Oct 19-24: Oct 19 Monday: St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests & Companions, Martyrs (USA):https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saints-isaac-jogu es-jean-de-brebeuf-and-companion: Lk 12:13-21: 13 One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; 17 and he thought to himself, `What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich in what matters to God.” USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm
The context: Jesus told the parable of the foolish rich man as a response to a Jew who had asked Jesus’ help in solving his dispute with his brother concerning their paternal inheritance. By relating this parable, Jesus warns us against all types of greed, because greed takes our life’s focus away from God and away from serving and loving other people. Instead, greed directs all our energy and attention to fulfilling our own self, making our wealth the basis of our security. Jesus also warns us against the temptation to place our dependence upon material things because “one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
The teaching: Through this parable Jesus points out to the audience the folly of greed and selfishness. He declares that the criterion for Heavenly bliss is not earthly wealth but how generously we share what we have with others. In the parable, God calls the rich man “fool” because 1) he has evicted God from his heart, enthroned money instead, and worshipped his wealth; 2) he has also evicted his brothers and sisters in need from his heart because there is place in it only for his wealth; 3) he 2
has filled his heart with himself and has become greedy; 4) he has forgotten that he will die one day and lose all his possessions.
Life messages: 1) We need to share our blessings with others because all these things have been loaned to us by God, and so we are accountable for their use. We need to be generous in sharing our time, our treasure, and our talents, the three elements of Christian stewardship. 2) We must learn to control our greed because it diverts our life and energies from loving God and from serving and loving Him in other people to loving ourselves alone. Our greed takes different shapes and forms. For some it may be the desire for the approval and praise of others. For others it is the uncontrolled desire for power, control or fame. For still others it takes the form of desire for excessive and sinful indulgence in eating, drinking, gambling, drugs or sexual activities. Hence, let us rely on the strength of God to free us from all forms of greed. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Oct 20 Tuesday:St. Paul of the Cross, Priest, (USA):https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-paul-of-the-cross: Lk 12:35-38: 35 “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants!”
The context: Today’s passage from Luke’s Gospel is one of three eschatological discourses in the Gospel. It gives us one of the two “Master – Servant” parables. It emphasizes the necessity for Faith and vigilant preparedness in the lives of Christ’s followers. Since a Jewish wedding feast could last a week, the servants had ample time to take their rest before the master’s return. Garments tied up about the waist 3
are an image of readiness in the Scriptures because the Jewish soldiers wore full-length garments while Roman soldiers wore kilts, which enabled them to run at full speed when they had to. Jesus wants us, his disciples, to be ready to do God’s will at every moment, reaching out to love those around us and freely offering them humble, sacrificial service.
The interpretation: In the parable, the chief characters are a master (representing the risen Jesus), and his servants (Jesus’ followers). According to the Fathers of the Church, Jesus’ words in this passage have two senses. In the narrower sense, the words refer to the Second Coming of Jesus, but in the broader sense they refer to the time of our own death, when God will call each of us to meet Him and to give Him a personal account of our life on earth. Since the precise time of either sense is unknown to us, our proper – and safest – response is constant watchfulness. Since we cannot be sure about the day of our death, we should do our present work perfectly every day, and not leave it undone, half-done, or postponed.
Life messages 1) We need to stay vigilant and ready to face the Lord through prayer. One of the traditional means for remaining alert is prayer. The most important elements in prayer are listening to God (1 Kgs 19:11-12) and talking to Him. This means we have to set aside a quiet time every day during which we can tune our ears to God’s message of love, harmony, and peace, and respond to Him. 2) We need to wait for the Lord who appears to us in different disguises every day. We must wait for the Lord in our daily lives by learning to see Jesus in the least of our brothers and sisters. In other words, we must be prepared to serve Jesus whenever, and in whatever form, Jesus appears. 3) What we discover in serving, loving, and helping other people is that God invariably comes to us through them. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Oct 21 Wednesday;Lk 12:39-48: 39 But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour.” 41 Peter said, “Lord, 4
are you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, `My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expecthim and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. 48 But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much will be required; and of him to whom men commit much, they will demand the more.” USCCB video reflections:
The context: Today’s passage from Luke’s Gospel is the second of three eschatological discourses in the Gospel. After Jesus’ exhortation to vigilance, Peter asks a question (v. 41). Responding to Peter, Jesus tells the second “Master – Servant” parable and the parable of the treasure and the thief. These stories emphasize the necessity for Faith and vigilant preparedness in the lives of Christ’s followers. Jesus wants his disciples to be ready to do God’s will at every moment, rendering humble and sacrificial service to others out of love.
The interpretation: In the parable, the chief characters are a master (representing the risen Jesus), and his servants (Jesus’ followers). Jesus’ words in this passage, understood in the narrower sense, refer to the Second Coming of Jesus. Taken in a broader sense, they refer to the time of our own death, when God will call each of us to meet Him and to give Him an account of our own life on earth. In the first part of today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us what our real treasure should be and how we are to keep it safe. That treasure is our relationship with him (the state of sanctifying grace), which the Lord offers us in his promise of eternal life. But this treasure can be stolen by the devil or lost by our lack of vigilance in the midst of temptations. Jesus warns that we should be vigilant, like dutiful servants. What Jesus teaches us through this comparison is that 5
our relationship with God the Father and Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit must constantly be strengthened and deepened by our prayers, our Sacramental life, and the reading of Holy Scripture. Fortunately, God gives us the grace and strength to remain faithful, and He will reward our faithfulness.
Life message: 1) We need to remain vigilant and ready to face the Lord, mainly through prayer (listening and talking to Him). 2) Daily prayer will help us to wait for the Lord in our daily lives and enable us to see Jesus in the least of our brothers and sisters. It will give us the Heavenly strength to serve Jesus whenever and in whatever form he appears. 3) What we frequently rediscover as we serve, love and help other people is that God comes to us through them (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Oct 22 Thursday:St. John Paul II, Pope: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-john-paul-ii : Luke 12:49-53: 49“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! 50* There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
In today’s gospel we have some apparently strange statements by Jesus: 1) “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” In Jewish thought, fire is almost always the symbol of judgment. So, then, Jesus regarded the coming of the kingdom of Heaven as a time of judgment. Additionally, Jesus asserts that his word burns things up, reduces things to cinders, and clears things out so that 6
new things can grow. The Gospel IS the Fire that gives both light and heat, warms the hearts of God’s people, and causes their hearts to burn within them. By teaching the Gospel in the power of the Spirit, Jesus cleanses the minds and hearts of those who believe in Him. “Baptism” and “fire” are used together when John declares that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (3:16b). 2) “There is a baptism with which I must be baptized.” The Greek verb baptizein (GSN0907) means to dip. In the passive it means to be submerged. Often it is used metaphorically. For instance, it is used of a ship sunk beneath the waves. That is the way in which Jesus uses it here, meaning that he must have a terrible experience through which he must pass; and his life is full of tension until he has passed through it, emerging triumphant! The cross is ever before his eyes as is his death to give a ransom for many. 3) “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” How can this be? Jesus is the prince of peace. The multitude of Heavenly hosts sang on the night of his birth, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” (Lk 2:14). The Prophet Isaiah referred to the Messiah as the “Prince of Peace” (Is 9:5). But Jesus’ coming would inevitably mean division; in point of fact it did. That was one of the great reasons why the Romans hated Christianity – it tore families in two: those who accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and others who hated Jesus and his teachings. The essence of Christianity is that loyalty to Christ has to take precedence over the dearest loyalties of this earth, and that causes division in families.
Life message: We need to have the courage of our Christian convictions in what we believe, based on the word of God in the Holy Bible as taught by the Church Jesus founded, and expressed in what what we practice.(https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison.59: I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.” 13: 1 There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? 3 I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
The central themes The first part of today’s Gospel teaches that people should try to resolve their differences before going to court because, If they didn’t, they could face humiliation, destitution, and even prison. St. Bede explains it thus: When we listen to the Word of God, our Lord will convict us of our faults so that we can reconcile our lives with the Truth of the Word of God Himself. If we listen to these convictions, then we will not have any need to stand before the Judge. But if we do not, or if we bury these convictions, or downplay them and ignore them, then we will begin to experience His judgment, and we will even be held accountable for the smallest of sins. We will be required to “pay the last penny.” The second part of today’s Gospel passage explains how God, our merciful and compassionate Father, disciplines His children, giving them painful experiences in life so that they may repent of their sins, renew their lives and produce the fruits of love, mercy, forgiveness, and service. Citing two tragic events, Jesus exhorts the Jews of his time to repent and reform their lives. Repentance is turning from sin to God.
The teaching: In the second part of today’s Gospel, Jesus uses two local tragedies to teach us about our need for repentance and a renewal of life. On one occasion, Pilate killed many Galilean Jews who had protested when he appropriated money from the Temple treasury to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem in order to obtain a better water supply for the pilgrims. Jesus then connects his warning to another episode, namely, what appears to have been an accident, related to renovation work on the control tower of the water supply scheme at Siloam, in which 8
eighteen people died. The Jews interpreted this tragedy as God’s punishment of the workers who were cooperating with Pilate in his sacrilegious aqueduct project. Jesus denies that the Galileans suffered because of their sins, but calls his listeners to repent lest they suffer for theirs. In fact, Jesus presents these two incidents as timely reminders of the need for all to repent. He says, “… unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Life Messages: 1) We need to live lives of repentance, because (a) we never know when we will meet a tragedy of our own; (b) repentance helps us in life and in death. Repentance helps us to live with peace of mind as forgiven people and helps us to face death without fear. 2) Scripture teaches that repentance results in forgiveness, renewal, and redirection, whereas failure to repent results in a guilty conscience which destroys our peace of mind and thus punishes us with a miserable life. L/26
Oct 24 Saturday:St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-anthony-mary-claret : Lk 13:1-9: 1 There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? 3 I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” 6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, `Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, `Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. 9 And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'” 9
The context: Today’s Gospel passage explains how God, our merciful and compassionate Father, disciplines His children, giving them painful experiences in life so that they may repent of their sins, renew their lives and produce the fruits of love, mercy, forgiveness, and service. Citing two tragic events, Jesus exhorts the Jews of his time to repent and reform their lives. Repentance is turning from sin to God. With the parable of the barren fig tree, he also warns them that the merciful God will not put up with them indefinitely. Although God patiently waits for sinners to repent, giving them grace to do so, He will not wait forever. Time will run out; therefore, timely repentance is necessary.
The teaching: Jesus uses two local tragedies to teach us about our need for repentance and a renewal of life. On one occasion, Pilate killed many Galilean Jews who had protested when he appropriated money from the Temple treasury to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem in order to obtain a better water supply for the pilgrims. Jesus then connects his warning to another episode, namely, what appears to have been an accident, related to renovation work on the control tower of the water supply scheme at Siloam, in which eighteen people died. The Jews interpreted this tragedy as God’s punishment of the workers who were cooperating with Pilate in his sacrilegious aqueduct project. Jesus denies that the Galileans suffered because of their sins but calls his listeners to repent lest they suffer for theirs. In fact, he presents both these incidents as timely reminders of the need for all to repent. He says, “… unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Life Messages: 1) We need to live lives of repentance, because (a) we never know when we will meet a tragedy of our own; (b) repentance helps us in life and in death. Repentance helps us to live with peace of mind as forgiven people and helps us to face death without fear. 2) Scripture says repentance results in forgiveness, renewal, and redirection, whereas failure to repent results in a guilty conscience which destroys our peace of mind and thus punishes us with a miserable life. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
O. T. 30 [A] (Oct 25, 2026) Sunday (8-minute &homily in one page)
Introduction:The central theme of today’s readings is the greatest commandment in the Bible, namely, to respond to God’s love for us by loving Him, and then to express that love in action by loving Him living in our neighbor. Our love for God is tested and put into practice by the way we love our neighbor. (A homily starter anecdote may be added here)
Scripture lessons summarized: The first reading, taken from Exodus explains the second greatest commandment, namely, loving one’s neighbors, especially the underprivileged, as one loves oneself. The chosen people of Israel should remember that once they were aliens in the land of Egypt. Just as God protected them and treated them kindly, so they are to protect others and treat them with kindness. Thus, they should become a humane society rooted in the basic religious concept of loving God living in their neighbor. In the second reading, St. Paul congratulates the Thessalonians on the positive effects of their example of loving one another as Jesus had commanded them to do. Their mutual love and their loving reception of Paul himself and their response to his preaching, he tells them, has bolstered the Faith of Christians elsewhere who have heard about them. In the Gospel today, Jesus combines the commandment to love God with the commandment to love one’s neighbor and gives the result as the one Commandment of supreme importance in Christian life. Jesus underlines the principle that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves because, as God’s children, both of us bear God’s image, and to honor God’s image is to honor Him. Love for our neighbor should not be a matter of feelings, but of deeds through which we share with others the unmerited love that God lavishes on us.
Life messages: 1) We need to love God: Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, in response to His total love for us, means that we should place God’s will ahead of ours, seek the Lord’s will in all things, and make HIS WILL, not our own, paramount in our lives. There are several means by which we can express our love for God and our gratitude to Him for His blessings, acknowledging our total dependence on Him. We need to keep God’s Commandments, and offer daily prayers of thanksgiving, praise, and petition. We also need to read and meditate on His word in the Bible and accept His invitation to join Him in the Mass and other liturgical functions. 2) We need to love our neighbor: God’s will is that we should love everyone, seeing Him in each of them. Since every human being is the child of God and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, we are giving expression to our love of God by loving our neighbor as Jesus loves him or her. This means we need to help, support, encourage, forgive, and pray for everyone – without discrimination based on color, race, religion, gender, age, wealth, or social status. Forgiveness, too, is vital. We love others by refusing to hold a grudge for a wrong done to us. Even a rebuke can be given as an act of love, if it is done with the right heart. We also express love through encouragement and by helping others to grow. We express agápe love in meeting the needs of others by using the talents and blessings God has given us to comfort each other, to teach each other, and to share the Gospel with each other, in deeds and in words.
OT 30 [A] (Oct 25, 2026): Ex 22:20-26; I Thes 1:5c-10; Mt 22:34-40
Homily starter anecdotes #1:The inspiring six-word sermon: There is a legend handed down from the early Church about John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. Of the twelve original apostles, only John lived to a ripe old age. In his later years, not only his body but also his eyesight and his mind began to fail him. Eventually, according to the legend, John’s mind had deteriorated to the point that he could only speak six words, one sentence, which he would repeat over and over. You can imagine the high regard in which the early Church must have held the last surviving apostle of Jesus. The legend says that every Lord’s Day, John would be carried into the midst of the congregation that had assembled for worship in the Church at Ephesus where John spent the last years of his life. Total silence would fall over the congregation, even though they already knew what John was going to say. Then the old man would speak the words, “My little children, love one another.” — Over and over, he would repeat them until he grew tired from talking, and no one yawned, or looked at his watch, or gazed off into space absentmindedly. They listened as John preached his six-word sermon over and over: “My little children, love one another.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
#2: “Christians love one another.” In the second century AD, a non-Christian named Aristides wrote to the Emperor Hadrian about the Christians. He said, “Christians love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If one of them has something, he gives freely to those who have nothing. If they see a stranger, Christians take him home and are as happy as though he were a real brother. They don’t consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers through the Spirit, in God. And if they hear that one of them is in jail or persecuted for professing the name of their Redeemer, they give him all he needs. This is really a new kind of person. There is something Divine in them.” — No wonder the non-Christians of the first century used to tell one another, “See how these Christians love one another.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
#3: Love them anyway: In Calcutta, India, there is a children’s home named Shishu Bhavan (Children’s Home), founded by Mother Teresa. The home continues to be operated by her community, the Missionaries of Charity. On the wall of the home hangs a sign which reads: People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. LOVE THEM ANYWAY. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. DO GOOD ANYWAY. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. SUCCEED ANYWAY. The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow. DO GOOD ANYWAY. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY. What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight. BUILD ANYWAY. People really need help but may attack you if you help them. HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU’VE GOT ANYWAY. Mother Teresa counsels her young charges that the challenges offered by this sign can be met only if human beings are motivated by a love and a respect for one another which looks beyond faults, differences, ulterior motives, success, and failure. Mother Teresa once said of herself, “By blood and origin, I am all Albanian. My citizenship is Indian. I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the whole world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus.” (A Simple Path, Ballantine Books, New York: 1995). — This is this relationship of belonging and the loving service which grows out of that belonging which the Scriptural authors called Covenant. (Patricia Datchuck Sánchez) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
Introduction:The central theme of today’s readings is the greatest Commandment in the Bible, namely, to respond to God’s Infinite Love for us by loving Him back, and to express that love in action by loving Him in our neighbor. The first reading, taken from Exodus, explains the different expressions of the love of one’s neighbor, especially of the underprivileged. Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 18) is our hymn of loving trust in God Who loves us and gives us everything so that we can give it all back to Him in loving His children. The Psalmist sings, “I love You. O Lord, my Strength, O Lord, my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer!” In the second reading, St. Paul praises the Thessalonian Christians for the heroic witness they have borne to Jesus Christ by receiving the Gospel Paul has brought to them with loving eagerness resulting in their model practice of mutual love. In today’s Gospel, Jesus combines the commandment to love God with the commandment to love one’s neighbor and gives the result as the one Commandment of supreme importance in Christian life.
First reading (Ex 22:20-26) explained: The passage from Exodus was chosen for today in order to prepare us for today’s Gospel, in which Jesus sums up the Law of God in a formula of loving God and loving others. The Exodus passage is part of a long narrative, (Exodus, chapters 19-24), in which the Hebrews, liberated from Egypt, were in the desert of Sinai. God announced His desire to enter a Covenant with the people. Moses was the mediator. God manifested Himself in terrifying thunder, lightning, and clouds. God gave the terms of the Covenant in various paragraphs, on several occasions. The people assented to the terms. The paragraphs elaborated the commandments in great detail, including ritual prescriptions and much more. Today’s first reading, taken from a section of Exodus which dealt with the laws of social conduct, especially the social ethics based, not on justice, but on a compassion like God’s, resulting from the love they are to have for their underprivileged fellow-human beings. The Law of Moses civilized the Jews, instilling in them the idea that it was wrong to oppress an alien or take advantage of the poor — things they themselves had suffered — because their God cared for widows and orphans and wanted them to do the same. The result was that the ancient Jews began to build an excellent, humane society rooted in the basic religious concept that loving God necessarily involves loving one’s neighbor.
The second reading (I Thes 1:5c-10) explained:First Thessalonians is the earliest letter we have from Saint Paul. The first century AD Thessalonians lived and served in a mostly pagan city with an enthusiasm so contagious as to attract others to the Church. Here Paul congratulates his community on the positive effects of their example of loving one another as Jesus has commanded them to do. They have received the Gospel with ready Faith, he tells them, and they have withstood persecution with joy. Those actions, particularly their loving response to Paul himself, their ready belief in Jesus, and their generous living out of that Faith, have bolstered the Faith of Christians elsewhere who have heard about them. Paul and these earliest Christians believed that Jesus would come again very soon. Their conviction was that God would soon bring history to its end with the return of Jesus in glory. [This expectation faded over the years during which the New Testament Scriptures were composed].
Gospel exegesis:The context: A Pharisee, who believed in both the written Law and the oral tradition, seeing how Jesus had defeated the Sadducee who had tried to humiliate Him with the hypothetical case of a woman who married seven husbands, asked Jesus to summarize the most important of the Mosaic Laws in one sentence. This was a challenge because, in the Judaism of Jesus’ day, there was a double tendency to expand the Mosaic Law into hundreds of rules and regulations and to condense the 613 precepts of the Torah into a single sentence or few sentences. [The Pharisees themselves identified 613 commandments in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Two hundred forty-eight were positive (“thou shalt”) and three hundred sixty-five were negative (“thou shalt not”). Summarizing the Law, King David proposed eleven (Ps 15), Isaiah six (33:15), Micah three (6:8), and Amos only one (5:4). From the Commandments that deal with “loving our neighbor,” the Jewish scholars of the law produced 14 particular commandments about business practices, 19 about employees, servants, and slaves, 36 about courts and judicial procedure, eleven about property rights, seven about criminal law, and 24 about punishment and restitution. Yet that doesn’t exhaust the commands to “love our neighbor”! When one turns to “loving God,” the lists of commandments include 33 about the Temple and sacred objects, 46 about idolatry, and 102 about sacrifices and offerings! With 613 commandments, it was easy for the average Jew to lose focus. Jesus wanted to bring a focus to God’s command to love Him first and foremost.]
Jesus’ answer teaches us that the most important commandment is to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, in Himself and in all His children, our neighbors. In other words, we are to love God and express our love by loving our neighbor because God lives in him or her. Some Bible scholars think that the original question was a trap because the Pharisees believed that all of the 613 commands (mitzot) in the Torah were equally important and necessary to obey. Therefore, they were trying to corner Jesus into showing either ignorance about the Law, or disrespect for parts of it by choosing one command over the others. Jesus’ contribution: Jesus gave the Pharisee a straightforward answer, quoting directly from the Law itself, startling his listeners with his profound simplicity and mastery of the Law of God and its purpose. Jesus’ answer was very orthodox, and very traditional. [“The summary of the law is not original with Jesus. Its two parts represent a combination of Dt 6:5 and Lev 19:18. Nor is the combination itself original to Jesus, for it is found in at least one earlier Jewish work, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, an amalgam of wisdom and apocalyptic materials.” Reginald H. Fuller]. Jesus cited the first sentence of the Jewish Shema prayer: … “Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Dt 6:5). Then Jesus added its complementary law: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lv 19:18). Finally, Jesus declared that the “whole Law and the prophets” depended on the commands to love God “with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind” and to love “your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus combined the originally separate commandments and presented them as the essence of true religion. The uniqueness of Jesus’ response consisted in understanding that the two laws had equal value and so had to be of equal importance because they were interdependent. We are to love our neighbor and our own self as a way to love God: God gives us our neighbors and commands us to love them, and so we obey; His purpose is that in obeying, we learn to love Him better. God contacts us daily through our neighbors. Thus, Jesus proclaims that true religion loves God both directly and as living in our neighbor. Biblical love of God is responsive gratitude for, and remembrance of, what God has done for us, rather than an independent project we undertake for God. [“Without the love of neighbor, the love of God remains a barren emotion; and without the love of God, love of neighbor is but a refined form of self-love.” Reginald H. Catechism of the Catholic Church on the greatest commandment (CCC #2083, #2196): Love of God means putting Him first, respecting His Name, and keeping His Day [the Sabbath; Sunday for us] Holy. To love God means a dedication of one’s entire person to His will, placing Him first in one’s mind and one’s heart, speaking respectfully about Him, and keeping His Day as one of prayer and true recreation, a day to keep His Law. Love of God transforms lives every waking moment of every day. Love of neighbor means respect for others, their relationships, their reputations, and their property. Dt 6:5 and Lv 19:18 indicate love in action. Loving our neighbor as ourselves means looking at and treating others with the respect God gives them. This love begins at home with one’s parents. It then extends to others beyond our family and friends to strangers, especially to the poor, the sick, and the sinful. Love of neighbor knows no national borders, class distinctions or barriers of any kind, because God knows no such impediments. To love our neighbor: The English writer G. K. Chesterton once observed, “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people!” Jesus underlines the principle that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves because both of us bear God’s image, and to honor God’s image is to honor Him. The love of God has priority and is our source of love for our neighbor. In our neighbor we see something of God, His creature, His image and likeness, and His adopted child. If we love God, then, we must also love His image, the work of His hands. God makes daily contact with us through the people around us. Love for our neighbor is a matter, not of feelings, but of deeds by which we share with others the unmerited love that God lavishes on us. This is the love for neighbor that God commands in His law. Since the Jews considered only their fellow-Jews as neighbors, Jesus challenged them, using the parable of the Good Samaritan, as reported in Luke’s Gospel, to show them what God means by “neighbor.”
Life messages: 1) We need to love God: Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength as our response to His Love for us means that we should place God’s will ahead of ours, seek the Lord’s will in all things, and make it paramount in our lives. There are several means by which we can express our love for God and our gratitude to Him for His blessings, acknowledging our total dependence on Him. We need to keep God’s commandments, and offer daily prayers of thanksgiving, praise, and petition. We also need to read and meditate on His word in the Bible and accept His invitation to join Him in the Mass and other liturgical functions when we can. 2) We need to love our neighbor: God’s will is that we should love everyone, seeing Him in our neighbor. Since every human being is the child of God and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, we are actually giving expression to our love of God by loving our neighbor as Jesus loves him or her. This means we need to help, support, encourage, forgive, and pray for everyone without any discrimination based on color, race, gender, age, wealth, personal attractiveness, or social status. Forgiveness, too, is vital. We love others by refusing to hold a grudge for a wrong done to us. Even a rebuke can be an act of love, if it is done with the right heart. We also express love through encouragement and by helping each other to grow. We express agápe love, seeking the true good of another, by meeting a need that God has given us the power to meet, by comforting each other, by teaching each other, and by sharing the Gospel in deeds and in words. We express our love for our neighbor by waiting upon the aged, nursing the sick, patching up quarrels, and listening to the broken-hearted. In short, loving our neighbor is feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, meeting the basic needs of the poor, helping the unemployed, educating the young, and taking care of the old. Jokes of the week #1: Spousal love: One Sunday the pastor was finishing up a series on marriage. At the end of the service he was giving out small wooden crosses to each married couple. He said, “Place this cross in the room in which you fight the most and you will be reminded of God’s commandment of love and you won’t argue as much.” One woman came up after the service and said, “You’d better give me five crosses.” #2: “How much would you give me not to love my big sister?” A pastor was speaking to a Sunday school class about the things money can’t buy. “It can’t buy laughter and it can’t buy love,” he told them. Driving his point home, he said, “What would you do if I of ered you $1000 not to love your mother and father?” Stunned silence ensued. Finally, a small voice queried, “How much would you give me not to love my big sister?” #3: “I’m tired of you too.” An old couple was sitting by the fireside. He looked over at her, had a romantic thought, and said, “After fifty years, I’ve found you tried and true.” The wife’s hearing wasn’t very good, so she said, “What?”He repeated, “After fifty years, I’ve found you tried and true.” “After fifty years, I’m tired of you too,” she replied.
USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK: (The easier method to visit these websites is to copy and pastethe web address or URL on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard or the easiest method is to click on the URL (webpage) in the attachment or emailed text.
