June 15-20: June 15 Monday: Mt 5:38-42: You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; 40 and if anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; 41 and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.

The context: During their captivity in Egypt, the Jews became familiar with the crude tribal law of retaliation called Lex Talionis (=Tit-for-Tat) given by the ancient lawmaker Hammurabi during the period 2285-2242 BC. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus rejects even the concession of the milder retaliation allowed by Moses. In its place, Jesus gives a new law of love and grace — and no retaliation.

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Moses instructed the Israelites to follow tit-for-tat retaliation, rather than to wreak total destruction upon their enemies. That is, instead of mutilating or murdering all the members of the offender’s family or tribe, they should discover, then punish by an equal mutilation or harm, only the offender. Later, a milder version of this law was substituted. It demanded monetary compensation, as decided by a judge, in place of physical punishment. Moses also gave the Israelites several laws commanding merciful treatment for the enemy if he also was a Jew (e.g., Lv 19:18).

The true Christian reaction: For Jesus, retaliation, or even limited vengeance, has no place in the Christian life. Jesus illustrates the Christian approach by giving three examples:

1)“Turn to him the other cheek”:  Striking someone on the right cheek (with the right hand), requires striking with the back of one’s hand, and, according to Jewish concepts, the blow inflicts more insult than pain. Jesus instructs his followers to forgive the insult gracefully and convert the offender.  2) “Let him have your cloak as well.” Jesus instructs his followers that they should show more responsibility and a greater sense of duty than to fight over possessions.  3) “Go with him two miles.” A Christian has the duty of responding, even to seemingly unjust demands by helping or serving gracefully not grudgingly. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) LP/26

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections.

June 16 Tuesday: Mt 5:43-48: “You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,’ 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect

The context: Today’s Gospel passage is perhaps the central and the most famous section of the Sermon on the Mount.  It gives us the Christian ethic of personal relationship: love one’s enemies, as well  as one’s neighbors, and show one’s love for one’s enemies by forgiving them and praying for them.  Above all, it tells us that what makes Christians different is the grace with which we interact with others, treating them with loving kindness and mercy, especially when those others seemingly don’t “deserve” it. The Old Law never said to hate enemies, but that was the way some Jews understood it.  Jesus commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us in order to demonstrate that we are children of a merciful Heavenly Father. From the cross, Jesus, living what he preached, did as he commands us to do, praying to God His Father for Mercy for all of those who were responsible for the Crucifixion – which includes all fallen humankind, and so ourselves — saying,  “Father forgive them; they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34). A Christian has no personal enemies.  If we only love our friends, we are no different from pagans or atheists.

We need to love our neighbors and our enemies, too: The Greek word used for loving enemies is not storge (= affection or natural love towards family members), or philia (= friendship, love of close friends), or eros (= romance) (passionate love between a young man and woman), but agápe (= unconditional selfless love) which is the invincible benevolence, or good will, for another’s highest good. Since agápe, or unconditional love, is not natural, practicing it is possible only with God’s help. Agápe love is a choice more than a feeling. We choose to love our enemies because Jesus loved them enough to die for them, and they, too, are the children of our God.  We have in the Acts of the Apostles the example of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who, like Jesus on the cross, prayed for those who were putting him to death.

Life Messages: We are to try to be perfect, to be like God:  1) We become perfect when we fulfill God’s purpose in creating us: with His help, to become God-like. 2) We become perfect when, with His ongoing help, we try to love as God loves, to forgive as God forgives, and to show unconditional good will and universal benevolence as God does. Perfection means we are striving to live each and every moment doing God’s will, using or cooperating with the  grace of God.   Fr. Tony (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.

June 17 Wednesday: Mt 6:1-6, 16-18: “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 16 “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The context: In today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes three cardinal works of religious life in Judaism, namely, almsgiving, fasting, and prayer, and instructs the   apostles, the crowd of disciples, and us, on the             principles underlying these acts of personal piety.

Life Messages: 1) Almsgiving becomes a noble and meritorious religious act when we give alms to others in order to bring glory to God. a) We are to help the poor as an expression of our sharing love, in thanksgiving for the blessings we have received from God. b) But Almsgiving becomes solely an act of self-glorification when we do it as the Pharisees did, to demonstrate our generosity in public and to get popular acclaim.

2) Fasting becomes a noble act pleasing to God when we do it: a) to experience what the real hunger of the poor is, b) to help the poor better by giving the price of what we do not eat to feed them, c) to discipline ourselves in eating and drinking and d) to appreciate better God’s blessings of good health, good appetite, and generous provisions. e) But fasting solely for show, as the Pharisees did, is wrong and sinful.

3) Prayer: Prayer is opening our connection to God by talking to Him and listening to Him, convinced of His all-pervading holy presence within us and all around us. a) By prayer we acknowledge our total dependence on God, draw from Him our daily spiritual strength, and recharge our spiritual batteries from God’s infinite power. b) But long, noisy, repetitious prayer performed in public solely for show as the Pharisees did is no prayer at all. It is hypocrisy. Tony -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.

June 18 Thursday: Mt 6:7-15: Mt 6: 7-15: 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their 10many words. 8 So do not be like them; for 11 your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9 Pray, then,  like this:                          ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 10 Thy Kigdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Your kingdom come. 14Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And  forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;  13 And lead us not, into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’  14 For if you forgive men  their trespasses, your Heavenly Father also will forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive  your trespasses.”

The context: In today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs the crowd that they should not pray like the Gentiles, repeating empty phrases. He means that true prayer is not so much a matter of the number of words as of the frequency and the love with which one turns towards God, raising one’s mind and heart to Him.  So, Jesus teaches them a model prayer.  Jesus’ prayer, “Our Father,” consists of two parts. In the first part, we praise and worship God, addressing Him as our loving, caring, and providing Heavenly Father and asking Him to help us to do His Holy Will in our lives as obediently and lovingly as His Will is done in Heaven and, thus, to remain remaining in His kingdom. In the second part, we present our petitions before the Triune God. First, we ask God for our present needs – food, clothing, and shelter, (“give us this day our daily bread”), then for our past needs, especially for forgiveness of our sins (“forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”), and finally, for our future needs, protection against the tempter and his temptations (“and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”). In this part, we also bring the Trinitarian God into our lives. We bring in: 1) God the Father, the Provider, by asking for daily bread; 2) God the Son, our Savior, by asking forgiveness for our sins; and 3) God the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, Who is our Guide, Advocate, Comforter, and Illuminator, by asking for protection and deliverance from evil. Special stress on the spirit of forgiveness: We are told to ask for forgiveness from others for our offenses against them, and to offer unconditional forgiveness to others for their offenses against us as a condition for receiving God’s forgiveness. Jesus clarifies, “For if you forgive men their trespasses,  your Heavenly Father also will forgive you;  but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Mt 6:14-15).

“For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, now and forever. Amen.” The manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew do not contain this phrase, nor do any of the Catholic translations. Martin Luther added this doxology to the Our Father in his translation of Matthew’s Gospel, and the King James editions of the Bible keep it.  The doxology is actually taken from the Divine Liturgy or Catholic Mass.  Known as the final doxology, it takes up the first three petitions to our Father. By the final “Amen,” which means, “So be it”, we ratify what is contained in the prayer that God has taught us. Fr. Tony (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.

 June 19 Friday: (St. Romuald, Abbot): For a short biography, kindly visit, https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-romuald/

 Mt 6:19-23: 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22 The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

The context: Today’s Gospel passage from the Sermon on the Mount instructs us to amass secure and lasting treasures in Heaven by a life of righteousness on earth, doing the will of God and sharing our blessings with the needy. Jesus uses two metaphors, one explaining the folly of keeping perishable treasures on earth and the other of loving the darkness caused by pride and prejudice.

The image of earthly & heavenly treasures: Man’s heart yearns for a treasure which will give him security and lasting happiness. But treasure in the form of riches very often gives him constant worry because riches can be lost, destroyed, or stolen, and his life may be terminated abruptly.   The only treasure which will last beyond this life is treasure stored in Heaven. Obtaining and keeping such a treasure is possible only by lovingly and sacrificially sharing God’s blessings with others and leading an upright life doing the will of God with His grace.

The image of a sound eye and clear vision:  Jesus compares the human eye to a lamp which provides the body with light. St. Thomas Aquinas in his commentary on Mathew gives the following explanation: “The eye refers to motive.  When a person wants to do something, he first forms an intention: thus, if your intention is sound – simple and clear—that is to say, if it is directed towards God, your whole body (that is, all your actions), will be sound, sincerely directed towards good.” Bad eyesight is also a Biblical metaphor for stupidity and spiritual blindness. Such blindness is caused by pride, prejudice, jealousy, hatred, etc., which would destroy our fair judgment.

Life message: 1) Let us spend our lives here on earth doing good for others without being blinded by pride and prejudice. It is in this way that we will store up everlasting treasures in Heaven. Fr. Tony (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.

 June 20 Saturday: Mt 6:24-34:  24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more  value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O  you of little  faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours. 34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.”

The context: Today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount instructs us to serve God alone as our Master and to avoid worries and anxiety by placing our trusting Faith in the  Providence and care of a loving God and by living one day at a time in God’s presence, doing His will and praying for and deriving strength from Him.

Impossibility of serving two opposed masters:  Man’s ultimate goal and Master is God and not material possessions. We cannot serve both at the same time. Material possessions should not replace God and become gods.  They are given to us to be used as means to reach our ultimate goal, especially by sharing them with the needy.

Jesus’ arguments against unnecessary worries: 1) Unnecessary worries and anxiety cause spiritual, physical, and mental damages. a) Worries and anxiety cause the spiritual disease of sin when, like pagans and atheists, we do not trust in the goodness and providential care of a loving Heavenly Father and take matters into our own hands, making our own concerns the only ones that matter,  and trampling on other people’s needs and feelings in the rush to grab everything we ”need” for ourselves in order to  feel safe.  b) Worries and anxieties cause physical diseases like hypertension, heart problems, respiratory diseases, insomnia, and rheumatic diseases. c) They also cause  mental diseases like depression, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorders and many other ills  2) In nature, other creatures (like birds), work hard for their daily food, but they do not worry about tomorrow’s food. 3) Worry is useless because we cannot increase even an inch of our height or a day of our lives by hours of worrying.

Life Messages: How to avoid worry: 1) Trust in the Providence of a loving God. 2) Acquire the art of living one day at a time without worrying over the dead past, the living present, or the unknown future. 3) Seek God’s kingdom by doing His will every day, loving and serving Him directly and in everyone else, recognizing in each person we encounter a child of God, and so our own brother or sister  whom our Father wants us to love, forgive, and assist. In this way we will  be obeying God’s law expressed in Jesus “new Commandment,  “Love one another as I have loved you!” Tony (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.

 

 

 

 

OT XII [A] HOMILY (June 21/2026) 8 -minutes homily in 1-page (L/26)

Introduction:Our Scripture readings for this Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time challenge us to preach Christ through our words and lives without fear.

Scripture lessons summarized: The first reading tells us how the prophet Jeremiah trusted in the power of God while he faced opposition for his prophetic ministry. He was intimidated by attacks upon his character, but he was unafraid to speak out in the name of the Lord. The psalmist in today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 69) trusts in God when he is misunderstood and ill-treated even by his brothers and relatives. In the second reading, Paul assures the Christians in Rome that they need not be afraid of opposition both because they share in the death of Jesus and because they are united with Christ, the new Adam, in his Resurrection.

Today’s Gospel passage is taken from the end of Jesus’ instruction to his disciples as he sends them forth to carry on his mission of preaching and healing. He asks them to live simple lives and to expect opposition and rejection. After having foretold future opposition and persecution, Jesus encourages his disciples to stand firm. Three times they are urged, “Do not fear!” “Do not be afraid!” Instead of shrinking from their task, they are to proclaim the Gospel boldly because they will be protected, just as Jeremiah was assured of God’s protection. Hence, Jesus commands his disciples not to fear their persecutors. He presents before them the image of the sparrow to reinforce the disciples’ trust and hope in God. The readings hint at the opposition we future Christians will encounter as we carry on the work of Jesus in the world, and they encourage us to persevere in doing the work of Jesus. They assure us that we will be successful, despite the opposition we encounter.

Life messages: 1) We need not be afraid because our life is in the hands of a loving God. Sometimes we are afraid that we will make a wrong decision. At other times, we are afraid of what others will think when we speak up for Jesus. We are afraid of what the future will bring to our children. We are also afraid of growing old. Sometimes we are afraid of what declining health will bring us. At the root of these fears is the fear of loss. Every fear we have is grounded in the knowledge that we have something or someone to lose. I can lose my job, family, house, money, reputation, health, and even life itself. Rejection and loss are the basis of our fears. But we forget one thing: whatever trouble or crisis affects us, we know that God understands it better than we ourselves do. Our Heavenly Father knows exactly what is happening. What a release from fear it is to know that God is with us; that our life is in the hands of a loving God! The next time fear grips us we need to remember that being faithful to Christ wherever we meet him in this life is much more important than our fear of loss or rejection by others. Also, let us take a moment to recall some of the great promises of God. Let us remind ourselves that God cares – we are each a dear child of His, and He cares for each of us. “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” The last verse of Psalm 27 sums it up nicely: “Trust in the Lord. Have Faith; do not despair. Trust in the Lord.”

OT XII [A] (June 21, 2026): Jer 20:10-13; Rom 5:12-15; Mt 10:26-33  

 Homily starter anecdote: # 1:  Fearless St. John Chrysostom: Fidelity to God under persecution can manifest itself in many forms. A story told of St. John Chrysostom [“Golden-Mouthed”} a wondrous pereacher and writer, alleges that when the Emperor threatened banishment, Chrysostom responded to the threat by saying that the emperor could not banish him, “because the whole world is my Father’s Kingdom.” “Then,” replied the emperor, “I will take away your life.” To which Chrysostom said, “You cannot, for my life is hid with Christ in God.” Next threatened with the loss of his treasure, this saint replied, “You cannot, for my treasure is in Heaven where my heart is.” The emperor made one last effort: “Then I will drive you away from here and you shall have no friend left.” But again, St. John Chrysostom responded, “You cannot, for I have one Friend from whom you can never separate me. I defy you, for you can do me no harm.” — You can do me no harm! [Additional notes on St. Chrysostom: St. John Chrysostom (ca AD 347-  September 14, 407), a trained orator and a presbyter in Antioch of Pisidia for 12 years, preached and wrote against the “judaizers” who were  seducing Christians from the Faith,  drawing them into adopting Jewish laws, festivals, and decadent lives of pleasure and wealth. Appointed Archbishop of Antioch, he refused to live the lavish social life expected of him, reformed the clergy, and made powerful enemies by his plain-speaking about the neglect of Christ in the poor by the rich, their pagan tendencies, and the misuse of authority in both civil and religious spheres. Chrysostom suffered exile three times. The first was when the Eastern Roman emperor Arcadius, prompted by his wife, Eudoxia and the Patriarch of Alexandria, banished him from the kingdom; he was recalled immediately, but described the ceremonies of dedication for the statue of Eudoxia, as pagan and described the Empress in terms of Herodias: “Again Herodias raves; again she is troubled; she dances again; and again desires to receive John’ head in a charger!”   Deposed and banished again, this time to Cuscus in Cappadocia, St. John Chrysostom continued to write letters of great influence in Constantinople, resulting in a further banishment, moving him from Cuscus in Cappadocia to Pitiunt (Pityus). He never reached that city, dying in Comana Pontica September 14, 407. His last words, reportedly, were “Glory be to God for all things.” (Wikipedia). In 414 Pope Innocent 1 recognized him as a Saint, and his feast has been celebrated since 438 AD.  (Richard P McBrien, Lives of the Saints, from Mary and St. Francis of Asissi to John XXIII and Mother Theresa, (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2001), pp. 37—73).]

# 2: Tom Brown’s School Days: This story of an English boys’ school, written in 1857 as a novel by Thomas Hughes, was based on his own experiences as a student of Rugby Boys School. A new boy joined the school. As he got ready for bed the first night, he knelt to say his prayers in a dormitory with twelve other lads. Tom Brown was among them and he was the most popular boy. The other boys were looking forward to making fun of the newcomer. Tom noticed a heavy shoe flying in the air to hit the praying boy. But it missed his head. Laughter and ridicule followed. The incident shook Tom and he could not sleep for some time. He kept thinking of his mother and the prayers she had taught him, prayers he had not said since coming to the school. So, encouraged by the example of the fearless newcomer, the following night Tom also knelt down to pray. The other boys who planned to bully the new boy the second night, immediately noticed what their leader and hero was doing, and they withdrew with respectful silence. Soon, the courage of two boys won the respect and admiration of the entire class.  Here is an example of what Jesus taught his apostles in today’s gospel to preach the good news without fear.  (Mgr. Arthur Tonne). Watch the Movie: https://youtu.be/s1MK7YEP-kY  & https://youtu.be/nefs_66p6bI (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).   

 # 3: “Don’t be afraid! We have four bishops to pray for us.”  An elderly woman named Maude had a window seat on a big 747 jetliner that had just taken off for Rome from New York. She had been saving for years to fulfill her dream to visit the Eternal City. But it was her first flight, and she was terrified. Even the stately presence of four bishops seated behind her didn’t help. With fear and trembling she finally opened her eyes and peered out the window, just in time to see one of the plane’s four engines break loose from the wing and disappear into the clouds. “We’re going to die!” she cried out. “We’re going to die!” The stewardess consulted with the pilot who announced to the passengers that everything was under control that they could fly back to New York and land safely with three engines. But Maude continued to cry out, “We’re going to die!” The stewardess went to her and said, “Don’t worry, my dear, God is with us. We have only three engines, but look, we have four bishops to pray for us.” To which Maude replied, “I’d rather have four engines and three bishops!” — In today’s Gospel Jesus gives us three reasons why we should not be afraid and why we should have the courage of our Christian convictions. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

Introduction: Our Scripture readings for this Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time call us to preach Christ through our words and lives without fear. The first reading tells us how the prophet Jeremiah trusted in the power of God while he faced opposition in his prophetic ministry. The psalmist in today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 69) displays the same trust in the kindness and great mercy of God when he is misunderstood and ill-treated even by his brothers and relatives. In the second reading, Paul assures the Christians in Rome that they need not be afraid of opposition both because they share in the death of Jesus and his Resurrection and because they are united with Christ, the new Adam, in his Resurrection. Today’s Gospel passage is taken from the end of Jesus’ instruction to the Twelve apostles as he sends them forth in pairs to prepare the people for His own coming, giving them a share in His own powers of miraculous healing. He instructs them to live simply and to expect opposition and rejection. After having predicted future opposition and persecution, Jesus encourages his disciples to stand firm. Three times they are urged, “Do not fear!” “Do not be afraid!” Instead of shrinking from their task, they are to proclaim the Gospel boldly because they will be protected, just as Jeremiah was assured of God’s protection. Hence, Jesus commands his disciples not to fear their persecutors. He presents before them the image of the sparrow to reinforce the disciples’ trust and Hope in God. The readings hint at the opposition the Apostles themselves would meet, and we future Christians will encounter as we carry on the work of Jesus in the world, and they encourage us to persevere in doing the work of Jesus.  They assure us that we will be successful despite the opposition we encounter.

The first reading: Jer 20:10-13 explained:  Like today’s Gospel, the first reading, taken from the prophecy of Jeremiah, reflects on the sufferings of the believer. The passage from Jeremiah contains three voices and three addressees. There is the overall narrator, there is Jeremiah himself, and there are his enemies.  Jeremiah (ca 650 BC to 580 BC) experienced the dangers posed by his friends because he spoke the words given him by Yahweh.  Most of his work was in Judah’s capital, Jerusalem. Jeremiah tried to keep the people and the kings faithful to God in a world of political intrigue. He met active hostility. Nevertheless, Jeremiah was confident that God would not let his enemies overcome him.  He declared, “But the Lord is with me, like a mighty Champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.”  He praised God for salvation before he actually experienced it.  “Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!”

The second reading: Rom 5:12-15 explained:  Paul assures the faithful followers of Jesus that they need not be afraid of opposition because they share in the death of Jesus and in His Resurrection. With words of encouragement, Paul explains why, in spite of their bitter experience of opposition, their work will succeed. Since Jesus, by His death and Resurrection, has conquered sin, Jesus’ followers will ultimately succeed in carrying out his work, despite the opposition they encounter. Paul describes Jesus as the new Adam. Where the first Adam brought sin and death into the world, the second Adam brings grace and life. The passage tells us that we have died with Christ to the law, to sin, to self, and to the world.  We need not be afraid of those who oppose us, for we are united with Christ in his Resurrection. In the end, those who oppose Christ will be dishonored, and those who have remained faithful will be redeemed and blessed with eternal life.

Gospel exegesis: Have no fear. Jesus suggests that his disciples should move from fear to courage through trust and reliance in God. He gives three reasons why neither his apostles nor we, should be frightened. The first reason is that their opponents will not be able to prevent Jesus’ followers from succeeding in their mission because God will expose the opponents’ evil plans and deeds: “nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered.”  The Lord “will bring to light the hidden things of darkness” (1 Cor 4:5) and will vindicate the faithful. That God will not permit evil to win is the promise of v. 26.

The second reason not to be afraid is the limited power of our opponents.  They can kill the body, which dies all too soon anyway, but have no power over the soul.  Only God has power over eternity. The Gospel identifies two fears that the apostles had: fear of false accusation and conviction, and fear of bodily harm and death. Tradition has it that almost all the apostles died the violent death of martyrdom. Some of them ended up being crucified on the cross, like Peter and Andrew; beheaded, like James and Paul; flayed alive, like Bartholomew; or thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, like John (who survived without a blister, suffered exile, was then  freed, and dsied of old age, the last of the original apostles).   When the Old Testament mentions fear of God (Pss 2:11; 15:4; 19:9; 22:23; 25:12, etc.) “fear” generally means loving reverence and awe of God which gives the respect due Him  as God.  Respect is an attitude proper to a free person. God does not threaten to throw us into Hell; rather He reminds us that to lose Him by sin is to lose ourselves also–and that is Hell. There is no reason to fear God because He does not wish that anyone should perish.  He has sent Christ to provide salvation for all. Reverent, loving, obedient Fear of God overcomes human fear: “Perfect Love casts out fear” (1 Jn 4:18).

The third reason we should not be afraid is God’s compassionate love. We are more important to God than sparrows.   Matthew speaks of two sparrows sold for one penny. The God who cares for a trivial bird like the sparrow also cares about our smallest problems – even the hairs on our heads are counted. While this is an encouraging assurance, it may be difficult to believe in the midst of persecution. But God knows everything that we go through – nothing that happens to us escapes Him. When we feel lonely and abandoned, when it seems that our prayers are unanswered, God knows and cares. Jesus concludes by saying, “So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows.”  In other words, the perfect antidote for fear is trust in God. God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So, we need not be afraid… (Ps 45:1, 2. Confer also Ps 27:1,2, Ps 91:1,2)

The necessity of loyalty in Christian life. If we are loyal to Jesus in this life, Jesus will be loyal to us in the life to come. On the other hand, if we are too proud to acknowledge that Christ is our Lord and Savior, He will not acknowledge us in the next life. In the early Church, Christians had the courage of their convictions, knowing very well that this might result in their losing their lives. Hence, we must not deny God through our silence, whether in word or deed. Denial by deeds arises from actions that do not match our profession of Faith.  We must not be ashamed to behave as people of Faith and to proclaim our Christian convictions when necessary.

Revelation of hidden things and triumph of truth. “There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed and nothing secret that will not be made known,” This is not a threat that God will expose some sin we had forgotten. Jesus speaks these words as Good News, as a reason not to be afraid of persecution. These verses promise that the evil motives and the wickedness of the persecutors will someday become a matter of public knowledge.   At the Last Judgment, the persecutors will not be able to hide their sin.  It will eventually come to light and to judgment. When that happens, those who have been persecuted will be vindicated before God and before the world. Verses 26-27 promise the ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness. We are challenged to trust in the loving God who continually saves us in the events of our lives. We are sheltered, protected, and wrapped in God’s love. Hence, we are free – free of fear – free to live – free to bear witness to Christ through our lives.

Life messages: 1) We need not be afraid:  Sometimes we are afraid that we will make a wrong decision. At other times, we are afraid of what others will think when we speak up for Jesus. We are afraid of what the future will bring our children.  We are also afraid of growing old. Sometimes we are afraid of what declining health will bring us. At the root of these fears is the fear of loss. Every fear we have is grounded in the knowledge that we have something or someone to lose. I can lose my job, family, house, money, reputation, health and even life itself.  Rejection and loss are the basis of our fears. But we forget one thing: whatever trouble or crisis affects us, we know that God understands it better than we ourselves do.  Our Heavenly Father knows exactly what is happening. What a release from fear it is to know that God is on our side; that our life is in the hands of a loving God! The next time fear grips our life we need to remember that being faithful to Christ wherever we meet him in this life is much more important than our fear of rejection and loss. Also, let us take a moment to recall some of the great promises of God. Let us remind ourselves that God cares – we are each a dear child of His, and He cares for each of us. “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” The last verse of Ps 27 sums it up nicely: “Trust in the Lord. Have Faith; do not despair. Trust in the Lord.”

