The context: Today’s Gospel tells us how Jesus healed
a woman in the synagogue who had been suffering for 18 years from what seems to
have been scoliosis or curvature of the spine. People in those days believed
that she was possessed by a spirit which drained her strength. Jesus felt
sympathy for her, called her to his side, laid his hands on her and said:
“Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” Immediately she was made straight,
and she praised God. The reaction: Instead of joining the healed woman in
praising God, the ruler of the synagogue, in his zeal for fulfilling the Law
(cf. Ex 20:8; 31:14; Lv 19:3-30), publicly scolded the people for seeking
healing on a Sabbath day, indirectly blaming Jesus as a Sabbath-breaker. Jesus
reacted promptly, accusing the ruler of hypocrisy and explaining that Sabbath
rest was meant for doing acts of charity. Jesus asked the ruler why taking out
cattle and asses for drinking water was no violation of Sabbath and releasing a
poor woman from Satan’s bond was a violation of the Sabbath ban on work. Life
messages: 1) Many of us are bowed down with the burdens and worries of our
lives. Many of us are weighed down and held captive by terrible burdens that we
carry in solitary sadness like some terrible secrets, or a paralyzing fear, or
some unconfessed great sins. 2) We are often affected by spiritual deafness
which makes us incapable of hearing God speaking to us, or by spiritual
dumbness which causes inability to proclaim our Faith in public. 3) We can also
suffer from the spiritual leprosy of sins and possession by the evil spirit of
addiction to sinful habits. 4) Jesus is ready to place a healing hand on us and
liberate us when we approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation, if needed, and
join in the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass with expectant Faith and fervent prayer.
(Fr. Tony) https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 27 Tuesday: Lk 13:18-21:
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 the
Gentiles, who were considered evil, like yeast, will enable the Church to grow.
Small beginnings with great endings: Using a pair of mini-parables, the Mustard
Seed and the Yeast, Jesus explains how the Kingdom, or Reign, 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 Jesus’
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 a large, soft, spongy dough,
ready for the oven. 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 and embracing all races of people.
Life messages: 1) We need to allow the Holy Spirit to
transform us from living our evil ways and tendencies to living a life of
holiness; from unjust and uncharitable conversation to speaking with God and
listening to Him (prayer); from gossiping about people and passing judgment on
them in our minds, and sometimes on our speech, to showing compassion for
others and supporting them with consoling, encouraging, and inspiring words and
deeds. 2) We need to act like yeast, silently influencing the lives of others
around us: Just as Christianity in the past transformed the status of women,
children, slaves, the sick, and the poor by the power of Jesus’ Gospel, so we,
as Christians in our time, have the duty to transform the lives of people
around us by leading exemplary lives through the grace of God, according to the
promptings of the Holy Spirit.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 28 Wednesday: St. Simeon & St Jude, Apostles
Lk 6:12-16: The context: Today’s Gospel
passage gives a short account of the call of the apostles and of the preaching
and healing mission of Jesus. Jesus was the first missionary, sent by his
Father with the “good news” that God his Father is a loving, merciful, and
forgiving Father who wants to save everyone through His Son, Jesus. Today’s
Gospel describes how this first missionary selected and empowered twelve future
missionaries as apostles to continue his mission. Special features: Jesus
selected very ordinary people, most of them hard-working fishermen with no
social status, learning or political influence, certain that they would be very
effective instruments in God’s hands. It was a strange mixture of people.
Matthew was a hated collector of taxes for Rome, a foreign power, while Simon
the Cananaean was a Zealot and fanatical nationalist determined to destroy
Roman rule by any means. The others were mostly professional fishermen with a
lot of good will, patience and stamina. 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) God wants to show us that a calling
for ministry, or a vocation, is an initiative of God. As Christians we have the
same mission that Jesus entrusted to his apostles. 2) We fulfill this mission
of preaching the word of God, primarily by our living out of Jesus’ teachings
and also by promoting and helping world-wide missionary activities of the
Church with prayer, moral support and financial aid. (Fr. Tony)
Oct 29 Thursday: Lk 13:31-35:
The context: Some Pharisees warned Jesus that he was
in imminent danger of arrest by Herod. They might have been either his friends
among the Pharisees or Jesus’ enemies who wanted him to leave their territory.
Jesus’ reaction: Jesus called Herod a fox – a cunning, fearful, and dangerous
animal. But with prophetic courage, Jesus was determined to do the Messianic
work entrusted to him by God his Father. Hence, Jesus sent the message to Herod
that he would continue with his preaching and healing ministry. Prophesying his
death in Jerusalem, Jesus expressed his love and longing for the Holy City of
Jerusalem, using the image of a mother hen gathering all her chicks under her
protective wings. Across the valley from the city of Jerusalem there is a
church called Dominus flevit, which means, “The Lord wept.” On the base of the
altar of that Church, there is a small mosaic showing a mother hen with her
chicks. They are under her wings for protection, some of them peering out in
the way that chicks do. “The image of being protected by wings, which occurs
often in the Old Testament, refers to God’s love and protection of his people.