1) “Yes,” said God, “but not in My lifetime.” You may not know it, but years ago Nikita Khrushchev, John F. Kennedy, and Golda Meir had a summit meeting with God. Each of them was allowed to ask one question. “God,” asked Nikita Khrushchev, “Do You think the U.S. and Russia will ever have peace?” “Yes” God answered, “but not in your lifetime.” Then Kennedy spoke. “God, do You think there will be peace between blacks and whites in our land and around the world?” “Yes,” God answered, “but not in your lifetime.” Then it was the Israeli leader’s turn. “God,” she asked, “do You think there will ever be peace between the Jews and the Arabs?” “Yes,” God answered, “but not in My Lifetime!” Do you get the feeling, sometimes, that if there is a third World War, it will not be over politics or over economics? Rather, it will be over religion as it was in the Middle Ages, when much of the killing and torture and hatred in this world was done in the name of religion. Today’s Gospel describes a confrontation between Jesus and the religious fanatics of his day. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HOLY WAR. The two words are a contradiction in terms. Love of God and love for neighbor are oars of the same boat. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) “How can you say you love me?” Hasidic Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of the Ukraine was fond of saying that he had learned the true meaning of love from a drunken peasant. While visiting the owner of a tavern in the Polish countryside, the rabbi overheard the conversation of two men seated at a nearby table. Both had had a fair amount to drink and both were feeling quite mellow. With their arms around one another, they were professing how much each loved the other. Suddenly, the older of the two, Ivan, looked at his friend and asked, “Peter, tell me, what hurts me?” Bleary-eyed but slightly sobered by such a question, Peter looked at Ivan and answered with a question of his own: “How do I know what hurts you?” Ivan’s response came quickly. — “If you don’t know what hurts me, how can you say you love me?” In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches us that the most important commandment is to love God living in others. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) Love God living in your neighbor: In the most striking finding, Dr. Harold Koenig of Duke University Medical Center has calculated that, with regard to any mainstream Faith, “lack of religious involvement has an ef ect on mortality that is equivalent to 40 years of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day.’” Further, “Another new study, conducted mainly by researchers at the University of Texas, found that those who regularly attended worship services lived an average of seven years longer than those who never attended.” (The New Republic (July 19 & 26, 19990; cited at tim@cybersalt.org (Tim Davis).) — What can I say? Listening to me each week is good for you! A healthy bank account and a healthy body will take you a long way in our society. And if you have both, you are blessed indeed. But neither will bring you any comfort if your own children hate you. Neither will suffice for companionship if your neighbors avoid you. There are plenty of lonely, rich, old people in this world who would give anything to be loved. YOU AND I WERE CREATED FOR RELATIONSHIPS! It is built into every fiber of our being. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) “Did you ask a good question today?” Isidor Isaac Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and one of the developers of the atomic bomb, was once asked how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn’t so much interested in what he had learned that day, but how he conducted himself in his studies. She always inquired, “Did you ask a good question today?” “Asking good questions,” Rabi said, “made me become a scientist.” — In order to ask a good question, I think you need to have noble motives behind the question. You have to want to know the truth. The Pharisees, by contrast, already had the answers to their questions. They felt they already knew the truth. The Pharisees come to Jesus once again with a question designed to do damage to his reputation. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) “I am not much of a judge of religion.” In our nation’s archives there is an account of two ladies from Tennessee who came before President Abraham Lincoln at the conclusion of the Civil War. They were asking for the release of their husbands, held as prisoners of war at Johnson’s Island. Lincoln put them off until Friday, when they came again. Again, the President put them off until Saturday. At each of the interviews one of the ladies stressed to Lincoln that her husband was a religious man. After the Saturday interview the President ordered the release of the prisoners. Then he turned to this lady and said, “You say your husband is a religious man. Tell him when you meet him, that I say I am not much of a judge of religion. In my opinion, however, the religion that sets men to rebel and fight against their government is not the sort of religion upon which people can get to Heaven!” — I think Abe was a pretty good judge of religion. Any religion that tells me that I can hate or exploit or mistreat any person regardless of their race, nationality or religion is not the kind of religion upon which people can get into Heaven. Love for God, love for neighbor. They must forever be one (Gerard Fuller in Stories for all Seasons). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) “You’re still you, and I love you.” Actor Christopher Reeves had everything–wealth, fame, fabulous health. He was one of the most handsome, physically fit men in Hollywood. Then he fell from a horse. And suddenly he was a quadriplegic. When he awoke from his accident, his first thought was that maybe he should go ahead and die. But one thing stopped him and gave him the will to live. His wife, Dana, spoke to him firmly, yet gently. “I am only going to say this once,” she said. “I will support whatever you want to do, because this is your life and your decision. But I want you to know that I’ll be with you for the long haul, no matter what. You’re still you, and I love you.” Those words gave Christopher Reeves the strength to go on. [Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Mark & Chrissy Donnelly, and Barbara DeAngelis, Ph.D. Chicken Soup for the Couple’s Soul (Deerfield Beach, FL.: Health Communications, Inc., 1999), pp. 104-105.] — There are times in life when all of us wonder where we will find the strength to go on. Maybe it will come from a spouse, or our offspring, or a friend. Other people are a great source of consolation and comfort. But there will come a time when all of us will have to lean on our ultimate Friend, God. There will be no one else who can help. And why shouldn’t we turn to God? This is that for which He created us –relationships. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) “No longer was Jesus only the handsome man.” One day Ron was serving a hot meal at a soup kitchen. They were serving chili with two pieces of buttered bread on that particular day. A man came through the line who looked even more scruffy and broken than the others. Ron was overwhelmed by his stench. “Like the pull of a magnet,” Ron recalls, “my gaze went to the dirt and dried blood on his hands.” Before he realized what was happening, the man clasped Ron’s hand in both of his. “Brother,” said the scruffy man, “I love you. Thanks for being here.” “I’m glad you came,” Ron replied after swallowing hard. Ron tried to smile as the man shuffled over to one of the tables with his meal. The next man stepped up. As Ron handed him a bowl of chili, a little of the chili spilled on Ron’s hand. Without thinking he licked it off. Then it hit him. That was the hand the other man had just clasped! Ron momentarily froze, repelled to think that he had licked something that smelly, dirty man had just touched. It was a moment of revelation for Ron. “The light of awareness changed my vision, and my heart warmed with new understanding,” Ron says. “No longer was Jesus only the handsome man I had pictured in my mind and seen in paintings,” he continued. “Now he had a scarred, stubbled face and fingers stained yellow; he was dirty, he smelled bad, and he wore cast-of clothes. I had just served him chili and bread.” [Ron DelBene, From the Heart (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1991), pp. 32-33.] — There’s a reason we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. When we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbors as ourselves, we experience the risen Christ. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) “He is going to get his hand blown of .” Charles L. Allen, in God’s Psychiatry, tells about a scene from Amos and Andy. “There was a big man who would slap Andy across the chest whenever they met. Finally, Andy got enough of it and said to Amos, ‘I’m fixed for him. I put a stick of dynamite in my vest pocket, and the next time he slaps me, he is going to get his hand blown of .’ — Andy had not reasoned that at the same time he would get his heart blown out.” — When we refuse to love our neighbor, we blow out our own heart. It all goes together. The brotherhood of people can become a reality only when we have the fatherhood of God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) Self-hate leading to suicide: In an average year in the United States, 22,000 people kill themselves, and 100,000 more try. The real cause for such attempts, say the psychiatrists, is a sense of guilt and a desire to punish oneself. G. K. Chesterton says the great lesson of “beauty and the beast” is that a thing must be loved before it is loveable.” — If we are God’s creation, and if we are created like God because He loves us, we must think well of ourselves. We are well-made, we are God’s handiwork, and we are created like our Creator. There is an important message here: we are to love ourselves! In a day when self-worth is low, in a time when so much introspection is encouraged, and when human nature is looked at with suspicion, we need to say boldly, “We are God-made!” And let’s remember, God makes us well. It would be blasphemy to hate ourselves, since God is our Creator. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) “That was John D. Rockefeller, Sr.” The story is told of an East Coast fishing village that was nearly destitute. The townspeople decided to hold a meeting in an attempt to resolve their complicated problems. A stranger showed up to the meeting, and he tried several times to speak. But there was a bit of community prejudice in that town, and the visitor was interrupted each time he opened his mouth. The locals didn’t care for an outsider to become involved. A latecomer to the meeting showed up just as the visitor was leaving, and they passed each other in the entrance. The latecomer asked, “What was he doing here? Did he of er help? Is he going to aid us?” Not knowing what to make of this, the members of the assembly asked if he knew who the stranger was. The latecomer replied, “I saw his boat docked in the harbor. That was John D. Rockefeller, Sr.!” — They ignored the one person who had the resources to help them. How often God comes to us, but we do not recognize Him or receive Him! (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11) That’s loving God. An old Russian woman lay on a sofa. Multiple sclerosis had twisted her body almost beyond recognition. The simplest tasks had become almost impossible for her. Corrie Ten Boom visited her at night, using the cover of darkness to escape detection by the Lithuanian authorities. Corrie kissed the woman’s wrinkled cheek. The old woman could respond only by rolling her eyes and smiling because the atrophied muscles in her neck would no longer allow her to move her head. The only part of her body she could still control was her right hand. With her gnarled knuckles she stroked Corrie’s face. Corrie reached up to take her hand, and kissed her index finger–for a special reason. The routine was the same every morning as the old lady’s husband propped her into a sitting position on the sofa. A battered old typewriter was placed on a little table in front of her. Every day the old woman would begin to type. She could only use that one index finger to peck out the letters. This woman served God by translating Christian books into Russian. It was slow going–sometimes only typing a page or two a day but this was her way of loving God. She typed portions of the Bible as well as some of the books of Billy Graham and other Christian witnesses. The woman’s attitude was extraordinary. She saw her sickness as a prerequisite, not a detriment, for the work she did. Every other Christian in the city was watched by the secret police. But because she had been sick for so long the police took no interest in her, and she could work undetected, spreading the Good News of Jesus to a people who were starving for good news. “Not only does she translate these books,” her husband told Corrie, “but she prays while she types. Sometimes it takes a long time for her finger to hit the key, or for her to get the paper in the machine, but all the time she is praying for those whose books she is working on.” [Annie Chapman, Smart Women Keep It Simple (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1992), pp. 151-152.] — That’s loving God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) “Don’t be foolish! You were my guest.” There is a Jewish story about a Mr. Kleinman who finds himself alone in a strange town on the Sabbath. He goes to the local synagogue. After services, a Mr. Putterman comes over and invites Mr. Kleinman to be his guest for the evening. They go to Mr. Putterman’s home. Mr. Kleinman takes a beautiful hot bath with scented soap, and dries himself with fluffy towels. They have a delicious meal. Afterwards Mr. Kleinman falls asleep on a comfy bed with fresh sheets. In short, for the entire Sabbath the Puttermans treat Mr. Kleinman like royalty. Now, it’s time to go. Mr. Kleinman says, “This was a delightful Sabbath. Thank you so much. What can I do to repay you?” And Mr. Putterman presents Mr. Kleinman a bit of paper on which is written: “Warm bath, six dollars. Two cakes of soap, four dollars. Clean towels, three dollars. Full dinner, twenty dollars. Overnight lodging, forty dollars. Fresh sheets, three dollars. Total: Seventy-six dollars.” “You’re charging me?” asks the incredulous Mr. Kleinman. “Certainly,” replies Putterman. “But you invited me!” Kleinman protests. ” I was your guest! I’ve never heard of such a thing! This is outrageous!” “Nevertheless, if you could just settle up,” says Putterman. “I will do no such thing!” Kleinman responds. “All right,” sighs Mr. Putterman. “Let’s not argue. Let’s take this case to the rabbi and let him decide.” “That suits me fine,” says Kleinman and off they went to the local rabbi. In the Rabbi’s study Kleinman lays out his case. The rabbi listens and strokes his beard. When Kleinman finishes he asks Putterman, “Do you have anything to add?” “No,” says Putterman, “It happened exactly as Mr. Kleinman described.” “In that case,” says the rabbi, “based on numerous Talmudic precedents and on similar cases found in the Reposa, it is my decision that Mr. Kleinman should pay Mr. Putterman.” Kleinman is dumbfounded. Still a rabbi had heard, a rabbi had considered, and a rabbi had reached a decision. The two men thanked the rabbi and left. Outside, Mr. Kleinman begins counting out his money. “What are you doing?” asks Putterman. “I’m going to pay you,” says Kleinman. “Don’t be foolish,” says Putterman. “You were my guest. I was honored to have you spend the Sabbath with me. I hope you’ll come again.” “But you gave me a bill,” says the confused Kleinman. “We had a dispute; a decision was rendered.” “Oh, that!” says Putterman. “I just wanted you to see what kind of schmuck we have for a rabbi.” (The Jewish Humor List, 5, pp. 140-41) — The lawyer who came to Jesus probably didn’t really want to know Jesus’ views on the great Commandment. He simply wanted to show him up as as a fraud. Imagine how surprised the lawyer was when Jesus answered his question in such a way that Jesus’ authority could not be denied. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) “That’s how God works.” There is a story about a young woman who was in great distress because she had lost a sense of God in her life. She complained to her elderly grandmother, “Why doesn’t God let me feel His presence? If only I could feel Him and know that He has touched me.” Her grandmother said, “Pray to God, right now. Close your eyes and pray to him. Ask Him to put out his hand and touch you.” The girl closed her eyes and prayed fervently. Then she felt a hand on her hand. “He touched me. He touched me,” she cried out. Then she said, “You know, his hand felt just like your hand.” “Of course! It was my hand,” her grandmother said. “That’s how God works. He takes the hand that is nearest and uses that.” (Fr. Pellegrino) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) “The fire, Lord, not the scrap heap”: Arthur Godfrey, the radio and early TV star, used to keep a sign that read: ‘”The fire, Lord, not the scrap heap.” He said the sign reminded him of a story about a blacksmith who suffered much illness but still maintained a strong Faith in God. When an unbeliever asked the blacksmith how he could keep trusting God in spite of his illness, he replied: “When I make a tool, I take a piece of iron and put it into the fire. Then I strike it on the anvil to see if it can take temper. If it does, I can make a useful article out of it. If not, I toss it on the scrap heap.” — When we suffer because of love, we can rejoice because we know that God is using us (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
15) “You must be related to Him!” Just before Christmas, there was a boy who was wandering through a shopping complex. He was admiring the colorful display of the Christmas gifts. A lady closely watched him moving from one shop to another. Realizing the poverty of the boy, she took him inside the shop and showed him the Christmas tree and explained the meaning of Christmas. “God loves us,” she said, “And to save us from our sins. He was born in a manager as little baby.” Then she bought him a set of new clothes and a pair of shoes, along with some Christmas gifts and a candy and some refreshments. The little boy was thrilled. As she led him out of the shop, he looked at her and asked her, “Are you God?” “No,” she replied, “I am only one of His children.”– “Ah!” said the boy, “I knew that somehow you were related to Him.” (John Rose in John’s Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) “I have broken the commandment of men…” In the time of the desert monks, there was an abbot by the name of Moses who had a great reputation for holiness. Easter was approaching, so the monks met and decided to fast the entire length of Holy Week. Having come to this decision, each monk went off to his cell to fast and pray. However, about the middle of the week, two wandering monks came to visit the cell of Abbot Moses. Seeing that they were starving, he cooked a little vegetable stew for them. To make them feel at ease he took a little of it himself. Meanwhile the other monks had seen the smoke rising from the abbot’s cell. It could mean only one thing –he had lit a fire to cook some food. In other words, he had broken the solemn fast. They were shocked. And in the eyes of many of them, he fell from his pinnacle of sanctity. In a body they went over to confront him. Seeing judgment in their eyes, he asked, “What crime have I committed that makes you look at me like this?” “You’ve broken the solemn fast,” they answered. “So I have,” he replied. “I have broken the commandment of men, but in sharing my food with these brothers of ours, I have kept the Commandment of God, that we should love one another.” — On hearing this, the monks grew silent, and went away, humbled and wiser. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) ”Greater love than this…”There was an article written in Time magazine years ago, about an airplane suddenly crashing into the sea. The writer claimed that it was one of America’s worst tragedies because of the large number of lives that were lost. It was also America’s hour of heroism. Immediately on hearing of the crash, several rescue operations were set into motion, and the rescue workers saved many survivors. There were several heroes who distinguished themselves that day by their life-saving action. The first heroes were the rescue workers, and when they were later interviewed on TV, they were asked one question: “Why did you risk your life?” They said that it was their job, and they were expected to do. These rescue workers perhaps symbolize people who will do things if it is their job. “If it is not my job then I will not lift a finger to help.” The second hero was one of the passengers, who was rescued and was being taken to the lifeboats. He noticed a lady drowning, dived into the waters, and pulled her to the safety of the lifeboat. When asked later why he had risked his life he replied: “She called out to me and asked for help so I had to help.” The hero could perhaps represent people who will do things if they are asked. “If you want my help, ask for it!” The third hero was also one of the passengers of the ill-fated plane. After the tragedy struck, he found himself floating among the debris. Fortunately, one of the rescue helicopters noticed him and lowered a halter, which he grabbed and held on to. He could easily have saved himself but he saw a young lady drowning and he quickly put the halter around her and the helicopter was able to rescue her. Soon the helicopter came again and once again the man grabbed the lifeline. Instead of helping himself, he looked around and noticed another old lady struggling and got the halter around her and she was rescued. Six times the man had a chance to save himself but six times he gave the lifeline to another, who, he felt, had a greater need. The seventh time when the helicopter came to the spot where the man had been floating, he was gone! — History will never know who exactly this heroic passenger was, but he symbolized what Christ meant when he said: “Greater love than this no man has, than that he lays down his life for a friend!” (Quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
18) Film: Father Damien: The Leper Priest: Father Damien: The Leper Priest is a movie made for television. The program dramatizes the story of Fr. Damien who came from Belgium to the Hawaiian island of Molokai in 1873 to serve the lepers there until he, too, contracted leprosy and died in 1889. At that time in history, the colony of Molokai was a dumping ground for lepers and it was like a death sentence to be put there. There was little law and order, medical help and supplies were non-existent, and housing and sanitation were so bad that the island seemed like a sewer. At first Fr. Damien found the lepers repulsive. But as he suffered with them, struggled with them, he overcame his revulsion towards the lepers, developed deep feelings of love for them in serving them, and finally became a leper himself, sharing their living and their dying. — Fr. Damien dedicated almost two decades of his life to the lepers because he believed that, in doing so, he was demonstrating both his love for God and for his neighbour. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
19) On Hospitality: A man attending a crowded Church service refused to take his hat off when asked to do so by the ushers. The preacher was perturbed too, and after the service told the man that the Church was quite happy to have him as guest, and invited him to join the Church, but he explained the traditional decorum regarding men’s hats and said, “I hope you will confirm to that practice in the future.” “Thank you,” said the man. “And thank you for taking time to talk to me. It was good of you to ask me to join the congregation. In fact, I joined it three years ago and have been coming regularly ever since, but today is the first day anyone ever paid attention to me. After being an unknown for three years, today, by simply keeping on my hat, I had the pleasure of talking to the ushers. And now I have a conversation with you, who have always appeared too busy to talk to me before!” –- What do we do to make strangers welcome? Are we so busy that we have no time to keep the greatest commandment? (Anonymous; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
20) Topping the List: There is an immortal poem written by an English poet, Leigh Hunt about a man named Abou Ben Adhem. Abou Ben Adhem woke from his sleep one night and saw in his room an angel writing in a book of gold the names of those who love God. “Is my name one of those in your book?” inquired Abou. “No, Not so,” replied the angel. “I pray you, then,” said Abou, “Write me as one who loves his fellowmen.” — The following day the angel came again and displayed the names of those who love God, and Abou Ben Adhem’s name topped the list. — This poem makes the point that true love of God and true love of our fellowmen are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist apart from the other. That is what we find in today’s Gospel. (John Pichappilly in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
21) Savior Heroes: Years ago, there was a movie called Little Lord Fauntleroy. It was about a seven-year-old boy who went to live with his grandfather, a wealthy man who had many people working under him. The old man was basically selfish and mean. But the little boy idolized him so much that he couldn’t see this. He thought his grandfather was generous and kind. Over and over he would say to him, “Grandfather! How people must love you! I’ll bet they love you almost as much as I do.” The little boy’s love gradually softened the old man’s heart, and he became the kind of person his grandson thought him to be. — This story is like a parable of Jesus. It shows how God’s love for us can change us and give us the power to become the kind of loving people He sees we can be. -Arthur Godfrey, the early TV star, used to keep a sign that read: “The fire, Lord, not the scrap heap.” He said the sign reminded him of a story about a blacksmith who suffered much illness but still maintained a strong faith in God. When an unbeliever asked the blacksmith how he could keep trusting God in spite of his illness, he replied: “When I make a tool, I take a piece of iron and put it into the fire. Then I strike it on the anvil to see if it can take temper. If it does, I can make a useful article out of it. If not, I toss it on the scrap heap.” When we suffer because of love, we can rejoice because we know that God is using us. (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
22) Neighbor and self: God’s way of saying thank you? Bill was the head of an engraving firm in New York City. He and his wife, Billie, wanted very much to have a family. Several years after their marriage, when it seemed as though God intended them to be childless, they adopted a baby boy. After a while they decided that they should adopt a girl, too. Among those available for adoption, there was one sweet child who had a cardiac disorder. Because of the ailment, the physician who examined the little girl advised against taking her. To the doctor’s amazement, Bill disagreed. “No,” he said, “we’ll adopt her anyhow. A daughter of ours might have been born with the same condition.” After sixteen years of marriage, Bill and Billie welcomed a third child into their family circle. This baby was their own flesh and blood…. God’s way of saying thank you? — “The second commandment is like the first: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mt 22:39). Gospel of the day. (Father Robert F. McNamara) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
23) “Love me, love my rag dolls.” There is a natural, logical kind of loving that loves lovely things and lovely people. That’s logical. But there is another kind of loving that doesn’t look for value in what it loves, but that creates value in what it loves. Like Rosemary’s rag doll. When Rosemary was three years old, she was given a beautiful little rag doll, which quickly became an inseparable companion. She had other toys that were intrinsically far more expensive, but none that she loved like she loved the rag doll. Soon, the rag doll became more and more rag and less and less doll. It also became more and more dirty. If you tried to clean the rag doll, it became more ragged still. And if you didn’t try to clean the rag doll, it became dirtier still. The sensible thing to do was to trash the rag doll. But that was unthinkable for anyone who loved Rosemary. If you loved Rosemary, you loved the rag doll too — it was part of the package. — “’Love me, love my rag dolls,’ says God, “including the one you see when you look in the mirror. This is the first and the greatest commandment.” (Fr. Lakra). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
24) “I wouldn’t do that for £1,000.” Once a British journalist visited Kolkata, India to see the works of the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa. He went to their old-age house at Kali-ghat Temple and watched an attractive young Nun dressing the wounds on a man with gangrene in his leg. The journalist was appalled by the very sight of the wound, but at the same time he was full of admiration for the young nun who seemed to show no disgust as she was cleaning the suppurating wound. “I wouldn’t do that for £1,000,” said the journalist. “Neither would I,” said the Nun, “I do it for love.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/). (L/26)
Kindly visit my website by clicking onhttps://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Please contact me by email, only at akadavil@gmail.com as I am at home in my home country since 2023. For additional homilies, you may visithttps://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homiliesand Fr. Nick’s collection of homilies or Resources in the CBCI website: https://www.cbci.in. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020) My post-retirement U. S. postal address is Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. Joseph M. C. , St. Agatha Church, 1001 Hand Avenue, Bay Minette, Al, U.S.A. 36507
Oct 12-17: Oct 12 Monday:Lk 11:29-32:29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
The context: Since there had been many false prophets and false messiahs in the past, and since their pride and prejudice did not permit them to see the Messiah in a carpenter-from-Nazareth-turned-wandering-preacher, the Jewish religious leaders demanded that Jesus should show some “Messianic” signs and miracles taken from their list. They would not accept that Jesus’ numerous miraculous healings were the Messianic signs foretold by the prophets.
Jesus’ negative response: Calling them an apostate generation who refused to believe in their own prophets and denied the hand of God in the miracles he worked, Jesus warned these religious leaders that they would be condemned on the Day of Judgment by the people of Nineveh and by the Queen of Sheba from the South. (Sheba, or Saba, was a southern kingdom centred on Yemen or Ethiopia, and possibly including both. The distance from Yemen to Jerusalem is 2084 miles). This is one of the instances in which Jesus held up Gentiles as models of Faith and goodness (other examples: the Canaanite woman in Mt 15, the centurion in Lk 7, the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10; etc.). The pagan Ninevites heard the voice of the Lord God in the prophet Jonah, repented, and were spared. The Queen of Sheba recognized God’s Wisdom in King Solomon, and she traveled to Israel to receive more of it. Nevertheless, Jesus gave the religious leaders challenging him, “the sign of Jonah.” It was the undeniable Messianic sign of his own Resurrection from the tomb on the third day after his death, just as Jonah had spent three days in the belly of the giant fish before finally going to Nineveh to accomplish the mission God had originally given him.
Life messages: We need to recognize God-given signs in our lives: 1) Each Sacrament in the Church is an external sign representing God’s grace. 2) On the altar we re-present Christ’s sacrifice on the cross using liturgical signs and prayers. 3) Everyone living with us or working with us is a sign of God’s living presence in our midst, inviting us to love and honor him or her as God’s child and the living Temple of the Holy Spirit. 4) All world events and all the events in our lives are signs of God’s care and protection for us, His children. 5) The Holy Bible is a sign of God communicating His message to us every day. So, let us learn from these God-given signs instead of looking for signs in weeping Madonnas, bleeding crucifixes and daily messages of visionaries. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26 For additional reflections: Click onhttps://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/;https://www.epriest.com/reflections
Oct 13 Tuesday: Lk 11:37-41: 37 While he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him; so he went in and sat at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, everything is clean for you.
The context: In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of hypocrisy. Jesus was invited by a Pharisee for a dinner at which Jesus violated the ceremonial law by purposely omitting the ritual washing of hands before the meals and between the courses. Pious Jews were expected on each occasion to wash their hands by pouring two ounces of water from finger tips to wrist and in the reverse order, and then to cleanse each palm by rubbing the fist of the other hand. Water was stored in big stone jars for this washing ceremony. Omitting the ceremony was considered a sin and that is why Jesus’ host was astonished.
Jesus teaches the essence of religion: Jesus tells his host that the essence of religion is offering to God a clean heart filled with love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. Mere external observance of rituals without a cleansing of the heart is hypocrisy, which God hates. Jesus uses the occasion to accuse the Pharisees of harboring evil thoughts like greed, pride, bitterness, envy, and arrogance in their hearts. Jesus concludes by suggesting that one method of expressing real love of God and neighbor originating from a compassionate heart and making one pure and clean is giving alms to the poor. Almsgiving in the proper sense means realizing the needs of others and letting them share in one’s own goods, especially by way of spiritual help, financial and emotional support, consolation, fraternity, and love. St. John of the Cross explains this passage, remarking that in the evening of our lives we will be judged on our love expressed by works of charity.
Life messages: 1) In order to have interior cleanliness, let us do some charitable acts which externally express our loving relationship with God and our eagerness to do His will. Since we are offering our hearts and lives on the altar, let us expel everything evil from our hearts by true repentance Love is what we have to give others – love with understanding, mercy, respect for their freedom, and deep concern for their spiritual and material welfare. Giving this gift requires that we have love in our thoughts, words and actions always. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Oct 14 Wednesday; St. Callistus I, Pope,Martyr:http://franciscanmedia.beracha.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-callistus-iLk 11:42-46:42 “But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! for you love the best seat in the synagogues and salutations in the market places. 44 Woe to you! for you are like graves which are not seen, and men walk over them without knowing it.” 45 One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying this you reproach us also.” 46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! for you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”
The context: In today’s text, taken from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus expresses his moral indignation and sorrow at the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees who have put obstacles between the common people and God by overburdening them with unnecessary, impractical, and almost limitless interpretations of Mosaic laws. In today’s text, Jesus levels three accusations against these religious leaders, naming particular misbehaviors: 1) They have misinterpreted the spirit of the Law, making the Law a heavy burden for the God-fearing common people. Jesus gives the Law of tithing as an example. God intended tithing for His people as an expression of their gratitude to a providing God (Dt 14:22; Lv 27:30). The scribes instructed the people to pay tithes on insignificant things, such as kitchen-garden plants, with great mathematical accuracy, but they themselves neglected justice and love of God in their private lives. 2) The second accusation is that the scribes and the Pharisees are notorious for their status-seeking. They demand that the common people give them special honors because of their expertise in Mosaic Law and faithful religious observance. As a mark of respect, they are to be given front seats in the synagogue and public greeting in the streets. 3) Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees to the white-washed tombs on the sides of the road leading to Jerusalem. In preparation for the three major Jewish feasts, Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, the scribes and Pharisees used to have the tombs whitewashed, so that the pilgrims would not be ritually defiled by unknowingly walking over one. Jesus accuses the Pharisees of moral filth, of hiding injustice and immorality inside themselves and of covering the corruption with pretensions of piety and religious fervor. Thus, they contaminate others with their rotten and dangerous ideas of God’s demands.
Life messages: 1) The essence of religion is to love God, discovering Him in everyone. The basic principles of the Ten Commandments are respect and reverence based on love of God and neighbor. When we learn to reverence God, His holy Name and His holy Day and to respect our parents, elders and all others, their lives, their goods and their good names, we practice true religion without hypocrisy or selfish interests. True love is sacrificial, encouraging us to help lift the burdens of others. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26Additional reflections: Click onhttps://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/;https://www.epriest.com/reflections
Oct 15 Thursday:St. Teresa of Jesus,Virgin, Doctor of the Church: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-teresa-of-avila/; Oct 13 Thursday: Luke 11:47-54 Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, `I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50 that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it shall be required of this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” 53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard, and to provoke him to speak of many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch at something he might say.
The context: Today’s passage, taken from chapter 11 of Luke’s Gospel, gives two more accusations which Jesus made against the Pharisees. According to Matthew, Jesus made these accusations on the third day of what we call Holy Week in the Temple precincts of Jerusalem.
1) Jesus criticizes the blatant hypocrisy and false zeal of the scribes and the Pharisees in decorating the old monuments and building new monuments for the past prophets who had been persecuted and murdered by the forefathers of these same Scribes and the Pharisees, while they themselves did not obey the injunctions of these past prophets. Abel’s martyrdom is the first recorded in the Bible (Gn 4:8). [Navarre Bible Commentary: “Zechariah was a prophet who died by being stoned in the temple of Jerusalem around the year 800 B.C. because he accused the people of Israel of being unfaithful to God's law (cf. 2 Chr 24:20-22). The murder of Abel (Gn 4:8) and that of Zechariah were, respectively, the first and last murders reported in these books which the Jews regarded as Sacred Scripture”.] Jesus remarks that the blood-guilt inherited by the ancestors of the scribes and the Pharisees throughout the Old Testament era will spill over when the priests (most of them scribes), and the Pharisees conspired to execute Jesus the Messiah.
2) Since the scribes (religious lawyers), were the official interpreters of the Scriptures, they held the “office of the keys.” Unfortunately, their interpretation of the Scriptures became so distorted and difficult to understand that others were “shut off” from the Scriptures.
Oct 16 Friday: St. Hedwig, Religious;https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/hedwig-598 St. Margarette Mary Alaquoque, Virgin: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-margaret-mary-alacoque/. Lk 12:1-7:1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they trod upon one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
The context: Jesus continues his condemnation of the hypocrisy of the Scribes and the Pharisees, comparing it to leaven or yeast. The Jews considered yeast as something evil, corrupting the dough during the process of fermentation. That is why the Law given through Moses prescribes unleavened bread for offering to God. Jesus reminded the common people that the Pharisees were hypocrites who pretended to be holy, and that they corrupted people as the yeast corrupts the dough. The teaching and example of the scribes and the Pharisees influenced the crowd in a disastrous way, especially when the teachers failed to practice what they preached. Jesus also warned these religious leaders that their sins would be brought to light at the Last Judgment (CCC #678).
Hearing in secret and announcing in public: According to the Navarre Bible Commentary, most Palestinian houses had a roof in the form of a terrace. There people would meet to chat and while away their time in the hottest part of the day. Jesus pointed out to his disciples that in these get-togethers, things said in private became matters of public discussion. In the same way, despite the Pharisees' and scribes' efforts to hide their vices and defects under the veil of piety, all they had hidden would become a matter of common knowledge.
A reverential fear of God: Since nothing -- not even the most insignificant thing -- escapes God, no one should fear that any suffering or persecution he experiences in following Christ will remain unrewarded in eternity. But our fear of God should not be servile (based on fear of punishment). It should be a filial fear (the fear of a child who loves, and so does not want to displease, his or her father), a reverent awe nourished by our trust in Divine Providence.
Life messages: 1) In contrast to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, the followers of Jesus must display transparency in their Christian lives by practicing what they profess. 2) They should also maintain a reverential fear of God, adjusting their actions in such a way that they may not displease a loving heavenly Father. (Fr. Tony) L/26
Oct 17 Saturday: St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr:https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-ignatius-of-antioch : Lk 12:8-12:8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; 9 but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
The context: The scribes and Pharisees attributed Jesus’ miracles of driving demons out of possessed people to the work of the devil rather than to God. Pride in their knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures and prejudice against Jesus, the wandering preacher, prompted them to attribute Jesus’ exorcisms to the devil’s power and Jesus’ collaboration with the devil. The first part of today’s Gospel is Jesus’ reply to their false accusation.
Unpardonable sin: The Jews did not have any idea of a Triune God. For them the Spirit of God was God Himself. It was this Divine Spirit Who spoke through Moses and the prophets and Who enabled men and women to understand the Sacred Scriptures. So, Jesus told the unbelieving Jews that they were refusing to believe in the Spirit of God and in the Messianic prophecies given by Him when they attributed Jesus’ miracles to the devil. Hence, theirs was a sin of blasphemy against the Spirit of God. Since they remained unrepentant, thus refusing God’s mercy and forgiveness, their sin against the Holy Spirit of God was unforgivable. In the second part of today’s Gospel, Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit as a Teacher and an Attorney Who would help defend his disciples when they were brought to trial before the Jewish synagogues and Roman authorities because of their Faith in Jesus as God and Savior.
Life messages: 1) Let us have the generosity and good will not to close our eyes to God or to shut our ears to His voice, thus refusing the chances given us by our merciful God to repent of our sins and renew our lives. 2) Let us ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our fight against temptations, and let us pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
WORLD MISSION SUNDAY [A) (Oct 18, 2026)1-page summary)
Introduction: Over one billion Catholics all over the world observe today as World Mission Sunday. This annual observance was instituted 100 years ago in 1926 by Pope Pius XI’s Papal decree. Every year since then, the universal Church has dedicated the month of October to reflection on, and prayer for the missions. On World Mission Sunday, Catholics gather to celebrate the Eucharist and to contribute to a collection for the work of evangelization around the world. This annual celebration gives us a chance to reflect on the importance of mission work for the life of the Church. It reminds us that we are one with the Church around the world and that we are all committed to carrying on the mission of Christ, however different our situations may be.
The Holy Fathers’ Mission Sunday messages: In his World Mission Sunday messages, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the importance of Christian charity in action as the keynote of evangelization. He encouraged Churches with a shortage of priests to get them from countries with many priests. In the Pauline Year, heencouraged everyone “to take renewed awareness of the urgent need to proclaim the Gospel.” He reminded us that the “the goal of the Church’s mission is to illumine all peoples with the light of the Gospel,” and he exhorted all Christians “to redouble their commitment to participate in the missionary activity that is an essential component of the life of the Church.“ Pope Francis, in his first World Mission Sunday message, 2013, challenged us to proclaim courageously and in every situation the Gospel of Christ, a message of hope, reconciliation, and communion. In his 2014 Mission Sunday message, the Pope challenged the Church to become a welcoming home, a mother for all peoples, and the source of rebirth for our world through the intercession of Mary, the model of humble and joyful evangelization. “The Church is on a mission in the world,” Pope Francis wrote in his 2019 World Mission Day message, Baptized and Sent. “This missionary mandate touches us personally: I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission.” Hence the Holy Father calls on all Catholics and the Church to revive missionary awareness and commitment. In his 2020 message our Holy Father asked us to discharge our mission duty by volunteering with prophet Isaiah “Here am I, send me” (6:8) to alleviate the suffering of our Covid-19-stricken brothers and sisters. The theme of 2021 World Mission Day – “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20), is a summons to each of us to “own” and to bring to others what we bear in our hearts. His theme for 2022 is “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8) focusing on three elements of the life of a mission disciple. The Vatican has announced the theme chosen by Pope Leo XIV for World Missions Day 2026: “One in Christ, united in mission.”
The missionary Church: The Church, according to Vatican Council II, is “missionary” in her very nature because her founder, Jesus Christ, was the first missionary. God the Father sent God the Son, Incarnate in Jesus, His Christ, into the world with a message of God’s love and salvation. Thus, the evangelizing mission of the Church is essentially the announcement of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation, as these are revealed to mankind through the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. How should we evangelize? By living an exemplary and transparent Christian life, by prayer and by financial support. The most powerful means of preaching Christ is by living a truly Christian life
OCT 18, 2026 WORLD MISSION SUNDAY– Is 60:1-6; Rom 10:9-18; Mt 28:16-20
Homily starter anecdote: # 1: “I have no other plan.” S.D. Gordon has a beautiful story about the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. When the grand welcome ceremony was over, the Archangel Gabriel approached Jesus to resolve his doubts. He said, “I know that only a very few in Palestine are aware of the great work of human salvation You have accomplished through Your suffering, death and Resurrection. But the whole world should know and appreciate it and become Your disciples, acknowledging You as their Lord and Savior. What is Your plan of action?” Jesus answered, “I have told all My Apostles to tell other people about Me and preach My Message through their lives. That’s all.” “Suppose they don’t do that?” Gabriel asked. “What’s your Plan B?” Jesus replied, “I have no other plan; I am counting on them.” On this World Mission Sunday, the Church reminds us that Jesus is counting on each one of us to make Him known loved and accepted by others around us.
# 2: “We Wanted to be Like Them” A striking story tells about one remote area in western Sudan. Expatriate missionaries, especially priests, Brothers and Sisters, had labored there for many years with few visible results. Then expatriate lay missionaries — married and single — came to that area and soon many Sudanese people become Catholics. A Sudanese elder explained: “When we saw the priests and Sisters living separately and alone, we didn’t want to be like them. But when we saw Catholic families — men, women and children — living happily together, we wanted to be like them.” In our family-oriented African society, married missionary couples with children have a powerful and unique witness and credibility. (Fr. Joseph G. Healey, M.M., a Maryknoll missionary)
# 3: “Go and invite people to Church.” The Evangelism of Roy Fish hits the nail on the head when he emphasizes the difference between “come and hear” and “go and tell” ministries. “People often say, ‘Come and hear the Gospel taught in our church’ or ‘Come and hear our evangelist preach the gospel.’ This ‘come and hear’ kind of religion constitutes a reversal of the Great Commission of Jesus. His instructions to his church were not to invite people to ‘come and hear,’ but for believers to ‘go and tell.’ The main responsibility is not to bring the lost to the Gospel, but to take the Gospel to the lost. Jesus wants us to go and witness, but we have interpreted it to mean, ‘Go and invite people to church.'” (Roy Fish, “Missing Thrust in Today’s Evangelism,” in Evangelism Today & Tomorrow [Nashville: Broadman Press, 1993], 43.)
Introduction: Over one billion Catholics all over the world observe today as the 96thWorld Mission Sunday. Pope Pius XI instituted this annual observance in 1926 by Papal decree. Every year since then, the universal Church has dedicated the month of October to reflection on, and prayer for, the missions. On World Mission Sunday, Catholics gather to celebrate the Eucharist and to contribute to a collection for the work of evangelization around the world. Of the 3000 dioceses in the world, about 1000 are missionary dioceses—they need assistance from more established dioceses to build catechetical programs, seminaries, Religious Communities, Chapels, Churches, orphanages, hospitals, and schools. This annual celebration gives us a chance to reflect on the importance of mission work for the life of the Church. It reminds us that we are one with the Church around the world and that we are all committed to carrying on the mission of Christ, however different our situations may be. The greatest missionary challenge that we face at home is a secular and consumerist culture in which God is not important, moral values are relative, and institutional religions are deemed unnecessary.
Mission Sunday messages of recent Popes: It is because of the modern challenges to evangelization that, in his World Mission Sunday Message, for 2003, Pope St. John Paul II called on the Church to become “more contemplative, holy, and missionary-oriented, grounding its work on fervent prayer.” Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2006 message, stressed the importance of Christian charity in action as the keynote of evangelization. “All the Churches for all the World” was the Pope’s theme for World Mission Sunday, 2007. Pope Benedict encouraged the sending of missionaries from Church communities which have a large number of vocations to serve those communities of the West which experience a shortage of vocations. In 2008, the Pope encouraged everyone “to take renewed awareness of the urgent need to proclaim the Gospel” in this Pauline Year, following the example, and imbibing the missionary zeal, of St. Paul, the greatest missionary of all times. In 2009, the Pope clarified that the “the goal of the Church’s mission was to illumine all peoples with the light of the Gospel as they journey through history towards God.” He asked all Christians to redouble their commitment to participate in the missionary activity that is an essential component of the life of the Church. Pope Francis, in his first World Mission Sunday message (2013), challenged us to proclaim courageously and in every situation the Gospel of Christ, a message of hope, reconciliation and communion, a proclamation of God’s closeness, His mercy and His salvation. This proclamation would make clear that the power of God’s love is able to overcome the darkness of evil and guide us on the path of goodness. In the light of the conclusion of the Year of Faith, the Pope offered his thoughts about Faith: the necessity of sharing it, some roadblocks missionary efforts can encounter, and the importance of generously responding to the missionary call of the Holy Spirit. In his 2014 Mission Sunday message, Pope Francis challenged the Church to become a welcoming home, a mother for all peoples and the source of rebirth for our world through the intercession of Mary, the model of humble and joyful evangelization. In his 2015 message Pope Francis declared “The Church’s mission is faced by the challenge of meeting the needs of all people to return to their roots and to protect the values of their respective cultures. This means knowing and respecting other traditions and philosophical systems, and realizing that all peoples and cultures have the right to be helped from within their own traditions to enter into the mystery of God’s wisdom and to accept the Gospel of Jesus, who is light and transforming strength for all cultures.” “The Church is on a mission in the world,” Pope Francis said in his 2019 World Mission Day message, Baptized and Sent. “This missionary mandate touches us personally: I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission.” Hence, the Holy Father was calling on all Catholics and the Church to revive missionary awareness and commitment. In his 2020 message, Holy Father want us to discharge our mission duty by volunteering with prophet Isaiah “Here am I, send me” (6:8) to help alleviate the suffering of Covid-19-stricken brothers and sisters. Pope Francis’ message for 2021 reflects on the theme: “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts of the Apostles 4:20). His theme for 2022 is “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8) focusing on three elements of the life of a mission disciple: i) The call of every Christian to bear witness to Christ.(You shall be my witnesses”); ii) The perennial relevance of a mission of universal evangelization (“to the ends of the earth”); and (iii) Let us always be strengthened and guided by the Spirit (“You will receive power” from the Holy Spirit).