JOKES OF THE WEEK

• Fear of monster under the bed: A man visited a therapist because he had a fear of monsters living under his cot. The man had been seeing this doctor for months. Every time he would come in, the doctor would ask, “Have you made any progress?” Every time the man would say “No”. The man decided to go and see another doctor. When he went back to his first doctor, the doctor asked, “Have you made any progress?” he said “Yes! I am feeling all better now!” The doctor asked, “What happened?” The man said, “I went to another doctor and he cured me in one session!” The doctor asked, “What did he tell you?” The man said “He just told me to cut off all four legs of my cot and leave no space for the monster!”
• No Fear: The devil entered the house of an alcoholic. But the drunkard just ignored him. The surprised devil asked him “Do you know who I am?”
  “Why of course I know who you are,” the man calmly replied. “You’re Satan.”
  “And you’re not afraid of me like the others?” the devil asked somewhat puzzled. To which the drunkard replied, “No. Why should I be? I’ve been married to your sister for the last 25 years.
• Fear of Sunday (Author Unknown) Fwd by Rev. Deacon Gary Thibodeau)
  To make it possible for everyone to attend Church next Sunday, we are going to have a special “No Excuse Sunday”:

1. a) Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, “Sunday is my only day to sleep in.”
   b) There will be a special section with lounge chairs who feel that our pews are too hard.
   c) Eye drops will be available for those with tired eyes from watching T.V. late Saturday night.
   d) We will have steel helmets for those who say ” The roof would cave in if I ever came to Church.”
   e) Blankets will be furnished for those who think the church is too cold and fans for those who say it is too hot.
   f) Score cards will be available for those who wish to list the hypocrites present.
   g) Relatives and friends will be in attendance for those who can’t go to Church and cook dinner, too.
   h) We will distribute “Stamp Out Stewardship” buttons for those who feel that Church is always asking for money.
   i) One section will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to seek God in nature.
   k)  Doctors and nurses will be in attendance for those who plan to be sick on Sunday.
   l)  The sanctuary will be decorated with both Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who never have seen the Church without them.
   m) We will provide hearing aids for those who can’t hear the preacher and cotton for those who say he is too loud.

USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK:

 Nick’s collection of Sunday homilies from 65 priests & weekday homilies: https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies

• Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org/featured-homilies/

 

 Geoffrey Plant’s beautiful & scholarly video classes on Sunday gospel, Bible & RCIA topics:  https://sundayhomilies.au/homilies/

 Brant Pitre’s commentary on Cycle A Sunday Scripture for Bible Class: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-Biblical basis of Catholic doctrines: http://scripturecatholic.com/

• Agape Catholic Bible Lessons: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/

 6)Catholic directory & resources: http://www.catholicweb.com/directory.cfm

^{7) It’s Catholic: http://www.disciplesnow.com/catholic/html/article654.html,}

^{8) Catholic online: http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=1586}

10) Bible project videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject/

• The beginner’s guide to life of faith: http://www.beginningcatholic.com/
• Catholic Community Forum: News, reflections, homilies, patron saints (http://www.catholic-forum.com/)

13) Focus On the Family: http://www.family.org/

14) Outlines of Bible books http://www.catholicdoors.com/outline/index.htm

15) New American Bible with notes http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/

16) USCCB Daily reflections videos: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/ For video homilies, copy and Paste the U R L http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/  on to the Address Bar and press Enter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eqEkPjUbmIA

17)Catholic doctrines in short videos; http://thatcatholicshow.sqpn.com/

18) Catholic pages Directory: http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/default.asp

19) The Catholic Liturgical Calendar page: http://www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/index.php

20) Free program for men’s renewal in parishes:  https://www.paradisusdei.org/index.php/programs/tmiy

 21)Virtual tour of Sistine chapel, Vatcan: http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html?utm_source=Twitter

Video of the week

1) Fearless Imam refutes the terrorists: https://youtu.be/vUe4SbpN5-E

   22 Additional anecdotes: 1) Counting the hairs on your head: (“Even all the hairs on your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Mt 10: 26-33): It was just a few weeks after her surgery; the chemotherapy treatments had begun.  Every morning, she would comb her hair — and every morning she would pull out anther clump of her beautiful hair from the brush.  This side effect was hitting her harder and harder. One morning, she felt the top of her head and, for the first time, she could count the strands.  But she felt strangely at peace.  She held each strand — just as God, in his providence, could count them from the moment God breathed his life into her.  She became aware of God present in the love of her family and friends who were supporting and suffering with her.  She remembers: “I felt comfort knowing that God knew how many strands were in my brush, on my pillow, in my hat, and in my hand.  God had counted them all.  With or without my hair, God knew me and what my future held.  I was still afraid — of the cancer, of the chemo, the upcoming brain scan, and its results — but I knew that God would be with me through it all.” — May we find peace and reason to hope in the providence of God who has “counted . . . all the hairs of your head,” a providence that manifests itself in the love of family, the comfort of friends, the support of Church and community.  [Adapted from “I lost my hair but not my Faith” by Kathryn Lay, Catholic Digest, May 2008.] (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

 

2)  “Latimer, Latimer, be careful what you say!”: During the turbulent reign of Henry VIII (AD 1491-1547) Hugh Latimer (AD 1485-1555) a preacher, bishop of Worcester, reformer and eventually a Protestant martyr, was preaching in the presence of King Henry in Westminster Abbey. Hugh Latimer was the Archbishop of Canterbury.  As such, in his time, he was viewed as the highest Church official of England.  It was a time when Archbishops were appointed by the King, and the King expected loyalty. Latimer knew that he was about to say something that would incur the royal wrath so he began this soliloquy from the pulpit: “Latimer, Latimer, be careful what you say, the king is here!” He paused, and then as if in response to himself, he continued. “Latimer, Latimer, be careful what you say, the King of kings is here.” Eventually Latimer’s fearless preaching cost him his life. For such unflinching faithfulness, Latimer was eventually burned at the stake. But Latimer feared failing God more than he feared offending men. — Jesus counseled his apostles not to fear those who could deprive them of physical life (kings, rulers, enemies), but only those who could destroy the soul. Since the sole prerogative of judgment concerning the human soul rested with their loving Father (the King of kings) they should be fearless. (Sánchez Files). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

3) Fearless St. Teresa. St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) is famous as a theologian, reformer of the Carmelite Order, and spiritual advisor to the great Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross (1542-1591). But Teresa’s ministry was not well received in her community.  Her sisters had grown lax in Faith and practice, and when she called for reform their response was to throw her out of convents that she herself had established. On one occasion, she was turned out at night in the middle of a rainstorm. Dressed only in her coarse wool habit, she climbed into a donkey cart and was riding along when the wheel of the cart hit a ditch and the cart turned over, dumping Teresa into the mud. She sat there, in mud-soaked wool, looked up to Heaven, and said, “Lord, if this is the way you treat your friends, it’s no wonder that you don’t have many!” But frustrated as she was, Teresa clung to God. In one of her meditations on the Disciplines of the Holy Spirit, Teresa talks about how we must not be deceived by the appearance that evil triumphs over good. She wrote, “God uses the Devil as a sharpening-stone for Christians.” Teresa not only taught this lesson, she lived by it. She never gave up on God, even when her sisters opposed her by going to priests and bishops to make trouble for her. She kept right on teaching what she knew to be the truth. And eventually, the Truth won out. Her desire was to be faithful, and God prospered her efforts. Today, she is known as a Doctor of the Church — an exemplary teacher and thinker — while the nuns who treated her so badly remain dead and unknown. And the Carmelite convents of Teresa’s reform continue to this very day. — Teresa understood what the prophet Jeremiah was talking about in the first reading and what Jesus was teaching in today’s Gospel lesson. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

4) “I‘m holding this plane up by sheer will power!” TIME magazine reported sometime back on the many famous people who have a phobia about planes and are, nevertheless, constantly flying. Among them are Andre Previn, Joanne Woodward, Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, even former president Ronald Reagan. In an interview done aboard Air Force I, the president was asked if he had overcome the fear of flying. “Overcome it!” he retorted. “I’m holding this plane up by sheer will power!” [Bruce Larson, The Presence, (HarperCollins Publishers, 1988), pp. 10-11.] — Some of us can relate to that. Everyone’s afraid of something. Some people have fears that are almost pathological. It has been more than 35 years since Janet Leigh saw herself on the screen in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror film Psycho. After viewing the famous shower scene, in which she was repeatedly stabbed, Leigh was seized with an overwhelming and lasting terror. “I stopped taking showers, and even now I take only baths,” she says. In fact, when the actress stays in a hotel or at a friend’s home where only a shower is available, she panics. “I make sure the doors and windows of the house are locked,” she says, “and I leave the bathroom door and shower curtain open. I’m always facing the door, watching, no matter where the shower head is.” [Elaine M. Ward, Once Upon a Parable…(Educational Ministries, Inc., 1994), p. 38.] — Predicting future opposition and persecution, Jesus encourages his disciples to stand firm. Three times He urges them, and us, “Do not fear!” “Do not be afraid!” Thus, we know we, too, will be successful in God’s eyes, despite the opposition we encounter. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

5) President Jimmy Carter with miles of smiles and Jesus with a fiery sword:  During the presidential campaign of 1976, Jimmy Carter became famous for his teeth. Cartoonists had a holiday, exaggerating the size of his teeth. His teeth were prominent because he went across the country constantly smiling which certainly was an important factor in his winning the presidency. Does life always let us smile? Are Christians supposed to wear a constant smile? Are there not times when a frown is more appropriate, times when we should be upset, angry, and ready to fight? — In today’s Gospel lesson, we see a side of Jesus seldom shown. The Prince of Peace declares that he has come “not to bring peace but the sword” (Mt 10:34, ff; this passage directly follows the end of today’s reading). He is a disturber of the peace. He comes holding not an olive branch, the symbol of peace, but a sword which means fighting. Wherever Jesus goes, he stirs up controversy. He turns values upside down. He challenges sinful ways. His word pits members of a family one against the other as they face the challenge of discipleship. How does one account for this? It is the result of Jesus’ taking the “cross” road of life. If we follow him on this road, we can expect the same. This leads us to the cost of discipleship. Can we afford to be a true Christian? Do we want to pay the price of walking on the “cross” road of life? In our text, Jesus calls us to follow him on this “cross” road. What is this road, and what does it take to travel on this road through life? The “cross” road of life is the Road of Discipline. In our text Jesus says, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me …” (Mt 10:37-39; not in today’s reading). This call for self-discipline says that we must put Christ first in our way of life,  hold all other persons secondary to Him, and consider ourselves as coming last. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

6) Giraffes afraid of crossing a waterless two feet deep moat: Among the many wonders at the world-famous San Diego Zoo is the giraffe compound. Enclosed in a natural habitat are several of these magnificent animals. They are every bit as tall and graceful as one might imagine. But they are far more massive and muscular than expected. Tall somehow seems to imply thin. However, these great beasts are anything but skinny. Their necks are thicker and their legs shorter and more powerful than one anticipates. It is not difficult to see why one kick could send an ambitious lion packing. Yet these massive, stately animals are enclosed in a small compound that seems far too restricting for their size and power. But no cage contains them. There are no bars or walls. There is but a simple, waterless moat, no deeper than the beast’s knee, that circles the compound. Freedom is but a mere two steps away. But they are trapped. All of them are. For not one of them will take the risk of stepping down and across for fear of breaking its neck. [Don Martin, Team Think (New York: Penguin Books Ltd: 1993), p. 76.] — I wonder how many of us are limited like that by our fears. Fear of rejection… fear of failure…fear of looking foolish…fear of being hurt…fear of being alone… fear of intimacy…fear of being taken advantage of …fear of change…fear of being criticized. “Do not fear!” “Do not be afraid!” It is the urgent advice of Jesus to his disciples in today’s Gospel. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

 

7) Out of proportion fears: In his book, Scared to Life (Victor), Douglas Rumford cites a study that explains why we shouldn’t allow fear to rule our lives: 60% of our fears are totally unfounded; 20% are already behind us; 10% are so petty they don’t make any difference; 4-5% of the remaining 10% are real, but we can’t do anything about them. That means only 5% are real fears that we can do something about. [Marriage Partnership (Summer 1995), p. 59.] — I don’t know how accurate those figures are but my guess is that for some of us, they understate the problem. We have a tendency to blow our fears out of proportion to our real-life situation. Listen to Jesus: “Do not fear!” “Do not be afraid!” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

 

8) “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” In March 1933, the newly-elected President Franklin Roosevelt said: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” (Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min., Religion in Daily Life, www.allsaintstorresdale.org). — Fear can paralyze, whether that fear is based in reality or whether it exists only in our own mind. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

 

9) “The Funniest Man in The World” was afraid of audience. Did you ever hear the name Joe Ancis? The reason you haven’t is due to fear. In the late forties, Buddy Hackett, Rodney Dangerfield, Lenny Bruce, and other young hopeful comics in New York all hung out at Hansons, a luncheonette on Broadway. Joe Ancis, the original sick comic, cracked everybody up at the time. Some people claim that Lenny Bruce learned what he knew from Ancis. He was dubbed “The Funniest Man in the World” by the other comedians. But Ancis was terrified of audiences. He could rap with the pros at Hansons, but he performed publicly only once when he was still a teenager. That appearance confirmed his fears. He never got up in front of an audience again. He went into selling aluminum siding. Some say he’s “The Best Salesman in the World.” But he couldn’t handle the fear of getting up in front of groups, only the people he knew. [Bernard Weinraub in The New York Times; quoted in “Personal Glimpses,” Reader’s Digest (November 1995), p. 7.]. — Can anyone relate to that? One survey indicates that some people fear speaking in front of a group more than they fear death. It seems absurd, of course, but it’s true. In today’s Gospel, Jesus urges his disciples not to be afraid of any opposition: “Do not fear!” “Do not be afraid!” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).    

 

10) Overcome doubts about ourselves to overcome fear: First of all, we have doubts about ourselves. Some of us are ruled by our fears because we lack confidence in ourselves. That lack of confidence is a tremendous barrier to our achieving what God has called us to achieve. We have doubts about ourselves.  In Robert Schuller’s book, Power Thoughts, he tells of a woman called Sweet Alice. At the age of twelve, Sweet Alice was in jail. She was pregnant at thirteen, homeless by the time she was fifteen and had attempted suicide. Sweet Alice was convinced that she had ruined all her chances in life, and that she would never make anything good out of her life. It would have been easy for Alice to give into her fears and settle for a life of quiet failure. But then one day, Sweet Alice ran into a Jewish woman named Anne Cohn. Anne Cohn told Sweet Alice that she had a million-dollar smile and that people needed to see that smile. Anne assured Alice that she had great potential. No one had ever spoken to Sweet Alice like this before, and she desperately needed to hear it. Sweet Alice began to take action in her life. In 1965, the Watts riots flamed up in Los Angeles. Sweet Alice formed a group called POW — Parents of Watts. These parents worked together to improve their community. Recently, they shut down the business of a vendor in the Watts neighborhood who was selling t-shirts with objectionable, inflammatory messages. Sweet Alice also gave away her own house to start a program for the homeless. Since then, she’s added nine more houses to the program. She’s convinced that God rewarded her giving by giving her more to do. In 1993, Sweet Alice received a “Hero Award” and Essence magazine’s “Essence Award” for her work with POW and with the homeless. She was recognized alongside Senators, artists, and Olympic athletes for her contributions to American society. And all of this happened  because one person noticed her million-dollar smile. (New York: Harper Collins, 1993). — You are a child of God. You have all kinds of potential. All you have to do is release it. Fear not. Believe in yourself. And believe in God.

11) “Yes, Daddy really is a sissy, isn’t he?” One method of conquering fear is to give your fears a name. Before September 11th, when asked to name their fears, Americans responded this way: 51% of us are afraid of snakes, 40% of us are afraid of public speaking, 36% of us are afraid of heights, 34% of us are afraid of being closed in a small space, 21% of us are afraid of needles and shots, 18% of us are afraid of flying in an airplane. I expect that number is much higher now. — Except for those suffering from some phobia, I suspect our real fears are much deeper than that survey. We would be wise today to bring our fears to the surface, so we can name them and face them with Faith. Some of our fears are Simple Fright. Fear is an alarm system. It is like our home security system. It sounds at the appropriate time for our good and is valuable. Fear was designed by God to give our bodies the sudden burst of strength and speed we need in an emergency. Fear is a natural, normal reaction to danger. A mother was tucking her small son to bed during a thunderstorm. She was about to turn off the lights and leave the room when the toddler looked up to her and said, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” The comforting mother gave her little guy another hug and said, “I can’t dear. You know Mommy has to sleep with Daddy.” After a long silence, the child said in a shaky voice, “Yes, Daddy really is a sissy, isn’t he?”

12) “God doesn’t kill.” Adolfo Perez Esquivel writes some about his thirty-two days in a narrow, L-shaped cell in his native Argentina. For two days he was kept in total darkness. On the third day a guard opened the door and Esquivel could see what he had not seen before. The walls of the confining room were covered with all sorts of scribblings. There were some names, some insults, some prayers. What affected him most, however, was a huge bloodstain. Below the stain, sketched by someone’s finger dipped in blood, were the words: “God doesn’t kill.” Esquivel later writes about Hope and about grace. In that cell he felt the strong and abiding presence of Christ’s Spirit. He also felt surrounded by brothers and sisters in the Faith, surrounded by walls alive with acts of Faith and Hope. “Bars can’t lock up the Spirit, Infinite Presence, in every one of us.” — Surely this also is to find life: to live with an overwhelming sense of the presence of the living Christ; to live in communion with a new and enlarged family; to know that Christ has created an unbreakable bond with and among those who serve him; to know that one is part of a vast circle of prayer and concern and care.

13) Modern-day Martyrs: Others after Jeremiah have also reached great heights of heroic action born of deep convictions. In the twentieth century alone, there are many examples. During the Second World War Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish Franciscan priest who refused to be intimidated by the Nazis, offered his life in exchange for a prisoner, a husband and father, one of the ten whom the commandant of the concentration camp had singled out for execution. Eleven year-old Maria Teresa Goretti in Italy refused to be intimidated by 20-year-old Alessandro Serenelli who threatened to kill her because she refused his sexual advances. And kill her he did on July 6th, 1902. Maria Goretti was declared a saint by Pope Pius XII in 1950. Her mother and Alessandro Serenelli, reconciled, were present together at her canonization. (Charles Miller in Sunday Preaching).

 14) Archbishop St. Oscar Romero: Canonized October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis, Archbishop Oscar Romero is an outstanding example of being a true witness of Christ. When he was made Archbishop of El Salvador in 1997 he was a conservative. But he soon changed when he saw what was happening. Every Sunday he preached at the Cathedral. His homilies so electrified the country that national affairs halted when he spoke from the altar. He made public the unspeakable crimes being committed by many agents of the government. He was under constant threat of death. Some of his best friends were murdered. And still he would not be silenced. Nor would he go into hiding or exile. “At the first sight of danger the shepherd cannot run and leave the sheep to fend for themselves. I will stay with my people,” he said. According to Romero, it didn’t take courage. All it took was the understanding that his enemies dwelt in fear, and that as he was not afraid of them, they would have no power over him. They might be able to kill his body, but they would not and could not kill his soul. There is also a story of a priest who during the genocide in Rwanda (1994) sheltered Tutsis in his house. When a mob arrived at his door and ordered him to release them, he refused to do so. They shot him and took the people away. — Even though we may not aspire such heights of heroism people like these are an inspiration to us. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies).

15) With or Without People? A second grader once asked his teacher how much the earth weighed. The teacher looked up the answer in an Encyclopedia. “Six thousand million, million tons,” she answered. The little boy thought for a minute and then asked, “Is that with or without people?”  — Viewed from one perspective, it might very well seem that people don’t really matter very much. After all, we are but microscopic inhabitants of a tiny planet orbiting a relatively obscure star in a small galaxy among the billions and billions of stars and galaxies that make up creation. Yet the God of creation has counted the very hairs of our heads. Wow! What a magnificent picture of God!  (King Duncan, “The Love of a Father,” http://www.Sermons.com)

16) “Keep them worried and anxious:” In C. S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters, “Screwtape” is a devil, a very accomplished tempter. Using any trickery, he can, Screwtape turns people away from God. By his letters, Screwtape gives advice to Wormwood, his young nephew and apprentice who is just learning the deceptive ways of devils. In one letter, Screwtape writes to Wormwood, “Keep them anxious, make certain they are worried about something.” — Remind people about their fears. Why this advice? Being a devil, Screwtape wants to get people so focused on their fears that they forget God.

7) “Yes ma’am.” The first reading today about Moses’ call by God from the burning bush when he was leading a comfortable family life in Midian reminds us of this funny story. The duke and the duchess who owned a country estate, and had a whole lot of servants who were maintaining the estate in their absence. One day the duchess went out there to talk to the servants, to get an accounting, see what all of them did. She called them into the room, one-by-one, and asked them what they did and how things were going. About an hour into the interview, an old man came into the room. The duchess said, “Let me see, you have been with us now twenty years?” “Yes ma’am.” “Your job is to walk the dog?” “Yes ma’am.” “But the dog has been dead for eighteen years?” The servant replied, “Yes, ma’am. Is there anything else you would like me to do, ma’am?” (Rev. Mark Trotter).

18) “Shoot Me First.” That’s what a courageous 13-year-old Amish girl said to the crazed man who broke into her school on Monday, October 2, 2006. “Shoot Me First.” He did shoot her, killing her along with five of her schoolmates, aged seven to thirteen. Then he killed himself. The shooter, Charles Carl Roberts, a 32-year-old milkman entered the humble one-room schoolhouse with the intent of killing as many students as possible. But one student, Marian Fisher, the oldest of the five Amish girls shot dead that day, tried to buy time for her schoolmates to escape. There were ten of them in all, all girls, five of whom survived. They may owe their lives to Marian who stepped forward and asked her killer to “Shoot me first.” What’s more, Fisher’s younger sister, Barbie, who survived the shooting, allegedly asked the gunman to, “Shoot me second.” —  It is a story of incredible courage. Maybe our Amish friends have some things to teach us about how to raise young people.  (Rev. King Duncan).

 

19) These shoes? One more person. There is a powerful scene in the movie Schindler’s List. In the beginning of the story a Czech business man, Oskar Schindler, builds a factory in occupied Poland using Jewish labor because, in those tragic days at the start of World War II, Jewish labor was cheap. As the war progresses, however, and he learns what is happening to the Jews under Adolph Hitler, Schindler’s motivations switch from profit to sympathy. He uses his factory as a refuge for Jews to protect them from the Nazis. As a result of his efforts, more than 1,100 Jews were saved from death in the gas chambers. You would think that Oskar Schindler would have felt quite pleased with himself, but at the end of the war Schindler stands in the midst of some of the Jews he has saved, breaks down in tears, takes off his gold ring and says, “My God, I could have bought back two more people [with this ring]. These shoes? One more person. My coat? Two more people. These cufflinks? Three more people.” There he stands, not gloating but weeping with regret that he had not done more. — I wonder if one day you and I as followers of Christ will ask ourselves, “Could I have done more? Have I truly borne the cross of Christ.” That is the first question on today’s test: is your faith sacrificial? Is it costing you something?

 

20) “Sharing the cup of the Lord’s suffering” The diocese of Rome, Italy, is called the “apostolic see” because it was at Rome that Peter and Paul preached the Faith, and it was at Rome that they were martyred. “By sharing the cup of the Lord’s suffering,” says today’s entrance antiphon, “they became the friends of God.” Jesus had predicated Peter’s eventual capture and execution on the same day that He gave him charge over his sheep and lambs. “When you are old,” he told Peter, “you will stretch out your hands, and another will fasten your belt for you, and carry you whwere you do not wish to go” (Jn 21:18-19). History testifies to Peter’s death on a cross – a cross set upside down in the earth because Peter felt he did not deserve to die in exactly the same way his Master had.

 

In addition to a few pieces of historical evidence of St. Peter’s death, there are also some legends. Especially touching is the Quo Vadis legend, which dates from around 200 AD. According to this story, one of Peter’s Roman converts was Xantippe, wife of the pagan Roman magistrate Agrippa. Albinus, a friend of Emperor Nero, urged Agrippa to seize and execute Peter as leader of the hated Christians. Xantippe, learning of the proposal, hastened to warn Peter. She and other leading Roman Christians urged him to escape from Rome. “Shall we be put to flight, brother?” Peter asked sternly. Was he to play the coward? “No,” they insisted, “but that you maybe able still to serve the Lord.” Peter thought awhile and saw their point, But he would not allow them to accompany him. “Let no one of you depart with me, but I will go out alone, for I have changed my purpose.”

However, Peter had not got far outside Rome’s Appian gate when he suddenly saw Jesus walking the Appian Way towards Rome. “Lord,” cried Peter, “Where are you going?” (“Domine, quo vadis”?) Jesus answered, “I am going to Rome to be crucified.” “But, Lord,” Peter replied, “Were you not crucified once?” The Master replied, “I saw that you were fleeing from death, and I am willing to be crucified in your stead.”  Peter got the point. “Lord, I will go. I will do your bidding.” “Fear not,” Jesus reassured him, “for I am with you.” Then He vanished. Peter returned to Rome, no longer confused or fearful, but joyful. He knew that the time had come for Christ’s prophecy about him to be fulfilled. So, it was the cross for Peter. He who had fled from Christ’s Calvary found his own Calvary on Vatican Hill. (Father Robert F. McNamara).

21) Fr. Jerry Orbos, a Society of Divine Word priest told a story of a Buddhist, a Muslim and a Christian who were debating whose God is the greatest. To settle the issue once and for all, they decided to jump from a 20-storey building and find out whose God will save them. First, the Buddhist shouts, “Buddha!” jumps and lands on the ground dead in a few seconds. The Muslim shouts “Allah!” jumps and wonder of wonders carried by a wind and lands safely. It was the Christian’s turn. With all trust he shouts, “Jesus Christ, in you I entrust my life!” and jumps. As he was falling past the 6^th, 5^th and 4^th floors and nothing was happening, he was last heard shouting “Allah! Allah! Allah!” – In today’s gospel Jesus says three times: “Do not be afraid…” of any one or anything except  “ the One Who can destroy both the soul and the body,” Either Satan/deceitefulness and hatred of God and us,  whom we must resist unto and through physical death, or, God Who loves us, is Merciful, and Just and so can and will give us eternal life in Hell if that is what we have chosen.  (Ignatius Study Bible, RSV2Catholic).

22) “Don’t be afraid! It is I”! According to Sharon Faelten and company in their book entitled Take Control of Your Life that fear is natural. There are some people who are afraid to walk through dark alleys late at night; others fear vicious dogs, killer bees or rabid bats. Still others are afraid to skydive… or stand under tall trees during thunderstorms. These are reasonable and appropriate fears. Faelten continues that a phobia, by contrast, is irrational and inappropriate. These include the dread of being trapped in a place or circumstance that would not upset most people. The most common phobia treated by therapists is agoraphobia or fear of venturing out into open spaces which includes fear of public places like stores, malls, restaurants, theaters or fear of public transportations especially when traveling alone and fear away from safe places, persons or objects. Other common phobias include social phobias such as fear of speaking, writing or eating in public. Animal phobias include fear of dogs, cats, birds, insects, spiders and snakes; fear of blood (hemophobia),  fear of medical procedures like getting an injection and others), fear of water (hydrophobia) and many more.

