20th Week: Aug 17-22:
Aug 17 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, it often possesses us, and we become the prisoners of our possessions,
violating 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 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 18 Tuesdays: Mt 19:23-30:
The context: Jesus had 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, as we are taught in Scripture (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, “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 message: 1) We need to accept God’s
invitation to generosity. Jesus’ Infinitely generous Self-gift to us has the
crucifix as “Exhibit A,” and in the Eucharist 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 He does ask us 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 19 Wednesday: St. John Eudes, Priest: 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 wil 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 20 Thursday: St. Bernard, Abbot, Doctor of the
Church:
Mt 22:1-14:
The context: The Parable of the royal
banquet is a parable about 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. It is also 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 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 was accusing the Jewish religious
and civil leaders of rejecting God’s invitation to the Heavenly Banquet given
to them through God’s Own Son, Himself. They have been rejecting God’s
invitation by not listening to the Good News preached by Jesus and by not
reforming their lives. The Lord God had repeatedly extended His invitation 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
through John the Baptist and through Jesus, and now 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, and appreciate, receive, and use God’s graces in
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.
Aug 21 Friday: St. Pius X, Pope: Mt 22:34-40:
The context: The Pharisees, who believed in both
the written Law and the oral tradition, were pleased to see how 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 God lives.
Jesus’ novel contribution: Jesus gives a
straightforward answer quoting the Law 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 God
daily for His blessings and expressing our gratitude by obeying His
Commandments and sharing His gift to us with others; b) by being reconciled
with God daily, confessing our sins, and asking His forgiveness; c) by
acknowledging our total dependence on God, 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 22 Saturday: The Queenship of Blessed Virgin
Mary:
Lk 1:26-38 — 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 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: The 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
Revelation 12 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. One example is Isaiah 7:13-14.
Life message: 1) Understanding Mary as
Queen-Mother explains 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 Kings 2:20), In this case, though, hearing the petition
and discovering that the real petitioner, was 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). So 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, of
course, that our requests are consonant with the Will of God), knowing that she
carries our petitions to her Royal Son.