The missionary Church: The Church, according to Vatican Council II, is “missionary” in her very nature because her founder, Jesus Christ, was the first missionary. God the Father sent God the Son into the world incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, His Christ, with a message. This message, called the Gospel or the Good News, is explicitly stated in Jn 3:16: “For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not die, but have eternal life.” John further clarifies Jesus’ message in his epistle: “God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”(I Jn 4:9). St. Paul writes to Timothy about the Church’s mission: “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth.” (I Tm 2:4). Thus, the evangelizing mission of the Church is essentially the announcement of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation, as these are revealed to mankind through the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. The Gospels show us how Jesus demonstrated this all-embracing and unconditional love of God by his life, suffering, death, and Resurrection.
Counter-witnessing affects Mission Sunday message: Revelations of recent and past sex abuse cases and the culpable failure of the hierarchy to prevent them, prompting some Catholics to leave the Church, put non-Catholics and non-Christians in a dilemma, and some of them postponed or even abandoned their plan to join the Catholic Church. They naturally expected the Church ministers to be holy or at least honorable, and they were disillusioned by the counter-witnessing caused by the sex abuse crisis. They wanted the Church authorities to take drastic and effective steps to restore the Church to its true dignity, loving the Church as Christ does. The observance of Mission Sunday is the appropriate time to reorder the Church to meet the demands and expectations of the true apostolic nature and Divine vocation, given to her by Christ. The holy living of faithful Christians and their anointed ministers, with their fervent prayer, is the only solution to tide us over the present crisis.
Why should we preach? Jesus, the first missionary, made a permanent arrangement for inviting all men throughout the ages to share God’s love and salvation: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19). This is why the Council Fathers of the Second Vatican Council declared that the Church of Christ “is missionary in its origin and nature.” Hence, it follows that the mission of the Church is the mission of every member of the Church, and is not reserved for the priests, the religious, and the active missionaries alone. Thus, every Christian is a missionary with a message to share — the message of God’s love, liberation, and eternal salvation.
How are we to accomplish this goal? The most powerful means of fulfilling this goal is by living a truly Christian life — a life filled with love, mercy, kindness, compassion, prayer, and a forgiving spirit. Mr. Gandhi used to say: “My life is my message.” He often challenged the Christian missionaries to observe the “apostolate of the rose.” A rose doesn’t preach. It simply radiates its fragrance and attracts everyone to it by its irresistible beauty. Hence, the most important thing is not the Gospel we preach, but the life we live. This is how the early Christians evangelized. Their Gentile neighbors used to say: “See how these Christians love one another!” The Christ they recognized and accepted was the Christ who lived in each Christian.
Prayer is the second means of missionary work. Jesus said: “Without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15: 5). Therefore, prayer is necessary for anyone who wishes to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and for everyone who preaches the Good News in his life. In his message for World Mission Sunday, 2004, Pope St. John Paul II stressed the fact that the Holy Spirit would help us to become witnesses of Christ only in an atmosphere of prayer. Since missionaries are weak human beings, and since witnessing to Christ through life is not easy, we need to support them by our prayers always. In his message for 2007, Pope Benedict reminds us, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few”, the Lord said; “pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Lk 10: 2).
All missionary efforts also require financial support because the love of God can often be explained to the poor only by providing them with food and a means of livelihood. The sick can experience the healing power of Jesus only through the dedicated service of doctors, nurses, and health care workers. Building, maintaining, and staffing Hospitals and nursing homes all require funding. The use of expensive modern media of communication is often necessary to bring Christ’s message of love and liberation more effectively to non-Christians in the modern world.
Hence, on this Mission Sunday, let us learn to appreciate our missionary obligation and support the Church’s missionary activities by leading transparent Christian lives, by fervent prayers, and by generous donations. Pope Benedict XVI concluded his 2006 Mission Sunday message thus: “May the Virgin Mary, who collaborated actively in the beginning of the Church’s mission with her presence beneath the Cross and her prayers in the Upper Room, sustain their action and help believers in Christ to be ever more capable of true love, so that they become sources of living water in a spiritually thirsting world.”
JOKE OF THE DAY
# 1: 97% of the world has heard of Coca-Cola
72% of the world has seen a can of Coca-Cola
51% of the world has tasted a can of Coca-Cola
Coke has only been around 123 years ( by 2022).
— If God had given the task of world evangelization to the Coke company it would probably be done by now!
# 2: Did Jesus Christ Ever Kill a Lion? A story is told about a missionary who went to a remote area in Northern Tanzania to proclaim the Gospel among the Maasai tribes who were warriors. One day he was explaining to a group of adults the saving activity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He told how Jesus is the Savior and Redeemer of all humankind. When he finished, a Maasai elder slowly stood up and said to the missionary: “You have spoken well, but I want to learn more about this great person Jesus Christ. Now I have three questions about Jesus. First, did he ever kill a lion? Second, how many cows did he have? Third, how many wives and children did he have?”
# 3: Rescue mission to Egypt: Nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. “Well, Mom,” he reported, “our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he ordered his engineers to build a pontoon bridge, and all the people walked across safely. He used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters to call in an air strike. They sent in bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.
“Now, Joey, is that REALLY what your teacher taught you?” his mother asked.
“Well, no, Mom,” Joey admitted, “but if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!”
#4: Religion is a good thing, as long as it’s in small doses. A family lived off the alley behind my first church. There were three floors to their row house, each floor inhabited by a different generation. The grandparents, who were members of the church, lived on the ground floor. Next floor up was their son and daughter-in-law, and the grandchildren’s bedrooms were at the top. One day, the grandfather beckoned me to the back fence. “I’m worried about my grandson,” he said. “What’s the problem?” I asked. He said, “When he gets up in the morning, he reads the Bible before he does anything else. Every time he sits at the kitchen table, he insists on saying grace. Now he’s talking about joining a prayer group with his girlfriend.” “Walter,” I said, “what’s the problem?” “Don’t get me wrong, Reverend,” he said. “Religion is a good thing, as long as it’s in small doses. I’m worried my grandson is becoming an extremist.” — I admit it was hard to sympathize with my neighbor. So far, no member of my family has been lost to such radical behavior. Neither has a child of mine wandered off to the Temple for three days. But it’s important to remember that religious commitments can divide a family. [William G. Carter, Praying for a Whole New World, CSS Publishing Company.]
# 5: And hell broke loose: Mark Twain used to tell a joke that he put a dog and a cat in a cage together as an experiment, to see if they could get along. They did. So, he put in a bird, pig and goat. They, too, got along fine after a few adjustments. Then he put in a Baptist, a Presbyterian, and a Catholic, and hell broke loose.
7- Additional anecdotes: 1) “You’re not a white man; you’re Jesus.” A touching story is told of a British missionary priest who lived in a remote part of Tanzania. He lived alone, a single white man among his African flock, speaking their language. One day a British government official arrived on a tour of the area. The Tanzanian children ran out to welcome the visitor. They entertained the official by clapping, singing and dancing. After the official left, the children excitedly told the missionary priest, “We saw a white man! We saw a white man!” Some of the children said that the visitor was the first foreigner they had ever seen. The priest was amazed and exclaimed, “But I’m a white man. I’m a foreigner. But I’ve been living here with you all these years.” One of the children said, “You’re not a white man; you’re Jesus, you are our Father.” — Mission Sunday reminds us that transparent Christian life, as lived by this missionary, radiating the real presence of Jesus within, is the mission of every Christian. (Joseph G. Healey, M.M).
2) “Athanasius Evangelized Me With a Cup of Tea” : One day Bishop Christopher Mwoleka came to our house in Nyabihanga Village in Rulenge, Tanzania on an unexpected visit. My good friend Athanasius and I hurriedly prepared tea for the villagers who came to greet the bishop. We started with two full thermoses, but then several other visitors came and soon we had finished all the tea. I wondered what I would do if another person came. Just then one of our neighbors arrived to say hello. As I started to apologize for not having any more tea, Athanasius spontaneously picked up his own cup of tea and politely handed it to the visitor. –It was a simple gesture of sharing, but for me a profound act of love and beauty. By his example Athanasius had evangelized me. (Joseph G. Healey, M.M).
3) Americans give $700 million per year to mission agencies. However, they pay as much for pet food every 52 days. A person must overeat by at least $1.50 worth of food per month to maintain one excess pound of flesh. Yet $1.50 per month is more than what 90 percent of all Christians in America give to missions. If the average missions’ supporter is only five pounds overweight, it means he spends (to his own hurt) at least five times as much as he gives for missions.– If he were to choose simple food and chose a not to overeat, he could give ten times as much as he does to missions and not modify his standard of living in any other way! [Ralph Winter of the William Carey Library, 1705 North Sierra Bonita Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91104, in Leadership, IV,4,p. 64. ]
4) Mary Moffatt Livingstone: Sometimes marriage to a great leader comes with a special price for his wife. Such was the case for Mary Moffatt Livingstone, wife of Dr. David Livingstone, perhaps the most celebrated missionary in the Western world. Mary was born in Africa; she was the daughter of Robert Moffatt, the missionary who inspired Livingstone to go to Africa. The Livingstones were married in Africa in 1845, but the years that followed were difficult for Mary. Finally, she and their six children returned to England so she could recuperate as Livingstone plunged deeper into the African interior. — Unfortunately, even in England Mary lived in near poverty. The hardships and long separations took their toll on Mrs. Livingstone, who died when she was just forty-two.
[Today in the Word, MBI, January 1990, p. 12.]
5) Good motto for the missionaries: One afternoon author Patsy Clairmont found herself on an airplane, sitting next to a young man. She writes, “I had already observed something about this young man when I was being seated. He called me “Ma’am.” At the time I thought, ‘Either he thinks I’m ancient, or he’s from the South where they still teach manners, or he’s in the service.’ I decided the last was the most likely, so I asked, “You in the service?” “Yes, Ma’am, I am.” “What branch?” “Marines.” “Hey, Marine, where are you coming from?” “Operation Desert Storm, Ma’am.” “No kidding? Desert Storm! How long were you there?” I asked. “A year and a half. I’m on my way home. My family will be at the airport.” I then commented that he must have thought about returning to his family and home many times while he was in the Middle East. — “Oh, no, Ma’am,” he replied. “We were taught never to think of what might never be, but to be fully available right where we were.” Focus on the Family, July, 1993, p. 5. (Quoted by Fr. Tony Kayala).
6) Surrendering the achievements in mathematics for the missions: In his book Facing Loneliness, J. Oswald Sanders writes, “The round of pleasure or the amassing of wealth are but vain attempts to escape from the persistent ache…The millionaire is usually a lonely man and the comedian is often more unhappy than his audience.” Sanders goes on the emphasize that being successful often fails to produce satisfaction. Then he refers to Henry Martyn, a distinguished scholar, as an example of what he is talking about. Martyn, a Cambridge University student, was honored at only 20 years of age for his achievements in mathematics. In fact, he was given the highest recognition possible in that field. And yet he felt an emptiness inside. He said that instead of finding fulfillment in his achievements, he had “only grasped a shadow.” After evaluating his life’s goals, Martyn sailed to India as a missionary at the age of 24. When he arrived, he prayed, “Lord, let me burn out for You.” In the next 7 years that preceded his death, he translated the New Testament into three difficult Eastern languages. — These notable achievements were certainly not passing “shadows.” (Quoted by Fr. Tony Kayala).
7) “God Is Like a Large Baobab Tree”One day my pickup truck broke down on the road from Maswa to Bariadi in western Tanzania. After I had waited for a half-hour a big Coca-Cola truck came by and the driver named Musa kindly towed my vehicle to the next town — a common occurrence of friendship and mutual help on our poor dirt roads. Part of the time I sat in his big cab and we talked about, of all things, religion. Musa was a Muslim who belonged to the Nyamwezi Ethnic Group from Tabora. — In commenting on the tensions between Christians and Muslims in Tanzania he told me: “There is only one God. God is like one large tree with different branches that represent the different religions of Islam, Christianity, African Religion and so forth. These branches are part of the same family of God, so we should work together.” Simply put, Musa taught me an African metaphor of world religions and interreligious dialogue. (Fr. Healey). L/22
Our Mission: Connecting with the disconnected by witnessing: “How can we connect with the disconnected?” asked Bishop Eric Pohlmeier during his homily at the Deanery Mass, celebrated in our church on Wednesday, July 27, 2022. Recalling that the primary concern of pastors, parents, and other church leaders everywhere is how to connect with the disconnected, he said the many wonderful programs we have are not helping us to achieve this goal. “The programs are wonderful for those who are already connected,” he said. “But no program is going to help us connect with the disconnected.” Hence, Bishop Pohlmeier suggested following the model of Jesus. “It is a one-on-one approach rather than a program,” he said. “To connect with the disconnected, we have to look at what Jesus did. Jesus brought people close to him, and their lives were transformed.” Then he said, “You go out, and you tell what happened to you.” The bishop said the essential building block for connecting with the disconnected, especially those in the family, is sharing our personal story of Faith with others. He then asked us to consider the following questions: 1. What difference has Jesus made in your life? 2. If you have children, do your children know the answer to the first question? Acknowledging that we Catholics are not usually ready with an answer to the first question, he encouraged us to reflect on this question seriously. He then asked the parents to share their answer to the first question with their non-practicing grown-up children before they ask them to go to Church. “Sharing faith is not a matter of telling others what they should do,” Bishop Pohlmeier said. “Sharing faith is about speaking of God at work in our own life… To really share Faith with somebody means I have to be versatile enough to adapt it to the situation. This takes some real reflecting to see how God has pervaded my life and how God wants me to build bridges with other people.” Saying that we all face many serious challenges in life, he asked us to see this as a common ground and share with others how we have learned to navigate life’s difficulties because of Jesus. “They may have biases of their own. But our common ground is that they are looking for what matters in life, “ he said. “Everyone is pursuing what they believe will give meaning to their life, what will bring them joy; that is part of our common humanity,” he said. “We have discovered something that really matters,” he said. “So, to speak about our faith in terms of a pearl of great price that we have discovered is very different from telling somebody else, ‘You should do this.’ So, we have to think about how valuable this life with Jesus is in our own story.” Cautioning that we should not be telling others what they shouldn’t do, he said we should speak about the value of what we have found and invite them to look for a different way that offers them a richness deep in their heart they desire. ”We must be sharing and witnessing this richness,” he added. “You are the building block we depend on – your life and your story have a lot to offer,” he said. “So, I ask you to reflect, to consider more deeply in such a way that we can share with others the story of God at work in us.”
As Bishop Pohlmeier reminded us, sharing our story of Faith with others is very important in getting them reconnected with the Church. Hence, let us often reflect on our story of faith and thus become aware of how God is at work in our lives, helping us navigate the many difficulties in life. Our constant awareness of how God is at work in our lives will enable us to share our story of Faith with others, especially with our family members, helping them reconnect with Jesus and his Church. Many thanks, many thanks to all the priests, deacons, and lay faithful who attended the Deanery Mass from the different parishes of the deanery. My sincere gratitude also to our Parochial Vicar Fr. Rob Trujillo, parish staff, choir, greeters, ushers, reception team in the parish hall, and all volunteers who work. (Fr. Jose P. CMI).
O.T. XXIX [A] (Oct 18, 2026) (Eight-minute homily in one page)
(In 2026, World Mission Sunday is observed on Oct 18th: Homily is included in my website).
Introduction:The common theme of today’s readings is the nature of our obligations to God and to our country. The readings show us how, with God’s help, we can be ideal citizens of both earth and Heaven.
Scripture lessons summarized: In the first reading, Isaiah the prophet foretells how, without the great Persian Emperor Cyrus’ intention, his policies would be made part of God’s saving plan for His chosen people. Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 96) reminds us that when people put God’s Kingdom first, everyone benefits. In the second reading, Paul praises his converts in Thessalonica for their fidelity to God and to Christ His Son, “our Lord Jesus Christ,” and for their practice, with the help of the Holy Spirit, of the Theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. In the Gospel, Jesus escapes from the trap in the question, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” by instructing those who questioned him, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” With this answer, Jesus reminds his questioners that, if they are so concerned and careful about paying taxes to the state, they should be much more concerned and careful about their service to God and their obligations to Him as their Creator and Lord. We fulfill our duties to our country by loyally obeying the just laws of the State and working for the welfare of all citizens. We become good Heavenly citizens by obeying God’s laws.
Life messages: 1) We need to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”: How? It is the duty of Christians, as citizens of the country, to pay for the services and the privileges that government provides, like paved roads, police and fire departments, banks, schools, and other necessities. If we refuse to pay taxes, how will these needs be met? Another way of “giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s” is to participate actively in the running of the government, electing the most suitable candidates and influencing them through frequent contacts.
2 ) We must submit to the civil authorities and respect the just laws of our country in order to live in peace. As loyal citizens, we must also see to it that our elected representatives are faithful in maintaining law and order in the country and in promoting the welfare of all its citizens without violating God’s laws.
3) We need to “give to God what is God’s.” How? Since everything is God’s, we must give ourselves to Him 100%, not just 10% on Sundays. We should be generous in fulfilling our Sunday obligations, and we should find time every day for prayer and worship in the family, for the reading of the Bible and the proper training of our children in Faith and morals. We are invited each year to make a stewardship pledge of our financial offering to the local Church for the coming year. Our contribution to the parish Church should be an expression of our gratitude to God, giving back to God all that He has given us. Active participation in the various ministries of the parish is an offering to God of our time and talents, yet another way of giving to God His due, our whole self.
OT XXIX [A] (10/18/2026) Is 45:1, 4-6; 1 Thes 1:1-5b; Mt 22:15-21 (L26)
Homily starter anecdotes:1) “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” Perhaps we can illustrate all this with one case, that of St. Thomas More, the English martyr who was Councilor to King Henry VIII and Lord High Chancellor of England. Robert Bolt dramatized More’s conflict – regarding what is Caesar’s and what is God’s – in the drama, A Man for All Seasons. Recall the story: King Henry VIII of England was, by Papal dispensation, validly married to Catherine of Aragon, his elder brother’s widow. Seeking a male heir and attracted to Anne Boleyn, Henry appealed to Rome again to have his marriage to Catherine annulled – which would mean that the Papal dispensation had been sinful! Rome refused. Henry took matters into his own hands, declared himself Head of the Church in England and “married” Anne. He then ordered his friends and officials to sign a document declaring that they agreed he had acted rightly in the matter. Many of More’s friends signed, but More refused. Henry III demanded that he sign or face arrest, trial for treason, and execution by the state. More refused: he knew he had two obligations, one to God and one to his country. When they conflicted, More knew he had no choice but to remain faithful to his obligation to God. On his way to public execution in 1534, More encouraged the people to remain steadfast in the Faith. His last recorded words were: “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” — Today’s Gospel reminds us of our dual citizenship. We are citizens of the world and citizens of Heaven. We have an allegiance and an obligation to each. We hope the obligations will never clash. But if they ever do, we must resolve them as Thomas More did, without compromise to our God or to our conscience. (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). https://youtu.be/ODejZPHC9vU (Quoted by Fr. Don in Lectiotube) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) Caesar and God: In his Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy, the newly-elected President of the United States, gave the famous challenge: “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking God’s blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.” — If we personalized Kennedy’s statement it would read, “Don’t ask, ‘What can my country do for me?’ Instead ask, ‘What can I do for my country?’” And add, “Don’t ask, ‘What can God do for me?’ Instead ask, ‘What can I do for God?’” Today’s Gospel lesson gives the correct answer. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) Honesty and Trigonometry: Dr. Madison Sarratt taught Mathematics at Vanderbilt University for many years. Before giving a test, the professor would admonish his class, “Today I am giving two examinations—one in trigonometry and the other in honesty. I hope you will pass them both, fulfilling your obligations to your teacher and to your God. If you fail, fail for trigonometry. There are many good people in the world who can’t pass trigonometry, but there are 4
not many people in the world who cannot pass the examination of honesty, the debt we owe to God.” — This piece of advice sounds like what Jesus said in today’s Gospel: “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar — and to God what belongs to God.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) The Church and state in the first century AD:In the famous Letter to Diognetus, composed around the middle of the second century A.D., wise and timeless principles are suggested: “Christians, neither by country, nor language, nor customs, are distinguished from other people. Living in Greece and other barbarian cities, as it happened, each one must adapt oneself to the customs of the place, in clothing, food, and rest. They witness to a way of wonderful and undoubtedly paradoxical social life. They live in their homeland, but as strangers; they participate in everything as citizens and are detached from all things as foreigners. Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is foreign. They marry like everyone else and have children, but do not throw newborn babies away. They share their meals, but not the bed. They dwell in the land, but they have their citizenship in heaven. They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws. To put it short, as the soul is in the body, so are Christians in the world” (Letter to Diognetus, The Manners of the Christians V, VI, 1).
Introduction: The common theme of today’s readings is the nature of our obligations to God and to our country. The readings show us how, with God’s help, we can be ideal citizens of both earth and Heaven. In the first reading and in the Gospel, a world superpower is matched up against the Kingdom of God. Isaiah the prophet foretells how, not by Cyrus’ conscious intention, his policies as Persian Emperor, would become part of God’s saving plan for His chosen people. The words of the Responsorial Psalm, (Ps 96) “Say among the nations: The Lord is King,” summon all Israel, all the nations and all creation to acknowledge and praise God as King of the universe. The Psalm reminds us that when people put God’s Kingdom first, everyone benefits. In the second reading, referring to Jesus as “our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul acknowledges Jesus as One who shares Divine power with God the Father. Paul reminds his Thessalonians that it was God Who chose them to live in Him and gave them the power to produce the “work of Faith … labor of Love and endurance of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before God our Father.” It is for this reason that Paul praises his converts in Thessalonica, assuring them, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers.” In the Gospel, Jesus escapes from the trap in the question, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” by stating, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” By this answer, Jesus reminds His questioners that if they are that concerned and careful about paying taxes to the state, they should be much more concerned and careful about their service to God and their obligations to Him as their Creator and Lord. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
The first reading (Isaiah 45:1, 4-6) explained: The Cyrus mentioned here is Cyrus II, the Great, who founded the Persian Empire. In 539 B.C., he conquered the Babylonians who had defeated the Jews 50 years earlier and had taken many of them into captivity. He decided to liberate the Jews from their exile and allow them to go back to their home country, Judea. In this passage, the prophet Isaiah declares that Cyrus, even though a pagan, was God’s instrument. The amazing fact is that God actually used Cyrus to restore His people to their homeland. God is able and willing to use ungodly powers to achieve His ends because He is the God not only of the Jews, but of history and of the whole world. Hence, He anointed Cyrus as a savior of His people. Cyrus carried out God’s plan by setting the Jewish exiles free and giving them permission to go back to Judah to rebuild their Temple and city. He also returned to them the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple. And that is how a pagan emperor became, in God’s hand, the instrument by means of whom the people of Israel might return to their Promised Land. This passage also contains a new theological idea. To call this pagan king, “Messiah” or “Christos” meaning “the Lord’s anointed” (a title given exclusively to the kings, prophets, and priests of the Chosen People), was quite revolutionary. Like other passages from Isaiah, it was meant to challenge the Jews’ parochialism and give them a more universal view of God’s concern and plan.
The Second Reading, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 explained: Bible scholars believe that this letter, addressed to the new Jewish and the Gentile Christians of northern Greece (Thessalonica), is the earliest document of the whole New Testament, written in Corinth in A.D. 50. There was more Faith, Hope, and Charity among the Thessalonians than Paul could credit to his own preaching; the Holy Spirit was clearly at work. Along with 1 Thes 5:8, this is the earliest mention in Christian literature of the three “theological virtues” (see 1 Cor 13:13). From today’s text it is clear that these people worked hard at being Christians, and that Saint Paul thought that praiseworthy. Hence, he praised his converts for their fidelity to God and to Christ, assuring them of his prayers. He hoped that they would continue to be faithful to the call God had given them, a call proved by the many gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed on them.
Gospel exegesis: The context: The Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians were the three prominent Jewish sects of Jesus’ day. The Pharisees were rabid nationalists, totally anti-Roman, while the Herodians were willing to collaborate with the Romans, hoping to benefit from them. Together with the chief priests, these three groups accused Jesus of “associating” with sinners and challenged his authority to teach in the Temple. The three “parables of judgment” were Jesus’ calculated reply to their accusations. After the first two parables, “the chief priests and the Pharisees … realized that he was speaking about them” (21:45-46). Hence, they resumed their counter-attack in an attempt to destroy Jesus’ influence with the people, either by discrediting him in the presence of the crowds or by causing him to make statements that would get him into trouble with the Romans. The question put to Jesus in verse 17 is actually the first in a series of four “test questions” recorded in Mt 22:15-46. Besides today’s question on the legality of paying taxes, there are three other questions – two asked by the Sadducees and Pharisees to Jesus and one asked by Jesus himself. First, the Sadducees ask Jesus’ opinion on the details of the resurrection of the dead (vv. 23-28) and Jesus’ response silences them. Second, the Pharisees ask Him what the greatest commandment is (vv. 34-39, and Jesus’ answer silence them as well. While they were conferring among themselves, Jesus set for them the problem of the relationship between the Messiah and King David, asking them, “What is your opinion about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” When they answered, “David’s,” Jesus responded, “How, then, does David, inspired by the Spirit, call Him ‘Lord,’ saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand until I place Your enemies under Your feet’?” (vv. 41-45). They had no answer, and that ended their test questions.
The tax issue: The Jews were forced to pay three types of tax to the Roman Emperor: the ground tax, the income tax, and the census tax or poll tax. As ground tax, a man must pay to the government one tenth of the grain and one fifth of the oil and wine which he produced. This tax was paid partly in kind and partly in money equivalent. There was income tax which was 1% of a man’s income. There was a census, or poll tax. This tax, which amounted to one denarius, must be paid yearly for every male person from the age of fourteen to the age of sixty-five and for every female person from the age of twelve to sixty-five. This question concerned the census/poll tax. A census tax implied that, if one were a citizen, one owed the money to the Emperor. The Jews believed that they had the Lord God as their only Ruler, and so Taxes, or any form of submission, should be made to Yahweh alone. Hence, the question which the Pharisees asked Jesus was intended to create a very real dilemma for him. If he were to say that it was unlawful to pay the tax, the Herodians and their allies would report him to the Roman officials, who would then arrest him as a revolutionary. If he were to say that it was lawful to pay the tax, the insurgents and their supporters would turn against him and he would be discredited in the eyes of the people who were against paying taxes to a pagan emperor. In other words, to state that tax should be paid would have made Jesus appear a traitor to his country, while a denial would have left him behind the bars as an enemy of Rome. “The trap thus consisted in putting together an alliance of convenience [Pharisees and Herodians] in which both would ask Yeshua’s opinion, hoping his response would alienate him from one group or another.” (Jewish New Testament Commentary, p. 65)
Defense as Challenge: Jesus defeated their scheme by asking his challengers to show him “the coin of tribute” – the coin they would give to the tax-gatherer. In those days, all secular money was thought to belong to the Emperor. [The Temple had its own coinage, not used in paying secular debts.] Thus, the Emperor’s image was on each secular coin. The money belonged to him and he simply permitted people to use it. (“Jewish Palestine circulated its own copper coins, omitting the image of the deified emperor, which was offensive to Jewish tastes … But foreign coins, which bore the emperor’s image and mention of his divine status, were in common circulation in Palestine, where neither gold nor silver coins were permitted to be struck. The [Roman] silver denarius … was required to pay taxes in Palestine, as elsewhere in the Empire, and Jewish people had to use it, whether they liked it or not1]. Revolutionaries in A.D. 6 had violently protested the use of such coins and incurred terrible Roman retaliation. If Jesus’ questioners here are concerned about paying Roman taxes, they obviously ought not to be carrying this coin!” (IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, pp.105-106). By having a Roman coin in their possession, complete with Caesar’s image and Caesar’s inscription, the challengers had already shown where their loyalties lay. They had, in effect, answered their own question. Jesus, rather than answering their question directly, asked them a question, thus turning their trap inside out and upside down: “Whose image (eikon in Greek) and inscription are these?” (The census tax was paid with a denarius coin, which contained the image of the Emperor on one side with the inscription “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus”—and on the other his title “Pontifex Maximus” (high priest). Thus, Caesar claimed not only political sovereignty but also Divine attributes. Therefore, the Jews considered the image idolatrous and the inscription blasphemous. Since no Pharisee would possess this coin, it had to be a Herodian who carried this coin onto the Temple Mount and showed it to Jesus). “Caesar’s,” they said. “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar — and to God what belongs to God.” In other words, we give to the Emperor the coin because his image is on it, and we give to God our own selves because we are created in the image of God (Gn 1:26).
Jesus’ answer acknowledges our obligation as citizens to the state but affirms our larger obligation to God. Both the state and God require certain loyalties from us, but we owe God our very lives. The question Jesus was asked could have been phrased, “Whose side are you on? Israel’s or Rome’s?” Jesus’ answer was, “On God’s side,” in other words, taxes are Caesar’s, so pay them; but your heart and your soul are Yahweh’s; give those to God! (If the image of Caesar stamped on a coin means that the coin belongs to Caesar, then the image of God stamped on each human being means that each one belongs to God). The Catechism of the Catholic Church clarifies: If that authority serves the common good of the people, then the choice of the type of political regime is left up to the citizenry (CCC #1901). When the demands of an authority violate the upright conscience of the people, (e.g., when that authority “legalizes” immorality, i.e., abortion, euthanasia, cloning, etc.) the refusal of obedience is acceptable (CCC #2242). (CCC #1897-1917: participation in the social sphere; CCC # 2238-2244: duties of citizens).
Dual citizenship and dual obligations: This doctrine is sometimes called the “doctrine of the two powers,” or the “two realms,” meaning that the life of a Christian involves a twofold allegiance: to the ruling government in civil and secular issues, and to God and the Church as regards spiritual and religious issues. By birth or naturalization, we become the citizens of the country of our birth, and by Baptism we become the citizens of Heaven. In every age, Christians are faced with balancing the demands of Caesar with the commands of God. Jesus’ answer forms the guiding principle in solving the problems that arise from our dual citizenship, belonging to God and to our country. As Christians, we are to obey the government, even when it is pagan and non-Christian. A loyal Christian is always a loyal citizen. Failure in good citizenship is also failure in Christian duty. We fulfill our duties to our country by loyally obeying the just laws of the State, by paying all lawful taxes, and by contributing our share, whenever called on, toward the common good. Both St. Peter (1 Pt 2:13-14), and St. Paul (Rom 13:1-7), stressed the obligation of the early Christians to be an example to all in their loyalty as citizens of the state. Similarly, we fulfill our duties to God by being faithful, loyal, active members of the spiritual Kingdom of God, the Church, which Christ established on earth. Thus, a real Christian is, at one and the same time, a good citizen of his country and a good citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, but his priority is his allegiance to God. As the famous martyr St. Thomas More said of himself: “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” Cooperation with secular authority may not interfere with our primary duty of “giving back to God” our whole selves, in whose image – like the stamp on the coin – we are made. Consequently, we give taxes to the government, but we give ourselves to God.
The modern approach: As citizens in a multicultural, multi-religious country, we respect other religious traditions. We take care not to mix religion and politics. Americans tend to see in Jesus’ answer an argument for the separation of Church and state with the presumed slogan: ‘Priests, stick to the sacristy’. But such an idea made no sense in first-century Mediterranean culture. (Hence as a faithful Jewish believer, what Jesus was saying in his reply was: “Give to Cæsar what belongs to Cæsar (i.e., his material coin, nothing) and give to God what belongs to God (i.e., his very being – everything). It is true that there are times when the demand for the separation of Church and state appears to leave our civil life without moral direction, but we, who belong to Jesus, have in His Church an unchanging moral compass and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to shape our lives. In our fidelity to God, then, we model for our brothers and sisters the loving, humble mutual, loving service, flowing from our union with and worship of the Living God in His own Church, in which alone, the world will find His Peace. Further, the experience of two thousand years of political history since the time of Jesus makes it clear that combining Church and State jeopardizes civil liberty as well as religious freedom.
Modern Caesars, represented by rulers who are, in effect, Dictators, demand our faith and moral practice, our hopes and dreams, our consciences, our labor, our children. In a democracy, the citizens do not serve the state — the state serves the people. The elected government officials are public servants. Hence Christians, like other citizens, are free to criticize their government, to seek to change its policies, to remove officeholders whose representation is invalid, and to seek new benefits and protections for the welfare of the people. Our political liberty also secures our freedom from religious tyranny and unwonted political interference in religious matters. 11
There is no reason why the state and the Church cannot work together to improve the lives of their citizens. There is usually no conflict — unless the government forces people to act in a way contrary to God’s law. Then we must act in accordance with God’s law and not man’s because, while the state only exists in this world, God’s law exists in this world and the next. This means that sometimes we have to refuse to obey our government. In South Africa’s apartheid system, many Christians were forced to violate the immoral laws of their government. In the United States, both black and white people violated the segregation laws of many states. Wherever there is immoral or unjust behavior, there has to be conflict, which paves the ground for society’s progress. (CCC # 1897-1917: participation in the social sphere; CCC # 2238-2244: duties of citizens).
