inner meaning because He IS the ultimate self-Revelation of
God, the Lawgiver. That is why the Council of Trent declared that Jesus was
given to us, “not only as a Redeemer, in whom we are to trust, but also
as a Lawgiver whom we are to obey” (“De Iustificatione,” can.
21). Jesus honored the two basic principles on which the Ten Commandments were
based, namely the principle of reverence and the principle of respect. In the
first four commandments, we are asked to reverence God, reverence His Holy
Name, reverence His Holy Day, and reverence our father and mother. The next set
of commandments instructs us to respect life, the marriage bond, one’s personal
integrity and others’ good name, the legal system, another’s property and
spouse, and one’s own spouse. Jesus declares that he has come to fulfill all
Divine laws based on these principles. By “fulfilling the law,” Jesus
means fulfilling the purpose for which the Law was given: that
is, justice, or “righteousness,” as the Scriptures call it – a
word that includes a just relationship with God).
Life messages: 1) In obeying God’s laws and Church
laws, let us remember these basic principles of respect and reverence. 2) Our
obedience to the laws needs to be prompted by love of God and gratitude to God
for His blessings.
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 11 Thursday: St. Barnabas, Apostle: Mt
5:20-26:
The context: For the Scribes and the Pharisees, the
external fulfilment of the precepts of the Mosaic Law was the guarantee of a
person’s salvation. In other words, a man saved himself through the external
works of the Law. Jesus rejects this view in today’s Gospel passage, taken from
the Sermon on the Mount. For Jesus, justification or sanctification is
a grace, a free, strengthening gift from God. Man’s role
is one of cooperating with that grace by being faithful to it,
and using it as God means it to be used. Jesus then outlines new moral
standards for his disciples.
Control of anger: Anger is the rawest,
strongest, and most destructive of human emotions. Describing three stages of
anger and the punishment each deserves, Jesus advises his disciples not to get
angry in such a way that they sin.
1) Anger in the heart (“brief stage of insanity” Cicero): It
has two forms, either a), a sudden, blazing flame of anger which dies suddenly,
or b), a surge of anger which boils inside and lingers, so that the heart seeks
revenge and refuses to forgive or forget. Jesus prescribes trial and punishment
by the Village Court of Elders as its punishment.
2) Anger in speech: The use of words which are insulting (“raka“=“fool”),
or damaging to the reputation (“moros” = a person of loose morals).
Jesus says that such an angry (verbally abusive) person should be sent to the
Sanhedrin, the Jewish religion’s Supreme Court, for trial and punishment.
3) Anger in action: Sudden outbursts of uncontrollable
anger, which often result in physical assault or abuse. Jesus says that such
anger deserves hellfire as its punishment.
In short, Jesus teaches that long-lasting anger is bad,
contemptuous speech or destroying someone’s reputation is worse, and harming
another physically is the worst.
Life messages: 1) Let us try to forgive, forget,
and move toward reconciliation as soon as possible. St. Paul advises us “Be
angry [righteous anger], but do not sin” (Eph 4:26). 2)
When we keep anger in our mind, we are inviting physical illnesses like
hypertension, and mental illnesses like depression. 3) Let us relax and keep
silence when we are angry, pray for God’s strength for self-control, and then
ask Him for the grace, first to desire to forgive, and then
actually to forgive, those who have injured us Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 12 Friday: Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Mt
11:25-30: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the second most popular
Catholic devotion (the first being the Rosary). The other devotions are morning
and evening prayers, prayers before and after meals, the Angelus,
visits to the Blessed Sacrament, making the Sign of the Cross praising
the Holy Trinity, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, novenas, the Stations of the Cross,
Litanies, etc. The “Holy Hour,” the “Litany of the Sacred Heart,” “The Act of
Consecration of the Family and the Human Race to the Sacred Heart,” the “First
Friday Devotion” and the “Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus” are different
forms of this devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: The
infinite love and mercy of God is shown in many different metaphors and
symbols. First of all, his undeserved mercy is shown in the fact of the
Incarnation symbolized by the image of baby Jesus in the manger: God so loved
the world that He gave His only-begotten Son who became one of us. The early
Church expressed the love of Christ in the symbol of the Good Shepherd who laid
down his life for his sheep. The symbols of this love vary from age to age. The
Medieval Period used the symbol of the crucifix which showed the tortured body
of Jesus. In the seventeenth Century, the symbol of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
began to be used. The Sunday after Easter has been designated by Pope John Paul
II as Divine Mercy Sunday: This commemorates the lavish and undeserved love of
God for all of us.
History: The devotion to the sacred Heart is
based on the apparitions of Our Lord from 1673 to 1675 to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque,
a nun of the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial in France. In her mystical
experiences, Jesus revealed to St. Margaret Mary the great mystery of his
infinite love for us, represented by his flaming Sacred Heart. Jesus asked that
homes be consecrated to his Sacred Heart as a sign of his living presence with
us in the Church, especially through the Holy Eucharist. The Gospel passage, “They
shall look on him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:35-37) is at the
foundation of the whole tradition of devotion to the Divine Heart. The
practices of the “Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” in
the home and the consecration and dedication of the family to the Sacred Heart
were begun by Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey of the Congregation of the Sacred
Hearts of Jesus and Mary. His work was first confirmed and blessed by Pope St.