— If you are afraid, you are not alone because in the United States of America there are 13 millions of different cases of fears happened. If these fears are not healed those trapped in them may well suffer nervous breakdown, tension, stress and shame, and if a person lives in shame he lived in fear, according to the book by Faelten and company. (Fr. Bennett). L/26

  “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle A (No. 39) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

You may visit my website by clicking on http://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.” Kindly visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  under CBCI or Fr. Tony for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican official website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  My post-retirement contact postal address in the U. S. is Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. M. C. Joseph, Pastor  St. Agatha Catholic Parish 1001 Hand Ave, Bay Minette, AL 36507 36507. Contact me by email only at akadavil@gmail.com. I am back at my home in my home country since June 2023. I live in my home in my home country since my final retirement in June 2023. Hence please contact me only by email (akadavil@gmail.com).

 

FATHER’S DAY (in U. S. A.) Message: (June 21/26) –– one-page synopsis

Inroduction: Happy Father’s Day to all who are fathers or grandfathers or stepfathers! Five weeks ago, we observed Mother’s Day and offered Mass for our moms. Today, on this Father’s Day, we are doing the same – offering our dads, living or dead, on the altar of God during this Holy Mass and invoking our Heavenly Father’s blessings on them.

 

The observance most similar to our Father’s Day was the ancient Roman Parentalia, an annual family reunion to remember and commemorate departed parents and kinsfolk.  The originator and promoter of Father’s Day was Mrs. Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington. Her father, William Jackson Smart, had accomplished the amazing task of rearing his six children after their young mother’s death. Mrs. Dodd’s suggestions for observing the day included wearing a flower — a red rose to indicate a living father and a white rose for a dead father. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge made the first Presidential proclamation in support of Father’s Day, and in 1972, President Richard Nixon declared the third Sunday in June a National Day of Observance in honor of fathers.

The Father’s role in society: According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2367), the vital importance of the father’s role comes from the fact that, with his wife, he cooperates with God the Creator in bringing a new human life into the world. Children who are raised with fathers present in the family have much lower rates of delinquency, drug and alcohol use, teen pregnancy, and so on, than those with absent fathers.  The father’s presence is also a significant positive factor in the children’s getting a college education, finding a satisfying job, and making a lasting marriage. A girl’s choice of partner and satisfaction in marriage is often directly related to the relationship she has had with her father.

A day to remember our Heavenly Father and our Rev. Fr. Pastors: Father’s Day is a day to remember, acknowledge and appreciate the “World’s Greatest Dad,” OUR HEAVENLY FATHER (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:6) Who is our spiritual Daddy, actively involved in all areas of our lives.  It is He on Whom we lean in times of pain and hurt; it is He on Whom we call in times of need; it is He Who provides for us in all ways — practical, emotional, and spiritual.  Many of us pray the “Our Father” day after day, without paying attention to, or experiencing, the love and providence of our Heavenly Father.  Let us pray the Our Father during this Holy Mass, realizing the meaning of each clause and experiencing the love of our Heavenly Father for us.  May all earthly fathers draw strength from their Heavenly Father!  On this Father’s Day, please don’t forget to pray for us, your spiritual Fathers, – men who are called to be Fathers of an immensely large parish family through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. (L/26)

FATHER’S DAY MESSAGE, (June 21, 2026)

Anecdote # 1: “Have you ever seen a saint praying?”  St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Teresa of Avila have their own stories about the influence their fathers had on their lives as role models.  The Little Flower used to ask an innocent question to her first grader classmates: “Have you ever seen a saint praying?”  She would add: “If you haven’t, come to my house in the evening.  You will see my dad on his knees in his room with outstretched arms, praying for us, his children, every day.”  She states in one of her letters from the convent: “I have never seen or heard or experienced anything displeasing to Jesus in my family.” In the final year of her high school studies, St. Teresa of Avila was sent by her father (against her will), to a boarding house conducted by nuns. Her father took action at the moment he discovered bad books and yellow magazines hidden in her box. These had been supplied to Teresa by her spoiled friend and classmate, Beatrice.   St. Teresa later wrote as the Mother Superior: “But for that daring and timely action of my father, I would have ended up in the streets, as a notorious woman.”  Father’s Day challenges Christian Fathers to be role models to their children.

# 2: “I never hugged my dad”! In his book My Father, My Son, Dr Lee Salk describes a moving interview with Mark Chapman, the convicted murderer of Beatle John Lennon. At one point in the interview, Chapman says: “I don’t think I ever hugged my father.” [David Curtis Chapman, was a staff sergeant in the U. S. Air Force.]  “He never told me he loved me…I needed emotional love and support. I never got that.” Chapman’s description of how he would treat a son if he had one is especially tragic, because he will probably never get out of prison and have a family of his own. He says: “I would hug my son and kiss him…and just let him know…he could trust me and come to me…and (I would) tell him that I loved him.” Dr Salk ends his book with this advice to fathers and sons. It applies equally well to mothers and daughters. “Don’t be afraid of your emotions, of telling your father or your son that you love him and that you care. Don’t be afraid to hug and kiss him. Don’t wait until the death bed to realize what you’ve missed.” (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies)

# 3: “Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana noon Tuesday.  All is forgiven.”  In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Capital of the World,” a Spanish newspaper, El Liberal, carried a poignant story about a father and his son.  It went like this.  A teen-aged boy, Paco, and his very wealthy father had a falling out, and the young man ran away from home.  The father was crushed.  After a few days, he realized that the boy had been serious, so the father set out to find him.  He searched high and low for five months to no avail.  Finally, in a last, desperate attempt to find his son, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper.  The ad read, “Dear Paco, Meet me at the Hotel Montana noon Tuesday.  All is forgiven.  I love you.  Signed, Your Father.”   On Tuesday, in the office of Hotel Montana, over 800 Pacos showed up, looking for love and forgiveness from their fathers. — What a magnet that ad was!  Over 800 Pacos!! We all hunger for pardon.  We are all “Pacos” yearning to run and find a father who will declare, “All is forgiven.” Father’s Day reminds us that we need more loving, forgiving fathers.

#3 “I love you, Dad. Happy Birthday.” A friend tells about how when he was a small boy his father’s birthday rolled around, and he did not realize it until it was too late to get his father a birthday present. So, he went through all his resources and came up with 17 cents. He put the dime, the nickel, and the two pennies in an envelope and gave it to his father with a note: “I love you, Dad. Happy Birthday. Thanks for being the best dad in the whole world. Sorry I did not get you a gift. This is all I’ve got.” Years later, at his father’s death, when he was going through his father’s possessions, he discovered within a special compartment of his father’s wallet, the envelope, the note, the dime, the nickel, and the two pennies that his father had carried all those years. (Donald Shelby, “Love is Gratitude”). — Why? Why of all the things the father and son had experienced together was this token kept as the most precious reminder of their relationship? Why? It was pure love, and pure gratitude. And that’s what we have in our second Scripture lesson today.

4.”Don’ go to beer houses!”: A famous actor narrated that when he was a young boy, his father told him not to go to beer houses because there are naked women dancing there. When he asked, “Why?” his father told him: “You would see things that you should not see.” The moment he got money he went straight to a beer house. He later said: “My father was right. I saw something I should have not seen – I saw my father!”(Fr. Bennet)

 

Introduction: Happy Father’s Day to all who have fathers or stepfathers, who had fathers or who are fathers!  These holidays of our culture are not exactly high holy days of the Church, but they do give us reason to pause, to pray for and to reflect on our fathers whom we honor.  Five weeks ago, we offered Mass for our moms. Today, on this Father’s Day, we are doing the same – offering our dads, living or dead, on the altar of God during this Holy Mass and invoking our Heavenly Father’s blessings on them.  Modern America appears to be unique in its honoring of fathers on a special day.  Today we celebrate, congratulate and pray for the men who continue to reflect the Divine qualities of fatherhood as they lovingly establish, nourish and maintain their families. Fathers are a blessing, and we thank them for blessing us with lives of dedication, endurance and love.

Historical note: The observance most similar to our Father’s Day was the ancient Roman Parentalia, which lasted from the thirteenth of February to the twenty-second.  This festival, however, was not for living fathers, but was rather a time of remembrance, commemorating departed parents and kinsfolk.  The ceremonies were held, Ovid says, to “appease the souls of your fathers.”  This annual observance became a family reunion.  Members offered wine, milk, honey, oil and water at the flower-decorated graves.  At the concluding ceremony, known as the Caristia, much celebrating went on as the living relatives feasted together, having been cleansed by the performance of their duties to the dead.  Father’s Day for us, of course, is not intended for honoring the dead.  We may pay a minor symbolic tribute by wearing a white rose in memory of deceased fathers, but far fewer of these are seen than white carnations on Mothers’ Day.

The origin of Father’s Day. The originator and promoter of Father’s Day was Mrs. John Bruce Dodd (Sonora Smart Dodd), of Spokane, Washington.  The idea of a Father’s Day celebration came to her first while listening to a sermon on Mother’s Day in 1909.  Her own father, William Jackson Smart, had accomplished the amazing task of rearing six children — Mrs. Dodd and her five brothers — after his young wife had died.  The sacrifices her father made on their eastern Washington farm called to mind the unsung feats of fathers everywhere. Mrs. Dodd’s idea was approved by her church and publicized by the YMCA.  In 1910, the mayor of Spokane issued a Father’s Day Proclamation and the governor, M.E. Hay, set the date for an observance throughout the state.  Mrs. Dodd’s suggestions for observing the day included wearing a flower — a red rose to indicate a living father and a white rose for a dead father.  By 1924, the custom had spread through the country, and Calvin Coolidge made the first Presidential proclamation in support of Father’s Day.  Nearly 50 years later, (1972), President Richard Nixon made the holiday permanent, requesting that Congress pass a joint resolution to establish the third Sunday in June as a National Day of Observance in honor of fathers everywhere.

 The Father’s role in the family and in the society. Some recent studies have demonstrated how important a father is to his child’s development.  Children raised with fathers present have lower rates of delinquency, drug and alcohol use, teen pregnancy, and so on, than those with absent fathers.  The father’s presence is also a significant positive factor in children’s getting a college education, finding a satisfying job, and making a lasting marriage. Psychotherapists today are saying that both parents are vitally important to the stable development of their children; the mother’s input is invaluable in the formative pre-adolescent years, but the father’s most important influence is at adolescence.  Single mothers tell us that it is terribly difficult to teach their children about the meaning of God the Father Who seems so impersonal because their children have been abandoned by their natural fathers.  Adolescent daughters long to hear from their fathers that they are beautiful and loved.  In fact, a girl’s choice of partner and satisfaction in marriage is often directly related to the relationship she has had with her father. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the vital importance of the father’s role comes from the fact that, with his wife, he cooperates with God the Creator in bringing a new human life into the world.  There is no power greater than that (#2367).  (A few Biblical references to fathers: Genesis 2:24, Exodus 20:12, Ezekiel 19:19-20, Sirach 3:1-16, Matthew 19:16-22, John 1:14, 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, Ephesians 6: 1-4, 1 Thessalonians 2:11 – 12).

The ideal and the reality: Many fathers today are role models like St. Thomas More and St. Louis Martin (father of the Little Flower), heroes of our Faith.  Even in these days, fathers are expected to be the providers for, and the protectors of, the family.  They are also supposed to be attuned emotionally and spiritually to their wives and children and to be able to balance careers with family life.  Fathers struggle to overcome temptation and conflict.  They make sacrifices day after day for their families.  They try to give their youngsters the kind of model that, surely, they deserve above all else, a model of goodness, holiness, faith, trust in God and fidelity to the teachings of the Church.  This is what Father’s Day should remind us of.   This is a time for all fathers to reflect upon their duties as responsible and well-integrated men.  True fatherhood demands commitment.  Commitment demands maturity, sacrifice, and love.  Fatherhood also demands responsibility.  Every true father will take responsibility for all of his actions.  Our nation has an urgent need for good fathers.

But while the idea of fatherhood is a good one, the reality we see on earth is sometimes quite different.  Some fathers abandon their children, beat them, ridicule, or ignore them, abuse them and damage them psychologically for life. Even good fathers have their limits.  Unfortunately, we unduly sentimentalize fatherhood, the media often ridicule and make fun of it, and we treat it with contempt.  We are reminded time after time of the number of children growing up fatherless because their fathers have abandoned them or their fathers have been unfaithful.

A day to remember our Heavenly Father and our Rev. Fr. Pastor: A favorite gift for Father’s Day is the cap emblazoned with the words “World’s Greatest Dad.”  You may see more of them than ever this year on the heads of proud fathers everywhere.  There is one dad, however, who doesn’t always get a lot of honor on Father’s Day.  That is the “World’s Greatest Dad,” OUR HEAVENLY FATHER (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:6).  He is our spiritual Daddy, actively involved in all areas of our lives.  It is He on Whom we lean in times of pain and hurt; it is He on Whom we call in times of need; it is He Who provides for us in all ways — practical, emotional, and spiritual.  He wants us to think of Him as “Dad.”  This being so, let us take this Father’s Day to honor Him, the REAL “World’s Greatest Dad.”  Many of us pray the “Our Father” day after day, without paying attention to, or experiencing, the love and providence of our Heavenly Father.  Let us pray the Our Father during this Holy Mass, realizing the meaning of each clause and experiencing the love of our Heavenly Father for us.  May all earthly fathers draw strength from their Heavenly Father!  On this Father’s Day, please don’t forget to pray for us your spiritual Fathers – men who are called to be Fathers of an immensely large parish family through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

JOKES OF THE DAY

1) What a Card! Father’s Day was near when I brought my three-year-old son, Tyler, to the card store. Inside, I showed him the cards for dads and told him to pick one. When I looked back, Tyler was picking up one card after another, opening them up and quickly shoving them back into slots, every which way. “Tyler, what are you doing?” I asked. “Haven’t you found a nice card for Daddy yet?” “No,” he replied. “I’m looking for one with money in it.” (Submitted to Readers Digest by Terri Cook).

2) Brag about parents: An Army brat was boasting about his father to a Navy brat.
“My dad is an engineer. He can do everything. Do you know the Alps?”
“Yes,” said the Navy brat.
“My dad built them.”
Then the naval kid spoke: “And do you know the Dead Sea?”
“Yes.”
“It’s my dad who’s killed it!”

3) New family driver: Martin had just received his brand-new driver’s license. The family trooped out to the driveway, and climbed in the car, for he was going to take them for a ride for the first time. Dad immediately headed for the back seat, directly behind the newly-minted driver. “I’ll bet you’re back there to get a change of scenery after all those months of sitting in the front passenger seat teaching me how to drive,” says the beaming boy to his father. “Nope,” comes dad’s reply, “I’m gonna sit here and kick the back of your seat as you drive, just like you’ve been doing to me all these years.”

4) Transformation: One cynic, speaking from his own experience, noted that children go through four fascinating stages. First they call you DaDa. Then they call you Daddy. As they mature, they call you Dad. Finally, they call you collect to borrow money.

5) A Father’s Day Card read: “Being a father can be expensive, time-consuming, frustrating, confusing and emotionally draining. Actually, it’s a lot like golf.”

6) Pap and pup: While flying from Denver to Kansas City, Kansas, my mother was sitting across the aisle from a woman and her eight-year-old son. Mom couldn’t help laughing as they neared their destination and she heard the mother say to the boy, “Now remember — run to Dad first, then the dog.”
(Submitted to Readers Digest by Karla J. Kasper)

USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK:

• Nick’s collection of Sunday homilies from 65 priests & weekday homilies: https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies
• Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org/featured-homilies/

 Geoffrey Plant’s beautiful & scholarly video classes on Sunday gospel, Bible & RCIA topics:  https://sundayhomilies.au/homilies/

• Brant Pitre’s commentary on Cycle A Sunday Scripture for Bible Class: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-Biblical basis of Catholic doctrines: http://scripturecatholic.com/
• Agape Catholic Bible Lessons: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/

 6)Catholic directory & resources: http://www.catholicweb.com/directory.cfm

^{7) It’s Catholic: http://www.disciplesnow.com/catholic/html/article654.html,}

^{8) Catholic online: http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=1586}

10) Bible project videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject/

• The beginner’s guide to life of faith: http://www.beginningcatholic.com/
• Catholic Community Forum: News, reflections, homilies, patron saints (http://www.catholic-forum.com/)

13) Focus On the Family: http://www.family.org/

14) Outlines of Bible books http://www.catholicdoors.com/outline/index.htm

15) New American Bible with notes http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/

16) USCCB Daily reflections videos: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/ For video homilies, copy and Paste the U R L http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/  on to the Address Bar and press Enter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eqEkPjUbmIA

17)Catholic doctrines in short videos; http://thatcatholicshow.sqpn.com/

18) Catholic pages Directory: http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/default.asp

19) The Catholic Liturgical Calendar page: http://www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/index.php

 

20) Free program for men’s renewal in parishes:  https://www.paradisusdei.org/index.php/programs/tmiy

 21)Virtual tour of Sistine chapel, Vatcan: http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html?utm_source=Twitter

Concluding prayer by the priest
God our Father,
in Your wisdom and love You made all things.
Bless these men,
that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers.
Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.
Grant that we, their sons and daughters,
may honor them always
with a spirit of profound respect.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen

13 Additional anecdotes

 1) “And if you don’t pass the test you have to be the Daddy?” A mother was out walking with her 4–year-old daughter. The child picked up something off the ground and started to put it into her mouth. The mother took it away and said “Don’t do that!” “Why not?” asked the child. “Because it’s on the ground,” said her mother. “You don’t know where it’s been. It’s dirty, and it’s probably loaded with germs that could make you sick.” The child looked at her mother with total admiration and said, “Mommy, how do you know all this stuff? You’re so smart.” The mother said, “All Moms know this stuff. It’s on the Mom’s Test. You have to know it or they don’t let you be a Mom.” There was silence for a minute or so as the child thought this through. “Oh, I get it,” she said at last. “And if you don’t pass the test you have to be the Daddy?” (The Jokesmith). Welcome on this Father’s Day. As someone has said, “Father’s Day is like Mother’s Day, except the gift is cheaper.” And that’s true. But there are some fine Dads in our congregation, and we want to honor them. After all, it’s not easy being a Dad.

 2)  “Wait until you see sister!” A bald man and his wife one night decided to go out to dinner and hired a baby sitter to take care of their kids. While they were gone, the baby sitter got interested in TV and wasn’t watching the kids very carefully. The couple’s little boy got into his father’s electric shaver and shaved a big landing strip right down the middle of his head. When Dad, got home, he was furious. He said, “Son! I told you never to play with my shaver. Now you are going to get a spanking that you will never forget!” He was just about to give the spanking when the boy looked up at him and said, “Wait until you see sister!” The Mom and Dad were both horrified. They went into the next room and there was their little four-year-old daughter with the hair shaved off of her head. She looked like a skinned rabbit. By this time Dad was furious. He grabbed his son and said, “Now you’re really going to get it.” Just as Dad was about to begin administering discipline, his son looked up at him with tears in his eyes and said, “But Daddy! WE WERE JUST TRYING TO LOOK LIKE YOU!” [Parables, Etc. (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), October 2001.] And that’s key to whole parenting thing, isn’t it? Many of our kids just want to look like us.  ditional anecdotes(Added on Dec 18, 2012)

3) Once upon a time: A few of you remember the days of black-and-white television when television networks carried shows like Father Knows Best and Ozzie and Harriet. The norm for these programs was a family with a working husband and a wife who stayed at home, lovingly devoted to her husband and her children. At least that was the image the media portrayed. Most families even then were not as idyllic as the sitcoms portrayed them.

4) “If Daddy Will Hold Me”: A little girl had somehow received a bad cut in the soft flesh of her eyelid. The doctor knew that some stitches were needed, but he also knew that because of the location of the cut, he should not use an anesthetic. He talked with the little girl and he told her what he must do… and asked her if she thought she could stand the touch of the needle without jumping. She thought for a moment, and then said simply, “I think I can if Daddy will hold me while you do it.” So the father took his little girl in his lap, steadied her head against his shoulder, and held her tightly in his arms. The surgeon then quickly did his work… and sewed up the cut in her eye-lid… and the little girl did not flinch. She just held on tight to her Father.

That’s a parable for us in our spiritual lives and a graphic reminder that whatever we have to face, we can hold on tight to our Father… and He will see us through. There’s a word for that… it’s called TRUST that flows from FAITH. It’s surely what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (James W. Moore, When Our Children Teach Us)

5) ”I learned it from you, Daddy.” The Talmud tells us, ”A child tells in the street what its father says at home.” Much to the embarrassment of many parents, this adage is true.  One father tells of taking his three-year-old son with him to see Grandma and Papa.  While visiting, Grandma and her grandson baked cookies while dad and Papa watched a football game.  Upon tasting a sample from the first batch, the three-year-old held the cookie out saying, ”Damn, this is good!”  Grandma gasped.  The father jumped from his chair and corrected his son saying, ”That’s not a nice word!  Where did you learn that word?”  The boy instantly replied, ”I learned it from you, Daddy. You say it every time Momma fixes supper.”

6) Notorious  outlaws:  Regardless of what you may have heard or read, Frank and Jesse James, two of the most famous outlaws of all time, were cold-blooded murderers. Their father, though, was a Baptist pastor and the founder of William Jewel College in Liberty, Kentucky. Their mother was raised in a Catholic convent. Both parents espoused values very different from those that their sons held. Yet, Robert James, their father, deserted his wife and sons while they were still very small so that he could search for gold in California. [Castel, Albert. “Men Behind the Masks: The James Brothers,” American History Illustrated (June, 1982), pp. 1018.] Another of the men who terrorized the West was named John Wesley Hardin. Guess where he got his name? Hardin was the son of a Methodist circuit rider who also taught school and practiced law. Hardin’s father, a fervent Texan, raised his son to hate the North. When Hardin, at age 14, shot and killed a black man in honest self-defense, his father sent him away, not trusting the justice of the Northern Reconstruction government in Texas. Hardin subsequently killed Federal soldiers on a number of occasions, though the Civil War had ended years earlier. He also spent 17 years in prison for shooting a deputy. Perhaps John Wesley Hardin would have taken a different path if his father had not hated the government so much, and if his father had not shielded him from facing justice when he shot his first victim. [McGinty, Brian. “John Wesley Hardin,” American History Illustrated (June 1982) pp. 3236.] –Regardless, it is clear that though the fathers of Frank and Jesse James and of John Wesley Hardin were men of the cloth, they were not great role models.

7) “My son is ‘under 12.'”  Tell me, what will the child in this little scenario remember?  The family goes to Mass every Sunday and on all the Holy Days of Obligation.  They say the Rosary and talk about Christian values at dinnertime.  Then, on Saturday night, when they go out to the movies, the father tells the cashier that his son is “under 12,”when, in fact, he’s already 13. Now, tell me, what will make the biggest impression on this young man? What he’s heard all week or what he sees on Saturday night? 

8) Four Fathers From The Bible:

Enoch, a father who walked with God as a great man of Faith.
Noah, who was concerned about saving his children; he taught them about righteousness. He also walked with God, leaving a great example to follow.
Abraham, who was given the title “Father of all of them that believe.”  He trained them as mentioned in Genesis 18:19.
Joshua, who trusted God when others would not. Joshua didn’t care what other fathers were doing; he and his family were going to serve the Lord! (Fr. Antony Kayala).

9) “You promised that, Dad. ‘No matter what,’ you said, ‘I’ll always be there for you!’“ There’s a fascinating story that comes from the 1989 earthquake which almost flattened Armenia. That earthquake killed over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the midst of all the confusion of the earthquake, a father rushed to his son’s school. When he arrived, he discovered the building was flat as a pancake.

Standing there looking at what was left of the school, the father remembered a promise he’d made to his son, “No matter what, I’ll always be there for you!” Tears began to fill his eyes. It looked like a hopeless situation, but he couldn’t take his mind off his promise.

He remembered that his son’s classroom was in the back right corner of the building He rushed over there and started digging through the rubble. As he was digging other grieving parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying: “My son! My daughter!” They tried to pull him off of what was left of the school saying: “It’s too late!” “They’re dead!” “You can’t help!” “Go home!”

Even a police officer and a fire fighter told him he should go home. To everyone who tried to stop him he said, “Are you going to help me now?” They didn’t answer him but he continued digging for his son stone by stone. He needed to know for himself: “Is my son alive or is he dead?”

This man continued to dig for eight hours and then twelve and then twenty-four and then thirty-six. Finally, during the thirty-eighth hour, as he pulled back a boulder, he heard his son’s voice. He screamed his son’s name, “ARMAND!” and a voice answered him, “Dad? It’s me Dad!”

And then the boy added these priceless words, “I told the other kids not to worry. I told ’em that if you were alive, you’d save me and when you saved me, they’d be saved. You promised that, Dad. ‘No matter what,’ you said, ‘I’ll always be there for you!’ And here you are Dad. You kept your promise!” (Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul; added in Jan, 2014).

10) “Just the cutest thing!” A woman wrote to a magazine to tell about an event that had occurred in her family when she was about eighteen months old. Her mother was out and her dad was in charge of her and her brother who was four years older. Someone had given her a little ‘tea set’ as a get-well gift and it was one of her favorite toys. Her Dad was in the living room one evening engrossed in the evening news and her brother was playing nearby in the living room when the little girl brought her Dad a little cup of make-believe ‘tea,’ which was just plain water. After several cups of this tea and lots of praise from Dad for making such a yummy concoction, the little girl’s Mom came home. Her Dad made Mom wait in the living room to watch this eighteen-month-old bring him a cup of tea, because it was “just the cutest thing!” Her Mom waited, and sure enough, here the girl came down the hall with a cup of tea for her Daddy. Mom watched Dad drink this special tea, then asked, “Did it ever occur to you that the only place that baby can reach to get water is the toilet?” (MONDAY FODDER, To subscribe http://family-safe-mail.com/magiclist/.)