Life messages:1) We need to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”: How? Like it or not, it’s a reality that our ancestors created the kind of government that relies on a portion of its citizens’ income to function. Hence, 1) it is the duty of Christians to pay for the services and the privileges that government provides –- like paved roads, police and fire departments, banks, schools, and other necessities. If we refuse to pay taxes, how will these needs be fulfilled? 2) Another way of “giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s” is to participate actively in the running of the government, electing the most suitable candidates, and influencing them through frequent contacts. 3) We must submit to the civil authorities and respect the laws of our country in order to live in peace. As loyal citizens, we must also see to it that our elected representatives are faithful in maintaining law and order in the country and in promoting the welfare of its citizens. When the state oversteps the mark and puts itself in the place of God, Christians are, as a last resort, absolved from obedience. We must give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and not the things that are God’s. We must “obey God rather than human beings.”
2) We need to “give to God what is God’s”: How?Since everything is God’s, we must give ourselves to Him 100%, not just 10% on Sundays. We should be generous in fulfilling our Sunday obligations, and we should find time every day for prayer and worship in the family, for the reading of the Bible, and for the proper training of our children in Faith and morals. St. Augustine teaches that when we truly succeed in “giving to God what is God’s,” we are “doing justice to God.” This requires that we return to God, with dividends, that which God has entrusted to us, remembering that we are mere managers or stewards of God’s gifts. Every year, we are invited to make the stewardship pledge of our financial offering to our local Church for the coming year. Our contribution to the parish Church should be an expression of our gratitude to God, giving back to God all that He has given us. This will help us to combat the powerful influence of materialism in our lives and enable the Church to do God’s work. Our cash offerings signify our commitment to the ministries of the Gospel, which are the activities of the Risen Lord! Every pledge fulfilled enables and empowers ministry. Every pledge fulfilled, every dollar contributed, touches a human life and brings it closer to God. Every pledge fulfilled, every dollar given, is transformed into love for someone else and for ourselves. Active participation in the various ministries of the parish is the offering to God of our time and talents, yet another way of giving to God his due, our whole self.
We need to check our heart’s investments: When Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” the command really asks us whether we have invested our heart in the right place, in something worthy of our life’s blood, something that will yield a return that’s worthy of a whole human life. There is only one way to find out where our hearts are. Let us check our daily choices, the little ones as well the big ones, and look for the patterns: What do we usually do when decision time comes for where we will spend our prime time and our best energies? These are the infallible indicators of what we truly value, and what we don’t. Whose image do others see when they look at our life? When people see us, do they see Jesus engraved upon us? To the extent that they do, we are making visible the extent to which we belong to the Kingdom of God.
JOKES OF THE WEEK: 1) No dues to God: A prosperous farmer was miserly in what he gave to his Church. So, his pastor went to visit him with the hope of getting him to increase his donation. The pastor pointed out to him that the Lord had given him a fertile piece of land and had blessed him with sunshine and rain so that his crops would grow. The priest added, “You know, this farm 13
and everything you have is really on loan to you from God. You should be more grateful.” The farmer replied, “I don’t mean to complain, Father, but you should have seen what a mess this place was when God was running it by Himself!”
2) Journey to God with a parcel of Caesar: There once was a wealthy man who was determined to take his wealth with him when he died. He prayed and prayed until he convinced the Lord to let him bring his wealth inside the Pearly Gates. There was one condition: He could only bring one suitcase of his wealth with him. Therefore, the rich man filled his suitcase with gold bullion. Then one day, he died. St. Peter greeted him at the gate and told him he could come in, but his suitcase would have to be left behind. “But I have an agreement with God,” said the man, “to bring one suitcase into heaven.” “That’s very unusual,” replied St. Peter. “Let me look inside that suitcase.” The man opened the suitcase to reveal the shining gold bullion. St. Peter was amazed. He asked, “Why in the world did you bring more paving stones to heaven when we have already finished Heaven’s flooring with pure gold and beautiful diamonds?”
3) Remember the movie, “Oh, God!” with George Burns? In that movie, the idea was mentioned that the reason God gave Adam and Eve no clothes to wear was because God knew that once they had clothes, they would want pockets. Once they had pockets, they would want money.
4) “Will the Reverend also have a martini?” A pious pastor who had been a teetotaler all his life, was invited to dinner by a new parishioner. “Would you gentlemen care for a drink?” the waiter asked. “I’ll have a Martini,” said the parishioner. “Will the Reverend also have a martini?” the waiter asked. “I’d sooner break all Ten Commandments,” said the pastor. “I didn’t know we had a choice!,” said the parishioner. — In today’s Gospel Lesson, the Pharisees ask Jesus a question involving choice.
1) Value of one vote: We have all learned the value of our vote. It’s a lesson we need to be taught again and again. Look at history: One vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of all England in 1645. One vote in the Rump Parliament caused King Charles I of England to be executed in 1649. Had it not been for one vote in 1776, the official language in the United States would be German instead of English. One vote kept Aaron Burr – later charged with treason – from becoming President (1800). Had it not been for one vote in 1845, the state of Texas would not have become part of the United States. One vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment (1868). One vote admitted California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho into the Union. (1850, 1850, 1889, 1890). One vote changed the entire nation of France from a monarchy to a republic in 1875. One vote elected Rutherford B. Hayes to the Presidency, and the man in the Electoral College who cast that vote was an Indiana Representative also elected by one vote (1876). It was by one vote that in 1923 Adolph Hitler became the leader of the Nazi party, an event which later resulted in the slaughter of six million Jews, among others; had it not been for that one vote, World War II with all its pain and death might never have taken place. One vote maintained the Selective Service System only 12 weeks before Pearl Harbor (1941). One vote per precinct would have elected Richard Nixon, rather than John Kennedy, President (1960). One vote by Al Gore in 1993 approved the largest tax increase in U.S. history. — These events clearly show that our exercise of the right to vote can make a tremendous difference. When we use our right to vote we are giving our dues to Caesar as Jesus commanded. “I am only one, but I am one. I can’t do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will.” (Edward Everett Hale). That should be the attitude of every Christian citizen. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) True Integrity: the dues we owe to God and our country.Mr. Cleveland Stroud had coached the basketball team, the Blue-Collar Bulldogs, of Rockdale County High School (Conyers, Georgia, USA.), for 18 years before his team made it to the state championship. Stroud recalls, “It was the perfect night when they won, a night you dream of.” He was carried around the gym on the shoulders of his triumphant players and their proud parents. The local paper put his picture on the front page. But the excitement was short-lived. Two months after the championship, during a routine grade check, Stroud discovered that one player had been academically ineligible. The player had only played 45 seconds during the regional qualifying tournament, and he wasn’t an important player. Stroud says, “I thought it was all ruined. I went through a phase where I was really depressed.” He struggled with what to do next. Yet, his commitment to integrity led him to the right decision. “Winning is the most important thing for any coach,” he says, “but your principles have to be higher than your goals.” He reported the error to the league and the Bulldogs forfeited their trophy. — When the team lamented their loss in the locker room, he told them, “You’ve got to do what is honest, what is right, and what the rules say. That’s how we pay to God what’s His. People forget the scores of basketball games, but they don’t ever forget what you are made of” (In Touch Magazine, January 1999). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) “Large-scale gangs of criminals!” St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Church patriarch, was the Church’s greatest theologian in the tradition of justice. In both his Confessions and The City of God, the theme of justice is a recurring one. While he denied that social justice was necessary simply to maintain order, Augustine, the expert rhetorician, also wryly noted, in words that have become famous, “Remove justice, and what are kingdoms but large-scale gangs of criminals!” — In his commentary on today’s Gospel text, Augustine immediately focuses on the real point of Jesus’ words “giving to God what is God’s.” Augustine insists that when we truly succeed in “giving to God what is God’s,” we are, in his words, “doing justice to God.” Doing justice to God requires that we return to God, with 18
4) “Caesar died a long time ago.”A father was trying to teach his fifth-grade son the value of tithes and offerings. The boy listened attentively, and then he went on to say, “I still don’t understand why you have to pay taxes.” To this the father replied, “Because the Bible says we must give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and unto God what belongs to God.” — His son looked puzzled. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Dad. Caesar died a long time ago.” (Rev. Jeff Hughes). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) Luciano Pavarotti says that when he was a boy, his father, a baker, introduced him to the wonders of song. He urged him to work hard to develop his voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in his hometown of Modena, Italy, took him as a pupil. Pavarotti also enrolled in a Teachers College. On graduating, he asked his father, “Shall I be a teacher or a singer?” “Luciano,” his father replied, “if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.” — Pavarotti, later in life wrote: “I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book–whatever we choose–we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) “Do you go to Church every Sunday?” A young lady was soaking up the sun’s rays on a Florida beach when a little boy in his swimming trunks, carrying a towel, came up to her and asked her, “Do you believe in God?” She was surprised by the question, but she replied, “Why, yes, I do.” Then he asked her: “Do you go to Church every Sunday?” Again, her answer was “Yes!” He then asked: “Do you read your Bible and pray every day?” Again, she said, “Yes!” By now her curiosity was very much aroused. The little lad sighed with relief and said, “Will you hold my quarter while I go in swimming?” –The little boy was straightforward and honest in his questions because he wanted to entrust to the lady something valuable. The Pharisees are not being honest. They have no intention of entrusting anything to Jesus. They are not looking for the answer to a question. 19
They don’t want someone to hold their quarter. They are looking for a way to get rid of this trouble-making Nazarene named Jesus. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…” Some years ago in a U.S. District Court, I had the privilege of participating in a naturalization ceremony. Some sixty foreign-born persons were ready to take their citizenship vows. Every place on earth was represented. They reminded me of that old Coca-Cola commercial, “I want to teach the world to sing.” These sixty folks had waited five years for this day. They had learned the language, studied the nation’s laws, and passed a test and a security check. Behind them sat several hundred proud relatives with cameras. An Army color guard marched in with the flag. Then a soloist sang the National Anthem and God Bless America. The guest speaker was himself a naturalized citizen. Today he is a vice-president of a bank. His very presence spoke volumes about the American dream. Finally, the new citizens stood to take their vows. But before they could do so, they first had to renounce their previous citizenship, whatever it was. Then all together, with tears flowing down their cheeks, they declared, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…” — I want to declare to you today that we Christians hold dual citizenship. Simultaneously, we are citizens of America and also citizens of the Kingdom of God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) “We are ‘one nation, under God,…’” Not long ago in Blackwood, New Jersey, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the senior class could not have a non-sectarian prayer at commencement. The senior class had voted to offer this prayer: “Please bless us in the future and thank you for the blessings of the past. God keep a watchful eye on us in the future. Amen.” The court backed the ACLU’s contention that the prayer was unconstitutional. But surely our constitution’s authors did not mean to prohibit 17- and 18-year-olds from saying such a prayer if they elected to do so. The principal of that high school did have the last word. —- At the end of his commencement speech he declared, “God bless you and God bless the United States of America!” Immediately the students jumped to their feet and applauded. We are not “one nation without 20
a God.” We are not “one nation afraid to name our God.” We are “one nation under God.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) We have something as Christians to render to God as well as something to render to Caesar! American heritage is full of Christian influence. When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, they paused to write the Mayflower Compact, the first law of American shores. It reads in part: “In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten … having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith … a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia….” George Washington, in his first presidential inauguration, added to his oath, “So help me God” and then kissed the Bible. (It is disputed if George Washington added the words “So help me God” to the oath or somebody else). Benjamin Franklin, in 1778 at the Constitutional Convention, made motion that proceedings each day be opened with prayer. He said, “I have lived for a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured by the Holy Scriptures, ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain to build it.’ I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall proceed in this political building no better than the founders of Babel.” Every Presidential inaugural speech, save one, has mentioned God. Our coins have In God We Trust on them. The Ten Commandments are mostly still in our law books, forbidding theft, lying, murder, and such. Congress is still opened with prayer. George Washington, in his farewell address, said: “The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. As morality’s foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related.” — So, you see, politics and religion can and have mixed in our nation’s past. The fact is, as Jesus did say, we have something as Christians to render to God, as well as something to render to Caesar! (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) Things we owe to God? (“Give to God what is God’s”): Our gifts to God are a response to His loving gift to us of our very being, for starters. This means that we give out of gratitude for what God has already done on our behalf, not in order to get something back, nor because we hope to receive special favor in return. But there are 21
some Churches that foster the idea that if we give a lot to the Church, then God will make us prosperous in our lives – a “Prosperity Gospel”, as it were. In order to see how ludicrous such theology is, all we have to do is look at what happened to Christ’s disciples who gave themselves fully to his cause. Matthew suffered martyrdom by the sword in Ethiopia. Mark died at Alexandria after being dragged through the streets of that city. Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece. Peter was crucified at Rome with, at his own request, his head downward. James was beheaded at Jerusalem. James the Lesser was thrown from a pinnacle of the Temple and beaten to death below. Philip was hanged against a pillar in Phrygia. Bartholomew was flayed alive. Andrew was bound to a cross, from whence he preached to his persecutors until he died. Thomas was stabbed to death by Hindu fanatics in Madras, India. Jude was shot to death with arrows. Matthias was first stoned and then beheaded. Barnabas was stoned to death at Salonica. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, was executed by beheading in Nero’s reign and John, leading the Church in Ephesus, was arrested during the reign of Diocletian, and was condemned. He was plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil from which he miraculously emerged unhurt. He was then banished to the island of Patmos. In his oldest age, he was set free, returned to Ephesus and died peacefully in his sleep. His whole life was his gift to God. (“How did John the apostle die?” www/gotquestions.org). — Yet, every one of them considered his sufferings and death a privilege! (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11) The Christian and Politics: Christians should not shirk public office, but see it as a chance to serve their fellow men and women and thereby God. The Pharisees opted out of real life and kept themselves apart. The result was a vain religiosity which had little or nothing to do with daily life. Dag Hammarskjöld was Secretary General of the UN. When he died in a plane crash in central Africa in 1961 at the age of fifty-six, the world lost a great servant of peace. He was that rare person for whom public service is not simply a career or a means of achieving power but a religious vocation, a way of being faithful to God. He drew inspiration from the Old Testament prophets. He said, “Indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, and in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” Gandhi is another example of a deeply religious man who involved himself in politics. He said, “I’m in politics because I cannot separate life from belief. Because I believe in God, I have to enter politics. Politics is my service of God.” And Nelson Mandela is yet another example. Mandela tells how when he began to get interested in politics a friend tried to warn him off, saying, “Politics brings out the worst in people. It is the source of trouble and corruption and should be avoided at all costs.” Fortunately for South Africa and for the world, Mandela ignored his advice. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s: There is a story about a minister who in the early part of the last century was asked to give the Memorial Day address at the national cemetery in Gettysburg, PA. Like most of the speakers in previous years, he felt a need to conclude his talk by reciting Lincoln’s famous address. The minister thought that the speech had gone well, but afterwards an old man came forward and said to him, “Son, you’ve made an awful mess of Lincoln’s speech.” Taken aback, the minister said, “How so? I didn’t miss a word. Look, here are my notes.” “Oh, I don’t need your notes,” said the man, “I know it by heart. You see I heard it the first time around.” The minister then realized that this man had been present when Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. So the minister asked, “How did my recitation differ from that of the great President?” The old man said, “Abe put his hands out over the people like a benediction and said, ‘That the government of the people, by the people and for the people, should not perish from the earth.’ You got the words right,” the old man said, “but you got the emphasis wrong and you missed the message. You emphasized government. Lincoln talked about people.” — When government seeks to provide for the just welfare of its citizens, it is doing the work of God. (Fr. Joseph Pellegrino). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) “I love my country but there is a higher authority – God!” Franz Jaggerstatter was born in Austria and was brought up a Catholic. He was an ordinary, unremarkable young man; however, at some stage he suddenly matured. He became very responsible and began to take religion seriously. By this time the Second World War was raging. At thirty-six he was called up to serve Hitler’s army. He refused to join up. “I cannot join because I believe that this war is not a just war. Therefore, it would be wrong for me to join up. It would be against my conscience,” he said. “But where’s your loyalty to your people, to your country, to your flag?” his friends protested. Franz replied, “I love my people and I love my country. But there’s a higher law – God’s law. And God’s law tells me that this war is wrong.” It wasn’t that he wanted to die. He had a lot to live for — his family and friends. He was arrested and put into prison. Then further efforts were made to get him to change his mind. Even his wife begged him to reconsider his decision, to no avail. Franz was beheaded on August 9, 1943. He felt he was obeying the words of Christ: “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) “Is Pat Murray on board?” We all laugh at the reputed story of Pat Murray at the Battle of Trafalgar. His version of the Battle was as follows: “Lord Nelson came on deck and said ‘Is Pat Murray on board?’ And I said, ‘Here I am, me Lord.’ Then said his lordship, ‘Let the battle proceed.’“ –And yet, while this was written for a joke, there is more to it than we are apt to think. For, had it not been for the Pat Murrays, or John Joneses or Tom Smiths and others who were on hand doing their duty, there would have been no victories for the Nelsons, Wellingtons, Napoleons, or Grants, who now live in history as great commanders. – When Christians properly discharge their dues to God and to their government, the country and God’s cause prosper. (A.W. Graham in More Quotes and Anecdotes; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
15) Spiritual Foundations: The Great Wall of China was a gigantic structure, costing immense expenditure and labour, and when finished it seemed a superb way to gain security; but within a few years of its building, it was breached three times by the enemy. Only note — it was breached, not by breaking down the wall but by bribing the gatekeepers! — It was the human element that failed; what collapsed was character, proving insufficient to do the task necessary to make the great structure men had built really work. – A like fate awaits all those who, absorbed in political tasks, forget the spiritual foundation. (Quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) Give back to God…Theologian Jon Sobrino published a book Spirituality of Liberation: Towards Political Holiness. A political holiness is what the Church badly needs. I sense that we have too much of “Church Politics” and too little of a “political Church.” There’s politicking present in demands for ecclesiastical appointments, but hardly any interest in burning issues facing society and the Church. The current issue of granting concessions to Dalit-Christians (former untouchables) in India is significant. Is this a political or a religious question? — I frame the question differently: “Is there anything which is not political? Or anything which is not religious?” Evidently, everything belongs to God. Let us give back to God even what belongs to Caesar. (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Gospel Deeds; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) Separation of Church and state:“One nation under God” is in the Pledge of Allegiance. A Ten Commandments monument is in a local courthouse. A Manger Scene is on the town common. “In God we trust” is on our currency. What do you think of when you hear those things? For millions of Americans it’s the following: “YOU CAN’T DO THAT! THAT’S A VIOLATION OF THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!” But is it? Is that true? Is it really unconstitutional to pray or hand out Bibles in school? Is it really wrong for politicians to form their views based on their Faith? Is it wrong for the state to give Churches “Tax Exempt Status”? Let me get straight to the point and say NO! No, it’s not wrong, no it’s NOT unconstitutional, No, this is NOT a violation of the separation of Church and State! But what about all those who say “YES! Yes, it is wrong, yes, it is unconstitutional and yes, it is a violation!” Three statements to remember: 1) Separation of Church and State does not mean that the Church must stay out of the affairs of government and public life. IT MEANS THAT THE STATE IS TO STAY OUT OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH! 2) Those who tell you otherwise are either blatantly dishonest or they simply do not know, understand, or care about the history of the United States of America! 3) This is an organized attempt primarily being carried out by those who have contempt for Christ, hate the Bible, and despise the influence the Church has had on Western Culture, and they are literally willing to rewrite history in order to demonize the Christian Church. — That being said, can we close early and go home? I mean, what else is there to say? No! This morning we are going to look at what America has believed traditionally, and we will also take a look at what the 25
Scriptures say about the role of the Church and government. (Rev. Michael Grant). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
18) Tax Day, it is also the day the Titanic was sunk and the day Lincoln was shot. It’s still a long time until April 15th, and I don’t mean to remind you of that prematurely, but did you know that April 15th is not only Income Tax Day? It is also the day the Titanic was sunk, and the day Lincoln was shot. You see, it is just a bad day all the way around! Someone said once, “You may not agree with every department of the government, but you really have to hand it to the IRS!” Another cynic has said, “Death and taxes may always be with us, but at least death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” Arthur Godfrey once said, “I feel honored to pay taxes in America. The thing is, I could probably feel just as honored for about half the price.” Someone also once said that the Eiffel Tower is the Empire State Building after taxes. Most people don’t enjoy paying taxes. We just do it. — Well, the people had to pay taxes in Jesus’ time, too. Even worse, they had to pay them to a government they despised — Rome. Today’s Gospel is about our duties to God and our nation. (Rev. Edward F. Markquart) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
19) Rockefeller started giving to God His due and lived: That was a lesson learned by John D. Rockefeller, Sr. He drove himself hard to be a success. He became a millionaire by the age of twenty-three and by the age of fifty was the richest man on earth. Then at fifty-three years of age, Rockefeller developed a serious illness which caused the hair on his head, his eyebrows, and eyelashes to drop off. Even though he was the world’s only billionaire and could have almost anything on earth he wanted, he could only digest milk and crackers. He became shrunken like a mummy. He could not sleep, would not smile, and nothing in life meant much to him at all. Doctors predicted that within a year he would be dead. — One night, however, as Rockefeller struggled to fall asleep, he came to grips with his life. He realized that he could take nothing with him into the next world. The next day he embarked on a new way of living. Rather than hoarding his money and possessions, he began to give them away to persons in need. Establishing the Rockefeller Foundation, he channeled his fortune into hospitals, research, and mission work. His contributions eventually led to the discovery of penicillin as well as cures for malaria, tuberculosis, and diphtheria. At age 53, Rockefeller 26
was given a year to live. By learning to live by the principle of giving rather than getting, he altered his life so dramatically that he eventually lived to the ripe old age of ninety-eight. (Rev. Edward F. Markquart) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
20) “To God What Is God’s”: St. Justin, a layman who died a martyr around the year 165, was born of Greek parents in Palestine, and was a philosopher by profession. His search for truth brought him into Christianity; and after his conversion he staunchly defended the Faith in speech, in writings and finally in blood. During a period of persecution, Justin, who had come to Rome, was arrested as a Christian along with several other believers. The prefect, Rusticus, after some initial questions, said to the Christians: “Let us come to the point … Agree together to offer sacrifice to the gods.” Justin the philosopher replied with dignity, “No one of sound mind turns from piety to impiety.” Rusticus warned: “If you do not obey, you will be punished without mercy.” Justin said, “We are confident that if we suffer the penalty for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved…” His companions concurred: “Do what you will. We are Christians, and we do not offer sacrifice to idols.” So Rusticus pronounced judgment: “Those who have refused to offer sacrifice and yield to the emperor’s edict are to be led away to be scourged and beheaded in accordance with the laws.” — Justin and his companions not only accepted the sentence, they thanked God for it. “… Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s but give to God what is God’s.” (Mt, 22:21. Gospel of the day). (Father Robert F. McNamara). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
21) Restoring the rights of God: The Rosary Saves Brazil from Communism, 1962-1964: The world was in a state of fear and confusion. Russia was trying to make headway in converting as many countries as possible to Communism under their rule. Impoverished nations with corrupt governments in turmoil were easy targets. Cuba had just fallen to the Soviets in 1960, and Brazil was another planned conquest. The president of Brazil, Joao Goulart, was pushing for a Communist form of government. He began to install known Communists into high governmental positions while at the same time dispatching representatives to convince the citizens that Communism was good for the country. With Catholicism still strong in the country, Cardinal de Barros Camara told people through a weekly radio 27
address that by following the directives of Our Lady of Fatima regarding prayer and penance, Brazil could overthrow the Communist threat. In a speech, President Goulart mocked the rosary, saying that governmental control, not reciting the prayers of the rosary, would save the economy from collapse. During this time, he was lining his pockets with dollars given to Brazil in foreign aid from the U.S. and other countries.
A Brazilian woman named Dona Amelia Bastos was very concerned about this imminent danger. Her husband belonged to a group of men called the Anti-Reds who were opposed to Communism in Brazil. One night Dona Amelia listened as the Anti-Reds discussed the threat facing their beloved country. She decided that she too could do something about it. Of her decision, she said, “I suddenly decided that politics had become too important to be left entirely to the men. Moreover, who has more at stake in what’s happening to our country than we women?” She immediately formed a group called Campaign of Women for Democracy (CAMDE) and started to recruit as many people as possible to pray the rosary in large groups to thwart the plan for Communist takeover. In a town called Belo Horizonte a group of 20,000 women reciting the rosary aloud broke up a pro-Communist rally. The success of this peaceful protest fed the impetus for the Catholic women to do more. With the help of Heaven and the strong influence of Archbishop Cardinal de Barros Camara, Dona Amelia recruited an amazing 600,000 women who marched in Sao Paulo to pray the rosary for peace. They called their protest, “March of the Family with God Toward Freedom.” under the declaration, “Mother of God, preserve us from the fate and suffering of the martyred women of Cuba, Poland, Hungary, and other enslaved nations.” Leone Brizola, a Communist high government official, left in a rage when his planned speech was thwarted by the rattling of 3000 rosaries and the murmuring of the prayers in the assembly hall. Not one life was lost in this most amazing peaceful anti-Communist protest, which is described by many witnesses as, “One of the most moving demonstrations in Brazilian History.” — Many more rosary rallies were held in major cities in spite of threats of military action against the crusading women. Under this mounting pressure, on April 1, 1964 President Goulart fled the country along with many members of the government. Let us pray the rosary to 28
22) How a Christian in today’s world can render to God the homage of truth.
When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard: “Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good”, but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!” The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In six short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea. Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, “The Rest of the Story” and received a larger response to this program than any other he has aired. — With the Lord’s help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called “one nation under God.” (Lectio Divina). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
23) “Billy, you are, and the Head Chief, Jesus, is holding your hand.” In Phoenix, Arizona, a 26-year-old mother stared down at the 6-year-old son who was dying of terminal leukemia. Although her heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of determination. Like any parent, she wanted her son to grow up and fulfill all his dreams. Now that was no longer possible! The leukemia 29
would see to that. But she still wanted her son’s dream to come true. She took her son’s hand and asked, “Billy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be once you grow up? Did you ever dream and wish what would you do with your life?” “Mommy, I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up.” Mom smiled back and said, “Let’s see if we can make your wish come true.” Later that day she went to her local Fire Department in Phoenix, Arizona, where she met Fireman Bob, who had a heart as big as Phoenix. She explained her son’s final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her 6-year-old son a ride around the block on a fire engine. Fireman Bob said, “Look, we can do better than that. If you have your son ready at seven o’clock Wednesday morning, we will make him an honorary Fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards! And if you give us his sizes, we can get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat – not a toy – one with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire Department on it, a yellow slicker like we wear and rubber boots. They’re all manufactured right here in Phoenix, so we can get them fast.” Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Billy, dressed him in his uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck. Billy got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station. He was in heaven. There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day and Billy got to go out on all three calls. He rode in the different fire engines, the Paramedic’s van and even the fire chief’s car. He was also videotaped for the local news program.
Having his dream come true, with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Billy, that he lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible. One night all his vital signs began to drop dramatically and the head nurse, who believed in the hospice concept that no one should die alone, began to call the family members to the hospital. Then she remembered the day Billy had spent as a Fireman, so she called the Fire Chief and asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Billy as he made his transition. The chief replied, “We can do better than that. We will be there in five minutes. Will you please do me a favor? When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire? It is the department coming to see one of its finest members one 30
more time. And will you open the window to his room?” About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital and extended its ladder up to Billy’s third floor open window — 16 fire-fighters climbed up the ladder into Billy’s room! With his mother’s permission they hugged him and held him and told him how much they LOVED him. With his dying breath, Billy looked up at the fire chief and said, “Chief, am I really a fireman now?” “Billy, you are, and the Head Chief, Jesus, is holding your hand”, the chief said. — With those words, Billy smiled and said, “I know. He’s been holding my hand all day, and the angels have been singing.” He closed his eyes one last time. (Lectio Divina). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
24) We Are Citizens of This World: In an invocation prayer at the United States Senate, Peter Marshall said, “Lord Jesus, Thou who art the Way, the Truth, and the Life, hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make men free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Make us to see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right.” — It is unthinkable that a Christian would not vote! It is unthinkable that Christians would not run for public office! It is unthinkable that Christians would withdraw from the responsibility of taking part in public life. The Christian has a responsibility to Caesar for all the privileges which the rule of Caesar brings. We are citizens of this world and must be good ones, if we are Christ’s disciples. Jerry L. Schmalenberger, When Christians Quarrel, CSS Publishing Co., Inc. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/). L/26
“Scriptural Homilies” Cycle A (No. 56) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com
Kindly visit my website by clicking on https://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Please contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. You may visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homiliesof Fr. Nick’s collection of homilies or Resources in the CBCI website: https://www.cbci.in. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html-which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020) My post-retirement U. S. postal address is Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. Joseph M. C. , St. Agatha Church, 1001 Hand Avenue, Bay Minette, Al, U.S.A. 36507
(The World Mission Sunday -206 homily is included as a separate homily in my website)
Oct 5-10: Oct 5 Monday:St. Faustina Kowalska,(Virgin); For a short biography, click onhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-maria-faustina-kowalska;Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, Priest (USA): Luke 10:25-37 (The Good Samaritan) emphasizes that true discipleship means radical, active love for God and neighbor, redefining “neighbor” as anyone in need, regardless of background, mirroring Christ’s compassion, and calls us to go beyond good intentions to concrete action, embodying mercy as Jesus did, with early Church Fathers seeing Christ as the ultimate Good Samaritan saving fallen humanity. It highlights that salvation comes through loving God and neighbor, as exemplified by the Samaritan’s selfless care, challenging our tribalism and urging us to “go and do likewise”.
Explanation: Love as the Core: The passage answers the lawyer’s question about eternal life by defining it as loving God and your neighbor as yourself (Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18). This love is not a feeling but an active choice to do good. Redefining “Neighbor”: Jesus shatters the lawyer’s narrow view (neighbor = fellow Jew) by making the despised Samaritan the hero. A neighbor is anyone in distress, showing that love transcends religious, ethnic, or social boundaries. Christ as the Good Samaritan: Early Church Fathers (Origen, Augustine) saw the parable allegorically: Man going down: All humanity, fallen from grace (Jerusalem to Jericho). Robbers: Satanic forces attacking humanity. Samaritan: Christ, moved by compassion, healing, and bringing us to the Church (the inn). Promise to return: Christ’s Second Coming. Action, Not Just Intention: The priest and Levite passed by, showing good intentions aren’t enough. The Samaritan’s practical, costly actions (oil, wine, lodging, money) demonstrate true faith. A Call to Be Merciful: The story is a direct command to extend mercy and compassion, becoming the hands and feet of Christ to the suffering in our world, seeing others with “compassionate eyes”.
Life messages:
1)See with Jesus’ Eyes: Look at others, especially the marginalized, with compassion, not judgment.
2)Act, Don’t Just Scroll By: Respond to suffering with tangible help, even when inconvenient.
3)Embrace the “Outsider”: Recognize that those outside our usual circles might be the ones God calls us to help most.
4)Love God Through Neighbor: Our love for God is proven by how we treat the wounded and forgotten. L/26
Oct 6 Tuesday;St. Bruno, Priest For a short biography, click on (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-bruno); Blessed Marie Rose Durocher, Virgin (USA): For a short biography, click onhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/blessed-marie-rose-durocher/) Lk 10:38-42: 38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; 42 one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”
The context: Today’s readings are about hospitality and the necessity of listening to God before acting. Jesus welcomed and tended to the needs of all, reflecting in His actions the very hospitality of God. All four Gospels recount Jesus’ welcoming and feeding of the multitudes of people who came to hear the Good News. The Gospel passage describes how Martha, a true child of Abraham, wanted to extend the traditional generous hospitality of her people to Jesus, the true Messiah, by preparing an elaborate meal, while her sister Mary spent her time in talking and listening to Jesus.
Jesus’ advice: The episode is also intended to teach us where we should place our priorities. Presenting Martha as a dynamo of action and Mary as a true listener to the word of God, today’s Gospel invites us to serve others with Martha’s diligence, after recharging our spiritual batteries every day by prayer, listening to God and talking to God as Mary did. We are able to minister truly to the needs of others only after welcoming God’s words into our hearts, minds, and living.
Life messages: 1) We need to recharge our spiritual batteries: Without the “fuel” of prayer, silence, and communion with God, service can become a crushing responsibility, a burden rather than a vocation, an annoyed grumbling rather than a response to the invitation of God.
2) We need listening Marthas and serving Marys: Martha has become a symbol of action-oriented, responsible people who get the job done. Our world needs such men, women, boys and girls who get the job done. This is certainly true in the Church where we need the active cooperation of many parishioners in its various ministries. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Oct 7 Wednesday:Our Lady of the Rosary: For a brief account, click on https://www.franciscanmedia.org/our-lady-of-the-rosary/Lk 1:26-38: This feast was established by Pope St. Pius V in thanksgiving for the victory at Lepanto, 7 Oct 1571, which stopped the Turkish invasion of Europe. Importance: The word Rosary means “Crown of Roses,” and each prayer in the Rosary is considered a flower presented to Mary. It is called the “Breviary of the Common People” and the “Psalms of the Illiterate” and “a compendium of the Gospel,” Pope Pius XII) The prayers we repeat are Biblical and hence “inspired,” and the mysteries we meditate upon are taken from the lives of Jesus and Mary. The “Our Father” is a prayer taught by Jesus Himself. The “Hail Mary” is also rooted in the Scriptures. Its first half echoes the words of the Archangel Gabriel and those of Elizabeth, both addressed to Mary. The rest of our petition, “Holy Mary, Mother of God,pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death” is added by the Church, seeking Mary’s intercession for all of us. The third prayer — the “Glory be to the Father….” — ancient in its wording, surely reflects the unceasing prayer of adoration and praise found in the Book of Revelation. The various events in the lives of Jesus and Mary on which we meditate during the Rosary are expressions of the Paschal Mystery, that is, the Life, Death, Resurrection, Ascension of Jesus to Heaven and Decent of the Holy Spirit, in which Mary shared.