Pius X and then by every later Pope. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church, quoting Pope Pius XII’s beautiful encyclical Haurietis
Aquas (1956), states, “[Jesus] has loved us all with a human
heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for
our salvation, ‘is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of
that…love….” (no. 478).
The objectives of this devotion and the aims of
“enthronement” of the picture of the Sacred Heart in a prominent place in the
house are:
a) “Official and social recognition of the rule of
Jesus over the Christian family” (Mateo Crawley-Boevey). b) The
Enthronement is a way of life, the acceptance of Christ as King of our hearts,
as our constant Companion, as our Brother, and as our Friend, helping us and
guiding us in the small and big matters of daily life. c) The Enthronement
daily reminds each member of the family to follow in Christ’s royal way by
making reparation for sins committed and by striving to serve God and neighbor
more lovingly. d) The Enthronement gives every member of the family an occasion
daily, and perhaps, many times daily, to gaze upon the Face of Christ and to
have Christ gaze upon his/her face, thus reminding him/her that s/he is under
the protection of Jesus. e) The Enthronement is a source of special blessings
to the members of the family from the Lord. f) The essence of this devotion is
to create awareness in us of the merciful love of Christ, a love he offers to
all who come to him with Faith and the willingness to obey his teaching.
Life messages: a) An invitation for a “heart
transplant.” Our hearts become stony and insensitive through our daily
exposure, virtual or in person, to acts of cruelty, terrorism, injustice, and
impurity. Hence, God prescribes a change of heart through His prophet Ezekiel
(Ez 11:19-20) to make our hearts soft, elastic, large and sensitive:”
I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove
the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with a natural heart.”
The Sacred Heart of Jesus should be the ideal heart for this medical
procedure: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Let
us have and use the Heart of Jesus as He wishes.
b) An invitation to love. The Sacred Heart of Jesus
challenges us to love others as Jesus loved: selflessly, unconditionally and
sacrificially, and to express this love in humble and loving service done to
others.
c) An invitation to pray: First, let us pray for all
suffering from, and killed by Covid-19 and other fatal viruses. Then, let us
continue to pray for the grace of healing for those who have been the victims
of sexual abuse by the clergy, as the Church expresses its sorrow and seeks
forgiveness from these victims. Let us also pray that these victims may, in
turn, accept the grace to forgive those who have harmed and betrayed them.
Next, let us pray for the grace of courage for our bishops to be true shepherds
in caring for their flocks; in restoring restore discipline in clerical and
religious life and in ending the dissent that has undermined the Magisterium.
Finally, let us pray for the grace of perseverance, that clergy and laity alike
will keep the Faith and not lose hope in this difficult time of purification.
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 13 Saturday: Immaculate Heart of Mary, St.
Anthony of Padua, Priest, Doctor of the Church: Mt 5:33-37 Lk
2:41-51
The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a special
form of devotion to
the venerable person of Mary similar to devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus, Mary’s Immaculate Heart represents her interior life and the
beauty of her soul.
Devotion to the Heart
of Jesus is especially directed to the Divine Heart as overflowing
with love for
men, and it is an attempt to respond to this love and do reparation for the
lack of love from the part of mankind. In the devotion to the Heart of Mary, on
the other hand, what seems to attract us above all else is the love of Mary’s
Immaculate Heart for Jesus and
for God. Its
objective is to love God and Jesus better by
uniting ourselves to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues. In
this devotion, we think of love, virtues, and
sentiments of Mary’s interior life and try to put them into practice.
Scriptural basis of this devotion: It was mostly the love, humility, faith and
other virtues of the Heart of Mary that attracted early Christians to Mary the
mother of Jesus. They saw Mary’s heart in its true color at the foot of the
Cross. Simeon’s prophecy furnished this devotion with its most popular representation:
the heart pierced with a sword. St. Augustine remarks: “At the foot of
the cross, Mary cooperated with Jesus in the work of our redemption through
charity.” Another Scriptural passage in support of this devotion is
the twice-repeated saying of St. Luke given in today’s Gospel that Mary
kept all the sayings and doings of Jesus in
her heart, that she might ponder over them and live by them. A few of the
Mary’s sayings recorded in the Gospel, particularly the Magnificat,
disclose new features in Marian psychology. Elizabeth
proclaims Mary blessed because she has believed the words of the angel. The Magnificat is
also an expression of her humility. Answering
the woman in
the crowd who praised Jesus’ mother as blessed, Jesus commented “Blessed
rather are they that hear the word of God and keep it”. It is Mary’s
readiness to hear and do the will of God is what endeared her to God and caused her
to be selected as the Mother of Jesus.
Life message: Let us take Mary as our role model and practice her virtues of trusting faith, serving humility and readiness to do God’s will in our daily lives, thus becoming immaculate children of an immaculate heavenly mother.