11) “I wasn’t a good father.” Baseball superstar Mickey Mantle was interviewed shortly before his death. He had been a hero on the ball field, but not such a superstar outside baseball. After his playing days ended, he checked into the Betty Ford Clinic to deal with the consequences of a lifetime of alcohol abuse. Part of his struggle involved the loss of his son, Billy, who had died of a heart attack while suffering from Hodgkin’s disease, a genetic disease which had killed Mantle’s father and grandfather at an early age. In the interview, Mickey Mantle said, “One of the things I learned at the Betty Ford Clinic was why I was depressed. I wasn’t a good father. I always felt like I wasn’t there for my kids like my father was for me.” (Dr. Stanley C Sneeringer, http://www.faithlutheranchurch.org/99sermons/07‑11‑99.htm.)

12) Andy did not get a spanking; instead he got a hug: Brandon has two little kids: Andy, who is five years old, and Charlie, who is four. Brandon  tries to be a good father to his little boys. Brandon goes and shaves himself and goes on to dress up. He comes out a few minutes later and what does he see? Little Andy has gotten hold of his father’s electric shaver and shaved a big expressway right down the middle of his head. Brandon is furious. He says, “Andy! Didn’t I tell you never to play with my shaver. Now you are going to get a spanking you will never forget!” He was just about to administer the spanking when Andy looks up at him and says, “Wait till you see Charlie!” Brandon and his wife are simply horrified when they go into the washroom and see their little four-year–old boy with all of the hair gone, looking like a little skinned rabbit. By this time, Brandon is really furious. He grabs up Andy and says, “Now you are really going to get it.” Just as he lifts his hand and starts to bring it down, Andy looks up at him with tears in his eyes and said, “But Daddy! We were just trying to be like you!” — Well, Andy did not get a spanking; instead he got a hug. Isn’t that true? In so many ways we want to be like our fathers. It shows that they were and are heroes for us and that we are heroes for our children. (Fr. Mateuz) L-15

13) President Bill J. Clinton’s Father’s Day Proclamation in 1998: “Fathers play a unique and important role in the lives of their children. As mentor, protector, and provider, a father fundamentally influences the shape and direction of his child’s character by giving love, care, discipline, and guidance. As we observe Father’s Day, our nation honors fatherhood and urges fathers to commit themselves selflessly to the success and well-being of their children. And we reaffirm the importance of fathers in the lives of their children. Raising a child requires significant time, effort, and sacrifice; and it is one of the most hopeful and fulfilling experiences a man can ever know. A father can derive great joy from seeing his child grow from infancy to adulthood. As a child matures into independence and self-reliance, the value of a parent’s hard work, love, and commitment comes to fruition. Responsible fatherhood is important to a healthy and civil society. Numerous studies confirm that children whose fathers are present and involved in their lives are more likely to develop into prosperous and healthy adults. Children learn by example; and they need their father’s presence as examples of virtue in their daily lives. A child’s sense of security can be greatly enhanced by seeing his parents in a loving and faithful marriage.”

Father’s Day Irish poems (sent by Deacon Pat Brannigan)

• Ireland is often called the Land of Happy War Songs and Sad Love Songs. One of the most beautiful Irish love songs is not about a man and a woman but about a son who has lost his father. John McDermott, one of the Irish Tenors, captured the deep feelings that fill the hearts of anyone who has ever lost a father when he sang:

 

The tears have all been shed now.

We’ve said our last goodbye.

His soul’s been blessed, and he’s laid to rest.

And it’s now I feel alone.

He was more than a father – my teacher and best friend.

 

I thought he’d live forever.

He seemed so big and strong.

But the minutes fly and the years roll by.

 

And suddenly when it happened.

There was so much left unsaid.

No second chance to tell him thanks.

For something he had done …

 

I never will forget him for he made me what I am.

Though he may be gone – memory lingers on

And I miss him – my old man.

 

• Harry Chapin’s song Cats in the Cradle captures the tragic results of not spending time with a child. Harry said he was scared to death about his relationship with his son – whenever he sang the words of this song:

My child arrived just the other day.

But there were planes to catch and bills to pay.

He learned to walk when I was away.

And as he grew – he said – “I’m going to be just like you Dad.”

“When are you coming home Dad?

I don’t know – but we’ll get together then.”

 

After the Dad in the song retired, he called his son and said, “I’d like to see you son,”  – but his son said – “I’d love to Dad – if I could find the time.”

Love between a father and a son or a father and a daughter depend so much on spending time with each other – building a relationship of love by talking to each other and being with each other.

 

• IF on this coming Father’s Day, you and I had an opportunity to speak directly with our Heavenly Father God – what would we say? Would we say as Willie Nelson sang:

 

Maybe I didn’t love you quite as much as I could have –

But you were always on my mind.

Little things I should have said and done; I just never took the time.

Tell me your love hasn’t died. Just give me one more chance.

 

My brothers – prayer is thinking about God – who is our Father. Prayer is having God always on our mind. Prayer is just talking with and listening to Jesus – just like we talk with and listen to our friends and family. Sometimes, we just need to listen without saying anything – just like lovers who embrace without a need to say a word.

 

 “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle A (No. 38) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

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 at akadavil@gmail.com. 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 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 postal address:   Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. Jogi M. C. , St. Agatha Church, 1001 Hand Avenue, Bay Minette, Al 3650

Father’s Day Bible Verses (Fr. Kayala)

Psalm 103:13 (NIV)
“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”

Proverbs 3:11-12(NIV)
“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.”

Proverbs 23:22 (NIV)
“Listen to your father, who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old”

Proverbs 23:24 (NIV)
“The father of a righteous man has great joy;
he who has a wise son delights in him.”

Ephesians 6:4 (NIV)
“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

Colossians 3:21 (NIV)
“Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.”

Hebrews 12:7 (NIV)
“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?”

Matthew 7:11(NIV)
“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Joshua 24:15 (ESV)
“And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (ESV)
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Psalms 127:3-5 (ESV)
“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.”

Psalm 44:1 (NKJV)
“God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:”

Proverbs 17:6 (NKJV)
“Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.”

Proverbs 23:24 (NKJV)
“The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a
wise son will be glad in him.”

1 Timothy 3:5 (KJV)
“For if a man know not how to rule his own house,
how shall he take care of the church of God?”

Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)
“Direct your children onto the right path,
and when they are older, they will not leave it.”

Proverbs 20:7 (KJV)
“The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.”

Genesis 18:19 (ESV)
“For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”
“Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 8-13 (2026): June 8 Monday: Mt 5:1-12: 1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

The context: The“Beatitudes” form the introductory section in Mathew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. They are the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, as the Sermon on the Mount is the heart of the whole Gospel, or the “Compendium of Christian Doctrine.” This sermon contains the most essential aspects of Christian behavior that we need to live out, if we are to reach Christian perfection. In essence, the Beatitudes both fulfill and complete the Ten Commandments.

Bombshells: In both Matthew and Luke the Beatitudes have been called a “series of bombshells” or blinding “flashes of lightning followed by deafening thunder of surprise and shock,” because Jesus reverses our “natural” assumption that happiness lies in riches, power, influence, and pleasure. We believe in personal pride: Jesus blesses poverty of spirit. We seek pleasure: Jesus blesses those who mourn. We see the prosperity of aggressive people: Jesus blesses the meek. We love good food and drink: Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Thus, Jesus instructs his disciples in the paradoxical blessedness of poverty, hunger, sorrow, and persecution. In poverty, we recognize God’s reign; in hunger, His Providence; in sorrow, true happiness; and in persecution, true joy. In other words, the blessed, the “happy,” on Jesus’ list are the poor in spirit, the compassionate, the meek, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, and those who are willing even to be insulted and persecuted for their following of Jesus in action.

Life messages: 1) We need to respond to the challenge of the Beatitudes in daily life. The Beatitudes propose to us a way of life, inviting us to identify with the poor, those who mourn, who are meek, and who hunger and thirst after justice. 2) They challenge us to become compassionate people, to become men and women who are pure in heart, and to become peacemakers in our dealings with one another, in our families and in the society at large, even when this approach to things exposes us to ridicule and persecution. 3) Let us remember that each time we reach out to help the needy, the sick and the oppressed, we share with them a foretaste of the promises of the Beatitudes here and now. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) 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

June 9 Tuesday: St. Ephrem, Deacon & Doctor of the Church: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-ephrem/Mt 5:13-16; (“You are the salt of the earth and light of the world”):In the time of Jesus, salt was connected in people’s minds with three special qualities. First, salt was connected with purity because it was white and came from the purest of all things, the sun and the sea. Salt was the most primitive of all offerings to the gods. Jewish sacrifices were offered with salt. As the “salt of the earth,” the Christian must be an example of purity, exercising absolute purity in speech, in conduct, and even in thought. God calls His children to preserve and purify. The Church is meant to preserve modesty (1 Tm 2:9) and morality (Eph 5:3-12), and, so, teaches us how to live lives of honesty and integrity (Jn 8:44-47). Second, salt was the commonest of all preservatives in the ancient world when people did not have fridges and freezers. Salt was used to prevent the putrefaction of meat, fish, fruits, and pickles. As the “salt of the earth,” the Christian must have a certain antiseptic influence on life and society, defeating corruption and making it easier for others to be good. Christians are to be a preserving influence to retard moral and spiritual spoilage in the world. Third, salt lends flavor to food items. One of the main functions of salt is to season food, enhancint its taste and flavor. To be the “salt” of society also means that we are deeply concerned with our society’s well-being. We have to preserve the cultural values and moral principles Jesus has given us, and in this way to make a contribution to the development of a “Culture of Life” to replace the “culture of death” currently darkening our world. Thus, we will be adding flavor to the common life, religious and social. In addition to seasoning and preserving food, salt also keeps a fire burning uniformly in an oven for a longer time, ensuring complete baking or cookin of the food. Similarly, the disciples were to improve the tone of society (“season” it), preserve the Faith, and extend the fire of the Spirit through their evangelization efforts.

The four roles of Christians as Christ’s light of the world. First, a light is meant to be seen. Christians are a lamp stand. Jesus therefore expects His followers to let God’s light be seen by the whole world (Jn 13:35; 17:21). In addition, they must radiate and give light. “Let your light shine before men” (Mt 5:16). By this metaphor Jesus means that our Christianity should be visible in our ordinary activities and interactions in the world, for example, in the way we treat a shop assistant across the counter, in the way we order a meal in a restaurant, in the way we treat our employees or serve our employer, in the way we play a game, or drive or park a motor car, in the daily language we use, and in the daily literature we read. Second, a lamp or light is a guide to make clear the way. So then, a Christian must make the way clear to others. That is to say, a Christian must of necessity be an example, showing the world what Jesus would do in every situation. 3) A light can often be a warning light. A light is often the warning which tells us to halt when there is danger ahead. It is sometimes the Christian’s duty to bring to one’s brother/sister a necessary warning of dangers, present or ahead. If our warnings are given, not in anger, not in irritation, not in criticism, not in condemnation, but in love, they may be effective. 4) Light exposes everything hidden by darkness. (Note Jn 3:19; 1 Cor 4:5; Eph 5:8–11). Let us pause for a moment and ask ourselves how effectively we are carrying the Light Jesus IS as we live our daily lives, allowing that Light to shine on everyone we encounter through our Christian living — the Light Who lovingly warms, warns and guides us all. L/26

For additional reflections, Click on https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections.

June 10 Wednesday: Mt 5:17-19: 17 “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

The context: Today’s Gospel passage, taken fromJesus’ Sermon on the Mount, presents Jesus as giving the highest compliments to the Mosaic Law. These words of Jesus, which Matthew reports, touched the communities of converted Jews, helping them to overcome the criticism of the brothers of their own race who accused them saying, “You are unfaithful to the Law of Moses.” Ironically, Jesus himself would be falsely condemned and crucified as a Lawbreaker. Jesus says that the Old Testament, as the Word of God, has Divine authority and deserves total respect. The Mosaic Law was ultimately intended to help people honor God by practicing love. Its moral precepts are to be respected and obeyed because they are, for the most part, specific, Divine-positive promulgations of the natural law. ButChristians are not obliged to observe the legal and liturgical precepts of Old Testament because they were laid down by God for a specific stage in Salvation History.

Jesus’ teaching: In Jesus’ time, the Law was understood differently by different groups of the Jews to be: 1) The Ten Commandments, 2) The Pentateuch, 3) The Law and the Prophets, or 4) The oral (Scribal) and the written Law. Jesus, and later Paul, considered the oral Law as a heavy burden on the people and criticized it, while honoring the Mosaic Law and the teachings of the prophets. At the time of Jesus, the Jews believed that the Torah (Law given to Moses), was the eternal, unchangeable, Self-Revelation of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that he did not come to destroy the Torah but to bring it to perfection by bringing out its inner meaning because He IS the ultimate self-Revelation of God, the Lawgiver. That is why the Council of Trent declared that Jesus was given to us, “not only as a Redeemer, in whom we are to trust, but also as a Lawgiver whom we are to obey” (“De Iustificatione,” can. 21). Jesus honored the two basic principles on which the Ten Commandments were based, namely the principle of reverence and the principle of respect. In the first four commandments, we are asked to reverence God, reverence His Holy Name, reverence His Holy Day, and reverence our father and mother. The next set of commandments instructs us to respect life, the marriage bond, one’s personal integrity and others’ good name, the legal system, another’s property and spouse, and one’s own spouse. Jesus declares that he has come to fulfill all Divine laws based on these principles. By “fulfilling the law,” Jesus means fulfilling the purpose for which the Law was given: that is, justice, or “righteousness,” as the Scriptures call it – a word that includes a just relationship with God).

Life messages: 1) In obeying God’s laws and Church laws, let us remember these basic principles of respect and reverence. 2) Our obedience to the laws needs to be prompted by love of God and gratitude to God for His blessings. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) 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

June 11 Thursday: St. Barnabas, Apostle: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-barnabas/Mt 5:20-26: 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, `You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift

The context: For the Scribes and the Pharisees, the external fulfillment of the precepts of the Mosaic Law was the guarantee of a person’s salvation. In other words, a man saved himself through the external works of the Law. Jesus rejects this view in today’s Gospel passage, taken from the Sermon on the Mount. For Jesus, justification or sanctification is a grace, a free, strengthening gift from God. Man’s role is one of cooperating with that grace by being faithful to it, and using it as God means it to be used. Jesus then outlines new moral standards for his disciples.

Control of anger: Anger is the rawest, strongest, and most destructive of human emotions. Describing three stages of anger and the punishment each deserves, Jesus advises his disciples not to get angry in such a way that they sin.

1) Anger in the heart (“brief stage of insanity” Cicero): It has two forms, either a), a sudden, blazing flame of anger which dies suddenly, or b), a surge of anger which boils inside and lingers, so that the heart seeks revenge and refuses to forgive or forget. Jesus prescribes trial and punishment by the Village Court of Elders as its punishment.

2) Anger in speech: The use of words which are insulting (“raka“=“fool”), or damaging to the reputation (“moros” = a person of loose morals). Jesus says that such an angry (verbally abusive) person should be sent to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religion’s Supreme Court, for trial and punishment.

3) Anger in action: Sudden outbursts of uncontrollable anger, which often result in physical assault or abuse. Jesus says that such anger deserves hellfire as its punishment.

In short, Jesus teaches that long-lasting anger is bad, contemptuous speech or destroying someone’s reputation is worse, and harming another physically is the worst.

Life messages: 1)Let us try to forgive,forget, and move toward reconciliation as soon as possible. St. Paul advises us “Be angry [righteous anger], but do not sin” (Eph 4:26). 2) When we keep anger in our mind, we are inviting physical illnesses like hypertension, and mental illnesses like depression. 3) Let us relax and keep silence when we are angry, pray for God’s strength for self-control, and then ask Him for the grace, first to desire to forgive, and then actually to forgive, those who have injured us Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) 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

June 12 Friday: Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit-blog/prayers-to-the-sacred-heart/For a short account, click onhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit-blog/the-sacred-heart-of-jesus/ Mt 11:25-30:Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the second most popular Catholic devotion (the first being the Rosary). The other devotions are morning and evening prayers, prayers before and after meals, the Angelus, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, making the Sign of the Cross praising the Holy Trinity, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, novenas, the Stations of the Cross, Litanies, etc. The “Holy Hour,” the “Litany of the Sacred Heart,” “The Act of Consecration of the Family and the Human Race to the Sacred Heart,” the “First Friday Devotion” and the “Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus” are different forms of this devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: The infinite love and mercy of God is shown in many different metaphors and symbols. First of all, his undeserved mercy is shown in the fact of the Incarnation symbolized by the image of baby Jesus in the manger: God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son who became one of us. The early Church expressed the love of Christ in the symbol of the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. The symbols of this love vary from age to age. The Medieval Period used the symbol of the crucifix which showed the tortured body of Jesus. In the seventeenth Century, the symbol of the Sacred Heart of Jesus began to be used. The Sunday after Easter has been designated by Pope John Paul II as Divine Mercy Sunday: This commemorates the lavish and undeserved love of God for all of us.

History: The devotion to the sacred Heart is based on the apparitions of Our Lord from 1673 to 1675 to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun of the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial in France. In her mystical experiences, Jesus revealed to St. Margaret Mary the great mystery of his infinite love for us, represented by his flaming Sacred Heart. Jesus asked that homes be consecrated to his Sacred Heart as a sign of his living presence with us in the Church, especially through the Holy Eucharist. The Gospel passage, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:35-37) is at the foundation of the whole tradition of devotion to the Divine Heart. The practices of the “Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” in the home and the consecration and dedication of the family to the Sacred Heart were begun by Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. His work was first confirmed and blessed by Pope St. Pius X and then by every later Pope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting Pope Pius XII’s beautiful encyclical Haurietis Aquas (1956), states, “[Jesus] has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, ‘is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that…love….” (no. 478).

The objectives of this devotion and the aims of “enthronement” of the picture of the Sacred Heart in a prominent place in the house are:

a) “Official and social recognition of the rule of Jesus over the Christian family” (Mateo Crawley-Boevey). b) The Enthronement is a way of life, the acceptance of Christ as King of our hearts, as our constant Companion, as our Brother, and as our Friend, helping us and guiding us in the small and big matters of daily life. c) The Enthronement daily reminds each member of the family to follow in Christ’s royal way by making reparation for sins committed and by striving to serve God and neighbor more lovingly. d) The Enthronement gives every member of the family an occasion daily, and perhaps, many times daily, to gaze upon the Face of Christ and to have Christ gaze upon his/her face, thus reminding him/her that s/he is under the protection of Jesus. e) The Enthronement is a source of special blessings to the members of the family from the Lord. f) The essence of this devotion is to create awareness in us of the merciful love of Christ, a love he offers to all who come to him with Faith and the willingness to obey his teaching.

Life messages: a) An invitation for a “heart transplant.” Our hearts become stony and insensitive through our daily exposure, virtual or in person, to acts of cruelty, terrorism, injustice, and impurity. Hence, God prescribes a change of heart through His prophet Ezekiel (Ez 11:19-20) to make our hearts soft, elastic, large and sensitive:” I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with a natural heart.” The Sacred Heart of Jesus should be the ideal heart for this medical procedure: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Let us have and use the Heart of Jesus as He wishes.

b) An invitation to love. The Sacred Heart of Jesus challenges us to love others as Jesus loved: selflessly, unconditionally and sacrificially, and to express this love in humble and loving service done to others.

c) An invitation to pray: First, let us pray for all suffering from, and killed by Covid-19 and other fatal viruses. Then, let us continue to pray for the grace of healing for those who have been the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, as the Church expresses its sorrow and seeks forgiveness from these victims. Let us also pray that these victims may, in turn, accept the grace to forgive those who have harmed and betrayed them. Next, let us pray for the grace of courage for our bishops to be true shepherds in caring for their flocks; in restoring restore discipline in clerical and religious life and in ending the dissent that has undermined the Magisterium. Finally, let us pray for the grace of perseverance, that clergy and laity alike will keep the Faith and not lose hope in this difficult time of purification. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) 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

June 13 Saturday: Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Anthony of Padua, Priest, Doctor of the Church: Mt 5:33-37  Lk 2:41-51 https://www.franciscanmedia.org/sharing-the-word/sharing-the-word-for-june-17-2023/

Lk 2:41-43 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” 36….45

The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a special form of devotion to the venerable person of Mary similar to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mary’s Immaculate Heart represents her interior life and the beauty of her soul. Devotion to the Heart of Jesus is especially directed to the Divine Heart as overflowing with love for men, and it is an attempt to respond to this love and do reparation for the lack of love from the part of mankind. In the devotion to the Heart of Mary, on the other hand, what seems to attract us above all else is the love of Mary’s Immaculate Heart for Jesus and for God. Its objective is to love God and Jesus better by uniting ourselves to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues. In this devotion, we think of love, virtues, and sentiments of Mary’s interior life and try to put them into practice.

Scriptural basis of this devotion: It was mostly the love, humility, faith and other virtues of the Heart of Mary that attracted early Christians to Mary the mother of Jesus. They saw Mary’s heart in its true color at the foot of the Cross. Simeon’s prophecy furnished this devotion with its most popular representation: the heart pierced with a sword. St. Augustine remarks: “At the foot of the cross, Mary cooperated with Jesus in the work of our redemption through charity.” Another Scriptural passage in support of this devotion is the twice-repeated saying of St. Luke given in today’s Gospel that Mary kept all the sayings and doings of Jesus in her heart, that she might ponder over them and live by them. A few of the Mary’s sayings recorded in the Gospel, particularly the Magnificat, disclose new features in Marian psychology. Elizabeth proclaims Mary blessed because she has believed the words of the angel. The Magnificat is also an expression of her humility. Answering the woman in the crowd who praised Jesus’ mother as blessed, Jesus commented “Blessed rather are they that hear the word of God and keep it”. It is Mary’s readiness to hear and do the will of God is what endeared her to God and caused her to be selected as the Mother of Jesus.

Life message: Let us take Mary as our role model and practice her virtues of trusting faith, serving humility and readiness to do God’s will in our daily lives, thus becoming immaculate children of an immaculate heavenly mother. 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

OT XI [A] SUNDAY (June 14, 2026) (Eight-minute homily in one page) (L-26)

Introduction: The main theme of today’s readings is that we are commissioned or sent, to transform others with the “Good News” of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation through Jesus His Son.

Scripture lessons: The first reading gives Israel the “Good News” that the God of Mount Sinai loves and cares for his people. God showed His continuing care for Israel by liberating the people from slavery in Egypt and by offering them a relationship in which they would be God’s “special possession,”– “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.” Paul, in today’s second reading, reflects on how Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection made manifest God’s love and care for mankind. According to Paul, the greatest proof of God’s love and care for us is Jesus’ willingness to die on behalf of sinful mankind and so make possible a new and better relationship with God. Today’s Gospel is, in effect, a reminder from God to each one of us: “You have received grace and talents from Me without charge, and so you have to give without charge through your simple, responsible, sharing lives.” This is indeed the core of the priestly vocation and of the vocation of every Christian through his or her Baptism. Up to this point in the story, Jesus himself was the focus of the healing, teaching, and controversy. With the commissioning of his disciples, others began to assume some of the responsibility for the new movement that heralded the kingdom of God. That new movement was destined to grow later, with increasing diversity, as it extended beyond the borders of Galilee, into Gentile territory, becoming the Universal Christian Church.

Life Messages:

1) Be Jesus-Presenters: Jesus continues to be active in our lives through the Bible and the Sacraments. In addition, the Lord God gives us the Holy Spirit, the One Who teaches us, and reminds us of all that Jesus has said to us. We are invited to become one with God and Jesus, and to let the Holy Spirit work through us. We are asked to perform the works of Jesus, and through these works to reveal the power and character of God to the world. If we accept this invitation and live it out wholeheartedly, with God’s grace people will look at us and say, “Jesus!”

2) Be healers in the modern world: People are sick in body as well as mind. As Christians sharing Jesus’ mission, we can bring healing and wholeness to people with whom we come into contact. Although we cannot raise the dead, we can help people to recover interest and a zest for living. People can be physically alive but dead in many other respects. “Cleansing the lepers” means rehabilitating and bringing back fully into our communities all those who, for one reason or another, are marginalized, rejected, despised, or ostracized on the basis of race, nationality, marital status, financial condition, religion, gender or sexual orientation. We have to help casting out from our people the demons who possess them by means of addictions to alcohol, nicotine, drugs, pornography, sexual deviations, and the like, first by asking God and others (think Ten-Step Programs) for help to free ourselves from our own chains of evil addictions, and then turning to helping others to remove theirs in the same way.

OT 11 [A] (June 14, 2026) Ex 19:2-6; Rom 5:6-11; Mt 9:36–10:8 

 

Homily starter anecdotes # 1: “You’ve come a long way, Baby“ is an expression used by a popular cigarette commercial. You are shown a 19th century girl who is hiding her smoking with embarrassment. In contrast there is a 20th century girl openly, proudly smoking a cigarette. Indeed, women smokers have come a long way from public displeasure to acceptance. — To become a saint, a sinner comes a long way, too. In June, 1977, the first American male was canonized a saint.  John Neumann came to this country as an immigrant from Bohemia. He was known for his work of helping immigrants to this country, establishing the Roman Catholic school system in America, and serving as bishop of Philadelphia for eight years prior to his death in 1860. After more than a century, Neumann was declared a saint. Our Gospel Writer for today, was also  of a man who came a long way. Levi Matthew was a Tax collector, a Publican who in that day was considered a super-sinner because he was a traitor to his country by collecting taxes from the Jews to support the pagan Roman government. Jesus came to him where he was and made him an apostle. Now the world knows him as Saint Matthew. It was a long way for Matthew, too, from being a sinner to becoming a saint.