History: Prayer using rosary beads is as old as mankind. The Hindus in India used to recite the thousand names of their gods and goddesses and their “mantra” prayers using multi-beaded rosaries, and their sages wear such rosaries around the neck, constantly rolling the beads in prayer. The Jews used beads to repeat the psalms, the Laws of Moses and the memorized sayings of the prophets. The Muslims use rosaries with a hundred beads for their prayer. In the ninth century, the Christian monks who recited the 150 psalms instructed the illiterate common people to recite the Our Father 150 times. It was in the eleventh century that the Europeans added the Hail Mary to the Our Father. In 1214, according to the legend, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic Guzman, founder of the Order of Preachers, commonly known now as the Dominicans and instructed him to pray the Rosary in a new form as an effective antidote against the Albigensian heresy. The Rosary devotion attained its present form around 1500 A.D. An additional boost to the Rosary devotion was given in 1917, when our Blessed Mother, in her sixth apparition to the three shepherd children, on the thirteenth of May, asked them to, “Say the Rosary every day… Pray, pray a lot and offer sacrifices for sinners… I am Our Lady of the Rosary.” The “Fatima prayer” (O my Jesus forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need of Your mercy), requested by Mary herself at Fatima (July 13, 1917), was added following the “Glory be…” after the 1930 acceptance by the Bishop of the apparitions as genuine. Pope St. John Paul II enriched the Rosary by adding the “Luminous Mysteries” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae).
How to pray the Rosary: The ideal is to recite at least five decades of the Rosary (and if possible, the entire twenty), with one’s whole family daily. We need to say the Rosary slowly enough to make its recitation devout and reverent. We are to reflect for a minute or two on the mystery, and then concentrate on the meaning of the prayers as we say them, to avoid distractions. Besides saying the Rosary with others in the family before bedtime, let us make it a habit of reciting the Rosary during our journey to the workplace and during our exercises. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26 (Additional reflections: Click onhttps://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/;https://www.epriest.com/reflections
Oct 8 Thursday: Lk 11:5-13: 5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, `Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything’? 13
The context: After teaching a model prayer, Jesus instructs his disciples to pray to God their Heavenly Father with the same boldness, daring, intimacy, conviction, persistence, and perseverance that both Abraham and the “friend in need” in the parable used. Jesus gives us the assurance that God will not be irritated by our requests, nor will He be unwilling to meet them with generosity. Jesus stresses the power of intercessory prayer and the necessity for persistence, perseverance, trusting Faith, and the boldness of Faith in our prayer.
The parable: By presenting the parable of the “friend in need,” Jesus emphasizes our need for that persistent and persevering prayer which acknowledges our total dependence on God. In the ancient Hebrew world, hospitality was the essence of one’s goodness, and, hence, to welcome a visitor without food and drink was unthinkable. A traveler who was traveling in the evening to avoid the heat of the afternoon might well arrive late at night. So, in this parable, when a man received an unexpected guest late at night and found his cupboard bare, he went to the man next door, woke him up, and asked him for a loaf of bread. Because of the persistence of his neighbor, Jesus says, the householder, though not willing to get up for friendship’s sake, would get up and give him the bread he needed for his guest. This parable of Friend at Midnight is both an assurance that prayer is always answered and an encouragement to pray. This parable stresses the necessity for our persisting in prayer as the expression of our total dependence on God. St. Paul says, “Be constant in prayer” (Rom 12:12), “pray at all times” (Eph 6:18), “be steadfast in prayer” (Col 4:2), and “pray constantly” (2 Thes 5:17). Jesus assures us, “Knock and the door will be opened”(Lk 11: 10).
Life messages: We need to stop giving lame excuses for not praying. Modern Christians give four lame excuses for not praying: 1) We are “too busy.” This excuse should send us to our priorities list, where God needs to be first of all, if we are to be able to live in His peace. That settled, we will find that prayer in every form is our living connection with Him through which He gives us Grace, fills us with His love for us, and helps us to become our true selves. Then, with His help, we will be able to discern the truly important things in our lives and eliminate the unimportant and/or distracting, debilitating, and useless items. 2) We “don’t believe that prayer does that much good, other than giving us the psychological motivation to be better persons.” Such people forget the fact that prayer establishes and augments our responsive relationship with God, the Source of our power. 3) “A loving God should provide for us and protect us from the disasters of life, such as diseases or accidents, without our asking Him.” True – and He does! Prayer is not meant to inform God; it expresses our awareness of our need for God Who loves us unconditionally, and of our trusting dependence upon Him. Further, if we haven’t asked Him for what we need, we may well not recognize it when He gives it to us! 4) “Prayer is boring.” People who use this excuse forget the fact that prayer is a conversation with God: listening to God speaking to us through the Bible and talking to God through personal and family prayers. We can’t have a close relationship with anyone, including God, without persistent and intimate conversation. ((https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Oct 9 Friday: St. Denis, Bishop and Companion Martyrs For a short biography, click on (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-denis-and-companions/); St. John Leonardi, Priest: For a short biography, click on (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-john-leonardi/ ) Lk 11:15-26:: 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons”; 16 while others, to test him, sought from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace; 22 but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil. 23 He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, `I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes he finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.
The context: When Jesus healed a mute man by exorcism, the jealous scribes and the Pharisees spread the malicious slander that Jesus was collaborating with Beelzebul, the head of the devils, to cast out smaller devils. Jesus’ response: Jesus makes his counterattack, first by asking the rhetorical question “By whom do your sons (the Jewish exorcists), cast them out?” The implication is that, if what they say about Him, Who casts them out with a single command, is true, the Jewish exorcists, who require so much more prayer and so many more exercises to do exorcisms, must certainly have to seek the help of the big devil to exorcise minor devils. Then Jesus asserts that no kingdom, divided against itself, can survive for long. Obviously, then, the chief devil will not help any exorcists to cast out devils. Jesus then claims that His exorcisms are proof that He has brought the Kingdom of God. When people are liberated from the control of evil spirits, it is a sure sign that the loving power of God (the finger of God), is at work. Then Jesus uses the image of a strong man guarding his house and keeping his possessions safe until someone stronger attacks and overthrows him. Jesus claims that Jesus is the stronger one driving away the evil spirits. They are helpless before him. This liberation of people and society from evil powers is one of the most dramatic proofs that the all-powerful reign of God is present in the Person of Jesus. Life messages: 1) Jesus teaches us that the devil is relentless in his struggle against man. The devil continues to lay his traps, in spite of man’s rejecting him with the help of grace. That is why St. Peter warns us to be sober and vigilant because, “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your Faith” (1 Pt 5:8-9). 2) We have to fortify ourselves against the devil by prayer, penance, the Sacraments, and the effective use of the word of God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26 For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video;https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections
Oct 10 Saturday: Lk 11:27-28: 27 As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
The context: A woman in the audience was so impressed by Jesus’ powerful refutation of the slander (that Jesus collaborated with the devil in exorcisms), that she shouted a blessing, praising the mother of Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” She meant that any woman would be proud to have such a great son. Jesus tells her that His mother is more blessed for obeying the word of God throughout her life.
The reason for real blessedness: Completing the truth of the blessing the woman had pronounced, Jesus states that the real source of blessedness is the willingness to hear and the readiness to obey, the word of God. Mary heard God’s message at the Annunciation, and her prompt response was, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word”(Lk 1:38). That is why she could boldly proclaim to her cousin Elizabeth in her canticle, “All generations will call me blessed”(Lk 1:48). No one listened more attentively to the word of God than Mary did. She was absolutely obedient, humble, loving and faithful. Jesus clarified the same truth on another occasion, stating that his “mother and brothers and sisters are those who hear the word of God and do it (Lk 8:21), just as Mary had always done. In today’s Gospel, Jesus declares that that those who hear God’s word and keep it are more blessed than those who are related to Him only by blood.
Life messages: 1) We become the members of the Heavenly family of the Triune God, that is, we are made children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus, by our Baptism. But it is our fidelity in hearing the word of God and in putting that word into practice in our daily lives that makes us really blessed. What makes a person happy in this life and in the life to come is precisely the fulfillment of God’s will, as we learn through the attentive reading of, and listening to, His words. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
O.T. XXVIII [A] (Oct 11) Sunday(Eight-minute homily in one page
Introduction:Today’s Scripture readings offer us a standinginvitation to the everlastingjoy of the HeavenlyBanquet and a loving warning to stay ready always for this Heavenly banquet by constantly wearing the wedding garment, i.e., remaining in a state of grace by avoiding sins and by doing good.
Scripture lessons: In the first reading, Isaiah describes the Messianic banquet on the Lord’s Mountain in the Holy City of Jerusalem, which Yahweh is preparing for His people. The “Good News” is that it is a great feast of “rich food and choice wines.” But, for the children of Israel, the “bad news” is that Yahweh invites all people, including Gentiles, to the banquet. Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 23), presents God as the Good Shepherd Who nourishes, leads, and protects His flock. In the second reading, St. Paul advises the Philippians to put their trust in the power and goodness of a providing God, Who, in Jesus, has given His Church everything His followers will need to participate in the Heavenly Banquet. In today’s Gospel, by telling an allegoric parable of judgment, in the Temple of Jerusalem two days before his arrest, Jesus accuses 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 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 through John the Baptist and through Jesus, and 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 and receive God’s graces in the Church: a) We received the “wedding garment” of sanctifying grace in Baptism; while 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 the greatest source of power for our future participation in the Heavenly banquet. L/26
OT XXVIII (Oct 11, 2026)Is 25:6-10a; Phil 4:12-14, 19-20; Mt 22:1-14
Homily Starter anecdotes
1) Post-World War II: At the end of World War II, the Russian head-of-state Joseph Stalin gave an elaborate banquet to honor the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The Russians arrived in their best formal wear — military dress uniforms — but their honored guest did not. Churchill arrived wearing his famous zipper coveralls that he had worn during the German bomb attack in London. He thought it would provide a nostalgic touch the Russians would appreciate. They did not. They were humiliated and insulted that their prominent guest-of-honor had not considered their banquet worthy of his best clothes. — Wearing the right clothing to a formal dinner honors the host and the occasion; neglecting to wear the right clothing is an insult. Weddings were such an important occasion in Palestine in Christ’s days that people were expected to wear the proper clothing to show appreciation and respect for the invitation — clothing, in fact, provided by the host! In today’s Gospel, Jesus demands, and provides, the wedding garment of righteousness from his followers. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) “When I am grown up, I should like to fill the whole house with sick people.” The venerable servant of God, Canon Cottolengo, when but a boy of five years, was measuring with a cord one room after another. His mother, rather confused, asked him what he was trying to do. “Dear mother,” was the reply, “I want to see how many beds can be placed in this house: when I am grown up, I should like to fill the whole house with sick people.” A tear of emotion glistened in his mother’s eyes. In 1832 he founded at Turin the “Little Asylum of Divine Providence,” which, today, is world famous. It shelters 5000 men and embraces within its precincts a Church, a number of houses, terraces and courtyards. [Joseph Aloysius Krebs How to Comfort the Sick (New York: Benziger, 1898) in Kelly Library, University of Toronto; see Google, USA Archives] — Like Canon Cottolengo, there are some who respond to God’s call with passion and reach out to others to realize God’s vision for the human race. But there are many who, like the invited guests in the parable (Mt 22:5), are complacent in their response to the Lord’s invitation. (Vima Dasan in His Word Lives; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) Excuses, excuses, excuses!Once there was a tailor who mended the clothes of everybody in town, yet he himself went about with his coat in tatters. And to the embarrassment of everybody he appeared like that in Church on Sundays. One Sunday a friend said to him, “It’s a disgrace that you, a respectable tailor, should go around in a tattered coat. Shame on you for coming here dressed like that.” “But what can I do? I’m a poor man and I have to work all week to make a living.” the tailor replied. “Where am I going to find the time to mend my own clothes?” “Look,” said the friend. “Here’s £20. Think of me as one of your customers. I am paying you to mend your own coat. “I’ll agree to that,” cried the tailor as he took the money. However, when he came to Church the following Sunday the friend noticed that once again, he was dressed in his old tattered coat. Extremely annoyed, the friend said to him, “Now there is no excuse for this kind of behavior. Didn’t I give you £20 last Sunday to mend your coat? Yet I can see that you never even touched it.” “What can I do?” said the tailor apologetically. “When I went home last Sunday and examined my coat, I realized that I’d be losing money on the job if I did it for £20!” — A man like that will always find excuses, though not the silenced the man who was thrown out of the banquet hall in today’s Gospel parable for not wearing the freely given wedding clothing. (Quoted by Fr. Tony Kayala). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) “We didn’t know you had Catholic grandparents.” Huey Long was a very colorful Louisiana politician who had hopes of running for the presidency in 1936. He began as an unschooled farm boy and ended up in the governor’s mansion, one of the most popular politicians in the history of the state. Long was born in the central part of Louisiana, and when he first campaigned for governor, he was given some advice about the voters in the New Orleans area. “South Louisiana is different from the northern part of the state,” he was told. “We have a lot of Catholic voters down here.” Long nodded knowingly and went out to make his speech. It began, “When I was a boy, I’d get up at six every Sunday morning, hitch our old horse up to the buggy, and take my Catholic grandparents to Mass. I’d bring them home and then take my Baptist grandparents to Church.” The speech was a rousing success. Afterward, a New Orleans political boss said, “Huey, you’ve been holding out on us. We didn’t know you had Catholic grandparents.” Huey looked at him slyly and said, “We didn’t even have a horse!” [Joe Claro, The Random House Book of Jokes (New York: Random House, Inc., 1990).] — Don’t let anybody mislead you. Around the banquet table of God there won’t be Baptists, or Catholics, or Methodists. There won’t even be a head table reserved for the very saintly. There will only be sinners for whom Christ died. That includes you and me. Everyone is invited. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
Introduction:Food is used in all three readings today as an image of God’s favor and presence with His people. In both the first reading and the Gospel, the joys of salvation are compared to a great banquet of rich foods, choice wines and a place at the table with our Divine Host. In the first reading Isaiah describes the Messianic banquet on the Lord’s Mountain. The prophet sees the mountain of the Holy City transformed into a grand banquet hall full of life and good things. He paints the picture of “a feast of rich food and choice wines.”The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 23) describes how, like a totally committed shepherd, God spares nothing in order to provide nourishment for His flock. In the second reading, Paul says that he lives like a guest invited to the Kingdom of God, enjoying vast spiritual benefits as a man of Faith. So will God provide for us, he assures us, and we, too, “can do all things in God Who strengthens us.”In the Gospel’s parable, Jesus describes the eschatological banquet of Heaven. He characterizes the reign of God as a wedding feast, a banquet of “calves and fatted cattle.” When the banquet is rejected by the chosen guests, it is offered to all and sundry. Thus, all the readings suggest that God loves His people and provides for their eternal salvation. Today’s Scripture readings give us the strong warning that if we do not accept God’s love, if we reject His gift, we can have no place with Him. We have to stay prepared for the freely offered Heavenly Banquet by getting (in Baptism), and wearing every day, the freely given wedding garment of grace always. We “wear” the garment by cooperating with God’s grace in prayer, in attending Mass and receiving the Sacraments with devotion, in doing good and avoiding evil, and in responding to His love by lovingly sharing our blessings with others. The parable warns us that membership in a Church alone does not guarantee our eternal salvation.
The first reading (Is 25:6-10) explained:The prophet Isaiah (742-700 B.C.) describes, under the image of a great banquet, the blessings and happiness that the Messianic Kingdom will bring.
Isaiah is referring to Heaven, the second and final stage of the Messianic Kingdom. He gives a graphic description of the great banquet that the Lord will prepare for his people, expressing a grand prophetic vision of the universality of Salvation. The imagery Isaiah uses is that of a great banquet on the Lord’s Mountain, Mt. Zion: a feast for all people, doing away with death, wiping away tears from every face, and removing their reproach from the earth. Isaiah announces, “good news and bad news.” The banquet is certainly going to take place, but Yahweh is planning to invite not only His “Chosen People” but “all peoples,” who “on that Day” will sing together, “Let us rejoice and be glad that He has saved us.” It took a courageous prophet to speak of a God Whose loving care extended beyond the Jews, who prided themselves on their status as the only Chosen People. In some ways, Isaiah’s ideal state parallels Jesus’ parable about the King’s Wedding Banquet (Mt 22:1-14). Let us remember that Heaven with its great Banquet is ours for the receiving. God the Father intends it for all of us, God the Son has earned it for all of us, and God the Holy Spirit is ready at every moment of our lives to assist all of us to obtain it — if we so choose.
The second reading (Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20) explained:On several occasions, Paul has received generous financial support from the Christians at Philippi, so his words are a “thank you” note to them from prison. In today’s lesson, Paul emphatically proclaims, “In Him who is the source of my strength, I have strength for everything.” When the Apostle thanks his friends for their kindness toward him, he does so in these words: “My God in turn will supply your needs fully, in a way worthy of His magnificent riches in Christ Jesus.” Paul claims that his strength comes from Jesus and his future hope revolves around Jesus. Referring to the vast spiritual benefits he enjoys as a man of Faith, Paul tells his friends in Philippi about the contrasts in his life: he knows the experience “of living in abundance and of being in need.” Because of his Faith, it makes no difference to Paul whether he lives “in humble circumstances or in abundance.” His whole existence has been transformed by his being joined to Jesus in His death and Resurrection: “I have learned,” he writes, “the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry.” Paul reminds us of our need for a complete and unquestioning trust in God and for the firm conviction that He is regulating the affairs of our lives.
Gospel Exegesis: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. This parable was delivered by Jesus during his last visit to the Temple — the day we know as the Tuesday of Holy Week. The encounter was part of the Master’s last confrontation with those who saw Jesus as their enemy, before they had him arrested. The actual parable is the disturbing story of a King Who celebrated the wedding feast of His Son. When the VIP guests who had been invited refused to come, He brought street people in to take their places. Here, Jesus combines the parable of the marriage feast with another rabbinic parable, the parable of the wedding garment.
The objective: Along with the parable of the landlord and the wicked tenants, this, too, is an allegory unfolding the whole of salvation history. The parable was intended to be a fitting reply to the accusation that Jesus was unfit to teach because He was mingling with the publicans and sinners. It also answers the question of Jesus’ authority to teach in the Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus hints in the parable that he is befriending the sinners and preaching the Good News of God’s salvation to them because the scribes and Pharisees have rejected him and his message, while the sinners (whom they have neglected and scorned), have accepted him wholeheartedly. That is why he compares God to a King who gives orders to invite the ordinary folk from the waysides as guests for his son’s royal banquet. Jesus also declares that the source of his authority is God his Father Who has sent His Son to preach the Good News of Salvation. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells this parable in reply to the statement made by one of his listeners: “Blessed are those who are invited to take part in the Messianic Banquet in Heaven.” This parable is based on the Jewish marriage customs of Jesus’ day and contains both a local and a universal lesson.
The Jewish wedding customs and political overtones: Since accurate timepieces were unavailable and preparation for a banquet was time-consuming, invitations to such events were sent and accepted well in advance. Once the banquet was ready, the host would send the guests a message — rather like our custom of making medical appointments in advance and receiving a reminder call a day ahead. Attendance at the royal prince’s wedding by prominent citizens was a necessary expression of the honor they owed the king and an expression of their loyalty to the legitimate successor to his throne. Even at ordinary weddings, it was insulting to the host if someone refused to participate in the wedding feast after agreeing to do so at the first invitation. Hence, “refusal of a king’s invitation by the VIPs, without any valid reason suggested rebellion and insurrection” (The Interpreter’s Bible). That is why the king sent soldiers to suppress the rebellion. Thus, the parable of the wedding feast has major political overtones. Another approach to the parable is that it is a prophetic allusion to the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., which is interpreted to be a sign of God’s judgment against the unbelieving Jews.
Was the King rude and unkind? In royal banquets, special wedding garments would be provided by the host and given, outside the banquet hall, to those who could not afford proper dress. In other words, when kings would invite everyone to the feast, they, knowing that many would be poor and not have proper vesture, would normally send out the royal tailors to make proper clothing for everyone who was invited or in some other way provide the fitting clothing. Hence it is s not difficult to recognize why the king would be so upset about seeing this improperly attired man who was so lazy, or stubborn, perhaps, that he deliberated refused to wear the clothing that was required and made freely available.
The code words and their direct meaning in the parable: The King in the parable is God and the King’s Son is Jesus. The marriage is symbolic of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the union of Christ’s Divine and human natures in one Person (St. Gregory). During the nearly 2000 years between Abraham and Christ, God sent Moses and the Prophets to call His Covenant people to the great wedding feast of the Gospel. The invited guests were the Jewish people. At first, Jesus, the Christ (the Messiah), invites the people of the Old Covenant, the Jews, to join this great marriage feast which is now ready — but they fail to respond. The messengers the King had sent to invite the people were the Hebrew prophets. The second and third sets of messengers are the Christ Himself and then Christian missionaries. The burned city (v. 7) is Jerusalem. A few VIP invitees offer flimsy and insulting excuses, implying that tending to their business is much more important than the wedding of the crown prince. The other invited guests challenge the king’s honor directly by seizing his slaves who bring the invitation, beating, and killing them. Clearly this action demands reprisal, and the King obliges. Mt 22:7 tells how the King sent His armies against those who refused the invitation and burned their city. Later, Christians tended to see the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. as a similar judgment of God upon the people who had rejected the invitation by Christ to the eschatological banquet.
The universal call and rejection of the Jews: The “good and bad” (v. 10), in the parable constitute the mixed memberships of the Church: the sinners and the righteous. The people in the highways and the byways stand for the sinners and the Gentiles, who never expected an invitation into the Kingdom. God’s invitation includes an offer of the correct dress for the feast, namely, the robe of Christ’s righteousness of which Paul speaks in Philippians 3:7-11. Since this parable was directed to the chief priests and elders, Jesus contrasts their rigid observance of the Law with the open-hearted generosity expressed by the King: “Invite everyone you find.” This is obviously more than a story about a king and a banquet. It is the story of Salvation History in which God sent prophets and Christian evangelists with Good News. The first-invited are now rejected, but strangers are accepted. In other words, the Gentiles have replaced the Jews who refused to respond to Yahweh’s call. This was the way that first-century Christians looked at the Jewish rejection of Jesus.
Lessons taught by the parable: The word “Church” is derived from the Greek word ekklesia, which means those having been called or invited. We are the ones who have responded to Jesus’ invitation. Hence, the first lesson taught by the parable is that God invites everyone, but each of us needs to give God’s invitation priority over every other good and important thing in life. The second lesson for all of us is that it’s not enough just to show up. We must be properly “dressed up.” In his Letter to the Colossians, Paul directs his converts, “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. … Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col 3:12-14). In the Letter to the Ephesians, he talks about our clothes as a spiritual armor: “Therefore put on the whole armor of God: … fasten the belt of truth around your waist and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the Gospel of Peace. With all of these, take the shield of Faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:11-17). It’s easy to get the picture: the wedding garments God wants us to don are woven with acts of Faith, Love, Hope, kindness, compassion, humility, patience, meekness, Truth, and Holiness. There is an extended meaning or universal lesson taught by this parable. Christians are invited to the endless joy of the Heavenly Banquet. If, in our preoccupation with passing, time-tied pleasures and duties, we refuse this invitation, our greatest pain after our death will be the realization of the precious things we have forfeited. The invitation to the ordinary people from the byways tells us that God’s invitation to each one of us is purely an act of grace and not something that we deserve by our good works. The parable also warns us that God will judge those who refuse His invitation, giving them the misery they have chosen for themselves
The Parable of the Wedding Garment: This parable is a modification of two rabbinic stories well-known to Jesus’ audience. In those days, participants in a banquet were expected to dress in clothes that were superior to those worn on ordinary days. Guests who could afford it would wear white, but it was sufficient for ordinary people to wear garments as close to white as possible. It was customary for the rich hosts to provide their guests with suitable apparel. For royal weddings, special outfits were given to any guests who could not afford to buy their own. Hence, to appear in ordinary, soiled working clothes would show contempt for the occasion, and would be an unspoken refusal to join in the King’s rejoicing.
“Wearing the wedding garment” means living out the Gospel message. We are called to live the moral and ethical values embodied in Jesus’ life in earth in flesh and time, and in his teachings. In other words, the “wedding garment” in the parable refers to true discipleship rather than uncommitted membership. The parable means that when one freely accepts Christ as one’s Lord and Savior, one must dedicate one’s life to Jesus. In other words, the Christian must be clothed in the spirit and teaching of Jesus. Grace is a gift and a grave responsibility. Hence, a Christian must be clothed in a new purity and a new holiness. In other words, while God, through the Church, opens wide His arms to the sinner, the sinner can only accept His invitation to this relationship of mutual love by loving Him back, and so by making some effort to repent and change his life. It is not enough for one to say, “I believe,” and then simply to continue living one’s life in one’s accustomed sinful ways. Although Jesus accepted the tax collectors and prostitutes, he demanded that they abandon their evil ways (“Go, and sin no more!”) The permanent and universal lesson taught by the parable has nothing to do with the actual clothing we wear when we go to Church. But it has everything to do with the spirit in which we enter God’s House. It is true that Church-going must neither be a fashion parade nor an occasion of scandal for others, but the garments of the mind and of the heart we wear when we go to worship God are more important than our material clothing. The wedding garments are the garments of penitence, Faith, reverence and Love. The parable ends on a slightly pessimistic note: “For many are called, but few are chosen.” It is a sad fact that, although everyone is called to experience the love of God, relatively few will really try to follow His teachings.
Here is Bible scholar Daniel Harrington’s comment on the wedding garment: “Mere acceptance of the invitation, however, does not guarantee participation in the banquet … Guests at a wedding banquet would be expected to appear in clean and neat clothing. When the king (God the Father) sees a man who is not dressed properly, he questions him in a cool manner (“My friend”) and has him ejected from the banquet hall. Being a tax collector or prostitute is no more a guarantee of salvation than being a Pharisee or chief priest; rather, one must receive Jesus’ invitation and act upon it so that when the banquet actually begins, one will be properly prepared to participate … The invitation to the kingdom has been offered to all kinds of people, but only a few of them act upon it in such a way as to be allowed to participate in the banquet of the kingdom.”
Fathers of the Church on the parable: St. Gregory the Dialogist, a bishop of Rome, writes that the King is God Himself, and the marriage is symbolic of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the union of Christ’s Divine and human natures in one Person. The feast is symbolic of Christ’s Church, which exists, we remember, in Heaven, in Purgatory, and on earth. St. John Chrysostom’s commentary is similar to this interpretation. He adds that, at first, Christ invites the people of the Old Covenant, the Jews, to join this great marriage feast, which is the Church. But they fail to respond. He invites them a second time, and they are too busy with earthly concerns, an attitude about which St. John Chrysostom warns us, “when spiritual things call us, there is no press of business that has the power of necessity.” When Christ persists with His invitations to the Jews, they kill Him by having the Romans crucify Him. Similarly, they killed the Old Testament Prophets through whom God had convicted them of their wrong-doing. Chrysostom comments that Christ sought to bring to conversion those who were conspiring to have Him killed before His crucifixion, and again with the coming of the Holy Spirit. Even after that, “He still urges them, striving to win them over.” However, they continue to refuse Him, and so it is then that the ordinary people of the “highways,” the Gentiles, are invited, since the wedding feast, the Church, must be filled. Chrysostom writes that when the Jews “were not willing to be present at the marriage, then He called others.” He called you and me.
Life messages:1)We need to be grateful to Christ for the invitation to the Heavenly banquet: From the moment of our Baptism, we have been invited to the Heavenly Banquet and provided with the Wedding Garment of Sanctifying Grace. These great privileges and blessings are freely offered to all, and they are given to us who accept His Gift of Faith, by a loving God. These daily Divine invitations to salvation are to be welcomed with a willingness to be daily transformed by God’s grace and according to God’s will. But the same obstacles which prevented the Pharisees from entering the Kingdom –- pride, love of this world, its wealth, its power, and its pleasures –- can impede us, too. Hence, we must be prepared to do violence to our ordinary inclinations and to offer ourselves in love and service to Jesus and to his people. That is how we will make, and keep, our Wedding Garment clean and bright every day. Receiving these gifts of God fully also demands that, instead of remaining marginal members of our parish community, we bear visible witness to our beliefs. Let us have the consoling conviction that, while as Church members we are expected to contribute actively to its life and witnessing, the forgiveness of God and of the community is always available whenever we fail, and betray its ideals in our weak moments. Therefore, let us pray that we may keep our Wedding Garments pure and spotless, and that we may become disciples who really practice the teachings of Jesus, rather than remaining mere Sunday Catholics. Let us pray for a deeper Faith, Hope, and Love, and a better spirit of responsibility to our community.
2) We need to make our “banquet halls” full and vibrant. What do we do to make sure that the “banquet halls” of our Churches are filled with people on Sunday mornings? Are we concerned enough to do something about it if they are not full or lively? The first part of the parable has some strong connections with our worship services. Does not God invite us there? Aren’t we also called to be the Lord’s messengers who are instructed to go and tell the invitees (the whole world) that everything is ready? Or do we absent ourselves because we have other “pressing” business that we think is more important? Do we remain mired in oppressive attitudes and discriminatory relationships even if our bodies are in Church? Do we ever prefer revenge to forgiveness? Do we see victimization of others and blame the victim? We must all work with God to rid ourselves of such attitudes.
3) We need to wear ourWedding Garment for the Eucharistic banquet:The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC #1402-1405,CCC #2837) teaches that the Eucharist is the foretaste of the Messianic Banquet. God Incarnate waits for us in His House of Worship, offering Himself for us on our altars and inviting us to the sumptuous Banquet of His own Body and Blood for the nourishment of our souls in the Holy Eucharist. Hence, we should never approach to receive Jesus in Holy Communion “improperly dressed”—that is, without being in the state of Sanctifying Grace given us in Baptism. St. Paul says we eat and drink condemnation on ourselves when we approach the Sacrament in mortal sin (1 Cor 11:27-32). Just as the king provides clothes for the guests, so Jesus provides the Sacrament of Penance to cleanse our soul, but if we don’t go to confession and instead come to Communion unworthily, we’re just like the person in the parable who nonchalantly tries to show up for the banquet in his own dirty clothes rather than in the vesture given. According to St. Gregory, men and women who come to the Wedding Feast with hatred in their hearts do not wear the acceptable garment spoken of in the parable. Men and women whose Faith and love are cold, who attend Church only for social reasons, to show off their clothes and jewelry, or to visit with acquaintances, are not dressed in a Wedding Garment pleasing to the King, Christ Jesus. Our Wedding Garment is made of our grace-assisted works of justice, charity, and holiness. Let us examine ourselves to see whether we have fully accepted God’s invitation to the Messianic banquet, and let us remember that banqueting implies friendship and intimacy, trust, and reconciliation with Christ Who loves us every day of our lives.
JOKES OF THE WEEK : 1) Late have I come for the Heavenly Banquet! An old couple, having been marriedalmost 60 years, died in a car crash. They had been in good health for the previous ten years mainly due to the wife’s interest in health, food, and exercise. When they reached the pearly gates, St. Peter took them to their mansion which was decked out with a beautiful kitchen and master bath suite, Jacuzzi and lavish buffet breakfast. “How much does it cost to eat?” asked the old man. “Don’t you understand?” Peter replied. “This is Heaven, it’s all free!” After a sumptuous breakfast the old couple went to the clubhouse of Heaven’s extensive golf grounds and saw the lavish buffet lunch. “Well, where are the low-fat and low-cholesterol tables?” the old man asked timidly. Peter replied, “That’s the best part…you can eat as much as you like of whatever you like and you never get fat and you never get sick. This is Heaven.” — The old man looked at his wife angrily and said, “This is all your fault! If it weren’t for your bran muffins and sugar-free diet, we could have been here ten years ago!”
2) Heavenly banquet reserved for women? “Mummy,” asked a little girl, “do men ever go to Heaven?” “Why, yes, of course, my dear,” answered the mother. “Why do you ask?” “Because I have never seen angels with mustaches, whiskers or beards.” “Well,” replied the mother, “some men do go to Heaven, but they get there only by a close shave!”
3) Toothless grandma at the heavenly banquet. A little girl came home from Sunday school and said to her mother: “Mummy teacher told us that God puts people in this world so that they can get ready for a big banquet in Heaven.” “Yes, that is right,” she said. “But why doesn’t grandma get ready for that banquet by getting a set of new teeth from her dentist?” Mother replied: “It is because she knows that God will give her a brand-new set of strong and beautiful teeth in heaven.”
4) “That’s a preacher.” The writer Bill Henderson recalls meeting a man aboard a cruise ship who claimed to be an expert in guessing professions. “See that man over there,” he said. “He is a physician.” Bill checked and sure enough that was right. “How could you tell?” he asked the man. “Well,” he said, “I saw the caring lines on his forehead and could tell he was a person of great compassion.” Bill Henderson pointed to someone else and said, “What about him? What does he do?” “That’s a lawyer,” the expert said. Bill checked and sure enough, he was. The expert explained that the man had a scholarly look and was somewhat formal, indicating an attorney. Then Bill pointed to another man. The expert studied him and said, “That’s a preacher.” Bill approached the man and asked, “Are you a preacher?” “No,” said the man. “I’m just seasick; that’s the reason I look so sad.” — How strange that many Christians have a long-faced reputation. Jesus could not have been that way; if he had been, children would not have clung to him so readily. (Sermons.com).
5) “Laughter and good red wine.” Hilaire Belloc wrote: “Wherever the Catholic sun does shine, // there is always laughter and good red wine.” — Would Belloc say that about us? We are told it takes seventeen face muscles to smile but forty-three to frown. Laughter is the only tranquilizer yet developed that has no side effects. Our expression is the most important garment we wear. Yet, how many of us know fellow-Christians who never smile? — Maybe somebody should try smiling at them?
USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK: (The easier method to visit these websites is to copy and paste the web address or URL on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard or the easiest method is just to click on the URL (webpage) in the attachment or emailed text).