It is to be found in the prophets, in the canticles of Moses (cf. Dt 32:11),
and in many Psalms” (cf. 17:8; 36:8; 57:2; 61:5; 63:8). That mosaic is the
representation of today’s Gospel text expressing God’s warm and protective
maternal love. Jesus loved Jerusalem and its inhabitants. Hence, he felt deep
sorrow at its lack of response to his message, a lack which would continue when
he preached there in the last week of his earthly life. Finally, he said to
those who had warned him, “Behold, your House is forsaken. And I tell you, you
will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord'”(Lk 13:35) – either at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm
Sunday or at his final coming as Judge and Lord of all.
Life messages: 1) As Christians we should have the
courage of our religious convictions, and the good will to practice them. 2) We
need to be aware of the dire consequences of rejecting God’s graces and the
chances He gives us every day to reform our lives. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 30 Friday: Luke 14:1-6:
The context: Since Jesus was invited to a Pharisee’s
house, and since it was the Sabbath, the food had been cooked the day before
the Sabbath (because cooking was work), and kept hot till the Sabbath. During
the meal in a Pharisees’ house Jesus felt sympathy for a man suffering from
dropsy (distension of abdomen with water, usually the result of liver and
kidney infection from recurrent attacks of malarial fever, common in Palestine)
and, after asking the lawyers and Pharisees whether it was lawful to heal on
the Sabbath, and getting silence for an answer, healed him, For the Pharisees
this was a gross violation of Sabbath law. No wonder they considered Jesus as a
reckless Sabbath-breaker for doing seven healings on Sabbath! Jesus challenged
them, asking if they would not save their son or ox on a Sabbath if the child
or the animal had an accidental fall into a well, a rhetorical question for
which the answer was yes. They remained silent. The purposes of the Sabbath:
The Sabbath was intended by God to be: 1) a day of worship and of praising and
thanking God for His goodness, providence, mercy, and blessings; 2) a day for
teaching God’s law to the children; 3) a day of rest from normal work, 4) a day
for socializing with the members of the family and neighbors and 5), a day for
doing works of charity in the community.
Life messages: 1) We need to observe Sunday as the
Lord’s Day by actively participating in the Eucharistic celebration and various
ministries in the parish, by sending the children to Sunday schools, and by
instructing them in the Catholic Faith and by socializing with the members of
our family and neighbors. 2)We are also encouraged to engage in active works of
charity in our parish and community – visiting the sick and praying for their
recovery, comforting them, and encouraging them with words and deeds and, if possible
and needed, with financial help.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Oct 31 Saturday: Lk 14:1, 7-11:
Introduction: Today’s Gospel teaches us the need for
true humility and the blessedness of generous sharing with the needy. It warns
us against all forms of pride and self-glorification. It presents humility, not
only as a virtue, but also as a means of opening our hearts, our minds, and our
hands to the poor, the needy, the disadvantaged and the marginalized people in
our society – the personal responsibility of every authentic Christian. At a
dinner party where Jesus was a guest of honor, he explained the practical benefits
of humility, connecting it with the common wisdom about dining etiquette. The
Master advised the guests to go to the lowest place instead of seeking places
of honor, so that the host might give them the place they really deserved.
Jesus’ words concerning the seating of guests at a banquet should prompt us to
honor those whom others ignore, because if we are generous and just in our
dealings with those in need, we can be confident of the Lord’s blessings. Life
Messages: 1) We need to practice humility in our personal and social life:
Humility is based on the psychological awareness that everything I have is a
gift from God and, therefore, I have no reason, on that account or any other,
to elevate myself above others. On the contrary, I must use these God-given
gifts to help others. 2) True humility requires us neither to overestimate nor
to underestimate our worth. 3) We must admit the truths that we are sinners,
that we do not know everything, and that we do not always act properly.
Nevertheless, we must also recognize that we are made in the image and likeness
of God, and that we are called to help build the kingdom of God with our
God-given gifts. 4) We are of value, not because of those gifts, but because we
are loved by God as His children and redeemed by the precious Blood of His Son,
Jesus. 5) The quality of humility that Jesus is talking about has a
sociological dimension too. For Jesus is inviting us to associate with the
so-called “lower classes” of the society — even the outcasts. Jesus invites us
to change our social patterns in such a way that we connect with and serve with
agape love the homeless, the handicapped, the elderly, and the impoverished —
the “street people” of the world. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