# 2: “Association of Lincoln-Presenters.” Homer Sewell was given the “Lincoln of the Year” award in April of 1999. Total strangers tend to call him “Abe” because Homer bears a striking resemblance to Abraham Lincoln in appearance, dress, beard and speech. This all started about 30 years ago in Orlando, Florida, when Sewell grew a beard and schoolchildren suddenly began to call him “Abe.” He completed the effect by adding a black suit and stovepipe, and hat. Then he developed a show called Abe Lincoln’s America. Sewell has already made over 2,500 appearances as the 16th president, in which he has performed live before more than two million people. “As soon as I get my suit on and my hat,” he explains, “I become Abraham Lincoln.” Even without makeup you’ve got to admire his attention to details. The car he drives is a Lincoln, of course. Sewell is part of a group called the “Association of Lincoln Presenters,” a union of men and women dedicated to bringing Abraham and Mary Lincoln to life. There are currently 117 Abes and 32 Marys across the U.S. Together they form a group of passionate Lincoln-lovers, committed to presenting the former president and his wife to the world in costume and in words. — In today’s lesson from the Gospel of Matthew, it certainly seems that Jesus is laying the foundation for an “Association of Jesus-Presenters” by choosing his apostles and training them in their preaching and healing mission.

# 3: “Friend of the bride or the groom?” At a formal wedding, an usher usually asks, “Friend of the bride or the groom?” Then he seats the party on the appropriate side of the Church. An usher once asked a lady, “Friend of the bride or the groom?” She replied, “Both.” He explained, “I am sorry, lady. They did not tell me where to seat neutrals!”   — That is the way it is with Christ. There are no neutrals. If you make an affirmative decision, as Matthew did, your life is radically changed: “He rose and followed him.”

Introduction: The main theme of today’s readings is that we are commissioned, or sent, to transform others with the “Good News” of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation through Jesus, His Incarnate Son.

Scripture lessons summarized: The first reading gives Israel the good news that the God of Mount Sinai loves and cares for his people. God showed His continuing care for Israel by liberating His Chosen People from slavery in Egypt and by offering them a relationship in which they would be God’s “special possession,” “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.” Paul, in today’s second reading, reflects on how Jesus, in his life, death, and resurrection, made manifest God’s love and care for mankind. According to Paul, the greatest proof of God’s love and care for us was Jesus’ willingness to die on behalf of sinful mankind and so make possible a new and better relationship with God. Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 100: 1-2. 3, 5 is permeated by a strong sense of God’s loving care for His people as “the flock He tends.” The Psalm affirms that the Lord is good, and that His kindness endures forever. Today’s Gospel is, in effect, a reminder from God to each one of us, saying, “You have received grace and talents from Me without charge, and so you have to give without charge through your simple, responsible and sharing lives.” This, indeed, is the core of the priestly vocation and of the vocation of every Christian through his or her Baptism. Today’s lesson marks a turning point in the establishment of the Christian Church as presented in the Gospels. Up to this point in the story, Jesus himself was the focus of the healing, teaching, and controversy. With the commissioning of his disciples, others began to assume some of the responsibility for the new movement that heralded the kingdom of God. That new movement was destined to grow later, with increasing diversity, as it extended beyond the borders of Galilee, into the Gentile world and became the Universal Christian Church.

 First reading, Ex 19:2-6, explained:  All ancient religions assumed that the gods were distant from and indifferent to humans. The best people could hope for was that a few members, their priestly class, could deal with the gods on their behalf. In today’s first reading God overturns that class distinction. In the instruction given to Moses, God wants all the members of His chosen people to be a kingdom of holy priests. God expects a whole holy nation to join in worship, not just a few holy members to perform sacred duties for the rest. God says that all His people are special, set apart, and holy, and that they should pay attention to their exalted position.  A religion in which all the members are to be holy was a stunning innovation. This teaching was last repeated for Catholics at Vatican II, in “The Constitution on the Church,” Chapter 5, “The Universal Call to Holiness in the Church,” paragraphs 39-42. Hence, we have no right to divide ourselves into “the holy group” and “the ordinary group” by reserving holiness only to the priests and the religious.

The second reading: Rom 5:6-11, explained:  Paul eloquently reminds the gathered community of Romans that God has gone beyond all limits in loving them. Paul’s point is that we were quite unworthy of the gift God gave us in Christ. Notice all the expressions of this unworthiness: “helpless, ungodly, still sinners, enemies.” It’s the contrast between our unworthiness and God’s gracious generosity that is so remarkable. Paul argues that Jesus served and taught and healed and died for those who were sinners because they were essentially God’s people, God’s special ones, the holy nation, the ones set apart. As Jesus walked the streets and taught the crowds, he saw in each of them a sacred, holy child of God.

 

Gospel Exegesis:  Matthew has just told us of ten miracles Jesus performed; he has cured people both physically and spiritually. Jesus has “compassion” (9:36) on the “crowds” in their leaderless state, “like sheep without a shepherd”; he has announced that the completion of God’s plan, his “harvest” (9:37), to return all to godliness, is about to begin. Now he instructs and commissions his disciples. The message of today’s Scriptures is rather simple and to the point. God has moved toward us – and has loved us. God has reached out to nurture us, free us, and heal us through Jesus. We are lovable and good because God loves us and has chosen us as Jesus chose his apostles. Since Jesus loves the leaderless people, he chooses and sends the twelve apostles to awaken the people. He reminds the apostles that the harvest is very plentiful but the laborers are few. He instructs them to pray that the Lord will send laborers into His harvest.

Demonstration of God’s mercy and compassion. Jesus was moved with compassion at the world’s pain and suffering, sorrow and grief, physical and spiritual hunger, isolation and loneliness, bewilderment and confusion. The Greek word used, esplanchnithe, expresses a compassion that springs from the deepest part of one’s being, heartfelt compassion. Jesus’ compassion for the crowds was based on his perception that they were “harassed and helpless.” Jesus uses two images to describe the common people of those days, namely, sheep without a shepherd and an abundant harvest in need of workers. The Pharisees saw the common people as chaff to be destroyed and burned up.  But Jesus saw them as a harvest to be reaped and saved.  He realized that volunteers were needed to teach and heal the people because “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.” and the people were “bewildered and dejected, like sheep who have no shepherd.” (I Kgs 22:17; Jer 23:1-6; Ez 34:1-10; Mi 5:2-4).  Jesus calls us to pray for common laborers in his Church.  While God can use talented people, most kingdom-work is done by ordinary, nearly anonymous, behind-the-scenes disciples. The “sheep without a shepherd” are called the “the lost sheep of  the House of Israel,” a phrase used by Moses when he transferred his authority to Joshua. This was a common image for Israel in the Old Testament (eg. Nm 27:17, 2 Chr 18:6). Priority was given to Jewish evangelization because Jesus realized that the most effective evangelistic strategy was first to try to reach those with whom the evangelizer already had something in common.

The selection of the messengers and special instructions: Jesus prayed before he chose the twelve apostles from among his disciples asking his heavenly Father, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Is 6:8). Then Jesus chose them, called them apostles, appointed them to be with him and sent them to villages and towns before he visited them as heralds to prepare them to receive his “good news.”  They were given his authority to love which included involvement in liberating people from the powers which oppressed them, whether physical or spiritual. The first instruction was: “Do not go out on the road to the Gentiles, and do not enter into any city of the Samaritans.” This meant that they could not go north into Syria, east into the largely gentile Decapolis, or to south into Samaria. God wanted His Chosen people to hear the Gospel first. Besides, the apostles were not well-trained for preaching to the Gentiles. Thirdly, as a wise commander Jesus limited his objectives and refused to diffuse and dissipate his forces.

The message to be preached.1) The preaching mission: “As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” The Kingdom of God is intended to be a society on earth, where God’s will is as perfectly done as it is in heaven. Since Jesus was, and is, the only person who ever perfectly did obey, and fulfill God’s will as it is done in heaven, the apostles were to invite people to see how their long expected “kingdom of God” was made visible and tangible in Jesus of Nazareth.

2) The healing mission: “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and drive out demons.”  The Apostles have to convince the people that Christ came to give physical healing of bodies from diseases and spiritual healing of souls from sins. The spiritually dead are resurrected and revitalized by the Good News preached to them. Cleansing the lepers includes the actual healing of leprosy, as well as the cleansing the polluting influence of sins from minds and heart. Casting out demons also included liberating people from their evil habits and addictions which led them to sin.

Free use of the God-given talents: “Freely you have received;” says Jesus, “freely give.” A Rabbi was bound by law to give his teaching freely.  The Rabbi was absolutely forbidden to take money for teaching the Law which Moses had received without cost from God. Jesus’ instructions mean that the man of God must show by his attitude to material things that his first interest is God. But Jesus adds that the workman deserves his sustenance.  Although a Jewish rabbi was not expected to accept payment, it was considered at once a privilege and an obligation to support a Rabbi, if he were truly a man of God. What Jesus really means is that a man of God must never be overly concerned with material things. At the same time the people of God must never fail in their duty to see that the man of God receives a reasonable support. Missionaries are to depend on the local hospitality of “worthy” (10:11) people, i.e., those in favor with God, and to “greet” (10:12) them with the peace of God.

Life Messages: 1) Be Jesus-Presenters:  Like Homer Sewell who presents Abraham Lincoln, we also have an “association” of Jesus-Presenters which we call the Church. From this Body we each get guidance, encouragement, discipline, and inspiration to project the same Person — Christ Jesus and his “Good News,” not in costume but by living out in our daily , ordinary lives, the Faith God has given us.    Jesus continues to be active in our lives through the Bible and the Sacraments. He has promised that he will do whatever we ask in his name, meaning that he will answer us when we ask for help in revealing the power and character of God. In addition, the Lord God gives us the Holy Spirit, the One Who teaches us, and reminds us of all that Jesus has said to us. We are invited to become one with God and Jesus, and to let the Holy Spirit work through us. We are asked to perform the works of Jesus, and through these works to reveal the power and character of God to the world. If we accept this invitation and act on it, with God’s grace people will look at us and say, “Jesus!”

2) Be healers in the modern world:  People can be sick in body as well as in mind. As Christian’s sharing Jesus’ mission, we can bring healing and wholeness to people with whom we come into contact.  Although we cannot raise the dead, we can help people to recover interest and a zest for living.  People can be physically alive but dead in many other respects. Cleansing the lepers means rehabilitating and bringing back fully into our communities all those who, for one reason or another, are marginalized, rejected, despised — ostracized on the basis of race, nationality, marital status, religion, gender, wealth, intelligence, or sexual orientation.   In our day, demons act through all those suffocating and enslaving forces which dominate, manipulate, and restrict our freedom to live in Truth and Love.  They include many elements of our contemporary society: the pressures to conform to what is in fashion, whether it be in clothes, activities, food, or drugs of all kinds, both prescribed and non-prescribed, and to bend to the active and attractive tendencies to hedonism, extreme individualism, greed, addictions, and violence of all kinds which mark the modern world, particularly in the West.  Our abortion/euthanasia/divorce/litigation/trans-gender/LBQT+/woke culture of death is simply one of the symptoms and effects of all this.  We have to pray for God’s help in beginning and carrying outhe vital process  (think 10-step Programs) of  casting out these demons from our own hearts first before we can help others to true liberation.

3) “You received without payment; give without payment.”  Every single thing we have, and are, and can become,  is a gift of God.   God’s gifts to us are literally priceless, and the best of these is Faith. All these gifts are meant to be used freely and liberally for the benefit of all.  We are not in the business of sharing our Faith for the money or the admiration it brings.  To paraphrase President John Kennedy: “Ask not what others can do for you; but what you can do for others.” Further,  God’s freely given gifts must be used with care and responsibility. Exercised wisely, they can bring great joy and peace into our lives and the lives of others.. They can be a means to care for others. We must always remember that the “good” in our “good works,” is entirely God’s doing: we are His vessels and the instruments, through whom He heals,  frees and enlightens those we encounter.  Jesus reminds us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him,  he it is who bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5) What gifts, both material and spiritual, have we received from God? How have we passed those gifts onto others? How have we thanked God and given Him the glory for those gifts? The passages from Matthew’s Gospel present us with a challenge: to pass along the graces we have received. Jesus gave his followers this key to evangelization. (For details confer  CCC #2006-2011)

4) Pray for priests who carry God’s people on “eagle’s wings.’” Priests are with us at all the most important moments in our lives —  Baptism, marriage, forgiveness of sins, celebration of the Eucharist, sickness, death.  Every priest could tell you personal stories of times when he prayed with the sick and they improved, or the times when he anointed the sick and they received new strength.  Every priest could tell you many personal stories about the many people he helped when they were going through a difficult time.  Every priest has helped to heal broken lives and has given encouragement.  Every priest has been surprised to see the power of Jesus work mysteriously through him. Hence Bishops, priests, and deacons are in need of  our prayer because they, too, have the same human limitations and weaknesses and temptations as we all do. When was the last time we prayed for Bishops, priests, or deacons?  If we don’t pray for them, why are we surprised if there are scandals?  Bishops, priests, and deacons cannot survive without our prayers. Here are Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s  words to priests, “You have souls at your fingertips.” It is a question of praying to the Lord to give the Bishops, priests, and deacons the energy and enthusiasm to bring them in. We need to pray also for future priests, as instructed by Jesus in today’s Gospel, by praying for an increase in the quality and quantity of those responding to the Holy Spirit’s vocational call to priesthood and the religious life.

JOKES OF THE WEEK

1.“Now he carries it under his coat!” Zeke, mountaineer, went to a revival and was “converted.” Later his wife was asked if she noticed any change in Zeke since he supposedly got religion. She said, “Well, before he carried his jug of whiskey on his shoulder when he walked down town, but now he caries it under his coat.”

2.God’s Missionary People: “At a Pentecostal revival in Sevierville, Tennessee, a barber was ‘saved.’ The preacher told him that since he was a barber and got to meet a lot of people, he could do a great work for the Lord if he would talk to them about religion and salvation. When he asked how he could get into a conversation like that with his customers, the preacher said, ‘Just do it casually. Talk to them about their soul, ask if their house is in order, if they are prepared to die, and so on.’ The first man to come in the next day wanted a shave; so the barber put a hot towel over him, talking about the weather and what-not, and then after he had lathered the man up good, he figured it was time to get down to the religion part. He grabbed up his razor, stropped it a few times, pointed at the man, and said bluntly, ‘Brother, are you prepared to die?’ The man jumped up and ran out of the barbershop with the lather still on his face.”

  

USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK:

 Nick’s collection of Sunday homilies from 65 priests & weekday homilies: https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies

• Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org/featured-homilies/

 Geoffrey Plant’s beautiful & scholarly video classes on Sunday gospel, Bible & RCIA topics:  https://sundayhomilies.au/homilies/

 Brant Pitre’s commentary on Cycle A Sunday Scripture for Bible Class: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-Biblical basis of Catholic doctrines: http://scripturecatholic.com/

• Agape Catholic Bible Lessons: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/

 6)Catholic directory & resources: http://www.catholicweb.com/directory.cfm

^{7) It’s Catholic: http://www.disciplesnow.com/catholic/html/article654.html,}

^{8) Catholic online: http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=1586}

10) Bible project videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject/

• The beginner’s guide to life of faith: http://www.beginningcatholic.com/
• Catholic Community Forum: News, reflections, homilies, patron saints (http://www.catholic-forum.com/)

13) Focus On the Family: http://www.family.org/

14) Outlines of Bible books http://www.catholicdoors.com/outline/index.htm

15) New American Bible with notes http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/

16) USCCB Daily reflections videos: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/ For video homilies, copy and Paste the U R L http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/  on to the Address Bar and press Enter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eqEkPjUbmIA

17)Catholic doctrines in short videos; http://thatcatholicshow.sqpn.com/

18) Catholic pages Directory: http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/default.asp

19) The Catholic Liturgical Calendar page: http://www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/index.php

20) Free program for men’s renewal in parishes:  https://www.paradisusdei.org/index.php/programs/tmiy

 21)Virtual tour of Sistine chapel, Vatcan: http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html?utm_source=Twitter

 11- Additional anecdotes:

 1) Commissioned by Christ to reach out: A young mother was taking a course in sociology. The class was assigned to go out and smile at three people and document their reaction. The next day she and her family were in a McDonald’s on a cold, clear morning. She writes, “We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did. I did not move an inch. As I turned around, I smelled a horrible ‘dirty body’ smell, and there standing behind me were two poor, homeless men. One of them smiled up at me, looking for acceptance. The second man fumbled with his hands, obviously mentally deficient and totally dependent on his friend. They had a handful of coins and bought only coffee because that was all they could afford. They had to buy something in order to sit down where it was      warm. Acting on impulse, I bought two extra breakfasts and took them to the table where the men sat. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman’s cold hand. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, ‘Thank you.’ I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, ‘I did not do this for you; God is here working through me to give you hope.’”  (Coy Wylie, “Stewardship … Laborers or Loafers?”). —Here is a Christian lady commissioned by Christ to reach out “the sheep without shepherds” as Jesus sent his apostles to the shepherdless sheep with teaching and healing authority as described in today’s Gospel.

2) All about taxes: It was a simple statement but still it hurt. “See, this man eats with sinners and tax collectors.” They hurt because I was one of those tax-collectors. Tax collectors are never popular. “Adopt a flat tax,” said Steve Forbes in the primary campaigns, “and dismantle the Internal Revenue Service.” “I’m proud to be paying taxes in the United States,” said Arthur Godfrey. “The only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money.” “President Clinton says he looks forward to the day a citizen can call the IRS and get the right answer to a question,” says Jay Leno. “I look forward to the day I can call the IRS and get a voice that says, “Sorry, that number has been disconnected.'” And there was that famous reply that boxer Joe Louis gave when a sportswriter asked, “Who hit you the hardest during your ring career?” His reply: “Uncle Sam.” — People don’t like tax collectors. Things haven’t changed as much as you think. Archeologists uncovered a 3,000-year tablet in Iraq. It had on it this inscription: “You can have a Lord, you can have a King, but the man to fear is the tax collector.” (SALES UPBEAT, June 24, 1993, p. 5.)

3)  Saint sheep thief: Years ago, there was a man in the West who was caught stealing sheep. They branded him on the forehead with the letters ST, “sheep thief.” Later his life changed and he became a model for all. People forgot that ST stood for “sheep thief” and thought it symbolized “saint.” — This is what Jesus wants to happen in every person’s life, including yours and mine. He associated with sinners, had dinner with them, and once explained to his enemies that he came to call sinners that they might become saints of God. How can we cover the long distance from sinner to saint? In our text we have an example in Matthew.

4) Personal confrontation with Jesus: Every person who has begun his mission from sinner to saint has had a real, personal confrontation with Christ. It may have come in different ways, but it always takes place. For Paul it happened on the Damascus Road. For Augustine it was a voice. While meditating in his garden, he heard the words, “take and read.” He went to an open Bible and read, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ …”, and Christ became a reality to him. St. Francis met Christ at a wayside shrine where as he was looking at a crucifix; he heard Christ say, “Build My House, for it is falling down!” —   And? How is God speaking to us? Are we listening, and responding? He’s always telling us how much He  loves us and wants us to love Him back!

5) Where can I find water? There is a legend about a little fish who overheard fishermen say that a fish needed water to live. The little fish became worried and started hunting for water. He swam from creek to river to the seven seas. Finally, he met a big, old fish who saw how worried the little fish was and asked what the trouble was. The little fish explained that he was looking for water because he heard the fishermen say that a fish cannot live without water. The big fish laughed and said, “O little fish, why are you worried? Don’t you know that you are in the water all the time?” — It is time for us who have been on the Church rolls from infancy to wake up and realize Whose we are. Then we will know who we are and in Whom we have our being. We need to awaken to the fact that we are children of God by grace through Baptism, and as children of God we have a mission in life.

6) Conversion of Chuck Colson: Charles Colson, author of Born Again, was deeply involved in the Watergate scandal. It was said he was so ruthless that to accomplish his goal he would run over even his grandmother. — Now, he tells about the love of God that turned him around.

7) “Margie needs that treatment.” Some years ago, a farmer went to a big city and stepped into a hotel lobby where there was an elevator. He watched how people walked into the elevator, doors closed, and then an indicator like a hand of a clock pointed to the number of the floor where the elevator was. He noticed how people got on the elevator and shortly they stepped off it. He saw an overweight woman get on and soon there stepped off the same elevator a slender lady. Seeing that, he took off his hat, scratched his head, and was heard to say to himself, “I wish I had brought Margie with me. She needs that treatment.”– It is not an external change that is necessarily made, but an internal one: a new spirit, a change of attitude, love instead of hatred, an about-face in values, that we all need.

8) Happy Hypocrite:  In Max Beerbohm’s Happy Hypocrite a wicked man wore a mask of a saint in order to woo a saintly woman he loved. Years later a woman he had cast off discovered his trick and challenged him to take off his mask in front of his sweetheart that she might know the truth about him. He did it only, to find that behind the mask of a saint there was his true face which had become that of a saint. — As we live for Christ, as we daily practice doing good, as we spend time constantly with Christ, receiving and using His grace, we gradually become like Christ,: we are changed      persons.

9) Conversion of a gang member: Many years ago, journalist Lee Strobel investigated a story about a hardened gang member named Ron Bronski. Bronski found God in prison. As an atheist, Lee Strobel was skeptical of Bronski’s story. In fact, he expected to use his journalistic skills to expose Bronski as a fraud. After all, this was the young man that police officers referred to as a “sociopath” or as “garbage.” However, Lee heard a different story when he spoke to a pastor who met Bronski after his conversion. This man referred to the former gang member as “one of the most beautiful, loving people I know.” In fact, when Ron Bronski was brought to trial for his crimes, the police officers, prosecutors, and the judge who had gotten to know him were so convinced that the former gang member was a new man that they set him free. — Today, Ron Bronski runs an inner-city ministry for street kids. (Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), pp. 223-225.)

10) “Follow me.” Rebecca Barlow Jordan tells a hilarious story about a friend of hers, named Neel. Neel had just finished picking up his prescriptions at the drug store. As he drove home, he noticed a little Volkswagen Bug following closely behind him. To his surprise, the little car followed him right into his own driveway. Neel got out to confront the driver. Another surprise–there was no driver. It seems Neel had accidentally backed into this little car at the drug store and locked bumpers with it. The lightweight little car stayed stuck to his bumper for the whole drive home! Neel called the drug store just moments after the Volkswagen owner had called the police and reported his car stolen. (Becky Freeman, Susan Duke, Rebecca Barlow Jordan, Gracie Malone, Fran Caffey Sandin. Eggstra Courage for the Chicken-Hearted (Tulsa, OK: Honor Books, 1999), pp. 64-65.) — In the same way that the little Volkswagen Bug locked on to Neel’s car, Matthew “locked on” to Jesus. Scripture says that Jesus said, “Follow me,” and, just like that, Matthew rose and followed him.

11) A life of luxury and a life of service: There is an interesting story about the Queen Mary, one of the most luxurious ocean liners in the world back in the 1930s and ’40s. The tables of this great liner bore the finest china and silver. Its private berths were spacious and well-decorated. But during World War II, the Queen Mary was commissioned to serve as a troop transport ship. All of its luxuries were stripped away to prepare it for war. The fine china was replaced by dented metal dinner trays. The spacious compartments were crammed to the ceiling with bunk beds. Today, the Queen Mary serves as a floating museum. One half of the ship is decorated to look exactly like a luxury liner of the 1930s. The other half of the ships is decorated to look like a World War II troop ship. Visitors to the ship confront the radical difference between a life of luxury and a life of service. (Ralph Winter, “Reconsecration to a Wartime, Not a Peacetime, Lifestyle,” in Perspectives on The World Christian Movement, ed. R. Winter and S. Hawthorne (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1981), p. 814.)  — Jesus was calling Matthew to a life of service. He was calling Matthew to follow him–to go where Jesus went, to live as Jesus lived, and to love as Jesus loved.– and he did! L/26

 “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle A (No. 37) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

You may visit my website by clicking on http://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.” Kindly visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  under CBCI or Fr. Tony for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican official website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  My post-retirement contact postal address in the U. S. is Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. M. C. Joseph, Pastor  St. Agatha Catholic Parish 1001 Hand Ave, Bay Minette, AL 36507 36507. Contact me by email only at akadavil@gmail.com. I am back at my home in my home country since June 2023. I live in my home with my younger brother since my final retirement in June 2023. Hence please contact me only by email (akadavil@gmail.com).

 

June 1-6: June 1 Monday: St, Justin, Martyr: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-justin-martyr/ Mk 12:1-12: 1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. …

The context: Told by Jesus during Passover week, the parable of the wicked tenants is actually an allegorical “parable of judgment,” accusing the Pharisees of not producing the fruits of repentance and renewal of life which God expected from them as leaders of His Chosen people. “I expected my vineyard to yield good grapes. Why did it yield sour ones instead?” The parable also explains the necessity of our bearing fruit in our Christian life and the punishment for sterility and wickedness.

The meaning of the parable: As an allegory, this parable has different meanings. 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 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. Further, they persecuted and killed the prophets. 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 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 would then be expected to produce the fruit of righteousness. The parable warns us that if we refuse to reform our lives and to become productive, we also could be replaced as the old Israel was replaced by the “new” Israel.

Life messages: 1) We need to be 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 bring us the Sacraments, and 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 with the Sacrament of Holy Orders to continue the Priesthood of Jesus on earth until the end of time; 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, and g) the Sacrament of Anointing to bring healing to the soul, and sometimes to the body if God wills. We are expected to make use of these gifts and so to produce fruits for God.

2) We need to be good fruit-producers in the vineyard of our family. By mutually sharing our blessings, by sacrificing time, treasure, and talents for the welfare of all the members, 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 vine-branches in our families. (Fr. Tony) L/26

For additional reflections, cluck on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections.

June 2 Tuesday: Sts Marcellinus and Peter, Martyrs : For a short biography, click https://franciscanmedia.org/saint-pf-the-day-saints-marcellinus-and-peter-martyrs/ Mk 12: 13-17: 13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to entrap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 …17

The context: Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus ingeniously escaped from a trap set for him by the Pharisees. The tax issue: The Jews were forced to pay three separate taxes to the Roman emperor: the ground tax, the income tax, and the census tax. Here, the question concerned the census tax. If Jesus said that it was unlawful to pay the tax, the pro-Rome Herodians and their allies would report him to the Roman officials who would then arrest him as a revolutionary. If Jesus said 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 on religious grounds.