1) Sunday Mass with helium balloons? At an Evangelical church conference in Omaha, people were given helium-filled balloons and told to release them at some point in the service when they felt joy in their hearts. All through the service worshippers kept releasing balloons, but at the end of the service it was discovered that most of them still had their balloons unreleased. — If this experiment were repeated in our Church today, how many of us would still have our balloons unreleased at the end of the Mass? Many of us think of God’s House as a place for seriousness, a place to close one’s eyes and pray, but not a place of celebration, a place of joy. — The parable of the Great Supper in today’s Gospel paints a different picture. The Christian assembly is a gathering of those who are called to the Lord’s party. In the Eucharist, we say of ourselves, “Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.” The Lord invites us to a supper, a banquet, a feast. Can you imagine a wedding feast in which everyone sits stone-faced, cold and quiet? (Fr. Essou M.) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) J.J & Soli Deo Gloria: Johann Sebastian Bach understood that musical talent is a grace of God. On almost all of his manuscripts Bach placed two sets of initials. At the end he wrote the letters, “S.D.G.” and, at the beginning, “J.J.” S.D.G., SOLI DEO GLORIA = to God alone be the glory. And J.J., JESU JUVET=Jesus, help me.” (3) — That sounds like a pretty good theme for worship: “Jesus help me,” and “To God alone be the glory.” People who understand that we are not here because we deserve to be, or because we have to be, do not have to make excuses on Sunday morning (Rev. James E. Rimmer) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) Lame Excuses: The Toronto Star invited teachers to submit excuses they had received from their students. They received these examples: A student explaining why he was late: “I was kidnapped by aliens and interrogated for three hours.” Another student, telling why he had failed to turn in his essay: “The bus driver read it and liked it so much he kept it to show to his passengers.” Another: “I got mugged on the way to school. I offered him my money, my watch, and my penknife but all he wanted was my essay.” Mike, a 14-year-old, came up with a “watertight” excuse for arriving at school an hour late with his pants soaked to the knees: “I was just about to board the bus when I found I’d lost my ticket. Since it would take too long to walk to school, I hopped a fence onto a golf course. I headed for a creek that criss-crossed several fairways until I found a likely spot for lost balls. Retrieving three balls from their watery graves, I then made for the clubhouse where I sold the balls for bus fare! And that’s why I’m late.” Mike’s entry won. — In today’s Gospel, Jesus narrates a list of such lame excuses from the invited guests. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) Who has time for God’s Banquet? There is not enough time. Particularly is that true for today’s wives and mothers. A study by Bryn Mawr College one hundred twenty-three years ago (1920), stated that women then devoted more than eighty hours a week to cleaning the house, cooking meals, and taking care of the children. Did things get better? You know the answer to that! Another study fifty years later reported that full-time housewives spent more hours doing laundry in the 1970s than they did in the 1920s, despite all the new washing machines, dryers, detergents, and bleaches. The main change was that the family had acquired more clothing and now had even higher expectations about cleanliness and grooming. In the second decade of the twenty-first century (2023), few women can even afford to dream of devoting full time to their families, for to the extraordinary demands of running a home are added to running an office or a classroom or a business. Many men have the same problem. A University of Michigan study found that one-third of all physicians in the United States are so busy working that they are two years behind the breakthroughs in their own field. That’s scary. – Even scarier — who has time for God’s Banquet? (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) “I’m too old to make new friends.” When John F. Kennedy was president of the United States, he invited a number of accomplished artists to a White House banquet. Among those invited was the then aging William Faulkner. He was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays. Faulkner turned down the invitation, saying, “I’m too old to make new friends.” — It is possible, you know, to turn down an invitation, even from the President. It is thinkable to do the unthinkable, to excuse yourself from a fabulous opportunity. According to today’s Gospel text, the Lord God, Creator, Ruler, Sustainer, and Heir of the universe gives an open invitation to all people to come and feast with Him at a banquet table. And? (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) “Happy Birthday, Agnes. “ A few years ago that wonderfully creative Christian sociologist, Rev. Tony Campolo, traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii, for a speaking engagement. He flew all the way from Pennsylvania to Hawaii and had an awful case of jet lag. Therefore, at 3:00 AM, he was wide awake. Tony found a donut shop near his hotel. As he sat, there sipping coffee and glancing at a newspaper, the door to the diner swung open and in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes. Their talk was loud and crude. Tony was just about to make his getaway when he overheard one of the women say, “Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m gonna be thirty-nine.” One of her friends responded in a sarcastic tone, “So, what do you want from me, a birthday party?” “No,” she said. “I’ve never had a birthday party in my life. Too late to start now.” Suddenly, Tony Campolo had an idea. As soon as the women had left, he said to Harry, the owner of the diner, “Do those women come in here every night?” “Yep,” he said, “about this same time. Hope they weren’t bothering you.” “No,” Tony said, “but I have an idea. The one sitting next to me is going to have a birthday tomorrow. I’ll pay the bill if we can have a little birthday party for her.” A smile spread across Harry’s face. “That’s a good idea. Her name is Agnes.” He called his wife out of the kitchen area and told her about it. They agreed to bake the cake. The next morning by 3:00 AM Campolo had decorated the diner with crepe paper and had made a big sign reading, “Happy Birthday, Agnes.” Word had gotten around somehow because by 3:00 AM every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. Wall-to-wall prostitutes and Tony Campolo. At 3:30 AM on the dot, Agnes walked in and confronted the cake with burning candles and the crowd singing loudly, “Happy Birthday.” She was flabbergasted, stunned, shaken. Her eyes moistened. Then after she blew out the candles, she completely lost it and openly cried. After the party was over, Tony asked the group if he could say a prayer. He prayed for Agnes and everyone else in the group. Then after everyone was gone, he thanked Harry for going along with the party. Harry said, “Hey, you didn’t tell me you were a preacher! What Church do you belong to? In one of those moments when just the right words came, Tony answered, “I belong to a Church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:00 AM.” — Today’s Gospel describes a King’s party for the ordinary people. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) “Would you please hand me my green dress?” Television journalist Hugh Downs and his wife once attended a function in Washington. When the time came to return to New York, they discovered that their flight had been cancelled due to bad weather. Downs immediately called the front desk and was informed that they could catch a five o’clock train, which was leaving in 45 minutes. Mrs. Downs was showering, and to save time, Hugh hurriedly packed all their belongings, called the bell captain and asked that the bags be rushed right over to the station and put on the train. A bellhop came immediately and got them. Five minutes later, Mrs. Downs stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. “Dear,” she asked, “would you please hand me my green dress?” — We’re not told how Mr. and Mrs. Downs resolved this dilemma, but it reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the king’s wedding banquet and wedding garment. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) “It’s the only thing!” When Vince Lombardi was hired as head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1958, the team was in dismal shape. A single win in season play the year before had socked the club solidly into the basement of the NFL, and sportscasters everywhere used it as the butt of loser jokes. But Lombardi picked and pulled and prodded and trained and discipled the players into become a winning team. They were NFL champions in three consecutive seasons, and took the game honors for the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi was a drill sergeant and a strategist, finding and developing the best in each of his players individually and then crafting a team community that could visualize the prize. “Winning isn’t everything,” he was often quoted as saying, “It’s the only thing!” His Packers proved him true, time and time again. — This is the problem Jesus pointedly identifies in today’s parable. God is the greatest coach, but the team is unwilling to follow. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) God’s grace is a costly gift. A small boy was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon or have no supper, but nevertheless, he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. His father met him in the living room and said nothing. At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father’s full plate and then at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed. The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy’s plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and placed it before his son. — When that boy grew up, he said, “All my life I’ve known what God is like by what my father did that night.” Our sin is serious business. God’s grace is a costly gift. Jesus explains it today through the parable of the wedding garment. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) “No, Jesus is in my heart.” An amusing story appeared recently in the magazine Today’s Christian Woman. A woman took her four-year-old granddaughter, Amanda, to the doctor’s office with a fever. The doctor looked in her ears and said, “Who’s in there? Donald Duck?” She said, “No.” He looked in her nose and said, “Who’s in there? Mickey Mouse?” Again, she said, “No.” He put his stethoscope on her heart and said, “Who’s in there? Barney?” Amanda replied, “No, Jesus is in my heart. Barney is on my underwear.” (“What’s Up, Doc?” “Small Talk,” May/June 1996, p. 25.) — I don’t guess it matters who’s on your underwear if Jesus is in your heart. And if Jesus is in your heart, your life will be clothed in proper apparel Faith, Hope, Love, forgiveness, kindness, and all the virtues of the Christian life. And you will not be speechless at the wedding feast, for you will be properly dressed. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11) “I’m too busy sending telegrams to build fires.” There is a good story from years ago about a top executive with a telegraph company who went on a trip. It was extremely cold outside when he arrived at the bus station, so he went into a local telegraph station hoping to get warmed up. When he got inside, however, it was cold. He noticed there was no fire in the fireplace. He said to the young telegraph operator, “Why don’t you build a fire in this place and warm it up?” The young man said, “Listen mister, I’m too busy sending telegrams to build fires.” The man then told this boy that he was the vice-president of the company and that he wanted him to send a telegram to the home office at once. The message was, “Fire this man immediately.” A moment later the young telegraph operator brought a load of wood into the office and began to build a fire. The executive asked, “Young man, have you sent that telegram yet?” The young telegraph operator said, “Listen mister, I’m too busy building fires to send telegrams.” — The point is that somewhere in life we have to set priorities. We have to decide what really matters and make certain that the really important things are done. Time with our family, service to our community, attention to our work, relaxation, self-improvement we could develop a list of important issues that would go on and on. Somewhere we must draw a line, but God must come first, or nothing else will matter! First things first! (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) We have crowded out God. A mental hospital developed an unusual test to determine when their patients were ready to go back into the world. They would bring the patient being considered for release into a room with a sink. When the patient entered the room a faucet over the sink was already on, the sink was overflowing, and water was pouring onto the floor. The patient was handed a mop and asked to clean up the mess. If the patient had enough sense to turn off the faucet before starting to mop up the water, the doctors concluded he was ready to go back into society. But if he started mopping with the water still running, more treatment was needed. [Vance Havner, The Vance Havner Devotional Treasury: Daily Meditations for a Year (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976).] — You and I need to stop mopping long enough to look up and see if the faucet is still running. We need to go to the root of our restless, confused lives. We have crowded out God, and without God life is simply a whirlwind of meaningless activity. We need to center our lives in Him and His purpose. Then we discover that life truly is a feast. He offers an invitation to His banquet table. Will you take time to accept? (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) “I am Jewish and this Star of David… .” A first-grade teacher gave her 6-year-olds an assignment. The next day they were to bring in a symbol of their religion. The next morning, she called on Isaac, who stood up and said, “I am Jewish, and this Star of David is the symbol of my religion.” The teacher then called upon Mary, who stood up saying, “I am Catholic and this Rosary is a symbol of my religion.” Next came Bobby. “I am Presbyterian,” he said, and held up a casserole dish. — Have you ever noticed how often food and drink are mentioned in the New Testament? How about banquets and weddings? Jesus even called the Church, his Bride! In our text for today, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a royal banquet. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) “We looked so gorgeous we went to the Episcopal Church.” Perhaps you have heard of the family that moved into the neighborhood, and the little country Church decided to reach out to the family. When they arrived at the doorstep the members of the Church were surprised to find that the family had 12 kids and were for the most part poor. They invited the family to services and said goodbye. Later that week the Church responded to their need. They delivered a package to the family and said, “We want you to know that you and your entire family are welcome at our Church anytime. We have bought you these gifts and we want you to feel comfortable and at ease in our congregation. We hope you can use these,” and they left. The family opened the package to find 14 suits of clothing, beautiful clothes for every member of the family. Sunday came and the congregation waited for the family, and they waited. The family never showed. Wondering what could have possibly happened, the members of the Church returned after lunch to the home and found the family just getting back, all dressed in their new clothes. “We don’t mean to be nosey but we would like to know what happened. We had hoped to see you this morning in Church,” the leader of the Church said. The father spoke up. He said, “Well, we got up this morning intending to come. And we sure do appreciate your invitation. But after we showered, shaved, and dressed, why we looked so gorgeous we went to the Episcopal Church!” — That’s a funny way of talking about a serious problem. Invitations are sent to many to come to Church but so few people respond, it’s frustrating. Many of you have reached out to neighbors or friends and asked them to come to Church, and you know all too well the disappointment, how few respond. Maybe that is why we find this morning’s parable so familiar.
15) “That’s a preacher.” The writer Bill Henderson recalls meeting a man aboard a cruise ship who claimed to be an expert in guessing professions. “See that man over there,” he said. “He is a physician.” Bill checked and sure enough that was right. “How could you tell?” he asked the man. “Well,” he said, “I saw the caring lines on his forehead and could tell he was a person of great compassion.” Bill Henderson pointed to someone else and said, “What about him? What does he do?” “That’s a lawyer,” the expert said. Bill checked and sure enough, he was. The expert explained that the man had a scholarly look and was somewhat formal, indicating an attorney. Then Bill pointed to another man. The expert studied him and said, “That’s a preacher.” Bill approached the man and asked, “Are you a preacher?” “No,” said the man. “I’m just seasick; that’s the reason I look so sad.” — How strange that many Christians have a long-faced reputation! Jesus could not have been that way; if he had been, children would not have clung to him so readily. In today’s Gospel Jesus speaks about a royal banquet. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) Shirt of a contented man: According to an old fable, there once was a King who suffered from a very painful ailment. The royal doctor advised the King that he would be cured if he found a contented man and wore his shirt night and day. Messengers were sent throughout the Kingdom in search of such a person. Several months passed and finally the messengers returned to the palace, but, with no shirt. “Couldn’t you find one contented person in all my realm?” asked the King, his disappointment audible in his voice. “Yes, Your Majesty,” the messenger replied, “we found one, just one, contented man in the Kingdom.” “Well then”, demanded the King, “where is his shirt?” Quietly, the answer came back, “He had no shirt.” — Today’s second reading tells us that Paul experienced similar contentment. So content was he in his relationship with Jesus that Paul believed that everything else paled into insignificance. If he were hungry or filled to satisfaction; if he were humiliated or raised up in honor; if he had what he needed or if he were totally bereft . . . it was of no consequence to Paul because his value system centered on one priority. That priority was the person of Jesus Christ in whom Paul found the strength for everything he was asked to do and for everything he had to suffer for the sake of the ministry he exercised in Jesus’ name. (Sanchez Files) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) A parable applied to me, not to them: An old Baptist preacher’s story tells of a parishioner who greeted his minister at the close of the service with the same observation, Sunday after Sunday: “You really gave it to them today, Preacher!” Over time, the minister became concerned that this parishioner never seemed to consider anything in a sermon to be applicable to himself. He always seemed to exult in the fact that the preacher had given it “to them,” whoever them happened to be. At long last, there came a Sunday when a heavy snowstorm kept everybody away from Church except for the preacher and this particular parishioner. Abandoning the sermon he already had prepared for that morning, the preacher decided to focus exclusively on the sins and shortcomings he had noticed in the life of his singular captive audience. When the sermon and the service were finished, the lone parishioner came to the door and shook the preacher’s hand as he did every Sunday. The preacher waited, wondering how this parishioner would react to the blistering sermon he just had heard. — “Well, Preacher,” the parishioner began, “If they’d been here today, you would really have given it to them!” (Fr. Paul Andrew). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
18) Do you remember the “Come As You Are” parties of our youth? When I was young, right around the time when the Earth’s crust was cooling, people used to have “Come as You Are” parties. For those under 30, I’ll explain. You’d get a phone call and whatever you were wearing at that moment, was what you had to wear to a party that weekend. Folks would show up in jammies and slippers, in their gardening grubbies, in paint-spattered overalls, and everyone thought this was hilarious. Really, they did. The honor system was, well, honored, and people blushingly wore what you “caught” them in. — See, that was before pajamas, slippers, torn up jeans and ragged tops became the outfit de rigueur for everything from the opera to fancy restaurants. Today you see people in the most casual of attire everywhere – at weddings, at airports, at the courthouse – places where, only a few years ago, a person “wouldn’t be caught dead” in anything but their Sunday best. (Jomi Hilton). Today’s Gospel story tells us what happened to one such invitee for a royal banquet who ignored the dress code. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
19) “Thrift Store Saints:Meeting Jesus 25c at a Time.” Fifteen years ago, Jane Knuth, a math teacher and mom, began volunteering at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She approached the work with typical baby-boomer hard-charging determination to “fix the world” — but over the years, the experience changed her. The poor and desperate she has been able to help have deepened her own Faith and brought her to a new understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Jane Knuth has collected stories of her experiences at “St. Vinnie’s” in a delightful book Thrift Store Saints: Meeting Jesus 25c at a Time. Thrift Store Saints includes some two dozen stories about the volunteers and patrons of the St. Vincent’s thrift shop. The Kalamazoo thrift store sells everything from furniture and clothing to basic household items, but also offers financial assistance, referral services (and prayerful and emotional support), to all the needy and lost who come in. Rather than viewing society’s poor as problems to be solved, Jane and her colleagues see them each in a completely different light: as saints who can lead us straight to the heart of Christ. Jane Knuth writes: “I still keep looking for the ‘deserving poor’ – the innocent ones who are blatant victims of injustice and hard luck. Do poor people deserve their daily struggle for existence? Are they immoral, stupid, and lazy? Sometimes they are; most times they aren’t.” — God’s image of His human family is realized in the kindness and charity extended by a small thrift store. In today’s Gospel, Jesus articulates the Father’s vision for humanity: a “banquet” at which all are respected and honored for who they are and the goodness they bring to the King’s Table, be it the “table” of the classroom, the clinic, the playground, the home. If we are to be truly faithful to God’s vision, the compassion of God must transform our heart’s perspective, enabling us to see beyond ethnic stereotypes, economic distinctions, class, and celebrity, to recognize every man, woman and child as made in the same image and likeness of God in which we were all created; we must be willing both to give joyfully what we have and to accept humbly what others bring to the table. (Quoted by Fr. Tony Kayala). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
20) Church: The Only Thing in Town That Has Not Changed: It is instructive to drive through ritzy developments – or what David Brooks once called “sprinkler cities” – and notice that everything a person could possibly want was thought of by the real estate developers. This can be seen in lots of places, including certain sections of northern Michigan along the Lake Michigan coast, an area that has recently seen an explosion of multi-million-dollar homes on the choicest lakefront lots. As that area has seen a sharp spike in wealthy residents, lots of things expanded accordingly. Malls needed to be built or upgraded, more movie screens and golf courses were required, lush horse stables were erected, world-class restaurants opened and flourished, and even supermarkets needed to add gourmet sections so that all the ingredients for truly high-end cooking could be found. About the only thing in this town that did not change was worship space. Despite a huge influx of new residents, somehow or another the same old white clapboard country church that has been there for years continues to suffice. — Curious, isn’t it? But for those busy making a life in this world, this is often the case. So also, in this parable such folks received the king’s engraved invitation and responded, “Sounds great but I really need to keep an eye on the market today. Can I get a rain check?” (Rev. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations; Quoted by Fr. Tony Kayala). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
21) Clothing and Spiritual Change: Clothing is a common New Testament metaphor for spiritual change. Paul wrote in Romans, “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Rom 13:14). And in First Corinthians, “The perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:53). In Colossians, we read, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12). Finally, in First Peter we are admonished, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble'” (1 Peter 5:5). Being clothed anew is a consistent New Testament expression for holiness and righteousness. The old clothes have to come off and new ones need to be put on. — Today’s Gospel text confronts us with the paradox of God’s free invitation to the banquet with no strings attached and God’s requirement of “putting on” something appropriate to that calling. The theological point is that we are warned of the dire consequences of accepting the invitation and doing nothing except showing up. (Rev. Mickey Anders, When Showing Up Isn’t Enough. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
22) Strength for Everything: When World War II broke out, Dr. William S. Butler of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, felt duty-bound to join the Army Medical Corps. He was assigned to a post as remote as possible from his family and his native village – the steaming forests of New Guinea. Treating the wounded and victims of strange equatorial diseases was a good learning experience. But Dr. Butler and his outfit were not in a medical school. They were living right in the middle of a jungle war, constantly exposed to bombs and heavy artillery. — The army physician learned there was only one real antidote to fright. “Prayer,” he wrote to his college roommate, “has aided us in many a ticklish moment and fortified our courage. I have said more prayers in the past months than in all my life. It gives one the needed push when spirits lag a bit and takes the bite out of the shells and airplanes. I wonder how men get along who are without religion of any kind. Personally, I don’t believe that man exists. Please remember us in your prayers.”—St Paul concurs: “….In Him who is the source of my strength I have strength for everything.” (Phil, 4:13. Today’s second reading). (Father Robert F. McNamara). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
23) July 4th celebration and the Gospel banquet: The following modern-day account of a July 4 celebration gives a glimpse into the importance of a shared meal and the abundant riches of the heavenly banquet (cf. Erika Bentsen, Daily Guideposts 2014, p. 204). It’s the savory smell of tri-tip barbecuing over mountain mahogany. It’s the sight of long tables loaded down with countless macaroni or potato salads, baked beans, casseroles, fruit and veggie platters. It’s overflowing baskets of rolls. It’s the pies and homemade ice-cream waiting on ice in the shade. It’s the boisterous din of conversation among country neighbors, almost clannish and isolated the rest of the year, coming together en masse to celebrate Independence Day. It’s that brief pivotal lull between irrigating and haying season in our valley; the last chance for neighbors to get together and socialize before the long, arduous process of gathering and storing forage against the coming winter. Most of us won’t see each other for months, if not until next year. — As the dinner triangle clangs, there’s a whoop of joy and laughter. We bow our heads as one for the blessing. I steal a glance over the assembled crowd: cowboys and Indians. Retirees from California. Ranch kids. Old time families and recent imports. Dear friends and complete strangers. Rich and poor. All races and all walks of life. Each of us came to this valley in pursuit of the American dream. My heart swells with pride at our great nation. (Lectio Divina). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
24)“You spread a table before me in the sight of my foes; You anoint my head with oi; my cup overflows!” (Ps 23:5)
Once upon a time a family had lived on a street for a long time and had no neighbors because the other lots were vacant. Then many of the lots were sold and new homes were constructed. The original family was delighted. At last they had neighbors, young people with children like themselves. They went to each of the new people and invited them to come to a special welcome party organized in their honor. The local priest would be there, some old timers on other streets in the neighborhood, some doctors and dentists and lawyers, the precinct captain, a famous actor who lived on the next street, and samples of food from all the stores in the area. It was a wonderful chance for everyone in the new block to get to know the rest of the community. The newcomers thought it was a wonderful idea. They could hardly wait for the party. But it so happened that on the day of the party no one came. The wife who had brought round the invitations made some calls – “An interior decorator is coming, can’t be at the party; my in-laws are visiting, can’t attend the party; soccer game in our old neighborhood, can’t come; and …” So, the old timers ate all the food and drank all the beer and had a wonderful time. — This story is very similar to today’s Gospel parable about the wedding feast hosted by God. The invited guests do not show up, so other guests are gathered from the streets and invited to share the table and the joy. What about us? Do we accept God’s invitation and share in His joy, or do we also ignore His invitation and disappoint Him with our excuses? Fr. Lakra.
25) A man who went to other places in search of fortune. Fr. Apalisok told story of a young man who went to other places in search of fortune. A few years later, he returned to his home place with several passenger jeeps loaded with riches. “Now, I am going to play a trick on my relatives and friends,” he said to himself. He donned some rugged clothes and went to see his cousin Pedro, first. ”I’m your long lost cousin, Juan. I’m back home after several years in other places. Just look at me how miserable I am. May I stay with you for a while?” he said. Pedro said: “I’m sorry, but there is no room here for you.” Juan visited some of his relatives and friends but he was not accepted any of them. So he returned to where he had put his riches, dressed himself in luxurious clothes, rode through his place with a large entourage of servants, purchased all those businesses about to close down, and bought a majestic mansion. After only two days, the news of his riches had spread all over the place. — “Who could have imagined it?” said one of the group of relatives and friends who had refused to take him in, “If we had only known, we would have acted differently, but it is too late now. We missed the riches because we wouldn’t help him when we thought he was poor.” — In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us the parable of the wedding feast prepared by a king for his son.(Fr. Benitez).
26) Graham Green’s priest without a wedding garment: Graham Greene’s novel The Power and the Glory is the story of a priest who has been condemned to death during the 1930s in Mexico, an era of religious persecution. Paramilitary groups called the Red-Shirts had succeeded in closing churches and forcing priests to give up their ministry. In this hostile environment, where religion has been outlawed, the nameless “whiskey priest” of Greene’s novel seeks to minister to the people as best he can. He is eventually captured and awaits execution. He had by no means been a perfect priest. He has fathered a child, and the incredible difficulties that he’s experienced in this hostile environment have driven him to drink, quite literally. Greene describes the morning of his execution: 51. What a fool he had been to think that he was strong enough to stay when others had fled. What an impossible fellow I am, he thought, and how useless. I have done nothing for anybody. I might just as well have never lived. 52. He felt only an immense disappointment because he had to go to God empty-handed, with nothing at all. It seemed to him, at that moment, that it would have been quite easy to be a saint. 53. It would have needed only a little self-restraint and a little courage. He felt like someone who had missed happiness by seconds at an appointed place. 54. Graham Green’s priest, like the wedding guest, must stand silent. They had each accepted an invitation. They had always meant to dress properly for the occasion, but they never got round to it. It would have been so easy. It was always the very next thing they intended to do. (Fr. Geoffrey Plant). L/26
You may visit my website by clicking on https://frtonyshomilies.com/for missed or previous Cycle C & A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only atakadavil@gmail.com as I moved to my home in my home country in 2023. Visit also https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies of Fr. Nick’s collection of homilies and Resources in the CBCI website: https://www.cbci.in. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020) My post-retirement U. S postal Adress: Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. Joseph M. C. , St. Agatha Church, 1001 Hand Avenue, Bay Minette, Al 36507
Sept 28- Oct 3: Sept 28 Monday:St, Wenceslaus, Martyr, St, Ruiz and companians, Martyrs: (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-lorenzo-ruiz-and-companions) Lk 9: 46-50: 46 And an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 But when Jesus perceived the thought of their hearts, he took a child and put him by his side, 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me; for he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” 49 John answered, “Master, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him; for he that is not against you is for you.”
The context: Today’s Gospel describes Jesus’ criterion for greatness with advice to be accepting of others who do good in ways different from ours. Jesus exhorts the spiritual leaders as well as all believers in responsible positions in the Church to be like children, humble, trusting, and innocent. Child-like qualities: Children are basically innocent and honest. They are naturally humble, because they depend on their parents for everything. They trust and obey their parents because they know their parents love them. Hence, Jesus advises his disciples to forget their selfish ambitions and to spend their lives serving others in all humility, with trusting Faith in a loving and providing God. Then they will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Next, Jesus tells his disciples that there should not be any rivalry, jealousy, or suspicion among them, as long as all hold the same belief. In today’s passage, the apostles, upset by seeing someone who did not belong to their group using Jesus’ name to cast out demons, complain to Jesus. Since the present-day divisions in Christianity are substantive, rising from differences over the basic tenets of Faith, today’s Gospel passage does not apply to them. But there is no reason for any Christian denomination to be jealous of another denomination because of the greater good they do for people for the glory of God. True love seeks the highest good of our neighbor, while envy results from selfishness and pride, and it is contrary to true Christian love.
Life Messages: 1) We need to practice humility in thoughts, words and actions. “Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.” 2) We should not seek recognition and recompense for the service we do for Christ and the Church as parents, teachers, pastors etc. 3) Trusting Faith, resulting from true humility, is essential for all corporal and spiritual works of mercy. 4) Let us not try to prevent anyone from doing good to others because of envy or jealousy. Envy and jealousy are sinful because they lead us to sadness over what should make us rejoice. True love always seeks the highest good of the neighbor. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Sept 29 Tuesday:Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels:https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saints-michael-gabriel-and-raphael Jn 1: 47-51: Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” 48 Nathaniel said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathaniel answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”50… 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
The archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael: The angels are spirits created by God before He created man. They are meant to be extensions of God’s love and provident care for us. Their role is to praise and worship God, act as God’s messengers, do God’s will and protect human beings. “He will give His angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways (Psalm 91:1). God sent His angels to destroy the evil cities Sodom and Gomorrah and to save Lot’s family. God gave Moses an angel to support and guide him: “My angel shall go before you” (Ex 32:34). It was an angel who helped Jesus in the desert and encouraged Jesus during his agony in Gethsemane. The Acts of the Apostles (1:14) describes how God sent an angel to liberate Peter from the prison. The archangels form one of the nine orders of angels. The most prominent among them in Scripture are Michael the protector, Gabriel the messenger of God and Raphael, the healer and guide for humans.
Michael: Michael means “Who is like God?” from the challenge he flung at the rebel angels Lucifer and Lucifer’s supporters. In Daniel, he is the great prince who defended Israel. In the Book of Revelation, he is the mighty princewho fought with Lucifer and who dragged the serpent into hell.
Gabriel: He is God’s messenger. It was Gabriel who announced to Elizabeth’s husband, the priest Zechariah, the happy news that his barren wife would conceive a son, John the Baptist. He announced the “good news” to Mary that she was to bear the Son of God. Gabriel also announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds.
Raphael: He is man’s God-appointed guide and healer. He guided Tobiah’s journey, did Tobiah’s task of collecting his father’s money from Gabael of Rhages, arranged Tobiah’s marriage with Sarah, gave Tobiah the means to heal Tobit’s blindness and protected Sarah from the devil.
Life messages: 1) Dependable angelic assistance is a salutary, encouraging assurance for us to remember in our fears. 2) The truth that an angel is always watching us is an incentive for us to do good and to avoid evil. 3) Angelic protection and assistance form a great provision for which we must be always thankful to God. (Fr. Tony) L/26
Sept 30 Wednesday:St. Jerome, Priest, Doctor of the Church: (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-jerome) Lk 9:57-62: 57 As they were going along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 But he said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
The context: Today’s Gospel passage explains the cost of Christian discipleship and the wholehearted constancy, commitment, and sacrificial ministry that the Christian mission requires. The requests and the challenge: “I will follow you wherever you go!” was the offer of a would-be follower. But Jesus made him no false promises. Instead, he told the man: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has not whereon to lay His head.” Being a Christian is not an easy or comfortable affair: It calls for detachment, self-denial, self-control, and putting God before everything else. No earthly gain is to be expected. Jesus’ answer to the second man whom Jesus himself had invited to follow him – to be allowed more time before becoming a disciple – sounds harsh: “Let the dead bury their dead.” But this man’s father was neither dead nor sick. What the man was asking for was permission to stay with his father until the father’s death. Jesus knew that later he would find another reason to delay answering the call; he was agreeing to follow Jesus on conditions. St. John Chrysostom comments, “it was not to have us neglect the honor due to our parents, but to make us realize that nothing is more important than the things of Heaven and that we ought to cleave to these and not to put them off even for a little while, though our engagements be ever so indispensable and pressing” (Hom. on St. Matthew, 27).]. To the third volunteer who wanted to “say farewell to those at my home” Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” Jesus wants exclusive service to his cause, giving family commitments only the second place. So, he did not allow the volunteer to say farewell to the family as Elijah allowed Elisha to do when he was called.
Life messages: 1) We need to honor our commitments: Today, more than ever, people make marriage commitments too easily and then break them. The problem today is that the couples do not have the courage to make the commitment of marriage work. We all know there is a tremendous shortage of priests because our young people are unwilling to make commitments to God by committing themselves to life-long celibacy, to a diocese or to the vowed life of a religious community. 2) We need to pray for strength to honor our commitments. We are here this morning because, in one way or another, we have said to Jesus, “I will follow you.” Sometimes we are faithful to him, but at other times we are not. Hence, we need to pray for strength to honor our commitments. We need to ask for forgiveness when we fail, and we need to renew our determination to walk with Jesus by being loyal to our spouse and family, by earning our living honestly, and by living, not only peacefully, but lovingly, with our neighbors. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26 For additional reflections:Click onhttps://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/;https://www.epriest.com/reflections.
Oct 1 Thursday:St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Doctor of the Church: For a short biography, click here:https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-teresa-of-avilaMt 18:1-5:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.
Marie Therese Martin was born on Jan 2, 1873 as the youngest of nine children of a watch-maker, Louis Martin, and his wife, a lace-maker, Zelie Guerin. Therese lost her mother at 4 and four of her siblings in their early childhood. She was the “little flower” of her father. One of her older sisters joined the Visitation convent and three others became Carmelite nuns. Therese joined the Carmelite convent at Lisieux at 15 with special permission from Pope Leo XIII. She died of tuberculosis when she was 24 years and 9 months old on September 30, 1897. Pope Pius XI declared her a saint on May 17, 1925, just 28 years after her death. Pope St. John Paul II declared her a “Doctor of the Church” in 1997.
Sources of her life history: 1) Autobiography of a Little Flower (The Story of a Soul); 2) 300 letters; 3) 8- One Act Plays; 4) 50 poems.
Secret of her Little Way and short-cut to Heaven: Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way out of love for God, with 100% dedication and child-like trust, being ever ready to undertake any type of sacrifice. Convert suffering into redemptive suffering and use it for the apostolate.
Conditions: 1) Be child-like and innocent with trusting Faith in a loving Heavenly Father. 2) Do everything with 100% dedication as being done for our caring and forgiving God, our Father. 3) Be ready to undertake sacrifice for others. St. Therese offered all her sacrifices a) in reparation for the sins of others and for her own sins b) for missionaries c) for the conversion of sinners.
LifeMessage: Let us follow the shortcut of Little Flower by becoming child-like in our relationship with God by doing His will with 100% sincerity, commitment and love. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Oct 2 Friday:The Holy Guadrdian Angels: For a short account, click here: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/feasaint-of-the-guardian-angels/ : Mt 18:1-5, 10: 1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven 1 angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.
The Guardian Angel: Although the doctrine and traditional belief in the Guardian Angel is not a dogma of Faith, it is based on the Bible. Each person’s Guardian Angel is an expression of God’s enduring love and providential care extended to him or her every day. Today’s prayers in the Breviary and in the Roman Missal mention the three-fold function of the angels: a) they praise and worship God, b) they serve as His messengers, and c) they watch over human beings.
Historical note: Devotion to the Guardian Angels began to develop in the monasteries. St. Benedict gave it an additional impetus and St. Bernard of Clairvaux (12th century reformer), spread the devotion in its present form. The feast of the Guardian Angels originated in the 1500s. It was placed on the official liturgical calendar of the Church by Pope Paul V in 1607. "By God's Providence, angels have been entrusted with the office of guarding the human race and of accompanying every human being so as to preserve him from any serious dangers [...]. Our Heavenly Father has placed over each of us an angel under whose protection and vigilance we are" ("St. Pius V Catechism", IV, 9, 4).
Biblical teaching: Today’s Gospel (Mt 16:10), clearly states that even children have their Guardian Angels: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in Heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father Who is in Heaven.” Psalm 91:1 teaches: “For He has given His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”
Life messages: 1) The conviction that we are each protected by an angel is an encouragement against our baseless fears and unnecessary anxieties. 2) The thought that a messenger from God is constantly watching our thoughts, words and deeds is an inspiration for us to lead holy lives and to do good for others and avoid evil. 3) We need to be grateful to God every day, thanking Him for His loving care given us through His angel. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Oct 3 Saturday; Lk 10:17-24:17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. 22 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
The context: Today’s Gospel describes how the seventy disciples, sent by Jesus to prepare people in the towns and villages He was going to visit, returned joyfully to Jesus who rejoiced aloud at the success of their preaching and healing mission. This passage of the Gospel is usually called our Lord’s “hymn of joy.” Jesus rejoiced to see how humble people understood and accepted the word of God.
The teaching: Jesus declares that the right reason for rejoicing must be the hope of reaching Heaven by doing the will of God at all times, and that that is more important than working miracles. He also gives his disciples a warning against taking pride in the success of their mission. Jesus repeats his claim that he is God, equal in everything with his Father and that only he can reveal God his Father to others. Then he congratulates his disciples at their good fortune in living to see, hear and experience the Messiah in their midst, a privilege which generations before them would have rejoiced to receive.
Life messages: 1) We have received the same mission as that given to the seventy disciples, a mission to preach Jesus as Lord and Savior. We may have success as well as failure. But we, too, have reason to rejoice even when our attempts at evangelization are not visibly successful because we are assured of a great reward in Heaven. 2) We are more blessed than he apostles and hence we have more reason to rejoice because we have the presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, we can hear him through the Gospels, and we can experience him through prayers and Sacraments. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
OT XXVII [A] (Oct 4) Sunday(Eight-minute homily in one page) L/26
Introduction: The common theme of today’s readings is the necessity of bearing fruit in the Christian life. The readings warn us of the punishment for spiritual sterility, ingratitude, and wickedness.
Scripture lessons summarized: In today’s first reading, called, Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard, the prophet describes God’s care of, and expectations for, His Chosen People. God’s Chosen People failed to bear fruit, in spite of the blessings lavished upon them by a loving and forgiving God. Further, they were poor tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. Hence, God laments: “I expected My vineyard to yield good grapes. Why did it yield sour ones instead?”
In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 80), the Psalmist pleads with God to look down from Heaven and to “take care of this vine,” knowing that if any good is to come of the vine, it will be the doing of God, not the people.
In the second reading, Paul tells Philippians about the high expectations he has for them, reminding them that they need to become fruit-producing Christians by praying and giving thanks to God and by practicing justice, purity, and graciousness in their lives.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells an allegorical parable in which the landowner is God, the vineyard is Israel as God’s special people, and the tenants are the political and religious leaders of Israel. The story emphasizes the failure of the tenants, the Chosen People of God and their leaders, to produce fruits of righteousness, justice, and mercy. Giving a theological explanation of Israel’s history of gross ingratitude through the parable, Jesus reminds us Christians that, since we are the “new” Israel, enriched with additional blessings and provisions in the Church, we are expected to show our gratitude to God by bearing fruits of the kingdom, fruits of the Holy Spirit, in our lives, giving Him all the Glory.
Life messages:1) Are we good fruit-producers in the vineyard of the Church? Jesus has given the Church everything necessary to make Christians fruit-bearing. a) The Bible to know the will of God. b) The Sacrament of Holy Orders to consecrate bishops, priests, and deacons to lead the people in God’s ways. c) The Sacrament of Reconciliation for the remission of sins. d) The Holy Eucharist as our spiritual food. e) The Sacrament of Confirmation for a dynamic life of Faith. f) The Sacrament of Matrimony for the sharing of love in families, the fundamental unit of the Church. g) The Sacrament of (Last) Anointing to restore and strengthen spiritual life and bring mental emotional and physical healing as well, if that is what God wills. h) Role models in thousands of saints. We are expected make use of these gifts to produce fruits for God.
2) Are we fruit-producers in the vineyard of the family? By the mutual sharing of blessings, by sacrificing time and talents for the members of the family, by humbly and lovingly serving others in the family, by recognizing and encouraging each other and by honoring and gracefully obeying our parents, we become producers of “good fruit” for the Vine, Christ, in our families, and so give Glory to God.
OT XXVII [A] SUNDAY (Oct 4) Is 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21:33-43
Homily starter anecdotes: 1)Warnings ignored: Recently the New York Times Magazine showed a series of photographs of a rock formation in Yosemite National Park near Bridal Veil Falls. A prominent sign in yellow plastic was attached to the rocks which clearly said: “DANGER! Climbing or scrambling on rocks and cliffs is extremely dangerous. They are slippery when dry or wet. Many injuries and even fatalities have occurred.” One picture showed a woman walking on the rocks in a tight dress and high heels. Another showed a couple walking on the rocks. The man was carrying his dog apparently because he thought it was too slippery for the dog. Another showed a man carrying a month-old baby in his arms while walking on the rocks. (“Slippery Slope in Yosemite” New York Times Magazine, September 9, 1994, p. 14.) — What causes us to ignore clear warnings? Why do folks rip the plastic cover off a pack of cigarettes, when all of us know the Surgeon General’s warning by heart? Why do people remove the safety shield from power saws? Why do people ignore their doctor’s warnings about being overweight and under-exercised? Why do entire civilizations ignore warnings about pollution, or the revolutionary pressures that economic and political injustice creates? Today’s Gospel tells us how the Jewish religious leadership ignored the even the final warning given by Jesus after Palm Sunday. (https://youtu.be/kAvhslwxMPU) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) Wild vines in the Lord’s vineyard. In his book From Scandal to Hope, Fr. Benedict Groeschel (EWTN), examines the roots of the clergy sex-abuse scandal. He details how disloyalty spread through seminaries, universities, chanceries, and parishes. The most notorious case was that of Fr. Paul Shanley who helped found the North American Man-Boy Love Association in 1979. He lectured in seminaries, once with a bishop in attendance, maintaining that “homosexuality is a gift of God and should be celebrated,” and that there was no sexual activity that could cause psychic damage– “not even incest or bestiality.” No wonder Fr. Charles Curran had little trouble getting seventy-seven theologians to sign a protest against Humanae Vitae, an encyclical which reaffirmed marital chastity! A few years later the Catholic Theological Society (CTS), published Human Sexuality: New Directions in American Catholic Thought, a study which accepted cohabitation, adultery and homosexuality. Now, however, all these chickens have come home to roost. We are paying the price – in lawsuits, public humiliation, and loss of credibility. The media gave us a glimpse of the enormous destruction in the Lord’s vineyard done by those wicked tenants. They did so with great relish because the scandals discredit a teaching authority they, by and large, find annoying. But this attention by the media has had consequences the media probably did not intend. It has alerted Catholics to the widespread pillaging of the vineyard, which ultimately means the damnation of souls. — Fr. Groeschel asks, “Does all this scandal shake your faith in the Church?” He answers, “I hope so, because ultimately your Faith should not be in the Church. Ultimately your Faith is in Jesus Christ. It is because of him that we accept and support the Church. We believe in and belong to the Church because Christ established it on his apostles.” We see in today’s Gospel that the owner of the vineyard is God. He will care for his Church, not by committees or documents, but by raising up saints who will properly tend the vineyard. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) Rejected stone becoming the cornerstone: A girl named Kristi Yamaguchi was born to a young couple whose parents had emigrated to the U.S. from Japan in the early twentieth century. Unfortunately, one of her feet was twisted. Her parents tried to heal her by means of physical therapy. To strengthen her legs further they enrolled her in an ice-skating class. Kristi had to get up at four AM on school days to do her practice in the ice rink before she went to school. This helped her to develop into a world-class figure-skater. In 1992 Kristi won the gold medal for the United States in women’s figure-skating at the XVI Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, 1992! Kristi thus became one of the several examples of “the stone rejected by the builders becoming a cornerstone,” in this case, of the U.S. Women’s Olympic team. — Kristi is very passionate about making a positive difference in the lives of children. In 1996, Kristi established the Always Dream Foundation whose mission is to encourage, support and, embrace the hopes and dreams of children. In today’s Gospel, after telling the parable of the wicked tenants, Jesus prophesies that, rejected by the Jewish nation, he will become the cornerstone of the Kingdom of God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
Introduction: The common theme of today’s readings is the necessity of bearing fruit in the Christian life and the consequent punishment for spiritual sterility, ingratitude, and wickedness. In today’s first reading, called Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard, the prophet describes God’s care of, and expectations for, His Chosen People. God’s Chosen People have failed to bear fruit in spite of the blessings lavished upon them by a loving and forgiving God. Further, they have been poor tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. Hence, God laments: “I expected my vineyard to yield good grapes. Why did it yield sour ones instead?” In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 80), the Psalmist pleads with God to look down from Heaven and to “take care of this vine,” knowing that if any good is to come of the vine, it will be the doing of God, not the people. In the second reading, Paul tells Philippians about the high expectations he has for them, reminding them that they need to become fruit-producing Christians by praying and giving thanks and by practicing justice, purity, and graciousness in their lives. Giving a theological explanation of Israel’s history of gross ingratitude through a parable, Jesus, in today’s Gospel, reminds us Christians that, since we are the “new” Israel, enriched with additional blessings and provisions in the Church, we are expected to show our gratitude to God by bearing fruits of the kingdom, fruits of the Holy Spirit, in our lives, and to give God the Glory for these accomplishments.
The first reading (Isaiah 5:1-7) explained:By the late eighth century BC, God’s people in the Promised Land had become divided into a Northern Kingdom, Israel, with its capital in Samaria, and a Southern Kingdom, Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem. Assyria, the dominant power in the region, controlled the Northern Kingdom. Isaiah assured both Kingdoms that a new King would come to the throne in Judah and would see to the reunion of the North and the South and the expulsion of the Assyrians. But in the earlier chapters of his prophecy, the prophet had criticized his own unfaithful people. In today’s first reading, called Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard, the prophet describes God’s care for, and interest in, His Chosen People.“What more was there to do for My vineyard that I had not done?” Yahweh asks rhetorically. Following the classic Biblical imagery, Isaiah’s prophecy describes Israel as a non-productive vineyard. Though God has done everything necessary to produce a good crop, the vineyard yields only “wild grapes.”
From the call of Abraham (about 1800 B.C.), and especially after the Exodus (1300 B.C.), the history of God’s chosen people was one continuous reminder of God’s benevolence towards them. But Israel — God’s Vineyard – failed Him miserably, producing wild, bitter grapes. Israel disobeyed God by idolatry, perpetuating injustice and shedding the blood of the innocent. We are reminded that the same God of love and benevolence has shown even more love and benevolence to His new ‘chosen people’– the Church. He sent His prophets to reveal Himself and His message to the Jews, but He has sent His own Divine Son to live and die in our midst – for us! By Baptism, which Jesus instituted, we are made the adopted children of God and heirs of Heaven. But by our cold indifference to God and our excessive attachment to worldly goods, many of us become, and remain, more ungrateful than the Israelites. Thus, we, too, are the unproductive Vineyard the Heavenly Father says He will destroy, laying it waste. Let us pay attention to this strong warning and become His grateful and generous children.
The second reading (Philippians 4:6-9) explained: Since the Christians at Philippi received the Gospel enthusiastically and continued to support Paul after he evangelized them, Paul tells them affectionately of the high expectations he has for them and shows them how they are to become fruit-producing Christians. Using the Greek moralist phrases, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,” Paul instructs them to accept and live in the true peace of God by “prayer and petition with thanksgiving,” and to “keep on doing what they have learned and received and heard and seen” in him.Paul’s words of instruction as to how the Philippians should be fruit-bearing vines are equally applicable to us. We, too, must grow in our relationship to God through prayers of adoration and thanksgiving. These should be followed by prayers of contrition for our failings, and of petition in which we ask for spiritual and temporal favors for ourselves and for others, living and deceased. Paul assures us, too, that such prayers will bring peace of mind in this life and eternal peace and happiness in the life to come.
Gospel Exegesis:The context and the objective: The parable of the wicked tenants is an allegory told by Jesus during Passover week in the Temple precincts of Jerusalem. A parable normally presents one lesson and the details are not relevant. In an allegory, on the other hand, each detail has a symbolic meaning. This story is one of the three “parables of judgment” which Jesus told in response to the question put forward by the Scribes and the Pharisees about his authority to teach in the Temple. It was intended to be a strong warning to the Jews in general — and to the Scribes and the Pharisees in particular, as they were planning to kill Jesus, the Messiah for whom Israel had waited for centuries. Thus, this parable of the wicked tenants is a theological summary of the entire history of the ingratitude, infidelity, and hard-heartedness of the Chosen People. Its importance is shown by its appearance in all the three Synoptic Gospels.
The background of the parable: The parable reflects the frictions in tenant- landlord relations in Palestine. Most of the vineyards were owned by rich, absentee landlords living in Jerusalem, Damascus, or Rome, who leased their lands to tenants and were interested only in collecting rent. The country was seething with economic unrest. The working people were discontented and rebellious, and the tenant farmers had picked up the revolutionary slogan, “land for the farmer.” Hence, they often refused to pay the rent previously agreed upon and, in some cases, assaulted the landowner’s representatives. It is natural, then, that Jesus’ parable should reflect the popular hatred of foreign domination and the monopolizing of agricultural land by a rich minority who supported Roman rule.
The Old Testament roots of the parable.The New Jerusalem Bible says of the vineyard image: “The theme of Israel as a vine, chosen and then rejected, had been introduced by Hosea, 10:1, and was to be taken up by Jeremiah, 2:21; 5:10; 6:9; 12:10, and Ezekiel, 15:1-8; 17:3-10; 19:10-14; cf. Ps 80:8-18; and Isiah, Is 27:2-5. Jesus gave it a new twist in the parable of the wicked husbandmen in Mt 21:33-44 and parallel Gospel passages. In John 15:1-2 Jesus unfolds the mystery of the ‘true’ vine. Other aspects of the vine theme appear in Dt 32:32-33 and [Sirach] 24:17.” This powerful prophetic allegory was so well-known that Jesus’ Jewish audience immediately understood that he was talking about them in the parable. But Jesus makes changes in Isaiah’s imagery. He makes himself the vineyard owner’s son and adds the concept of “tenant-farmers.” Here, instead of Yahweh destroying the wild vines, Jesus’ owner, according to the judgment of the audience whom Jesus asked for a judgment, “will bringthat wicked crowd to a bad end and leases the vineyard to others who see to it that he has grapes at vintage time.” In this parable, the ungrateful and murderous tenants are the uncooperative vines of Isaiah. Jesus then turns the crowd’s stern verdict, calling for rejection and destruction, against themselves through a telling quotation of Psalm 118, “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
The meaning of the parable: As an allegory, this parable has different meanings:
1) Like the Jews, the second- and third-generation Christians also understood God as the landlord. The servants sent by the landowner represented the prophets of the Old Testament. They were to see to it that God’s Chosen People produced fruits of justice, love, and righteousness. But the people refused to listen to the prophets and produced the bitter grapes of injustice, immorality, and idolatry. They persecuted and killed the prophets. (See 1 Kgs 19:10, 14; 2 Chr 24:18-22; 36:15-16; Acts 7:51-53; Mt 23:29-39). As a final attempt, the landowner sent his son, (Jesus), to collect the rent (fruits of righteousness), from the wicked tenants (the Jews). But they crucified him and continued to lead a lives of disloyalty and disobedience. Hence, God’s vineyard was to be taken away from His chosen people and given to a people (Gentile Christians), who were expected to produce fruits of righteousness. “The basic theological thrust of the parable of the vineyard is to place the suffering and death of Jesus in line with the mistreatment of God’s messengers throughout the centuries. (Daniel J. Harrington, SJ). The parable of the vineyard, in both Isaiah’s account and Jesus’ re-formulation of it for his contemporaries, must in some way be a message given by the Holy Spirit to today’s Church. Although we believe in Jesus’ promise that the armies of Hell will not prevail against us, that should not lead us to think that we ourselves cannot squander the gift of the vineyard. (John Kavanaugh, SJ).
2) The Lord’s Vineyard at present is the Church, and we Christians are the tenants from whom God expects fruits of righteousness. The parable warns us that if we refuse to reform our lives, and to become spiritual fruit-producers we, too, could be replaced, just as the old Israel was replaced by us. As good tenants of God’s Vineyard, we need to pay serious attention to relating to others as loving fellow-servants to our commonMaster. In the parable, the rent the tenants refuse to pay stands for the relationship with God and with all the people of Israel which the religious leaders refuse to cultivate. This means that before anything else, God checks on how well we are fulfilling our responsibilities to each other as children of God. The parable teaches that instead of glorying in isolated splendor, rejoicing in our privileges and Christian heritage, we are called to deeds of love, compassion, patience, generous assistance, forgiveness and mercy, for these are the witness-bearing personal and corporate actions and attitudes that invite and welcome others into God’s kingdom.
The parable also challenges us to ask the question: How do we treat the prophets of our time? Over the centuries, how many prophets in our Christian communities have been rejected, abused and even killed? How did we treat Joan of Arc, Thomas More, Oliver Plunkett and, in our own times, Bishop Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, the countless victims of violence in Africa, (Rwanda, among other places), Central and South America — not to mention Northern Ireland? The sad fact is that they were killed not by pagans but by fellow-Christians, tenants in the Lord’s vineyard.
The second image: An application of Psalm 118:22-23 introduces a second image at the end of the parable: The Church, the interim expression of the final-age Kingdom, as a building made of stone whose cornerstone is Jesus. This image has its Old Testament roots in Is 8:14-15 and Dn 2:34, 44-45. That Jesus is “head of the corner” affirms his essential role in the salvation of God’s people. He is the cornerstone, placed at the corner of the foundation where two rows of stones come together, and also the keystone or capstone completing the arch and supporting the entire structure. Verse 44 is reminiscent of the comment, “You can’t break God’s laws; you can only break yourself on them,” which is rather like saying, “You can’t break the law of gravity; you can only break yourself by ignoring it.” People in every age have the option of accepting or rejecting Jesus. If we accept Jesus the Son of God Incarnate, and his Church as the cornerstone of our lives, that becomes our sure foundation. If we reject him, we are the losers. Hence, let us build our lives on Jesus Christ, the cornerstone.
Today’s Gospel story (Mt 21:33-43) is both sad tale and a forewarning (Bishop Clarke).First comes the sadly distressing part. Even though so many of us (who call ourselves ‘Christian’) have “found the treasure” –- the Messiah — many more who were the originally ‘chosen’ people have rejected him because he did not meet their political expectations. These latter folks recognized that Jesus was a Jew, but despite the evidence they denied his Resurrection from the dead; denied that he is the Messiah; and denied that he is the Son of God, the only faithful and true Israelite who could represent his people and save them. The second part or “forewarning” is implicit in the story. Since so many Israelites did not bear fruit (i.e., respond appropriately to their Call to be the light to the Gentiles), the “vineyard” was turned over to others, to Gentiles who would indeed “bear fruit” and harvest the kingdom of God. Therefore, the responsibility to bear fruit, to bring others to the Truth by acting as the light of Christ to the world, will always remain a significant challenge for Christians. If we become lax and our light goes out, then we will be in no better position that the first group who did not believe. In fact, we will be in a worse dilemma, because we believed but stopped acting on that belief. The Call of the Israelites was to be a light to All the Nations. It was not a gift to be hoarded by them, producing a sense of superiority over others. Instead, it was a call to be a Servant for others. Now that same Call falls upon you and me, to be a beacon for Christ. Are we helping to build up the Body of Christ by our thoughts, words, deeds and prayers? Can we see how inactivity on our part might lead to our own personal loss of the vineyard, and consequently the same awesome judgment from the owner?
Life messages:1) Are we good fruit-producers in the vineyard of the Church? Jesus has given the Church everything necessary to make Christians fruit-bearing: a) The Bible to know the will of God. b) The priesthood to lead the people in God’s ways. c) The Sacrament of Reconciliation for the remission of sins. d) The Holy Eucharist as our spiritual Food and Drink. e) The Sacrament of Confirmation for a dynamic life of Faith. f) The Sacrament of Matrimony for the sharing of love in families, the fundamental unit of the Church. g) The Sacrament of (Last) Anointing to restore and strengthen spiritual life and bring mental emotional and physical healing as well, if that is what God wills h) Role models in thousands of saints We are expected make use of these gifts and produce fruits for God.
2) Are we fruit-producers in the vineyard of the family? By the mutual sharing of blessings, by sacrificing time and talents for the members of the family, by humbly and lovingly serving others in the family, by recognizing and encouraging each other and by honoring and gracefully obeying our parents, we become producers of “good fruit” or good vines in our families and give God the Glory for these accomplishments.
3) Are we ready to face these hard questions? Have we come close to fulfilling God’s dream about us? What kind of grapes do we as a parish community produce? Are they sweet or sour? What is our attitude toward everything God has given to us? Are we grateful stewards for everything God has given to us, or are we like the ungrateful tenants who acted as if they owned everything God had given them? Do we practice justice every day of our lives? Do we recognize the righteousness of God that keeps us from self-righteousness? Do we remember to show mercy? Is our parish a real sign of Jesus’ presence and love? What kind of impact do we have? Do we measure the quality of our parish by what happens during Mass, or on what happens when we leave Church? Obviously, both are important but there cannot be one without the other.
JOKE OF THE WEEK:
1) The tenant and the landlord. A lady answered the door to find a man standing there. He had a sad expression on his face. “I’m sorry to disturb you” he said, “I’m collecting money for an unfortunate family in the neighborhood. The husband is out of work, the kids are hungry, and their utilities will soon be cut off. Worse yet, they’re going to be kicked out of their apartment if they don’t pay the rent by this afternoon.” “I’ll be happy to help,” said the woman. Then she asked, “But who are you?” He replied, “I’m the landlord!”
2) Professional advice: TV personality Hugh Downs tells a story about the problem lawyers and doctors often encounter with people who seek to obtain free professional advice at parties and other social events. It seems that a certain doctor and lawyer were having a conversation during a cocktail party. While they were talking, a woman approached the doctor and complained about a sore leg. The doctor listened, then told her about applying cold compresses and keeping the leg elevated and taking aspirin, etc. After she had gone, the doctor turned to the lawyer and said, “I think I ought to send her a bill, don’t you?” The lawyer said, “Yes, I do think you ought to send her a bill.” So, the next day, the doctor sent the woman a bill… and the lawyer sent the doctor a bill.”
3) “She knows now.” A mother ran into the bedroom when she heard her seven-year-old son scream. She found his two-year-old sister pulling his hair. She gently released the little girl’s grip and said comfortingly to the boy, “There, there. She didn’t mean it. She doesn’t know that hurts.” He nodded his acknowledgement, and she left the room. As she started down the hall the little girl screamed. Rushing back in, she asked, “What happened?” The little boy replied, “She knows now.”
USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK: (The easiest method to visit these websites is to copy and paste the web address or URL on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard or just click on the URL (webpage) in the attachment or emailed text).
25 Additional anecdotes:1) The rejected cornerstone: There was a legend, well-known in New Testament times, that in the building of God’s Temple by Solomon, most of the stones were of the same size and shape. One stone arrived, however, that was different from the others. The builders took one look at it and said, “This will not do,” and sent it rolling down into the valley of Kedron below. The years passed and the great Temple was nearing completion, and the builders sent a message to the stonecutters to send the chief cornerstone that the structure might be complete. The cutters replied that they had sent the stone years before. Then someone remembered the stone that was so different from all the rest that it somehow did not seem to belong. They realized that they had thrown away the cornerstone. They hurried into the valley to retrieve it. Finally, from under vines and debris, they recovered it and with great effort rolled it up the hill and put it in place so that the great Temple would be complete: the stone that had been rejected had become the chief cornerstone. — Jesus, who had been rejected by the ”builders” (the religious leadership of the Chosen People) now anchors his Church and reigns at the right hand of the Father. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) Black ingratitude and cold indifference:Andrew Carnegie, a multimillionaire, left one million dollars to each of his relatives, who in return cursed Carnegie bitterly because he had given his relatives a measely one million each. Samuel Leibowitz, criminal lawyer and judge, saved 78 men from the electric chair. Not one of them ever bothered to thank him. Then there’s the story about a devout king who was disturbed by the religious ingratitude of his royal court. He prepared a large banquet for them. When the king and his royal guests were seated, a beggar shuffled into the hall, sat down at the king’s table, and gorged himself with food. Without saying a word, the beggar then left the room. The guests were furious and asked permission to seize the tramp and tear him limb from limb for his ingratitude. The king replied, “That beggar has done only once to an earthly king what each of you does three times each day to God. You sit there at the table and eat until you are satisfied. Then you walk away without recognizing God or expressing one word of thanks to Him.” — The parable in today’s Gospel is about the gross ingratitude of God’s chosen people who persecuted and killed all the prophets sent to them by God to correct them and finally crucified their long-awaited Messiah. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3)The stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone: South Africa is a country blessed by God in a great many ways. But the country which should have been a haven for all the peoples of Southern Africa became instead a heaven for a privileged white minority. Many people tried in vain to change South Africa’s apartheid system. Finally, Nelson Mandela appeared on the scene. He too tried to bring about reforms. But like reformers before him, he was rejected. Worse, he was hounded by the government, and ended up spending twenty-seven years in prison. However, he not only survived prison, but came out of it with the respect of his enemies and of the entire world. Furthermore, he came out without bitterness. He immediately sought reconciliation with the leaders of the regime that kept him, in prison. — But even greater things were to follow. The man once rejected was to become the President of a new multi-racial South Africa. The stone which the builders rejected became the cornerstone of a new and better building. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) “Send me one line back.” The former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, had proposed marriage to Muriel Wilson, the daughter of a wealthy shipping tycoon. Soon after Wilson rejected him, Churchill sent a handwritten letter asking to see her again. “Don’t slam the door,” Churchill, then 30, begged Wilson, a year younger. “I can wait; perhaps I shall improve with waiting,” he wrote. “Why shouldn’t you care about me someday?” Pleading in a postscript, Churchill added, “Send me one line back.” Later he wrote her again. “Of course, you do not love me a scrap,” he wrote. At the same time, he insisted on the existence of “a key if I could only find it, if you would only let me look for it which would unlock both our hearts.” (Cox News Service) — The man who would one day provide a strong voice for the aspirations of the British people was once rejected just as many of us may have been rejected. Few things hurt as much as rejection. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us a story of his painful rejection by the Chosen People. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) Rejection – what a terrible, terrible word! Elizabeth Barrett married the poet Robert Browning against her parents’ wishes. In fact, they objected so strenuously to her marriage that they disowned her. As everyone knows, her marriage was a beautiful, happy relationship for both Elizabeth and Robert. In spite of the hurt of being rejected by her family, however, Elizabeth Barrett Browning continued to write regularly to them. In each letter, she told her father and mother how much she continued to love them. She received no response. Then, after total silence for ten years from her parents, a large package arrived. Elizabeth Barrett Browning eagerly opened it. The box contained all of the letters that she had written them since her marriage to Robert. Not one had been opened. (Dr. William P. Barker, Tarbell’s Teacher’s Guide (Elgin, Illinois: David C. Cook, 1994). — Parents can be vindictive at times, as can children. And the pain that can result is devastating. Rejected; is there a more painful word? In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us a story of his painful rejection by the Chosen People. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) “It’s the only thing!” When Vince Lombardi was hired as head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1958, the team was in dismal shape. A single win in season play the year before had socked the club solidly into the basement of the NFL, and sportscasters everywhere used it as the butt of loser jokes. But Lombardi picked and pulled and prodded and trained and discipled the players into become a winning team. They were NFL champions in three consecutive seasons and took the game honors for the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi was a drill sergeant and a strategist, finding and developing the best in each of his players individually and then crafting a team community that could visualize the prize. “Winning isn’t everything,” he was often quoted as saying, “It’s the only thing!” His Packers proved him true, time and again. –Where’s the team? This is the problem Jesus pointedly identifies in today’s parable. God is the greatest coach, but the team is unwilling to follow Him. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) “Do you mean suicide?” There was a story in the newspapers sometime back about an 11-year-old boy in Los Angeles who hanged himself with a bathrobe belt because his girlfriend broke up with him in an E-Mail message. The boy left no suicide note but told the 12-year-old girl in an E-Mail that she “wasn’t going to hear from him anymore.” She sent back a message asking, “Do you mean suicide?” but he did not respond. The boy’s father found his son hanging from a shower frame. The children had met at a summer camp about a month before. (The Associated Press). — Eleven years old. You and I would dismiss it as puppy love, but still there is pain. Actually, rejection is particularly hard on us when we are young. This is when we are still forming opinions about our own self-worth. Are we acceptable, lovable, worthy of our place in the sun? In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us a parable of rejection by the Chosen people of God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) “Yes, Honey. That’s the way life goes sometimes.” There was a heart-breaking story in the Girl Scouts magazine, American Girl, several years ago. Listen to these words from a young woman: “When I was ten, my parents got a divorce. Naturally, my father told me about it, because he was my favorite. ‘Honey, I know it’s been kind of bad for you these past few days, and I don’t want to make it worse. But there’s something I have to tell you. Honey, your mother and I got a divorce . . . I know you don’t want this, but it has to be done. Your mother and I just don’t get along like we used to. I’m already packed, and my plane is leaving in half an hour.’ ‘But, Daddy, why do you have to leave?’ ‘Well, honey, your mother and I can’t live together anymore.’ ‘I know that, but I mean why do you have to leave town?’ ‘Oh. Well, I’ve got someone waiting for me in New Jersey.’ ‘But, Daddy, will I ever see you again?’ ‘Sure, you will, honey. We’ll work something out.’ ‘But what? I mean, you’ll be living in New Jersey, and I’ll be living here in Washington.’ ‘Maybe your mother will agree to you spending two weeks in the summer and two weeks in the winter with me.’ ‘Why not more often?’ ‘I don’t think she’ll agree to two weeks in the summer and two in the winter, much less more.’ ‘Well, it can’t hurt to try.’ ‘I know, honey, but we’ll have to work it out later. My plane leaves in twenty minutes and I’ve got to get to the airport. Now I’m going to get my luggage, and I want you to go to your room, so you don’t have to watch me. And no long goodbyes either.’ ‘Okay, Daddy. Goodbye. Don’t forget to write.’ ‘I won’t. Goodbye. Now go to your room.’ ‘Okay. ‘Daddy, I don’t want you to go!’ ‘I know, honey. But I have to.’ ‘Why?’ ‘You wouldn’t understand, honey.’ ‘Yes, I would.’ ‘No, you wouldn’t.’ ‘Oh well, Goodbye.’ ‘Goodbye. Now go to your room. Hurry up.’ ‘Okay. Well, I guess that’s the way life goes sometimes.’ ‘Yes, honey. That’s the way life goes sometimes.'” — Would it surprise you to know that after that young woman’s father walked out the door, she never heard from him again? [James C. Dobson, Straight Talk to Men and Their Wives (Waco: Word Books, 1980), pp. 44-45. Cited in Patrick M. Morley, The Rest of Your Life (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc, 1992).] It is a terrible thing to feel rejected. Jesus tells such a painful story how their long-awaited Messiah was rejected by God’s Chosen people. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) “…that God loved me totally, unconditionally, and that he had a purpose for my life.” One of the most respected and best-liked persons in Hollywood is Kathie Lee Gifford. There was an article about her in USA Today in 1999. Like everyone, Kathie Lee has had her share of heartaches–particularly in her marriage, as the tabloids have pointed out to us repeatedly over the last few years. Kathie Lee was recognized recently as Mother of the Year at a charity luncheon. The Gifford’s children, Cody, 9, and Cassidy, 5, got a day off from private school to support Mom. They took to the podium, introduced by ABC’s Claudia Cohen. “I get an award for this?” asked Kathie Lee, standing with the kids after her introduction by New York first lady, Libby Pataki. “I am so blessed!” Then Kathie Lee thanked her parents, who were present. And here is what Kathie Lee Gifford said about her parents. It explains why Kathie Lee’s life has been such a success: They “taught me,” she said, “that God loved me totally, unconditionally, and that He had a purpose for my life.” (USA Today, March 2, 1999). No wonder Kathie Lee was successful, not only in her career, but as a mother. She knew she was loved. — They “taught me,” she said, “that God loved me totally, unconditionally, and that he had a purpose for my life.” One who knows the unconditional love of God in one’s heart will not allow the world to make one feel rejected for long. When we have the love of God in our hearts, we carry a sense of security that the world cannot take away. Today’s Gospel tells us how God continues to love us in spite of our history of rejecting him. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) “You’re sitting in my chair.” A story was making the rounds during the American presidential campaign a few years ago. An asteroid hits the speaker’s platform at a Seattle conference center, and Al Gore, George W. Bush and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and one of the richest men on earth, all arrive in Heaven at the same time. They are greeted by the Almighty, Who is sitting on His golden throne. First, the Lord speaks to Gore, asking what he believes in. “I believe in the Internet and a clean environment,” Gore replies. “Very good,” the Almighty says. “Come sit near me. “Then he asks George W. Bush the same question. “I believe in cutting taxes and taking good care of the military,” Bush replies. “Excellent,” says the Almighty. “Come sit near me. “Then God asks Bill Gates what he believes. “I believe,” Gates replies, “you’re sitting in my chair.” — There are times when all of us try to put ourselves in God’s seat. There are times when all of us act as if the world is our fiefdom and we are supreme over all we survey. We forget that everything we have is on loan to us from God. We are temporary tenants. We don’t own anything, even though we sometimes act as if we own it all. Everything ultimately belongs to God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11) Jesus Calls Us to Good Stewardship. William White once told of visiting his 98-year-old mother-in-law in a nursing home. He remembers her quietly saying, “Think of the lilies and how they grow.” Long ago this frail, blind woman made the discovery that all of life is a blessing from God. She spent much of her time repeating Scripture verses that she had learned throughout her life. The Scriptures gave her both strength and comfort during many lonely hours. She was an active woman right up until she entered the nursing home, walking a mile a day, though her eyesight was gradually worsening. She loved people and was always helping them. Even in the nursing home she used a walker to spread her joyful faith. “Facing each day is not easy for her,” White reflected, “but she keeps her spirits up.” How? She felt that even at ninety-eight she had a mission. There in the nursing home she was able to touch the lives of other residents as well as some employees. In fact, some former employees who changed jobs still returned to the nursing home to spend time with this remarkable woman. William White was inspired when his mother-in-law told him how thankful she was to have memorized so many Scriptures before she lost her eyesight. Those Scriptures filled her heart with the Lord. (3) — This dear 98-year-old lady did not have much left in this world, but she had the only thing we ever really own, her Faith in God. Everything else that we have is on loan. Someday it will be passed on to someone else. Don’t you see? No matter how rich we are, if we are not rich toward God, we don’t have anything! The vineyard belongs to Him. Happiness is found in recognizing our place as His tenants His stewards. But there is one thing more to be said. Jesus Calls Us to Good Stewardship. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) “I dare you to do it again.” Once at a Church meeting a wealthy member of the church rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian Faith. “I’m a millionaire,” he said, “and I attribute my wealth to the blessings of God in my life.” He went on to recall the turning point in his relationship with God. As a young man, he had just earned his first dollar, and he went to a Church meeting that night. The speaker at that meeting was a missionary who told about his work in the mission field. Before the offering plate was passed around, the preacher told everyone that everything that was collected that night would be given to this missionary to help fund his work on behalf of the Church. The wealthy man wanted to give to support mission work, but he knew he couldn’t make change from the offering plate. He knew he either had to give all he had or nothing at all. At that moment, he decided to give all that he had to God. Looking back, he said he knew that God had blessed that decision and had made him wealthy. When he finished, there was silence in the room. As he returned to the pew and sat down, an elderly lady seated behind him leaned forward and said, “I dare you to do it again!” — When we start out, it’s easy to remember that the gifts and opportunities that come our way are from God. But something happens along the way. We forget the Owner. We come to think of the vineyard and everything it produces as something we own. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) “I knew I wasn’t a Christian.” Sociologist/Baptist preacher Tony Campolo says he was once like that. He uses the word Bible-thumper to describe himself as a youth — legalistic, self-righteous, always trying to convert others to his personal brand of religion — until one day he was shocked to discover that he didn’t know God at all. Super-religious, but he didn’t know God! Can that happen? It happens all the time. In fact, one who is both super-religious and smugly self-righteous, may well be using religion to hide from God. Here’s how Tony Campolo discovered that was true of him. When Tony was in high school, there was a kid named Roger in his school. Roger was gay, and everybody made fun of him. They ridiculed him. They made his life hell. You know how cruel kids in school can be. They mocked Roger. When he would go into the shower after gym, they would wait until he came out and then they would whip their towels at him and sting him. One day, when Tony was absent, a group of five guys pushed Roger into the corner of the shower and urinated all over him. That night Roger went to the attic in the middle of the night and hanged himself. — And Tony Campolo, still suffering over this incident, writes, “I knew I wasn’t a Christian because if I had been a Christian, I would have stood up for my friend Roger. Even if they ridiculed me for doing it, I would have been his friend. I knew [then] that I didn’t know Jesus.” (http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/campolo_4104.htm.) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14)Unconditional Love: In 1978 a man travelled to Cincinnati to attend the funeral of Max Ellerbusch. Max had been like a father to this man for twenty years. Nothing unusual, except that as a 15-year-old this man had taken his mother’s car and struck and killed Max’s 5-year-old son. This was a week before Christmas in 1958. Soon after the accident, a surprised court heard Max ask that charges be dropped. Instead, he wanted to give the death-car driver a job and help toward his education. Max did all that and more, virtually adopting the 15-year-old boy into his family. Max shared his home, time and understanding with the troubled youth. We might wonder, “How could Max do that? I could never befriend a wild teenager who had just killed my 5-year-old son. Max must have been a little crazy to go out of his way that much to become like a father for that boy.” But if Max Ellerbusch was a little crazy, so is God. — The parable in today’s Gospel describes God as a Landowner Who prepared a beautiful vineyard and gave it to His people to tend. However, His people wanted not just their share of the harvest, but the whole thing. They abused and killed the prophets God sent to help them. Finally, in a desperate attempt to save His vineyard and His people, God sent His own Son, hoping they would respect and honour Him. Nonetheless, they even abused and killed Him too in an effort to seize His inheritance. “ — What a silly story,” we might say. “No landowner in his right mind would risk sending his own son among rebels who had already murdered his messengers. How crazy can you get? Who can believe in a God so dumb?”– But that is precisely the point of the parable. Where we would cry for vengeance on the tenants, God chose an alternative – the alternative of unconditional love. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