The defense goes on the offensive. Jesus defeated their scheme by asking his challengers to show him “the coin of tribute” – the coin they would give to the tax-gatherer. Rather than answering their question directly, Jesus asked them a question, thus turning their trap inside out and upside down: “Whose image [eikon in Greek] and inscription are these?” “Caesar’s,” they said. Jesus then 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). By 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 direct service of, and obligations to, God, their Creator and Lord.

Life messages: The episode teaches us the nature of our obligations to God and to our country, and it shows us how, with God’s help, we can be ideal citizens of both earth and Heaven. 1) Since everything is God’s, we must give ourselves to Him 100%, not just 10% on Sundays. 2) We should be generous in fulfilling our Sunday obligations and 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. 3) As citizens of a country, 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 and other necessities. 4) 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. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26

For additional reflections, cluck on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections).

June 3 Wednesday: St Charles Lwanga and companions, Martyrs For a brief account, click on: https://franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day-saint-charles-lwanga-and-companions-martyrs/

Mk 12:18-27: The context: Jesus reached Jerusalem for his final Passover feast. As part of a well-planned plot to trap Jesus, the chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees met him with controversial questions. When Jesus ingeniously escaped from the first two traps, the Sadducees asked a question concerning the marital state after the resurrection. The challenge to Jesus was clear: do you believe in the written Torah which is silent on the resurrection or do you side with the Pharisees, accepting their belief in the resurrection, based on oral traditions and interpretations, and thus subjecting Moses to ridicule?

The trap: Sadducees did not believe in resurrection of the dead because they claimed that Moses wrote nothing about it. Hence, in their hypothetical question (which strongly recalls the Book of Tobit and the plight ofSarah

— the woman Tobias later married — seven times widowed and still childless), they asked Jesus to tell them who, in Heaven, would be the husband of the woman who, widowed and childless, had then been married, in succession, to her six brothers–in-law (levires), and had finally died childless.

Jesus goes on the offensive as defense: First, Jesus provided positive Biblical proof for the reality of resurrected existence. Jesus is presuming that Yahweh’s burning bush statement about being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was in the present tense. This would prove these three patriarchs were still alive at the time of Moses, 600 years after their deaths. Thus, Jesus uses the Sadducees’ sacred text of the Torah to refute their anti-resurrection belief.  Since God declared Himself to be God of the patriarchs, He must somehow still be sustaining the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thereby granting them resurrection and eternal life. Thus, Jesus proved the resurrection of the body from the Torah itself. Second, Jesus explained that the afterlife would not be just an eternal replay of this life. Things would be different after death. Normal human relations, including marriage, would be transformed. Then Jesus told the Sadducees that those to whom God granted resurrection and Heavenly life with Him would be immortal, like the angels and, hence, “children of God.”

Life message: 1) We need to live the lives of resurrection people:  That is, we are not to lie buried in the tomb of our sins and evil habits. Instead, we are to live joyful and peaceful lives, constantly experiencing the real presence of the Risen Lord Who gives us the assurance that our bodies also will be raisedThe salutary thought of our own resurrection and eternal glory should also inspire us to honor our bodies, keeping them holy, pure and free from evil habits and to respect those with whom we come in contact, rendering them loving and humble service. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26

For additional reflections, cluck on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections).

June 4 Thursday: Mk 12:28-34: Another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”  29 Jesus answered, “The first is, `Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; …    

The context: A scribe who believed in both the written Law and the oral tradition was pleased to see how Jesus had defeated the Sadducee who had tried to humiliate him with the hypothetical case of a woman who had married and been widowed by seven husbands in succession.  Out of admiration, the scribe challenged Jesus to summarize the most important of the Mosaic Laws in one sentence.  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.

Jesus’ novel contribution: Jesus gave a straightforward answer, quoting directly from the Law itself and startling all with his profound simplicity and mastery of the Law of God and its purpose.  He combined the first sentence of the Jewish Shema prayer from Deuteronomy 6:5: … Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” with its complementary law from Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Thus, Jesus proclaims that true religion is to love God both directly and as living in our neighbor.  Jesus underlines the principle that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves because both of us bear God’s image. For, to honor God’s image is to honor both Him Who made it and Him Whom it resembles. Besides, our neighbors, too, are the children of God our Father, redeemed by the Blood of Jesus.  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 agape love for neighbor that God commands in His Law. Jesus then uses 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 whole-heartedly: Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, means that we should place God’s will ahead of our own, seek the Lord’s will in all things, and make it paramount in our lives. It also means that we must find time to adore Him, to present our needs before Him, and to ask His pardon and forgiveness for our sins. 2) God’s will is that we should love everyone, seeing Him in our neighbor.  This means we have to help, support, encourage, forgive, and pray for everyone without regard to color, race, gender, age wealth, social status, intelligence, education, or charm. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26

For additional reflections, cluck on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections).

 

June 5 Friday . St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr For a short biography, click on https:// franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day-saint-boniface-bishop-and-martyr

Mk 12: 35-37: 35 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared, `The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I put thy enemies under thy feet.’ 37 David himself calls him Lord; so how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.    

The context: Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus catches the Pharisees in their own rabbinic reasoning by quoting David’s Psalm 110 in which the psalmist has David call the Messiah his “Lord.”

How can Christ be the son of David and his Lord? Based on 2 Sm 7:13 (“I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever”), the Jews believed that the Messiah would be a descendent of King David. Since children were supposed to be less than their father, especially if the father were somebody like the great King David, Jesus asks the scholars, “How is it possible that David would call his descendant “Lord?”  In other words, how could King David proclaim that his future heir would be both Messiah (Christ), and his Lord?  How is the Messiah, the Son of David, greater than David?

The answer: Jesus was known as being of the line of King David. Joseph was of the house of David. So, too, probably, was Mary because people often married within their own tribe. Hence, Jesus was son of David by the flesh, but Lord of David by his divinity, just as Jesus is both son of Mary and Son of God, her Lord. That is why at the Annunciation, Mary  received this message: “And the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Lk 1:32-33). Paul notes that Jesus is, “His Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power” (Rom 1:3-4).

Life messages:  We need to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior in our daily lives. How? 1) We have to invite him to be the king of our heart and the ruler of our thoughts, relationships, and actions. 2) Then we should give Jesus free rein in every area of our lives. 3) Finally, we should surrender our lives to him serving others humbly, lovingly and selflessly. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26

For additional reflections, cluck on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections).

June 6 Saturday: St. Norbert. Bishop  For a short biography, click on https://franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day-saint-Norbert-Bishop/

Mk 12:38-44:  28 In the course of His teaching, Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes … 44 her whole livelihood).

 Jesus here confronts the Temple authorities and challenges the abuses in the “organized religion” of his time.  After engaging in debate with the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Scribes, and the Herodians, Jesus contrasts the external signs of honor sought by the scribes with the humble, sacrificial offering of a poor widow and declares that she has found true honor in God’s eyes because of her total commitment to God’s service with a humble and generous heart.

The attack on pride and hypocrisy: The scribes of Jesus’ day were experts in the Law of Moses, scholars to whom people turned for a proper understanding of God’s will as revealed in Scripture.  But in today’s Gospel, Jesus moves from the scribes’ erroneous theology to their bankrupt ethics, reflected in their craving for pre-eminence both in the synagogues and in the market places and banquet halls. The scribes considered that the respect given to them by the common people in public places was their right because of their learning in the Law, and this made them arrogant and proud.  So Jesus publicly criticizes their behavior as a ceaseless grasping for honor. Jesus also accuses the scribes of offering long prayers to God as a means of asserting their superior piety. Jesus denounces the shameless profiteering of the scribes at the expense of widows. They often acted as trustees for the estates of wealthy widows and diverted the Temple fund intended for the support of poor widows to buy expensive robes and temple decorations.

 The widow’s mite: While sitting in the Court of Women, watching how rich people put their offerings for the support of Temple worship and the poor, Jesus publicly expressed his admiration for a poor widow who put in her tiny gift of two leptons as her offering. While the rich put in much, and the moderately well-off put in a decent amount, this poor widow offered to God everything she had. In other words, she gave herself totally into God’s hands with the sure conviction that He would give her the support she needed.

 Life messages: 1) We need to appreciate, support, and encourage the widows of our parish because they are often active participants in all the liturgical celebrations and parish organizations, and volunteers in visiting and serving the sick and the shut-ins.  2) While we judge people by what they possess, Jesus measures us on the basis of our inner motives and the intentions hidden behind our actions.  He evaluates us on the basis of the sacrifices we make for others and on the degree of our surrender to His holy will, gifts that cost us more than just opening our purses. Fr. Tony (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).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ [A] (June 7, 2026)- in 1 page

Importance: 1) The last two precious gifts given to us by Jesus are the Holy Eucharist as our spiritual food on Holy Thursday and Jesus’ mother Mary as our spiritual Mother on Good Friday 2) Corpus Christi is the celebration of the abiding presence of a loving God as Emmanuel – God-with-us – in order to give collective thanks to our Lord for his living with us in the Eucharist. 3) The feast also gives us an occasion to learn more about the importance and value of the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Eucharist so that we may appreciate the Infinite Value of the Sacrament by adoring and receiving Jesus in It

We believe in the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist because 1) Jesus promised it after miraculously feeding the 5000. 2) Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist during his Last Supper. 3) Jesus commanded his disciples to repeat it in his memory. 4) “Nothing is impossible for God.”

We explain the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist by: the Aristotelian philosophical term “transubstantiation” which means that the substance of the consecrated bread and wine is changed, by the action of the Holy Spirit at the Epiklesis through the words of the priest, into the substance of the risen Jesus’ risen glorified Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, while its accidents (like color, shape, taste etc.), remain unchanged.

Scripture lessons: 1)In the first reading, Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a, Moses instructs the Israelites to “remember and not forget” God’s miraculous provision of food in the manna given to them in the desert. The Church, through the Holy Mass, re-presents (makes present again) or re-enacts the Sacramental Self-offering Jesus makes on Calvary. In the second reading, Paul reminds the Corinthians that the Bread they share is the real Body of Christ which makes their community also the Body of the risen Christ. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus identifies himself as “the living bread that came down from heaven,” thus linking himself with the manna in the wilderness, while assuring his disciples that, unlike those who ate manna, “One who eats this Bread will live for ever.”

A Sacrament and a sacrifice: Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist both as a sacramental banquet and a sacrificial offering.1) As a Sacrament: a) the Eucharist is a visible sign that gives us God’s grace and His life and, b) as a meal, it nourishes our souls. 2) As a sacrifice: a) the Eucharistic celebration is a re-presentation or re-enactment of Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary, completed in His Resurrection. b) We offer Jesus’ sacrifice to God the Father for the remission of our sins, using signs and symbols.

Life messages:1) Let us appreciate the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, by receiving Him with true repentance for our sins, due preparation, reverence in our reception and spending time in thanksgiving to, and adoration of, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, now within us.

2) Let us be Christ-bearers and -conveyers: By receiving Holy Communion, we become Christ-bearers as Mary was, with the duty of conveying Christ to others at home and in the workplace, through love, mercy, forgiveness, and humble, sacrificial service.

3) Let us offer our lives on the altar along with Jesus’ sacrifice, asking pardon for our sins, expressing gratitude for the blessings we have received, presenting our needs and petitions on the altar, and receiving Jesus with due preparation in Holy Communion.

THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST [A] (CORPUS CHRISTI) (June 7)   Dt 8:2-3,14b-16a; I Cor 10:16-17; Jn 6:51-58)

Homily starter anecdotes: # 1: Rocket scientists and Real Presence: We used to hear the statement; “this is not rocket-science for to you to understand.” It means that rocket science is a very tough science to learn. It follows that the testimonies of two internationally famous rocket scientists and astronauts about the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist have real witness-value. The first one is Buzz Aldrin, the NASA Astronaut, who , for the first time in human history, walked on the moon on July 20, 1969, after his captain Neil Armstrong finished his moon walk. He did his walk on the moon after receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, whom he carried in small pix, supplied by his pastor with his bishop’s permission. The second astronaut was Astronaut Mike Hopkins who was selected to spent six months on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013.   Facing the prospect of being off the earth for half a year, he decided that he had to find out if Jesus could travel with him. He said later, “I went to Mass one last time, and the priest [with permission from his bishop] consecrated six wafers into the Body of Christ, and I was able to take Jesus in a pyx with me.” He had a Holy Communion each month, experiencing the real presence of Jesus with him for six months. It is the feast of this “Real Presence” of Jesus we celebrate today, on this Corpus Christi feast day.

2) “I would like to say Mass.” Dominic Tang, the courageous Chinese archbishop, was imprisoned for twenty-one years for nothing more than his loyalty to Christ and Christ’s one, true Church. After he had spent five years of solitary confinement in a windowless, damp cell, he was told by his jailers that he could leave it for a few hours to do whatever he wanted. Five years of solitary confinement and he had a couple of hours to do what he wanted! What would it be? A hot shower? A change of clothes? Certainly, a long walk outside? A chance to call or write to family? What would it be? the jailer asked him.  “I would like to say Mass,” replied Archbishop Tang. [Timothy M. Cardinal Dolan, Priests of the Third Millennium (2000), p. 216]. The Vietnamese Jesuit, Joseph Nguyen-Cong Doan, who spent nine years in labor camps in Vietnam, relates how he was finally able to say Mass when a fellow priest-prisoner shared some of his own smuggled supplies. “That night, when the other prisoners were asleep, lying on the floor of my cell, I celebrated Mass with tears of joy. My altar was my blanket, my prison clothes my vestments. But I felt myself at the heart of humanity and of the whole of creation.” (Ibid., p. 224). — Today’s feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus constantly calls us beyond ourselves to sacrificial love for others.

# 3: The greatest work of art in St. Peter’s Basilica: One of the seminarians who gives tours of St. Peter’s told me of an interesting incident. He was leading a group of Japanese tourists who knew absolutely nothing of our Faith. With particular care, he explained the great masterpieces of art, sculpture and architecture. He finally concluded at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, trying his best to explain quickly what it was. As the group dispersed, an elderly man, who had been particularly attentive stayed behind, and said, “Pardon me. Would you explain again this ‘Blessed Sacrament?’” Our student did, after which the man exclaimed, “Ah, if this is so, what is in this chapel is a greater work of art than anything else in this basilica.”  (Timothy M. Cardinal Dolan in Priests of the Third Millennium, 2000 p. 226). — Today’s feast of Corpus Christi is intended to make us value and appreciate the worth of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

Introduction: The feast and its objectives:    Today, we celebrate the solemn feast of Corpus Christi. It is three feasts in one: the feast of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the feast of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and the feast of the Real Presence of Jesus in this Sacrament.  Corpus Christi is a doctrinal feast established for three purposes:  1) to give God collective thanks for Christ’s abiding presence with us in the Eucharist and to honor Him there; 2) to instruct the people in the Mystery, Faith, and devotion surrounding the Eucharist, and 3) to teach us to appreciate and make use of the great gift of the Holy Eucharist, both as a Sacrament and as a sacrifice. In the three-year cycle of the Sunday liturgy, there is a different theme each year for this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.  In Cycle A the theme is the Eucharist as our food and drink; in Cycle B the emphasis is on the Eucharist as the sign of the covenant; and in Cycle C the theme focuses on the priesthood of Jesus. Although we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday, the Church wants to emphasize its importance by a special feast, formerly called “Corpus Christi.” It was Pope Urban IV who first extended the feast to the universal Church. This is one of the few feasts left in which we observe a procession and a sung “Sequence.”

The historical development: Today’s celebration of the Body and Blood of the Lord originated in the Diocese of Liege in 1246 as the feast of Corpus Christi.  In the reforms of Vatican II, Corpus Christi was joined with the feast of the Precious Blood (July 1) to become the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. We celebrate today Christ’s gift to us of the Eucharist, the “source and summit” (Lumen Gentium, 11; CCC #1324), of our life together as Church.  The Council of Trent (1545 to 1563), declared that we must honor Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist publicly so that those who observe the faith of Catholics in the Most Holy Eucharist may be attracted to the Eucharistic Lord and believe in the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in this great Sacrament. “The Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of the Godman are really, truly, substantially, and abidingly present together with his soul and Divinity by reason of the Transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.  This takes place in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass.” (cf. CCC #1413).

The Biblical foundation: Our belief in this Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist derives from the literal interpretation of the promise of Christ to give us his Body and Blood for our spiritual food and drink, as found in St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 6, and also in the four independent accounts of the fulfillment of this promise at the Last Supper (Mt 26; Mk 14; Lk 22; 1 Cor 11).  Eucharistic theologians explain the Real Presence by a process called transubstantiation: the entire substance of bread and wine is changed into the entire substance of the risen, living, and glorified Body and Blood of Christ, retaining only the “accidents” (taste, color, shape) of bread and wine. Can there be a religion in which God is closer   to man than our Catholic Christianity?  Jesus does not believe that he is humiliating himself in coming to us and giving himself to us in his Flesh and Blood to be our spiritual Food.

Scripture readings explained: The first reading (Dt 8: 2-3, 14-16): The setting of today’s first reading is near the end of the exodus from Egypt when the people are at last becoming accustomed to their long-promised new homeland. Moses realizes that the sudden change from hardship to comfort and security may dull the people and make them forgetful of the Lord on whom they depend.   Therefore, he tells them “Remember,” and “Do not forget,” referring to the manna that the Lord had miraculously provided for them earlier.  The Church chooses this reading for today because we see in the manna a prototype of the Eucharist.  But we do not read directly from this “manna narrative” (Exodus 16), for today’s feast.  Rather, we are enjoined “not to forget,” and “to remember.”  That is what we do when we celebrate the Eucharist.  We remember Jesus’ self-gift at the Last Supper and on the Cross.  God has endowed this act with the power to make the remembered events present to us again.  In the responsorial psalm, the Psalmist takes up the theme of God’s providential care and His close association with His people.

The second reading: (1 Cor 10:16-17): The Corinthian Christians were apparently ill-mannered and rude in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  Here, Paul was trying to make them behave more politely.  Paul was also clearly distinguishing the Eucharist from the ritual meals of some pagan groups known to the Corinthians.  For Paul, the Body of Christ can have two meanings: the Body of Christ that we share in the Eucharist, and the Body of Christ that we form as the community of believers united with the risen Christ.  Paul extended this union with Jesus to include union with all believers.  As Paul says, “the cup of blessing is a sharing in the Blood of Christ, and the bread we break is a sharing in the Body of Christ.”  The language is mystical, but it carries the meaning of the union of all believers with Jesus and thus with one another.  “Because there is one Bread, we who are many are one Body because we all partake of the one Bread” (1 Cor 10: -17).

Today’s Gospel passage (Jn 6:51-58) is situated in the context of what is sometimes called Jesus’ Eucharistic discourse.  These verses constitute the ending of the “Bread of Life Discourse” (John 6:22-58), given at the synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus identified himself as “the living Bread that came down from heaven,” thus linking himself with the manna in the wilderness.  The Eucharistic discourse is a teaching about the Lord’s providential care for his faithful followers, describing Jesus’ promises to the Jewish crowd that He would give them his Body and Blood as their spiritual food and drink.  The reference in today’s passage to the manna in the desert alludes to the care of God for His people during the years of their desert wandering.  The manna God provided and the water He gave sustained their natural life at the time.  Eventually, however, they died.   But Jesus claimed that he was the true Bread come down from Heaven to give everlasting life.  “One who eats this Bread will live forever” (John 6:58).  Our participation in the Eucharist concretizes and energizes our relationships with Christ and one another.  The process of eating and ingesting the Bread is the sign of our belief in the Word Who thus gives Himself to us, and through Whom we thus receive eternal life.  The separate mention of “flesh” and “blood” symbolizes theologically Jesus’ redemptive death for all people.

Exegesis: Theological significance: Vatican II states that as a sacrifice, “the Holy Eucharist is the center and culmination of Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11).  Why?  1) because it enables us to participate in Christ’s sacrifice as a present reality and to benefit from its fruits in our own lives;  2) because it helps us to worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the most perfect way; 3) because it strengthens our charity and unity with Jesus and each other in a joint offering of his Body and Blood to the Father; and 4) because it gives us a lasting memorial of Christ’s suffering, death and Resurrection, reminding us of our obligation to make loving sacrifices for others.  The Eucharist is the Mystery of our Faith, the mystery of our Hope, the mystery of our Charity.  Why do we celebrate the Eucharist some 2,000 years later?  We do this because Jesus told us to do so: “Do this in memory of me.”   St. Augustine in the 5^th century AD said it best when he said: “It is your Mystery, the Mystery of your life that has been placed on the altar.”  This Holy Memorial is known by various names: 1) “the Eucharist” because Jesus offered himself to God the Father as an act of thanksgiving; 2) “the Lord’s Supper”–or “Breaking of the Bread”– because we celebrate it as a meal;  3) “Holy Communion,” because we become one with Christ by receiving him; and  4) “Holy Mass” (holy sending), because it gives us a mission: “Go in peace, glorifying God by your life.”

Jesus replaces the Old Covenant with the New Covenant: Jesus instituted the Eucharist in deliberate allusion to, and fulfillment of, what happened on Mount Sinai.  He replaced Moses as the God-chosen mediator, establishing the New Covenant promised through the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34), by using his own Blood rather than that of sacrificial animals.  By sacramentally consuming the Body and Blood of the Godman, we, the final-age people of God, are interiorly transformed through the most perfect possible union with God.  Jesus creates a faithful people intimately united with God by means of his sacramental Body and Blood.

The Jewish Passover is transformed into the Eucharistic celebration: Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist while eating the Passover meal, the feast on which the Jews gathered annually to commemorate their ancestors’ deliverance from Egyptian slavery.  This foundational event began the night God “passed over” the Israelites while punishing their oppressors, who had resisted His will.  Israel was “saved through the blood” of sacrificial lambs sprinkled on doorways.  [There are some modern Bible scholars who doubt whether Jesus’ Last Supper was strictly a Passover meal because many items of the Passover meal are not mentioned.] In the second half of today’s Gospel, Jesus’ words and gestures are understood as mediating the fullness of salvation through Blood that would be his own.  That night he offered “the Blood of the (New) Covenant,” as Blood to be drunk rather than sprinkled.  Moreover, since it was his own, this Blood needed no further identification with God by splashing against an altar.  Finally, the Blood was “to be poured out for you and for many [a Semitism for ‘all’], for the forgiveness of sins.”  Thus, the new and perfect Paschal Lamb accomplished for people of every nation what Mosaic sacrifices only imperfectly achieved for the Jews.  Giving of both “Body” and “Blood” establishes the context of Jesus’ sacrificial death, “the New and Eternal Covenant,” sealed with his Blood.

The Sacrament and the Sacrifice: Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper as a Sacramental banquet and a sacrificial offering.  As a Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist is an outward sign, in and through which we meet Jesus who shares his life of grace with us. “In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood, together with the soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained” (CCC #1374). In this Sacrament of the Eucharist, we do meet Jesus, the Risen Lord who comes to us under signs of Bread and Wine to nourish and strengthen us for our journey through life.  The Eucharistic Meal is a great mystery because during the Eucharistic celebration the substance of bread and wine are converted into the substance of the risen Jesus’ Body and Blood, while their appearances (or accidents), remain.  We believe in this miraculous change of bread and wine (called Transubstantiation), because Jesus unequivocally taught it and authorized his apostles to repeat it.  As a Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist imparts to us Jesus’ abiding presence in our souls.  In addition, we share in his Divine life, which is an assurance of eternal life and the basis for the conviction that we are adopted children of God the Father.  God shares His life with Jesus and with all other people.  The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our union with Jesus.  In this Sacrament, Jesus gives us his own Body, broken for us on the cross and his precious Blood poured out for us, in order that our sins may be forgiven.  The Eucharistic celebration is also a sacrifice because it is the re-presentation or re-living in an unbloody manner of Christ’s Death on Good Friday and of his Resurrection on Easter Sunday.  By means of signs, symbols, and prayers, we share in Christ’s passion, death and Resurrection, made really present for us in an unbloody manner.  This re-presenting, this re-living of the One Sacrifice of Christ, which is the heart and point of every Mass, assures us of Jesus’ love for us and of his forgiveness of our sins.  Through this sacrifice, the risen Jesus becomes present on the altar, offering himself to the Father through the ministry of the priest.

Life Messages: 1) We need to receive this message of unity and sacrificial love: The Eucharist, (the Body and Blood of Christ), teaches us the importance of community, the bond that results from this sacrifice. John Chrysostom says: “What is the Bread actually? The Body of Christ. What do communicants become? The Body of Christ. Just as the bread comes from many grains, which remain themselves and are not distinguished from one another because they are united, so we are united with Christ.”  Just as numerous grains of wheat are pounded together to make the host, and many grapes are crushed together to make the wine, so we become unified in this sacrifice.  Our Lord chose these elements in order to show us that we ought to seek union with one another, to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into Our Lord Jesus Christ and to work with Him in the process.  Christ is the Head, and we are the Body, the members.  Together we are one.  That which unites us is our willingness to sacrifice our time and talents to God in our fellow members in Christ’s Mystical Body.  This is symbolized by our sharing in the same Bread and the same Cup.  Hence, Holy Communion should strengthen our sense of unity and love.

2) We need to prepare properly to receive Holy Communion: We have tarnished God’s image within us through acts of impurity, injustice, disobedience, and the like.  Hence, there is always need for repentance, and a need for the Sacramental confession of grave sins, before we receive Holy Communion.  We should remember the warning given by St. Paul: “Whoever, therefore, eats the Bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the Body and Blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the Bread and drink of the Cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the Body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” [1 Cor. 11:27-9].  Hence, let us receive Holy Communion with fervent love and respect — not merely as a matter of routine.   St.  Paul is speaking also of the Mystical Body of Christ, i.e., the people of God gathered at the altar. Such a union, plainly, means that our outward piety towards the consecrated Bread and Wine cannot coexist with rudeness, unkindness, slander, cruelty, gossiping, or any other breach of charity toward our brothers and sisters.

3) We need to become Christ-bearers and -conveyers: By receiving Holy Communion we become Christ-bearers as Mary was, with the duty of conveying Christ to others at home, in school, and in the workplace, as love, mercy, forgiveness, and humble and sacrificial service.

As we celebrate this great feast of faith, let us worship what St. Thomas Aquinas did not hesitate to call, “the greatest miracle that Christ ever worked on earth …… My Body …….. My Blood“. Before the greatness of this mystery, let us exclaim with St. Augustine, “O Sacrament of devotion! O Sign of unity! O Bond of charity!”   Let us also repeat St. Thomas Aquinas’ prayer of devotion in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament:  “O Sacrament most holy! O Sacrament Divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine!”

 JOKE OF THE WEEK: “Do you think two cases of whiskey are enough?“ There was to be a Baptismal party for the new baby of a soldier and his wife at their home on an Army base. Before the ceremony the chaplain took the new father aside. “Are you prepared for this solemn event?” he asked. “I guess so,” replied the soldier. “I’ve got two hams, pickles, bread, cake, cookies……” “No, no!” interrupted the chaplain. “I mean spiritually prepared!” “Well, I don’t know,” said the soldier thoughtfully. “Do you think we’ll have enough with two cases of whiskey?” — Beyond all that we hunger for is the hunger for spiritual nourishment. Sometimes people aren’t even aware that this exists. But Jesus realized this hunger and instituted the Holy Eucharist to feed our starving souls.
(Harold Buetow in “God Still Speaks: Listen!”)

USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK:

 Nick’s collection of Sunday homilies from 65 priests & weekday homilies: https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies

• Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org/featured-homilies/

  Geoffrey Plant’s beautiful & scholarly video classes on Sunday gospel, Bible & RCIA topics:  https://sundayhomilies.au/homilies/

 Brant Pitre’s commentary on Cycle A Sunday Scripture for Bible Class: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-Biblical basis of Catholic doctrines: http://scripturecatholic.com/

• Agape Catholic Bible Lessons: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/

 6)Catholic directory & resources: http://www.catholicweb.com/directory.cfm

^{7) It’s Catholic: http://www.disciplesnow.com/catholic/html/article654.html,}

^{8) Catholic online: http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=1586}

10) Bible project videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject/

• The beginner’s guide to life of faith: http://www.beginningcatholic.com/
• Catholic Community Forum: News, reflections, homilies, patron saints (http://www.catholic-forum.com/)

13) Focus On the Family: http://www.family.org/

14) Outlines of Bible books http://www.catholicdoors.com/outline/index.htm

15) New American Bible with notes http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/

16) USCCB Daily reflections videos: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/ For video homilies, copy and Paste the U R L http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/  on to the Address Bar and press Enter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eqEkPjUbmIA

17)Catholic doctrines in short videos; http://thatcatholicshow.sqpn.com/

18) Catholic pages Directory: http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/default.asp

19) The Catholic Liturgical Calendar page: http://www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/index.php

20) Free program for men’s renewal in parishes:  https://www.paradisusdei.org/index.php/programs/tmiy

 21)Virtual tour of Sistine chapel, Vatcan: http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html?utm_source=Twitter

 Real Presence websites: 

1) http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/a.html,

             2) http://www.usccb.org/dpp/realpresence.htm

3) http://www.catholic.com/library/Real_Presence.asp

4) USCCB – (Liturgy) – Resources for the Year of the Eucharist
http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/eucharistyear.shtml

5) Eucharistic miracle: https://www.youtube.com/embed/3gPAbD43fTI?

33 -Additional anecdotes

1) # 3: Communion on the moon: The Lord’s Supper ensures that we can remember Jesus from any place. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969. Most remember astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first words as he stepped onto the moon’s surface: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But few know about the first meal eaten on the moon. Dennis Fisher reports that Buzz Aldrin, the NASA Astronaut had taken aboard the spacecraft a tiny pyx provided by his Catholic pastor. Aldrin sent a radio broadcast to Earth asking listeners to contemplate the events of the day and give thanks. Then, blacking out the broadcast for privacy, Aldrin read, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” Then, silently, he gave thanks for their successful journey to the moon and received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist surrendering moon to Jesus. Next, he descended on the moon and walked on it with Neil Armstrong. (Dan Gulley: “Communion on the Moon”: Our Daily Bread: June/July/August 2007). – Aldrin’s actions remind us that in the Lord’s Supper, God’s children can share the life of Jesus from any place on Earth, and even from the moon. God is everywhere, and our worship should reflect this reality. In Psalm 139 we are told that wherever we go, God is intimately present with us. Buzz Aldrin celebrated that experience on the surface of the moon. Thousands of miles from earth, he took time to commune with the One who created, redeemed, and established fellowship with him. (Dennis Fisher) (http://www.smithvillechurch.org/html/body_remembering_jesus_on_the_moon.html) &(https://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2007/07/20/devotion.aspx) (Email dated June 9, 2012: Dear Fr. Tony,

I read your anecdote ‘Communion on the Moon’ with some amusement. Buzz Aldrin was Roman Catholic. He was an altar server to an uncle of mine, Fr. Dennis Barry, in St. Martin’s Church, La Mesa, California. My uncle said Mass in his hotel room with Buzz as the altar server the day before his trip to the Moon, and I have photographs of that Mass with Buzz holding the wine and water at the Offertory. My uncle gave Buzz the Body of Christ to take to the Moon with him and that was his first ‘meal on the moon.’ I later met Buzz Aldrin at my uncle’s funeral in La Mesa in 1986. So, Buzz was not a Presbyterian. Thank you for your splendid service and keep up the good work.  God Bless. Fr. Eddie Collins. eddiecollins@eircom.net)) Fr. Tony’s comment:  Probably Aldrin joined the Presbyterian Church following his remarriage after a divorce. You may check check http://www.snopes.com/glurge/communion.asp for a different version.

2) “All we really need in our convent is the Tabernacle.” The former archbishop of San Francisco, John Quinn, loves to tell the story of the arrival of Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity to open their house in the city. Poor Archbishop Quinn had gone to great efforts to make sure that their convent was, while hardly opulent, quite comfortable. He recalls how Mother Teresa arrived and immediately ordered the carpets removed, the telephones, except for one, pulled out of the wall, the beds, except for the mattresses taken away, and on and on. Explained Mother Teresa to the baffled archbishop, “All we really need in our convent is the tabernacle” (Timothy M. Cardinal Dolan in Priests of the Third Millennium, 2000 p. 218). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

3) The Eucharistic piety that converted St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: Two hundred years ago, a beautiful, young, Episcopalian woman accompanied her husband, a merchant, to Italy, leaving four of their five children at home with family members. They had sailed for Italy, hoping that the change in climate might help her husband, whose failing business had eventually affected his health adversely. Tragically, he died in Liverno. The grieving young woman was warmly received by an Italian family, business acquaintances of her deceased husband. She stayed with them for three months before she could arrange to return to America.  The young widow was very impressed by the Catholic faith of her host family, especially their devotion to the Holy Eucharist: their frequent attendance at Mass, the reverence with which they received Holy Communion, the awe they showed toward the Blessed Sacrament on feast days when the Eucharist was carried in procession. She found her broken heart healed by a hunger for this mysterious presence of the Lord, and, upon returning home, requested instruction in Catholic Faith. Soon after being received into the Church, she described her first reception of the Lord in the Eucharist as the happiest moment of her life. — It was in St. Peter’s Square on September 14, 1975, that Pope St. Paul VI canonized this woman, Elizabeth Ann Seton, as the first native-born saint of the Unites States. The Eucharist for her was a sign and cause of union with God and the Church. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

4) “I will not permit Christ to return to Albania as long as I am in charge.” Mother Teresa was given a reception by the cruel Communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania for 40 years from 1945 to 1985.  He imposed atheism as the official religion in 1967.  The possession of a Bible or cross often meant a ten-year prison term.  Welcoming Mother Teresa in 1985, he stated that he appreciated her world-wide works of charity, and then added, “But I will not permit Christ to return to Albania as long as I am in charge.”  In her reply after thanking the president for the reception Mother said, “Mr. President, you are wrong.  I have brought not only the love of Christ into my native land but also the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist right into your presidential palace.  I am allowed to carry Jesus in a pyx during my visit of this Communist country where public worship is a crime.  I keep Jesus in the consecrated host in my pocket.  Jesus will surely return to this country very soon.”  — Communist rule collapsed in Albania in 1992, and Christians and Muslims reopened their churches and mosques for worship.  The non-Communist president of Albania, Mr. Ramiz Alia, awarded Albanian citizenship to Mother Teresa during her visit to her liberated home country in 1992.  Mr. Alia also created a “Mother Teresa Prize” to be awarded to those who distinguished themselves in the field of humanitarian and charitable work. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

5)  Blessed Imelda, the Patron saint of First Holy Communicants: Blessed Imelda Lambertini had a remarkable experience of this love. She lived in Bologna, Italy, in the 1300s. She had wanted to be a nun from the time she was a little girl, and she joined that Dominican convent at the age of nine, to better prepare herself for the day when she would take the habit. Her greatest desire was to receive Holy Communion, but in those days, you had to be at least twelve-years-old to do so. Imelda begged for an exception to the rule, but the chaplain refused. She kept praying for special permission. Her prayers were miraculously answered on the Feast of the Ascension in 1333. After Mass, she stayed in her place in the chapel, where one of the nuns was putting away the sacred vessels. Suddenly, the nun heard a noise and turned towards Imelda. Hovering in midair in front of Imelda as she knelt in prayer was a sacred host, the Blessed Eucharist, shining with a bright and forceful light. The frightened nun ran to find the chaplain. By the time the chaplain arrived, the rest of the nuns and other onlookers had crowded, awe-struck, into the chapel. When the priest saw the shining, hovering host, he put on his vestments, went over to the girl, took the miraculous host in his hands, and gave her Holy Communion. Some minutes later, after the crowd had dispersed, the mother superior came over to Imelda to call her for breakfast. She found the girl still kneeling, with a smile on her face. But Imelda was dead. She had died of love, in ecstasy after receiving Christ in the Eucharist. He had longed to be with her even more than she had longed to be with him. Blessed Imelda’s body is incorrupt, and you can still see it today in the Church where she is interred, in Bologna. She is the patron saint of First Holy Communicants. (E-Priest). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

6) “Jesus Christ gave a lasting memorial”: One of his Catholic disciples asked the controversial “godman” Osho Rajneesh about the difference between Buddha the founder of Buddhism and Jesus Christ.  He told a story to distinguish between Buddha and Christ. When Buddha was on his deathbed, his disciple Anand asked him for a memorial and Buddha gave him a Jasmine flower. But as the flower dried up, the memory of Buddha also dwindled. Jesus Christ, however, instituted a lasting memorial without anybody’s asking for it by offering to God his Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine and commanding his disciples to share his Divinity by repeating the ceremony. Jesus continues to live in his followers while Buddha lives only in history books. — On this feast, as on Holy Thursday, we reflect on the importance of the institution of the Holy Eucharist and priesthood. [Osho Rajneesh claimed that he was another incarnation of God who attained “enlightenment” at 29 when he was a professor of Hindu philosophy in Jabalpur University in India. He had thousands of followers for his controversial “liberation through sex theology,” based on Hindu, Buddhist and Christian theology]. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

7) Precious gift: We are all familiar with the situation of the little boy who wants to give his father a birthday present but does not have any money to buy one. His father, realizing his son is too young to make any money, slips him five bucks so that he can do some shopping the next time they are in town. The big day comes, and the little boy proudly presents his father with a beautifully wrapped, birthday gift. He is very happy and proud of himself. So is his father – proud and happy to have such a loving son. — God gave us his Son so that we could give him back as a gift and become once again his sons and daughters. Jesus Christ was placed in our hands so that we could have a gift, the best of gifts. During each Eucharistic celebration, we give this precious gift back to God the Father. (Fr. Jack Dorsel). Today we celebrate the feast of the Eucharist. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

 8) The Eucharistic miracle at the tomb of St. Christina, in Bolsena, Italy: Today we are reminded of a miracle that took place in 1263. A German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena while on a pilgrimage to Rome. He is described as being a pious priest, but one who found it difficult to believe in Transubstantiation. While celebrating Mass at the tomb of St. Christina, located in Bolsena, Italy, he had barely spoken the words of Consecration when blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the altar and the corporal. The priest was immediately confused. At first, he attempted to hide the blood, but then he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, the city where Pope Urban IV was then residing. The Pope listened to the priest’s story and gave him absolution for his lack of faith. He then sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. When all the facts were ascertained, he ordered the Bishop of the diocese to bring to Orvieto the Host and the linen cloth bearing the stains of blood. With archbishops, cardinals and other Church dignitaries in attendance, the Pope met the procession and, amid great pomp, had the relics placed in the cathedral. The linen corporal bearing the spots of blood is still reverently enshrined and exhibited in the Cathedral of Orvieto, Italy. Pope Urban IV was prompted by this miracle to commission St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the liturgical prayers in honor of the Eucharist. One year after the miracle, in August of 1264, Pope Urban IV introduced the saint’s compositions, and by means of a papal bull instituted the feast of Corpus Christi. (Fr. Eugene Lobo S.J. Rome). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

9) Other Eucharistic miracle: A famous Eucharistic miracle that of Lanciano, also in Italy, which took place in the year 700. A monk who feared he was losing his vocation was celebrating Mass, and during the consecration the host turned into flesh and the wine turned into blood Despite the fact that the miracle took place almost 1300 years ago, you may still see the flesh in a monstrance which is exposed every day and the blood in a glass chalice. (The glass chalice is beneath the monstrance on the right.) I also had the privilege of seeing that Eucharistic miracle during my time in Italy. The blood has congealed and is now in five clots in the glass chalice. In 1971 and 1981 a hospital laboratory tested the flesh and blood and discovered that the flesh is myocardium, which is heart muscular tissue, so we could say it is the heart of Jesus, the Sacred Heart, and the blood is of the blood group AB. [In 1978 NASA scientists tested the blood on the Turin Shroud and interestingly also discovered that it is of the blood group AB. The Sudarium (Face Cloth of Christ  — Jn 20:6), is also of the blood group AB.] Despite the fact that human flesh and blood should not have remained preserved for 1300 years, the hospital lab tests found no trace of any preservatives. One final interesting point about the five blood clots in the chalice is that when one of them is weighed, it is the same weight as all five together; two of them together weigh the same as all five. In fact, no matter which way the blood clots are weighed,  (This shows that the full Jesus is present in a particle of the Eucharist no matter how small.) These are two Eucharistic miracles I have seen and which have been authenticated by the Church after investigation. (Fr. Tommy Lane). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

10) Blood Brothers: Jesuit Ignacio Ellacuria of El Salvador, Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe of Poland, Sr. Rani Maria an Australian missionary and Graham Staines murdered in north India, appear very diverse in their lifestyles, yet little divided them in death. All these are martyrs who shed their blood that others might live. They represent modern “bodies of Christ.” — Today, celebrating the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we could reflect on the sacramental symbols of Blood and Body and our Christian calling. Some years ago, Jesuit philosophers of Satya Nilayam in South India, formed a group called “Blood Brothers” comprised of students who were willing to donate blood regularly. — Indeed, we are all truly “Blood brothers and sisters,” saved by the supreme sacrifice of our elder Blood Brother, Jesus. Moreover, Martyrs like Ellacuria, Kolbe, Staines and Rani Maria are but representatives of a long list of “Blood brothers and sisters” whose lives  were truly Eucharistic. May the Corpus Christi called “Church” be ever willing to break itself and bleed in selfless service of society at large. (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

11) The Blessing Cup: Leonardo da Vinci was 43 years old when the Duke of Milan asked him to paint the Last Supper. He worked on it slowly and with meticulous attention to detail. He spent much time making the cup that Jesus held as beautiful as possible. After three years he was ready to show it, and he called a friend to come and see it. He said, “Look at it and give me your opinion.” The friend said, “It is wonderful. The cup is so real I cannot take my eyes of it!” Immediately, Leonardo took a brush and drew it across the sparkling cup. He exclaimed as he did so: “Nothing shall detract from the figure of Christ!” — Christ must be the primary focus of a Christian’s life. (John Rose in John’s Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

12) “Are you guys Dominicans?”  Fr. Denis likes to tell a story about an American paratrooper in World War II who got entangled in a tree and couldn’t get down.  He was terribly afraid that he had come down behind enemy lines and would be killed.  Then two men dressed in civilian clothes came by so the GI quickly called out, “Can you tell me where I am?”  “Indeed, we can,” said one. “You are up in a tree.”  There was a long pause, and then the paratrooper asked suspiciously, “Are you guys Dominicans?”  “Yes, but how could you tell?”  The GI replied, “I knew because what you say is perfectly true – but it doesn’t help me to get out of this tree!” —  Likewise, to describe Catholic belief about the Holy Eucharist by saying that it is the Body and Blood of Christ is true, but not very helpful unless we are convinced of this truth, appreciate this great gift and experience it in our lives. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

13)  St. Padre Pio’s prayer of thanksgiving after Mass.

“Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You.  You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak, and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late, the day is coming to a close, and life passes; death, judgment, eternity approach. It is necessary to renew my strength. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

14) The Mass is Heaven on earth! Scott Hahn was a Protestant minister, who had for twenty years studied the Book of Revelation. He admits that, in trying to study Revelation, he felt like a person standing before a locked door, searching for the right key on a keychain. There was no key that fitted, until he linked the Book of Revelation to the Mass. And that, in his opinion, is the right key. His experience thereafter was so inspiring that a year later, he asked to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church. This in a nutshell, is his thesis: The key to understanding the Book of Revelation is the Mass. Stated differently; the Mass is the only way a Christian can truly make sense of the Book of Revelation. Today, Dr. Scott Hahn, a happily married man and father of six children, is a Professor of Theology and Scripture at Franciscan University in Steubenville and the Director of the Institute of Applied Biblical Studies. Dr. Hahn is candid and realistic when he observes that, for most Catholics, the Sunday Mass is anything but Heavenly. In fact, he frankly adds, it’s often an uncomfortable hour, punctuated by babies screaming, bland hymns sung off-key, meandering and pointless homilies, and people dressed as if they were going to a party, picnic, or football game. — Yet, this is his conviction: “When we go to Mass every Sunday, we go to Heaven. And this is true of every Mass we attend, regardless of the quality of the music or the fervour of the preacher. The Mass, and I mean every single Mass, is Heaven on earth.”
(James Valladares in Your Words Are Spirit, and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho.) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

15) Body of Christ? Sometime ago I was in Washington, D.C. in the National Shrine. A dozen or so pilgrims came out of the grandiose basilica. They had participated in a Mass, they had received Holy Communion, forming with Him, his Body and Blood. I saw them, and I even saw a blind man who had received Communion with them. They came out of the Church together with him. He walked among them tapping the pavement in front of himself with his stick. He did not see them since he was blind but he must have been aware of them all talking excitedly, feeling a bit lost in a strange place. They did not see him, either, though they were not blind. He ended up in the midst of them. Someone stepped on his cane, bending it, while he was pushed on. They left him alone trying to straighten his cane. — They had all been to Holy Communion together in Jesus, who said of all of them: “This is my Body, this is my Blood!”  Yet, when it came to everyday life, that reality got lost; the Body did not seem to have been formed. They were not really in communion. They did not really form His Body, our Body. Did they? Do we? (Joseph G. Donders in Praying and Preaching the Sunday Gospel; quoted by Fr. Botelho).  (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

16) What are they hungry for? An American priest was invited to take part in a youth rally in Canada. About 700 young people were camping out in a large park for the weekend. Their program included workshops on such topics as dating, sexual morality, drugs, peer pressure and meditation. The organizers felt that the least popular workshop would be the one on meditation. They were in for a big surprise. It was the best attended workshop of the weekend. At one point in that workshop, the priest giving it sensed a profound presence of the Holy Spirit and invited the 200 participants to pray together. The response was amazing. — Afterwards the priest said, “It was one of the most moving experiences in all my years of priestly ministry.”  –Then alluding to the image in today’s Gospel he said: “There’s a whole mountain-side full of young people out there who want to eat, but there’s no one to feed them. There’s a whole mountain-side full of young people out there who want to pray but there’s no one to teach them.” The priest’s remark merely paraphrases what Jesus said in Matthew’s Gospel. (Quoted by Fr. Botelho) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

 17) Source of Christian heroism: I’d like to begin this Corpus Christi homily with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. He asked a question regarding Fr. Damien: “The political and journalistic world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien of Molokai. The Catholic Church, on the contrary, counts by the thousands those who after the example of Damien, have devoted themselves to the victims of leprosy. It is worthwhile to look for the sources of such heroism.” — That’s a great question: What is the source of the heroism of people like St. Damien Veuster of Molokai and his successor, St. Marianne Cope?  We get the answer this Sunday. In today’s readings, St. Paul tells how Jesus took bread and said, “This is my Body that is for you,” and with the chalice of wine, “This Cup is the New and Eternal Covenant in My Blood.” Then St. Paul concludes, “As often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.” — When we receive Communion, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus – we mystically enter his death and Resurrection. That should give us strength – strength to spend our lives in service. Now, you and I are not St. Damien or St. Marianne, but the Eucharist calls us – like them – to give our lives for others. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

18) “What kind of joke is this?” A priest I heard of, if he sees people leave early, stops them and reminds them that only one person left the Last Supper early! Well, I am not going to do that, but I am tempted to do what St. Philip Neri did: He saw someone leaving church right after Communion and he sent servers with candles and bells to accompany the man. The guy stormed back into the church and confronted the priest. “What kind of joke is this?” he demanded. St. Philip Neri said, “It’s no joke. The rules of the liturgy say the Blessed Sacrament should be treated with reverence. You left the Church immediately with no prayer of thanksgiving. You were carrying the Blessed Sacrament within you. So, I asked the boys to accompany you to honor Him.” — After Communion, you and I are tabernacles, for the physical presence of Jesus continues in us for about 15 minutes. That’s why we have the Communion hymn, a time of silence, the Communion Prayer, and even the announcements: to build up the Body of Christ in practical ways.  I encourage you to use well the time after Communion to say thanks, to express your gratitude. (Fr. Phil Bloom) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

19) “Body of Christ” A modern tourist in cities like Paris and Rome, and particularly the latter, cannot but be struck by the extraordinary number of Churches and their close proximity to each other. They all derive from the popular devotion to and Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Risen, Glorified Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Today we celebrate this Feast which originated in the twelfth century. The Feast began in the city of Liege in northern France under Bishop Robert Thourotte of Liege, persuaded by St. Juliana of Cornillion. Urban IV in 1264 extended the feast to the Universal Church. After Urban’s death, October 2, 1264, the feast was restricted to certain areas of France, Germany, Hungary, and northern Italy, but in 1317 Pope John XXII (served August 7, 1316 through December 4, 1334), reintroduced the Feast to the Universal Church (Instruction by Pope Benedict XVI at the General audience celebrated in St. Peter’s Square, November 17, 2010).

By the fifteenth century Corpus Christi had become the principal feast of the Church almost everywhere. Every city, town and village held its Corpus Christi procession. In some places it became the social event of the calendar! Months were spent preparing for it. Guilds competed with each other to provide the most colourful contribution. Cities like Paris had their timber-built houses arranged in narrow streets, where humans and animals lived closely together in squalor. In such a world, it was little wonder that the Corpus Christi devotion had such enormous appeal. What greater protection could they ask for than the Body of Christ, carried in procession through their streets to inoculate them against all such infections?