15) What We Owe Others: An American soldier, wounded on a battlefield in the Far East, owes his life to a Japanese scientist, Kitasato, who isolated the bacillus for tetanus. A Russian soldier saved by a blood transfusion is indebted to Landsteiner, an Austrian. A German is shielded from typhoid fever with the help of a Russian, Metchinikoff. A Dutch marine in the East Indies is protected from malaria because of the experiments of an Italian, Grassi; while a British aviator in North Africa escapes death from surgical infection because of a Frenchman, Pasteur, and a German, Koch who elaborated new techniques. — In peace as in war, we are beneficiaries of knowledge contributed by every nation of the world. Our children are guarded from diphtheria by what a Japanese and a German did; they are protected from small pox by the work of an Englishman; they are saved from rabies because of a Frenchman; they are cured from pellagra through the research of an Austrian. From birth to death we are surrounded by invisible hosts, the people who never thought in terms of flags or boundary lines, and who never served a lesser loyalty than the welfare of mankind. God has done and is doing so much for us through his people. Are we grateful or take it all for granted? (Raymond R. Fosdick in ‘1000 Inspiring Stories’ quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) Film: The Killing Fields: In 1973, Dith Pran, a well-educated interpreter, helps U.S. journalist Sidney Schanberg to get into Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge is advancing on the capital and Pran’s family is evacuated while Pran stays with Schanberg. While the people rejoice and welcome the Khmer Rouge, Schanberg and other journalists are interned. They watch as the Khmer Rouge carries out executions. Pran argues for the journalist’s release. They take refuge in the French Embassy and are then expelled from the country. Schanberg tries to get Pran out as well but the Khmer Rouge sends him to a re-education labour camp. Back in New York, Schanberg wins awards, but his associates criticize him for not finding a way to get his friend out of Cambodia. Schanberg commences efforts through the agency of the U.S. government and the Red Cross. Finally, Pran escapes and endures a long trek through the killings fields and is reunited with Schanberg in Thailand. –- In terms of justice, this part of Matthew’s Gospel can be applied to contemporary Killing Fields such as those in Kosovo or of East Timor in the late 1990s and the Ukraine in 2020 and counting. Prosperous lands were invaded and their owners and heirs were tortured and killed by those who wanted the inheritance for themselves. The Pol Pot regime, portrayed in the Killing Fields, took over Cambodia and destroyed all its servants and heirs in a massive genocide. Ultimately, the rightful citizens and owners of the land obtained the opportunity of self-rule and were able to build up again. — The savage behaviour that turned Cambodia and the Ukraine into killing fields is like today’s Gospel parable about evil tenants who refuse to give the owner his due. Those they murder, the servants and the owner’s son, are like the innocent victims of the despotic regime of the Khmer Rouge, and Russia. In Cambodia, The unjust persecutors were ousted and condemned; we’re praying for Ukraine and its scattered population. Like Jesus and the kingdom, ultimately, the survivors will, we pray, become the cornerstones of a new society. (Peter Malone in ‘Lights Camera…. Faith’; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) “…and now you know the rest of the story!” Paul Harvey, the noted radio personality is probably best known for his segments entitled, “The Rest of the Story.” This long-running staple of talk radio usually begins with some well-known person or event and then continues to reveal additional, lesser known but very pertinent, often poignant, information. At the conclusion of his feature, Harvey’s pleasant voice intones the familiar phrase: “…and now you know the rest of the story!”– When Jesus in today’s Gospel began the familiar story about a vineyard owner, who planted vines, hedged them in, dug a vat and erected a tower, his listeners, no doubt, recognized the centuries old familiar ballad of Isaiah (first reading). But then, in a style not unlike Paul Harvey’s, the parable Jesus goes on to tell us the rest of the story. (Patricia Datchuck Sánchez). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
18)Life of Pi (Trailer: https://youtu.be/mZEZ35Fhvuc?list=PLwxuHMFXnXZ1Sc0XHCLVTbA8mzCnwl9AL) : Life of Pi is a 2012 American survival drama film based on Yann Martel’s 2001 novel of the same name. Some of you may have seen this movie. The storyline revolves around an Indian man named “Pi” Patel, telling a novelist about his life story, and how at 16 he survives a shipwreck in which his family dies, and is adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. The others who came on his boat, an injured zebra and an orangutan, were killed by the hyena, which was later killed by the Tiger. When Pi ends the story, he offers another version of his survival story that simply replaces the animals with human characters: ZEBRA: an injured person; ORANGUTAN: the injured person’s mother; HYENA: a cannibalistic cook, the TIGER: ‘Pi’ Despite early reluctance, the listeners in the story chose to go with the Animal version rather than the brutal human version, which seems to be the real one, but we will never know. — Allegorizing is sometimes needed in life, in our story-telling, especially to explain life’s reality. One such story that has two layers is the one that we read today, the parable of the wicked tenants. It is heavily allegorized by the Evangelists themselves and the history of interpretation. (Rev. Paul Lawrence). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
19) “…Dismiss all anxiety from your minds.” (Phil 4:6); today’s second reading). “He was one of Columbia University’s history superstars,” a writer said recently of the late Professor Carlton J. H. Hayes (1882-1964). As an historian, Carlton Hayes was a lifetime seeker of truth. This quest not only brought him into the Catholic Church; it also brought him into genial but firm controversy with those of divergent opinions, even his fellow-Catholics. His special field of study was the current growth and dangers of excessive nationalism throughout the world. Fully acquainted with the threat of modern totalitarianism, he warned of the evils it could produce if not countered. Yet he never allowed himself to worry unduly about tomorrow. “If we are occupied with thoughts immortal or divine … or, for the matter of that, in doing anything that we feel is worth doing, we have neither time nor inclination to brood over our personal future.” Professor Hayes gave his students at Columbia the same sort of calm advice in the last lecture he delivered before his retirement in 1950. “The world,” he said, “is pretty badly off. But I don’t want you to lose any sleep over it.”– Pope Pius XI had said much the same thing two decades before: “The future is in God’s hands, and therefore in good hands.” And St. Paul tells us, “…Dismiss all anxiety from your minds.” (Phil, 4:6. Today’s second reading). -Father Robert F. McNamara. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
20) “The Stone that the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone!” George Campbell Morgan, a renowned English preacher and a Bible scholar, was one of 150 young men who sought entrance to the Wesleyan ministry in 1888. He easily passed the doctrinal examinations, but then had to face the trial sermon. In a cavernous auditorium that could seat more than 1,000 sat three ministers and 75 others who came to listen. When Morgan stepped into the pulpit, the vast room and the searching, critical eyes caught him up short. Two weeks later Morgan’s name appeared among the l05 REJECTED for the ministry that year. He wired to his father the one word, ‘Rejected,’and sat down to write in his diary: ‘Very dark everything seems. Still, He knoweth best.’ Quickly came the reply from his dad: ‘Rejected on earth. Accepted in heaven.’ — In later years, Morgan said: “God said to me, in the weeks of loneliness and darkness that followed, ‘I want you to cease making plans for yourself and let Me plan your life.’” Rejection is rarely permanent, as Morgan went on to prove. Even in this life, circumstances change, and ultimately, there is no rejection of those accepted by Christ. (Fr. Lakra). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
21) If Max was a little bit crazy, so is God. In 1978, a man traveled to Cincinnati in USA to attend the funeral of Max Ellenbusch. Max had been like a father to this man for 20 years. Nothing unusual except that, as 15-year-old, this man had taken his mother’s car and struck and killed Max’s five-year old son. This was a week before Christmas in 1978. Soon after the accident, a surprised court heard Max asked that charges be dropped. Instead, he wanted to give the death-car driver a job and help toward his education. Max did all that and more virtually adopting the 15-year old boy into his family. Max shared his home, time and understanding with the troubled youth. — We might wonder, “How could Max do that? I could never befriend with a teenager who had just killed my five-year old son. Max must have been a little crazy to go out of his way that much to become like a father for that way.” If Max was a little bit crazy, so is God, as described by Jesus in today’s parable. (Fr. Bennett). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
22) Paid in full: The following story gives insight into the drama of the Lord of the vineyard and his unrequited benevolence (Our little boy came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper, and he handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his mother dried her hands on an apron, she read it, and this is what it said:
For cutting the grass $5.00
For cleaning up my room this week 1.00
For going to the store for you .50
Baby-sitting my kid brother while you went shopping .25
Well, I’ll tell you, his mother looked at him standing there expectantly, and boy, could I see the memories flashing through her mind. So, she picked up the pen, turned over the paper he’d written on, and this is what she wrote:
“For the nine months, I carried you as you grew inside me, No charge. For all the nights that I’ve sat up with you, doctored you, and prayed for you, No Charge. For all the trying times and all the tears that you’ve caused through the years, there’s No Charge. For all the nights that were filled with dread, and for the worries I knew were ahead, No Charge. For the toys, food, clothes, and even wiping your nose, there’s No Charge, Son. And when you add it all up, the full cost of real love is No Charge.”
Well, friends, when our son finished reading what his mother had written, there were great big old tears in his eyes, and he looked straight up at his mother and said, “Mom, I sure do love you.”
And then he took the pen and the bill he had presented to his Mother, and in great big letters he wrote: “PAID IN FULL.” [cf. M. Adams, “No Charge” in A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, ed. Jack Canfield, et. al., Deerfield: Health Communications, Inc., 1996, p. 100-101).] (Lectio Divina). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
23) How unfortunate it is to waste the graces and opportunities showered upon us by God
Life at Poverello House is always interesting. You never knew who might be coming through the door. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of homeless people we’ve met had been born into poverty; often the addicts and alcoholics were products of homes in which their parents abused booze and drugs. Sometimes, though, we’d run across someone who had fallen from great heights. Clark showed up somewhere around 1987 or 1988. Although disheveled like a typical homeless person, he possessed a sort of faded elegance. He piqued my curiosity; I didn’t need to strike up a conversation, however, because he buttonholed me and started talking. Once he started, he rarely stopped. Clark claimed that he came from an upper-class Arizona family, that he had hobnobbed with Barry Goldwater and other prominent people, and that he had been C.E.O. of a local hospital. Yeah, sure, I thought. I was shocked to find out it was all true. It got stranger. My wife brought out her birth certificate one day, and there was Clark’s signature. It turned out that he was one of the most successful leaders in the hospital’s history. On top of that, he had been appointed to a special health care commission by then-Governor Ronald Reagan. He had been a hero in the Pacific Theater of World War II, a well-loved commander of a PT boat. He had at one time been a dashing, handsome member of Fresno’s elite, written about in society’s columns.
What had happened? As time went on, I got to know his ex-wife and one of his sons. At its simplest level, Clark had a booze problem. When he hit the streets, he was drinking prodigious amounts of alcohol. On an average day, he’d have a fifth or more of hard liquor, as well as several bottles of beer and wine. His drinking had been going on for years, and I don’t know when it started getting out of control. What I do know is that his descent was gradual. After leaving as C.E.O. of the hospital, he had several lesser jobs in the health care industry, each one a step down from the last. He had many friends, often ex-employees, and they cushioned his fall for years. Finally, however, his life was so unmanageable that he hit the skids. (…) Clark continued to live on the streets and drink. Amazingly, he kept going, even though he was now in his eighties and could barely walk because of edema in his ankles. He got around all over town with his shopping cart full of rotting food and junk. His looks and behavior got more bizarre as time went on. (…). He gradually came less and less to Poverello. I got a call from his ex-wife one day; he was in the V.A. Hospital, and didn’t look good. I went up to visit him. It had been a while since I’d seen him, and he couldn’t talk because of all the tubes hooked up to him. It was the first conversation I had with him in which I was able to get a word in edgewise. I talked uninterrupted for a long time; I knew he’d be checking out soon, and I wanted to leave him with some words of comfort. I told him I’d pray for him. He could hear me, and he formed his eyes into a squint, but I’m not sure what he was trying to convey. The next day I got a call – Clark had died. He was a unique, talented man who had once had it all. He left behind broken family members who are still, to this day, trying to make sense of his life. (cf. Mike McGarvin, Papa Mike, Fresno, 2003, p. 102-105) — This story of the sad end of Clark gives us an inkling of how unwise it is to waste the graces and opportunities showered upon us by God (Lectio Divina). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
24) “Running on Faith” (in Guideposts, October 2013, p. 60-64). April 15, 2013, 3:00 P.M. MEDICAL Tent A, the Boston Marathon. This was my fourth year volunteering as a nurse. Our 150-person medical team was busy that afternoon – mostly treating runners with minor injuries and dehydration. I was taking the vitals of a female runner who felt light-headed – a typical post-race complaint. But there was nothing typical about the sound I heard while listening to her heartbeat, Thump, thump, BOOM! A powerful force shook the tent and reverberated through my body. I yanked the stethoscope out of my ears and looked at the TV above my patient’s cot showing live footage from the finish line, about a hundred yards away. Plumes of smoke covered the picture. Probably just a celebratory cannon shot for Patriots’ Day, I thought, turning back to her. BOOM! A thunderous explosion louder than the first rocked the ground beneath us. Sirens wailed. An acrid smell filled the air. I looked at the other volunteers as we struggled to make sense of everything. “Stay calm, and remain with your patients while we figure out what’s going on”, our medical coordinator, John, said over the loudspeaker. Seconds later, I heard the screams of pain. Runners started staggering into the tent covered in blood and soot, their expressions frozen with shock. First responders wheeled in others with gruesome shrapnel wounds and missing limbs. Word spread that the sound we’d heard were bombs. Our first-aid tent was now a trauma unit. (…) John continued to direct us while a trauma doctor relayed instructions to him “We need to prepare for triage”, John said. Patients would be quickly assessed 3, 2, or 1, according to the seriousness of their injuries. The most badly injured ones – the 3s – were sent to the back of the tent, where a handful of ambulances were waiting to transport them to one of the city’s major hospitals. “Stay calm and do what you are trained to do”, he added. “Treat one patient at a time.” A rookie volunteer turned to me, trembling. “I’m a primary-care nurse. I’m not qualified to treat these kinds of injuries”, he said. I knew how he felt. No one could have been prepared for this. “You can do this!” I said, grabbing his face with my hands, willing him not to give up. And, in a way, maybe I was willing myself as well. “We have the supplies we need and we’ll work together to handle anything God sets in front of us.” “Okay, okay”, he said. I didn’t want anyone else to be afraid either. Almost unwittingly, I thrust my hand up and waved it. “Does anyone want to pray?” I called out. “Prayer is powerful! It will give us strength!” Before I knew it, several volunteers had gathered around me. I said the first prayer that came to my mind, the Our Father. But when I came to the line “Give us this day our daily bread”, I quickly changed it to “Give us this day our skills and supplies.” Today, those were our daily bread. And when we got to the part about forgiveness, I found it difficult to say. How could we forgive this atrocious act of terror? I followed the Our Father with a line from the prayer to Saint Michael that I said daily before leaving my house: “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.” I looked around the tent. The pandemonium ceased as we all sprang into action. We worked together like a well-oiled machine. Then, a man was wheeled past me with two bones protruding from where legs should have been. Blood was everywhere and his face was completely void of color. More people in horrifying shape entered the tent. I repeated the prayer as we worked. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name …” Others joined in. Over the next two hours I continued praying that prayer with patients and volunteers. Hoping to comfort them and, in turn, comforting myself. I felt God’s presence at every cot. (…). We processed an incredible 97 patients in the first 20 minutes following the explosions. Three people were killed and there were 264 injuries, but no one died in the tent that day. (…). — I’ll never understand why tragedies like this happen, why senseless acts of terror occur. But I know Who helps us get through them: The One who gives us the strength to rise above fear when we aren’t sure we can. (Lectio Divina). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).
25) “Irish Blessing. His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. “I want to repay you”, said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life. ”No, I can’t accept payment for what I did”, the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel. “Is that your son?” the nobleman asked. “Yes”, the farmer replied proudly. “I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like the father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.” And that he did. Farmer Fleming’s son attended the best schools and, in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill. (Lectio Divina). (COMMENT: (This is a baseless Internet rumor,
26) Adamant refusal to change: In 1984 Barbara Tuchman, an American historian and writer and two times winner of the Pulitzer Prize, published The March of Folly, a study of the persistent pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests. The March of Folly is the recurring story of governments and individuals who resist change. 42. She takes the the Protestant Reformation which divided Western Christianity in the 16th century as a prime example. The Reformation may have been prevented if the Renaissance popes of the 15th and 16th centuries had heeded the calls for reformation in the church in head and members. Tuchman argues that these popes were “fixed in a refusal to change, almost stupidly stubborn in maintaining a corrupt existing system. They could not change the system because they were part of it, grew out of it, and depended on it.” Their extravagant lifestyles over a period of some 60 years eventually provoked the Protestant Reformation. When an Augustinian friar by the name of Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg it should have been a wakeup call. 44. Tuchman argues that Pope Leo X hardly noticed what was happening in Germany, seeing it as nothing more than a list of heresies to be suppressed like any other. 45. When Leo finally issued a papal bull excommunicating Martin Luther, Luther consigned it to the flames before an assembly of students. We can only speculate on the course of Christian history had Leo been open and sympathetic to the calls for reform in head and members. 46. When the Church finally responded to the Protestant Reformation by calling the Council of Trent, it was already too late. The horse had already bolted. (Fr. Geoffrey Plant).
27) Refusal to change: Australian journalist David Dale has catalogued the 100 things we loved about the 20th century. That’s the title of a book he’s written. And one of the things that was introduced during the 20th century was sliced bread. In fact, we often hear people say about an innovation, “That’s the best thing since sliced bread.” 53. The first bread-slicing machine was invented by Otto Rohwedder and it was put to commercial use in May, 1928 – but not without stiff opposition! 54. In 1942 Melbourne bakers voted to prohibit slicing and wrapping machines, apparently feeling the process was unnatural. 55. By the end of the 20th century, Australians were spending $359 million a year on sliced bread. 56. There is one fundamental lesson that the Jewish leadership at the time of Jesus had failed to learn. It is the same lesson that the Renaissance popes also failed to learn. It is also a lesson that we all need to learn. This lesson is expressed well in the words of St John Henry Newman: 57. In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often. (Fr. Geoffrey Plant) L/23
Kindly visit my website by clicking on https://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Please contact me only atakadavil@gmail.com as I stay at home in my home country since 2023.You may visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies of Fr. Nick’s collection of homilies or Resources in the CBCI website: https://www.cbci.in. (Special thanksto Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020) My post-retirement U. S. postal address is Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. Joseph M. C. , St. Agatha Church, 1001 Hand Avenue, Bay Minette, Al 36507
Mt 9:9-13: 9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. 10 And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 12 But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
The context: Today’s Gospel episode of Matthew’s call as Jesus’ apostle reminds us of God’s love and mercy for sinners and challenges us to practice this same love and mercy in our relations with others. The call and the response: Jesus went to the tax-collector’s station to invite Matthew to become a disciple. Since tax-collectors worked for a foreign power and extorted more tax money from the people than they owed, the Jewish people, especially the Pharisees, hated and despised tax collectors as traitors, considered them public sinners, and ostracized them. But Jesus could see in Matthew a person who needed Divine love and grace. That is why, while everyone hated Matthew, Jesus was ready to offer him undeserved love, mercy, and forgiveness. Hence, Matthew abandoned his lucrative job, because, for him, Christ’s invitation to become Jesus’ follower, was a promise of salvation, fellowship, guidance, and protection. Scandalous partying with sinners. It was altogether natural for Matthew to rejoice in his new calling by celebrating with his friends who were also outcasts. Jesus’ dining with all these outcasts in the house of a “traitor” scandalized the Pharisees, for whom ritual purity and table fellowship were important religious practices. Cleverly, they asked, not Jesus, but the young disciples, "Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus, coming to the rescue of the disciples, cut in and answered the question in terms of healing: “Those who are well do not need a physician; the sick do.” Then Jesus challenged the Pharisees, quoting Hosea, “Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’” (Hos 6:6). Finally, Jesus clarified, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” [After the Ascension, Saint Matthew remained
for over ten years in Judea, writing his Gospel there in about the year 44.
Then he went to preach the Faith in Egypt and especially in Ethiopia, where he
remained for twenty-three years. The relics of Saint Matthew were for many
years in the city of Naddaver in Ethiopia, where he suffered his martyrdom, but
were transferred to Salerno in the year 954].
Life messages: 1) Jesus calls you and me for a purpose: Jesus has called us through our Baptism, forgiven us our sins, and welcomed us as members of the Kingdom. In fact, Jesus calls us daily, through the Word and through the Church, to be disciples and, so, to turn away from all the things that distract us and draw us away from God. 2) Just as Matthew did, we, too, are expected to proclaim Christ through our lives by reaching out to the unwanted and the marginalized in society with Christ’s love, mercy, and compassion. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Sept 22 Tuesday: Lk 8:19-21: 19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him for the crowd. 20 And he was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you." 21 But he said to them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."
The context: As Jesus became a strong critic of the Jewish religious authorities, his cousins, bringing his Mother with them (as a wedge in the door, so Jesus would listen to them?) came to take him back to Nazareth by force, perhaps because they feared that he, and they themselves, would be arrested and put to death
Jesus’ plain statement: Today’s Gospel episode seems to suggest that Jesus ignored the request of his mother and close relatives who had traveled the long distance of twenty miles, probably on foot, to talk to him. But everyone in the audience knew how Jesus loved his mother and had taken care of her until he started his public ministry. Besides, Jesus’ plain answer, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it,"was indeed a compliment to his mother who had always listened to the word of God and obeyed it. It also dismissed, without mentioning them, all the claims that kindred might make which would interfere with His Messianic Mission. In other words, Jesus was declaring, “Blessed are those who heard and kept the word of God as Mary was faithfully doing" (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 58). Jesus was also using the occasion to teach his listeners a new lesson in their relationship with God. Being a disciple of Jesus, or a Christian, means first and foremost having a deep, growing, personal relationship of love and unity with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and with all who belong to God as His children. Jesus changes the order of relationships and shows us that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood. God’s gracious gift to us is His adoption of us as His sons and daughters. This gift enables us to recognize all those who belong to Christ, actually or potentially, as our brothers and sisters. Our adoption as sons and daughters of God transforms all our relationships and requires a new order of loyalty to God and His Kingdom in absolute, unquestioned, first place. Everyone who does the will of the Father, that is to say, who obeys Him, is a brother or sister of Christ, because he or she is like Jesus who always fulfilled the will of his Father.
Life messages: 1) Let us remember that by Baptism we become the children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, and members of the Heavenly family of the Triune God. Hence, we have a two-fold obligation to treat others with love and respect and to share our love with them by corporal and spiritual works of mercy. 2) Let us grow as true disciples of Jesus by becoming doers as well as hearers of the word of God, for thus we will be welcomed to God’s Everlasting Family Reunion in Heaven. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Sept 23 Wednesday: St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest:https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-pio-of-pietrelcinaLk 9:1-6: 1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, or bag, or bread, or money; and do not have two tunics. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
The context: Today’s Gospel describes the commissioning of the twelve Apostles. Sent out with “power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,” they exercised their preaching and healing mission according to the detailed action-plan given by Jesus.
Jesus’ instructions and travel tips. By these instructions, it is clear that Jesus meant the apostles to take no supplies for the road. They were simply to trust that God, the Provider, would open the hearts of believers to take care of their needs. The Jews supported their rabbis, and judged doing so a privilege as well as an obligation, because hospitality was an important religious tradition in Palestine. Jesus’ instructions also suggest that the apostles should not be like the acquisitive Jewish priests of the day, who were interested only in gaining riches. They should be walking examples of God’s Love and Providence in action. They should choose temporary accommodation in a reputable household, they should bless the residents with God’s peace, and they should be satisfied with whatever food and accommodation they receive, and not search for better.
Life messages: 1) We, too, have a witness-bearing mission:Each Christian is called not only to be a disciple but also to be an apostle. As apostles, we are sent out to evangelize the world by sharing with others, not just words, or ideas, or doctrines, but our experiences of God and His Son, Jesus. It is through our transparent Christian lives that we are to show the love, mercy and concern of Jesus to the people around us.
2) We also have a liberating mission: There are many “demons” which can control the lives and habits of people rendering them helpless to resist. These addictions include, but are not limited to, alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography and promiscuous sex, materialism and consumerism. We need the help of Jesus both to be liberated from these “demons” ourselves, and to help Jesus to liberate others from their bondage in the chains of self-centering selfishness and addictive evil habits (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Sept 24 Thursday: Lk 9:7-9: 7) Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8 by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen. 9 Herod said, "John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?" And he sought to see him.
The context: Although King Herod respected and feared John the Baptist as a great prophet, he was not converted, and he was maneuvered into beheading John by his vengeful, intolerant, immoral, jealous wife Herodias. When his personal staff started reporting stories to Herod about the new prophet, Jesus, as the reappearance of Elijah the prophet, Herod expressed his fear that Jesus was the reincarnation of John the Baptist whom he had unjustly killed. He wanted to see Jesus — not to hear Jesus preaching of the Good News, but in order to get rid of his fear and feelings of guilt.
The haunting conscience: Herod Antipas was one of the several sons of Herod the Great, the King of Israel who had divided his kingdom among four of his sons. Herod Antipas ruled over Galilee and Perea from 2 BC to 37 AD, when he was exiled by the Roman emperor. (It was his father, Herod the Great who ordered the massacre of the Holy Innocents). The conscience of this immoral oriental tyrant, Herod Antipas, started destroying his peace of mind when he realized the heinousness of his crimes of an illicit and immoral relationship with his niece and sister-in-law, Herodias, in gross violation of Mosaic laws, and his cooperation in the murder of John the Baptist. His discomfort led him, not to repentance, but to the fear that John had come back from the dead to punish him, a fear that might have prompted Herod’s wish to see Jesus in person. His wish was finally realized when Jesus was dragged to him during Jesus’ trial before Pilate. But Jesus did not yield to Herod’s demand for a miracle and kept silence.
Life messages: 1) We need to keep our conscience clean by repenting of our sins daily and, in the case of Mortal sins, by seeking out the confessional as soo as possible, fto receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Otherwise, our sins will haunt us, making our lives miserable. 2) It is necessary that we should have a clear understanding of Who Jesus really IS. We need to see, experience, and accept Jesus as Son of God and Son of Man, our personal Lord and Savior. Such an acceptance should lead us to a total adoption of Jesus’ ideas and ideals and way of life. Otherwise, we will be like Herod, who resembled the people of Jesus’ day, and of our own, who flock to healing services looking for miracles, but not for Jesus. If our following of Jesus causes in us no change that transforms our souls and radiates Jesus outward from us, our attempts to have mountain-top experiences will be meaningless and vain. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Sept 25 Friday: Lk 9:18-22: 18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him; and he asked them, "Who do the people say that I am?" 19 And they answered, "John the Baptist; but others say, Elijah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen." 20 And he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered, "The Christ of God." 21 But he charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised."
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is the first of the three times when Jesus foretells His Passion, death and Resurrection. The passage consists of two sections, the Messianic confession of Peter and the prediction of the Passion by Jesus.
Jesus as the Christ, our Lord and Savior: Today’s Gospel explains the basis of our Faith as the acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, our Lord and Savior. It also tells us that Christ Jesus became our Savior by his suffering, death and Resurrection. According to Matthew (16:13-19), and Mark (8:27-30), this famous profession of Faith by Peter took place at Caesarea Philippi, at present called Banias, twenty-five miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus realized that if the apostles did not know Who He really was, then the entire Messianic ministry, suffering, and death would be useless. Hence, Jesus decided to ask a question in two parts. 1) “What is the public opinion about Me?“ Their answer to the first question was: “Some say John the Baptist; but others say, Elijah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen."2)Who do you say that I am?Peter volunteered to answer the second question, saying: “You are the Christ of God." But Jesus charged and commanded them to tell this to no one and predicted His Passion and death.
Life messages: Let us experience Jesus as our Lord: 1) We experience Jesus as our personal Savior by listening to him through the daily, meditative reading of the Bible, by talking to him through daily, personal and family prayers, by offering him our lives on the altar in frequent attendance at Holy Mass, by being reconciled with him every night, asking pardon and forgiveness for our sins, and by receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation whenever we are in mortal sin.
2) The next step is the surrender of our lives to God by rendering humble and loving service to Him in Himself and in everyone we encounter because we are all, actually or potentially, adopted children of God in whom He lives. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
Sept 26 Saturday: Saints Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs:https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saints-cosmas-and-damianALk 9:43b-45: 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he did, he said to his disciples, 44 "Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men." 45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
The context: Coming down from the mountain after His Transfiguration, Jesus healed an epileptic boy. Today’s Gospel begins with the reaction of the crowds to this cure: “and all were astonished at the majesty of God.” But Jesus uses this occasion of high popularity to explain that, in order to reveal Jesus’ real majesty, “the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men."
Jesus’ least understood prediction: His coming suffering and death: In fact, three times Jesus foretold his coming great suffering through betrayal, rejection, and the punishment of a cruel death. The Apostles could not take in the prophecies, partly because they were dreaming of a political messiah in Jesus. Besides, Jesus had shown His Glory to three of them on the mountain and had astounded everyone by instantly healing an epileptic boy whom the Apostles could not heal. so plainly, no simply human force could even slightly harm, let along kill, Jesus without Divine permission. In addition, Jesus’ disciples were really frightened by such a prediction, perhaps fearing the same fate for themselves. They may also have been ignorant of the “Suffering Servant" prophecy of Isaiah, where the Messiah was pictured as making atonement for sins through suffering and death. When Jesus called Himself the "Son of Man," the Apostles probably got the impression of the Messiah coming in glory as described by Daniel.
Life messages: 1) Jesus paid the ransom for our sins with His blood, dying willingly on the cross, then, rising from the deadon the third day, freed us from the tyranny of sin and death. Hence, it is our duty to live and die as free children of God, released from all types of slavery to sin, evil habits and addictions. We should ask Jesus for help in carrying our daily crosses with Jesus’ own spirit of atonement for our sins and those of others. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26
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