After well over a thousand years of Christianity, the Real Presence, Christ’s continuing presence in the consecrated Bread, came to dominate the devotional life of the people. New devotions were developed such as visits to, and Exposition and Benediction of, the Blessed Sacrament. The idea that no place was good enough to house the Body of Christ, led to the building of larger and more ornate churches. It became the age of the great Cathedrals, like Notre Dame and Chartres. Changes were introduced into the Mass itself to reflect this new devotion; in particular, the elevation was introduced after the consecration. For medieval Christians, there were real and down-to-earth reasons why the Body and Blood of Christ should be raised. Blindness was a common affliction then and people believed that looking at the Body of Christ was the best protection against it. Bowing to popular pressure, the Church permitted it. The elevation of the chalice was an after-thought because the Church feared that the people might believe Jesus was present in only one species. This background helps to explain the close proximity of Churches in cities like Paris and Rome. Elevations were much in demand and people rushed from one church to another just to watch the elevation. — Such Eucharistic devotions dominated religious practice right down to the Second Vatican Council. There the Church wisely decided that the Mass needed to be restored as the center of Eucharistic devotion, but, perhaps unwittingly, the other forms were then downgraded. Within a generation, visits, Benedictions, Expositions and Corpus Christi processions, and even the Rosary and Stations of the Cross had virtually disappeared. The Bread remained; the circuses had gone. And we are the poorer for it. (Rev. Liam Swords) Biblical IE. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

20) History of the feast: In 1246, Bishop Robert Thourotte of the Belgian diocese of Liège, at the suggestion of St. Juliana of Mont Cornillion (also in Belgium), convened a synod and instituted the celebration of the feast. From Liège, the celebration began to spread, and, on September 8, 1264, Pope Urban IV issued the papal bull Transiturus, which established the Feast of Corpus Christi as a universal feast of the Church, to be celebrated on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. At the request of Pope Urban IV, St. Thomas Aquinas composed the office (the official prayers of the Church) for the feast. This office is widely considered one of the most beautiful in the traditional Roman Breviary (the official prayer book of the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours), and it is the source of the famous Eucharistic hymns “Pange Lingua Gloriosi,” O Salutaris Hostia” and “Tantum Ergo Sacramentum.” For centuries after the celebration was extended to the universal Church, the feast was also celebrated with a Eucharistic procession, in which the Sacred Host was carried throughout the town, accompanied by hymns and litanies. The faithful would venerate the Body of Christ as the procession passed by. In recent years, this practice has almost disappeared, though some parishes still hold a brief procession around the outside of the parish church. While the Feast of Corpus Christi is one of the ten Holy Days of Obligation in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, in some countries, including the United States, the feast has been transferred to the following Sunday. (Fr. Hoisington). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

21) Pope Benedict’s preference for receiving Holy Communion on tongue: “I am not opposed in principle to Communion in the hand; I have both administered and received Communion in this way myself. The idea behind my current practice of having people kneel to receive Communion on the tongue was to send a signal and to underscore the Real Presence with an exclamation point. One important reason is that there is a great danger of superficiality precisely in the kinds of Mass events we hold at Saint Peter’s, both in the Basilica and in the Square. I have heard of people who, after receiving Communion, stick the Host in their wallet to take home as a kind of souvenir. In this context, where people think that everyone is just automatically supposed to receive Communion — everyone else is going up, so I will, too—I wanted to send a clear signal. I wanted it to be clear: Something quite special is going on here! He is here, the One before whom we fall on our knees! Pay attention! This is not just some social ritual in which we can take part if we want to.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

22) Visiting the Tabernacle (with a quotation from St Peter Julian Eymard): This is why Catholics still practice the ancient tradition of making frequent visits to the Eucharist throughout the day.  Even in big cities today, when you go into a Catholic Church, you can almost always find someone kneeling before the altar where the Tabernacle is kept.  The red candle burning near the tabernacle, the sanctuary, or Presence, lamp, is a constant reminder that Christ is truly present there, and his love is burning for us. This is also why Catholics still have the tradition of making the sign of the cross when they drive by a Catholic Church.  Even if we don’t have time to stop and make a visit to our Lord, to thank him for his blessings and tell him all our needs and sorrows, by making the sign of the cross we show our faith in and appreciation for his constant, miraculous presence. St Peter Julian Eymard [AYE-mard], who lived in France in the 1800s, beautifully explained how Christ’s constant presence in the Eucharist shows, without a doubt, that Jesus’ love for us, even for the most hardened sinner, has no limits.  Speaking of Jesus in the Eucharist, St Peter says:  “He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait.  Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant.” (E-Priest). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

23) Saints’ favorite food: Throughout the history of the Church, God has made the power of the Eucharist clear in many ways.  For example, some of the saints have gone for long periods of their lives in which their only food was the Eucharist.  I know it sounds hard to believe.  If there were only one or two cases, it would be reasonable to be skeptical.  But it actually happens every couple of generations, as if God wants to make sure we don’t forget what’s really going on in the Eucharist. In the 1300’s, St. Catherine of Siena often went for months at a time living solely on the Holy Eucharist. In the 1400s, St. Nicholas of Flue, Switzerland’s great native saint, spent the last 19 years of his life as a hermit.  He would give spiritual advice all day and pray all night.  For those 19 years, he was unable to eat any food.  The Holy Eucharist was his only nourishment. In April 2004, Pope John Paul II beatified Blessed Alejandrina Maria da Costa, a Portuguese peasant girl. Paralyzed at age 14, she spent her life offering her sufferings and prayers to God for the conversion of sinners.  She died in 1955, at age 51.  For the last 13 years of her life, Alejandrina ate and drank nothing except her daily Holy Communion.  Since she lived in the age of modern science, she given countless medical studies, none of which found a natural explanation. (E-Priest). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

23) St. Juliana Falconieri’s Miraculous Final Communion: All the saints realize how much we need this divine nourishment. St Juliana Falconieri [fahl-cone-YAIR-ee] had a particularly passionate devotion to this truth of our faith.  Juliana lived in Florence, Italy, in the early Renaissance.  When she was 14, her mother began arranging a marriage for her.  As soon as she found out, she objected, explaining that she wanted to consecrate her life to Christ.  At first her mother resisted, but Juliana’s vocation was undeniable, and eventually she took the habit as a Third Order Servite.  Later, she helped start a new Order of Servite nuns, dedicated to prayer and serving the sick.  Throughout the long, hard years of foundation, she received Holy Communion three times a week – much more often than was normal for those times.  But in her later years, chronic sickness made her unable to consume anything solid.  Even while on her deathbed, frequent fits of vomiting made it impossible for her to receive Communion.  But when she knew her last hour had come, she was inflamed with a desire to receive Holy Communion one last time.  So, she asked the priest to lay a corporal (the white cloth put on top of the altar for the liturgy of the Eucharist) on her chest and place the consecrated host on top of it.  No sooner had the Eucharist been laid over her heart than it disappeared, being miraculously consumed directly into her body.  She died soon after, and as they were preparing the body for burial, they found the sign of the cross that had been on the host emblazoned on her skin.  Ever since, the Servites have kept an image of a shining host on the left front side of their habits. — The Eucharist is food from heaven, given to us by Christ to bring us to Heaven. (E-Priest). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

25) Two fundamental needs: Ethiopia suffered a terrible famine during the years 1984 to 1986. Cardinal Hume of Westminster tells us about an incident that happened when he visited Ethiopia in the middle of the famine. One of the places he visited was a settlement in the hills where the people were waiting for food which was likely to arrive. He was taken there by helicopter. As he got out of the helicopter a small boy, aged about ten, came up to him and took his hand. He was wearing nothing but a loincloth around his waist. The whole time that the cardinal was there the little child would not let go of his hand. As they went around, he made two gestures: with one hand he pointed to his mouth, and with the other he took the cardinal’s hand and rubbed it on his cheek. Later, the cardinal said, “Here was an orphan boy who was lost and starving. Yet by two simple gestures he indicated two fundamental needs or hungers. With one gesture he showed me his hunger for food, and with the other his hunger for love. I have never forgotten that incident, and to this day I wonder whether that child is alive.” [Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho.] (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 26) “How can God be present in a tiny host?” Some time ago, a street-corner preacher who knew how to make religious truths come to life was faced by a hostile crowd. “How,” one of them demanded, “is it possible for bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Christ?” The preacher looked calmly at the stout questioner for a moment and answered, “You have grown somewhat since you were a child and have more flesh and blood than you had then. Surely, if a human body can change food and drink into flesh and blood, God can do it too.” “But how,” countered the heckler, “is it possible for Christ to be present in his entirety in a small host?” The preacher glanced up at the sky and down at the street before them and answered, “This city scene and the sky above it is something immense, while your eye is very small. Yet your eye in itself contains the whole picture. When you consider this, it won’t seem impossible for Christ to be present in his entirety in a little piece of bread.” Once more the heckler attacked. “How, then, is it possible for the same Body of Christ to be present in all your churches at the same time?” The preacher’s answer: “In a large mirror you see your image reflected but once. When you break the mirror into a thousand pieces, you see the same image of yourself in each of the thousand fragments. If such things occur in everyday life, why should it be impossible for the Body of Christ to be present in many places at once? Just tell me, what isn’t possible for God?” (Harold Buetow in God Still Speaks: Listen!; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 27) A Missionary Gets Muddy: The Eucharist is one of the great proofs of God’s trustworthiness – Christ faithfully present through the ups and downs of twenty centuries. A true story about a missionary illustrates this well.     Fr. Meehus was working in a small village in rural China during the Sino-Japanese war.     As Japanese soldiers neared the village, the priest led his congregation of orphans into hiding in the nearby hills.     Safe in a cave, he counted eighty children – everyone was there.     Then one of the boys spoke up, “Father, someone is missing.”     They counted again – still 80. But the boy insisted. The priest asked, “Who is it, who’s missing?”     The boy answered, “We left Jesus in the Tabernacle.”     Father moaned – in his rushed escape, he had forgotten to bring the Blessed Sacrament.     He made a quick decision. He had the children smear him with mud, telling them that he was going to be a commando (which they thought was fun).     Then he went out, slipped through enemy lines, crept to the Church, and tip-toed up to the Tabernacle, praying in the silence of his heart:     “Jesus, I’m sorry I have to come for You this way; You might not recognize me with all this mud… I am in disguise now, but this is really and truly the one who has held You in his hands many mornings at Mass.”     And in his heart, the priest heard God answering him:     “Of course I recognize you… I am in disguise too. A lot of people don’t recognize Me either; but in spite of appearances, I am Jesus, your friend, and I hold you in My hands from morning until night.”     When the soldiers left, the priest and his congregation carried Jesus in a triumphant procession back to the Tabernacle. — When trusting God is hard, a glance at the Eucharist – the sign of God’s faithfulness – can make all the difference.  [Adapted from Msgr. Arthur Tonne’s Stories for Sermons]. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

28) Retelling the Story: On a hill near Cape Town, South Africa, just below the famed Table Mountain, a gun is fired every day at noon. The hill is known as Signal Hill. The firing of the gun once served a beautiful purpose. It signaled that a ship, on its way to or from India, had arrived in the harbour with a cargo of goods, and was in need of supplies of food and fresh water. A beautiful exchange resulted. There was receiving and giving. But that was a long time ago. The purpose no longer exists. Yet the gun is still fired dutifully every day. However, the firing is now little more than an empty ritual. Once it had a beautiful meaning. Now the meaning has gone out of it. Most of the local people ignore it. Visitors are told, “If you hear a loud bang at mid-day, don’t worry. It’s only the gun going off.” However, the ritual still has one thing going for it. Most people know the story behind it. If that story were to be lost, then the ritual would become poorer still. — The Eucharist celebrates a wonderful event: the gift which Jesus made of his life on our behalf. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we tell that story again. But like anything that is repeated over and over again, there is a danger that it may become just a ritual. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies‘; quoted by Fr. Kayala). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

29) “God Always Comes…”  Once upon a time there was a Rabbi. Whenever he wanted God’s presence, he went to a special place in the woods, lit a fire, said some prayers, and did a dance. Then God would appear to him. When he died, his disciple did the same. If he wanted God’s presence, he went to the same spot in the woods, lit the fire, and said the same prayers, but nobody had taught him the dance. It still worked. God appeared. When he died, his disciple carried on the tradition. If he wanted God’s presence, he went to the same spot in the woods and lit the fire, but he didn’t know the prayers, nor the dance, but it still worked. God came. Then he died. He also had a disciple. Whenever he wanted God’s presence, he too went to the same place in the woods, but nobody had taught him how to light the fire or say the prayers or do the dance, but it still worked, God appeared. In the end, he died, but he too had a pupil. One day this pupil wanted God’s presence. So, he searched for the place in the woods, but couldn’t find it. And he didn’t know how to light the fire or say the prayers or do the dance. All he knew was how to tell the story. But it worked. He discovered that whenever he told the story of how the others had found God, God would appear. — In essence, this story explains how the sacred ritual, liturgy, works. (Ronald Rolheiser in In Exile; quoted by Fr. Kayala). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

30) Jesus, Bread of Life: Brennan Manning, an American Franciscan priest, tells this story of his mother, a lady in her mid-seventies in Brooklyn. Mrs. Manning’s day centered on her daily Eucharist. Because she began her voluntary stint at a drug detoxification center each morning at 7.30 AM, the only Mass she could attend was at 5.30 AM. Across the road from her lived a very successful lawyer, mid-thirties, married with two children. The man had no religion and was particularly critical of daily Churchgoers. Driving home from a late party at 5 am one January morning, the roads glassy with ice, he said to his wife: “I bet that old hag won’t be out this morning,” referring to Mrs. Manning. But to his shock, there she was on hands and knees negotiating the hill up to the church. He went home, tried to sleep, but could not. Around 9 am he rose, went to the local presbytery and asked to see a priest. “Padre,” he said, “I am not one of yours. I have no religion. But could you tell me what you have there that can make an old woman crawl on hands and knees on an icy morning?” Thus, began his conversion along with his wife and family. — Mrs. Manning was one of those people who never studied deep religious books, never knew the big theological words, but she knew what it is to meet Jesus in Holy Communion. Jesus Christ is the bread of life. What more could we want? (Sylvester O’Flynn in The Good News of Mark’s Year; quoted by Fr. Kayala). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

31) Film – Eat Drink Man Woman A retired master chef, affectionately called Uncle Chu, lives with his three daughters and has lost his sense of taste. He is a widower of sixteen years and enjoys cooking for his family. There is a crisis at the restaurant where he worked, and he is called back to supervise a major banquet before it becomes a disaster. He saves the day but will not return to work full-time. Eat Drink Man Woman is a story of a family and its strained relationships. The recurring images of food and cooking give it a sensual texture that brings the emotional issues down to earth. It also celebrates the exquisite nature of food and love that goes into its preparation. Those who sit at the Taipei table at the special meal respect the daughter and her new husband, who is a Christian, and she leads them in a prayer of blessing. These are people, like people everywhere, who are seeking their place in the kingdom of God. The Chu family lives amid tension and their relationships are at various times estranged. –They, like so many families the world over, are like the crowds in the Gospel because they need healing. The numerous cooking and eating sequences of the film remind us that food is a blessing. Jesus blessed food and, while he gave only loaves and fish to feed the crowds, “they all ate and were satisfied.” (Peter Malone in ‘Lights, Camera, Faith!‘ Quoted by Fr. Botelho.) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

32) Solemn Eucharistic procession on Corpus Christi Sunday: Among the countless blessings that have enriched my life are the years I spent teaching Scripture at a College in East Africa. Among my most poignant memories of those years are the celebratory processions in honor of the Body and Blood of Christ. For days in advance of the feast, members of the local congregations gathered brilliantly colored flowers. The fuchsias, reds, whites and violets of the bougainvillea, the yellows and golds of the frangipani, along with an array of colored sands, palm branches, aromatic herbs and green leaves were artfully arranged in eucharistic designs and arranged on the dirt footpath over which the procession would travel. Chalices and crosses, baskets of bread, grapes and wheat sheaves bore silent but fragrant and colorful witness to the Faith of the people. Bordering the pathway on both sides were young, verdant matoke plants, about eight feet in height. Steamed matoke or plantains are the main staple diet in many regions of East Africa. These had been cut down and posted along the procession route in honor of the one who had given himself to become the staff of life for the world. On the day of the feast, the entire congregation assembled, dressed in their best clothes; with one voice they sang their gratitude and praise while a band of drummers offered loud and lively accompaniment. Across the hills, each congregation could hear the echoes of its neighbors, similarly engaged in prayerful procession. — In his commentary on today’s feast, Karl Rahner (The Great Church Year, Crossroad Publishing Co., New York: 1994) suggested that the procession is both the most external element associated with Corpus Christi as well as its most distinguishing factor. (Patricia Datchuck Sánchez). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

33) Melchizedek offering bread and wine: Although he is featured rarely in the Scriptures (this text, Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20-7:22), Melchizedek has been frequently memorialized throughout many centuries of Christian art. Represented as both an historical and as a symbolic or typological figure, images of Melchizedek continue to grace the mosaics of St. Mary Major in Rome and in Saint Vitale in Ravenna, as well as the frescoes in the Vatican and the altarpiece in the monastery of Klosterneuberg. Historically, Melchizedek, the king-priest of Salem (Jerusalem), whose name means “my king is justice,” is usually portrayed as blessing Abram after his return from battle with the kings who had kidnapped his nephew, Lot. Symbolically and because of the Genesis author’s observation that he “brought out bread and wine” (v. 10), Melchizedek’s action was understood as a prefigurement of the Eucharist. For that reason, artists have portrayed him, dressed in priestly robes, with a miter and a crown, offering up wine and bread to God, even at times in the form of the eucharistic host. The belief that Melchizedek has been the king-priest of the ancient Jebusite city, Salem (Jerusalem), served to legitimize David chosen capital. Many scholars also regard this passage as an effort to lend support to the priesthood of Zadok which David initiated. Chosen by David to preside over the Jerusalem shrine (2 Sml 8:17), Zadok was probably a member of an ancient Jebusite dynasty; therefore, it could be said of him that he was a priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:1-4).  (Patricia Datchuck Sánchez). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26

 “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle A (No 36) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

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 at akadavil@gmail.com. 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 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 postal address: Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. Jogi M. C. , St. Agatha Church, 1001 Hand Avenue, Bay Minette, Al 36507. But I live in my home country since June 2023.

 

 

 

 

May 25-30: May 25 Monday: Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church: Jn 19: 25-34: NC Register: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/mfenelon/why-the-new-memorial-of-mary-mother-of-the-church-is-so-remarkable ( Gen 3:9-15, 20; Acts 1:12-14; Jn 19:25-34): https://youtu.be/9ymyPDzzBOQ?list=PLpTzvCOJa7DAlWO6X2kAG00Pyg_VQd3RD One of the most recent architectural additions to Saint Peter’s Square is the mosaic of Mary “Mother of the Church,” with the inscription Totus Tuus, yet another sign of Pope St. John Paul II’s great love for Our Lady. On Saturday, March 3, 2018, Pope Francis declared that, thenceforward, the Monday after Pentecost Sunday would be celebrated as the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. The Memorial was to be observed annually. It has been added to the General Roman Calendar, the Roman Missal, and the Liturgy of the Hours with the Holy Father’s wish that this new feast day foster Marian piety and the maternal sense of the Church. Pentecost was the birth of the Church – the Mystical Body of Christ. As Mother of Christ, the Head of the Church, Mary is also the Mother of the Church, the title officially given to Mary at the closing of the Second Vatican Council, by Pope St. Paul VI. The title was first used in the 4th century by Saint Ambrose of Milan. The same title was used by Pope Benedict IV in 1748 and then by Pope Leo XIII in 1885. Pope St. Paul VI made the pronouncement of the title Mother of the Church during his speech upon the closing of the third session of the Second Vatican Council on November 21, 1964: “For the glory of the Virgin and our consolation, we proclaim Mary the Most Holy Mother of the Church, that is, the Mother of the whole People of God, both the faithful and the pastors.” Later, the title was used by Pope St. John Paul II, and is also found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which states that “Mary joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its Head.” (CCC #963). “At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church.” (CCC # 507).

Pope St. John Paul II used the encyclical “Redemptoris Mater” (March 25, 1987), to explain how Jesus gave his mother into the care of John the apostle and how she became the Mother of the whole Church. The Pope said, “in her new motherhood in the Spirit, Mary embraces each and every one in the Church, and embraces each and every one through the Church.” Pope Benedict XVI addressed the issue of the relationship between Roman Catholic Mariology and ecclesiology quoting the theologian Hugo Rahner, SJ [elder brother of Karl Rahner SJ] that Mariology was originally ecclesiology. The Church is like Mary: Mary is virgin and mother, she is immaculate and carries the burdens of history. She suffers, and she is assumed into heaven. She is carrying the mystery of the Church. That is why in 2018 Pope Francis decreed that the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church be inserted into the Roman Calendar on the Monday after Pentecost and that it be celebrated every year. The decree was signed on 11 February 2018, the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, at the 160th anniversary of the Lourdes apparitions. The decree was issued on 3 March 2018.

As St. Augustine once said: “Mary is more blessed because she embraces Faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ.” As St. Ambrose taught, “The Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of Faith, Charity, and the perfect union with Christ.” She serves as the ultimate role model for all Christians in her willingness to cooperate with God’s will. So, while we rightfully acknowledge her as the Mother of God, the Theotokos, we also acknowledge her sanctity and her willingness to do God’s will. This is why another ancient name attributed to her now appears on the Church’s calendar. “The Cross, the Eucharist, and the Mother of God are three mysteries that God gave to the world in order to structure, fructify, and sanctify our interior life and lead us to Jesus.” (Robert, Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; retired February 20, 2021). Let us honor Mary the Mother of the Church by imitating her virtues of faith, humility, and total surrender. Additional reflections: Click on https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections)L/ 26

May 25 Monday Reflection for Memorial Day (USA): Memorial Day is a United States Federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 31st in 2026), honoring those who gave their lives in the Armed Services. Formerly, this day was known as Decoration Day from the custom of decorating the tombs and gravesites of the soldiers and of one’s own family members. Today we remember with pride and gratitude all the U.S. men and women who died while in the military service.

Memorial Day was first established to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War. Later, after World War I, the Memorial was expanded to include American casualties of any war or military action. Many people observe this holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials. A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m., Eastern Time. Another tradition is to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff from dawn until noon local time. Volunteers often place American flags on each gravesite at National Cemeteries. Many Americans also use Memorial Day to honor other people who have died after fighting their life’s battle and gone for their eternal reward. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4: 7).

Memorial Day is a day to remember the promises made and kept by our national heroes. They promised to keep the unity and integrity of our nation and freedom of other nations. They kept their promise with their blood. We believe in Jesus who hailed the willingness to lay down one’s life for others as the quintessence of true love. We also believe in Jesus’ promise at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he” (Jn 11:26; RSV2Catholic). We pray that Jesus may grant eternal rest and reward for all our fallen heroes. (Fr. Tony) L/26

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/;

May 26 Tuesdayhttps://franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day-saint-philip-neri/  : Mk 10:32-45: 32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him … 33 45 USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/

The context: For the third time, (Mk 8:31, 9:31, 10:32), Jesus predicts his own death. In spite of Jesus’ two previous predictions, James and John, still sharing the Jewish belief that the Messiah would be a political king sitting on David’s throne and ruling over a re-united Israel, consider Jesus to be a revolutionary freedom-fighter. They are sure that Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem is being made to overthrow the Roman rulers. Hence, James and John want an assurance from Jesus that he will make them his first and second in command in his Messianic Kingdom.

The request and the reaction: James and John are mistaken in their understanding of leadership roles in Christ’s Church as positions of power and prestige. Hence, Jesus challenges them asking, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Jesus uses the images of the cup and baptism to describe the price to be paid. Jesus insists that his disciples must drink from his cup of suffering if they want to reign with him in his kingdom. Without fully understanding what Jesus means, James and John quickly affirm that they can share in their master’s cup and baptism. They have no understanding of the personal cost that lies behind these two images. [History tells us that James was beheaded by
Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:2), and that John suffered deeply when
he heard regularly for years, of the persecution of his fellow
Christians and when he himself was forced into exile.]

A challenge to achieve greatness through humble, sacrificial service: Jesus tells his disciples plainly what his mission is, how he is going to accomplish it and what the criterion for greatness among his disciples should be. He summarizes his mission in one sentence: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”Jesus also explains that he is going to accomplish his mission by undergoing crucifixion, offering himself as a sacrifice to save people from their sins. Hence, he challenges his apostles to share not only his power, but his service, by sacrificing themselves for others as he would do. According to Jesus, greatness consists not in what we have, or in what we can get from others but in what we give to others.

Life Messages: 1) We are challenged to give our lives in loving service to others. The best place to begin the process of “self-giving,” is in our own homes and in the workplace. 2) We are taught that suffering and service go hand in hand. In today’s Gospel, Jesus connects service with suffering. First, service always involves suffering because we can’t help another without some sacrifice on our part. Second, God always invites those who suffer to put their suffering at the service of others by uniting it with the suffering of Jesus. Third, we must learn to be sensitive to the suffering of those around us.

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/;

May 27 Wednesday: St. Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop http://franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day-saint-augustine-of-canterbury-bishop

Mk 10:32-45: 32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33… 45

The context: For the third time, (Mk 8:31, 9:31, 10:32), Jesus predicts his own death. In spite of Jesus’ two previous predictions, James and John, still sharing the Jewish belief that the Messiah would be a political king sitting on David’s throne and ruling over a re-united Israel, consider Jesus to be a revolutionary freedom-fighter. They are sure that Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem is being made to overthrow the Roman rulers. Hence, James and John want an assurance from Jesus that he will make them his first and second in command in the Messianic Kingdom of God.

The request and the reaction: James and John are mistaken in their understanding of leadership roles in Christ’s Church as positions of power and prestige. Hence, Jesus challenges them asking, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” Jesus uses the images of the cup and baptism to describe the price to be paid. Jesus insists that his disciples must drink from his cup of suffering if they want to reign with him in his kingdom. Without fully understanding what Jesus means, James and John quickly affirm that they can share in their master’s cup and baptism. They have no understanding of the personal cost that lies behind these two images. [History
tells us that James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:2), and that John
suffered deeply when he heard regularly for years, of the
persecution of his fellow Christians, saw the rise of heretics in the Churches,
endured exile himself, and saw the deaths of the rest of the Twelve, leaving
him alive, the oldest survivor among them, faithful to the end, dying in his
bed at nearly 100 years old.]

A challenge to achieve greatness through humble, sacrificial service: Jesus tells his disciples plainly what his mission is, how he is going to accomplish it and what the criterion for greatness among his disciples should be. He summarizes his mission in one sentence: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45.) Jesus also explains that he is going to accomplish his mission by undergoing crucifixion, offering himself as a sacrifice to save people from their sins. Hence, Jesus challenges his apostles to share not only his power, but his service, by sacrificing themselves for others as he would do. According to Jesus, greatness consists, not in what we have, or in what we can get from others, but in what we give to others.

Life Messages: 1) We are challenged to give our lives in loving service to others. The best place to begin the process of “self-giving,” is in our own homes, classrooms, parishes, and workplaces. 2) We are taught that suffering and service go hand in hand. In today’s Gospel, Jesus connects service with suffering. First, service always involves suffering because we can’t help another without some sacrifice on our part. Second, God always invites those who suffer to put their suffering at the service of others by uniting it with the suffering of Jesus. Third, we must learn to be sensitive to the suffering of those around us. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/

May 28 Thursday: Mk 10: 46-52: 46 And they came to Jericho; and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; rise, he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his mantle he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Master, let me receive my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

The context: Jesus was on his way to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem along with a band of pilgrims. It was customary for rabbis to teach the pilgrims on the way. The pilgrims were generous in giving alms to the beggars on the roadside. Bartimaeus was one of the blind beggars lined up on the road begging for alms. When he heard people speaking about the approach of Jesus, the miracle worker from Nazareth, he started shouting for mercy. He believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of David who could give him eyesight, as foretold by the prophet Isaiah, “The eyes of the blind will see” (Is 29:18).

Bartimaeus encounters Jesus: People walking in front of Jesus listening to his teaching tried, in vain, to silence Bartimaeus, but finally he got the attention of Jesus. Jesus was impressed by Bartimaeus’ declaration of Faith in the healing power of the Messiah, and asked him what he wanted. Bartimaeus replied, “Master, let me receive my sight.” Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your Faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight, and he promptly followed Jesus to Jerusalem as Jesus’ disciple.

Life messages: 1) We are very often blinded by our pride and prejudice and our innate tendency to be judgmental. Hence, we are badly in need of healing from our spiritual blindness. But we require trusting Faith in the power and mercy of God and the humility to pray persistently, as Bartimaeus did, to receive healing from God. We must have the faith to sense the presence of Jesus the healer within us and pray to Holy Spirit for the anointing to ask for healing. Let us pray for this grace during the Mass today. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26

Additional reflections: USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/

May 29 Friday: St. Paul VI, Pope http://franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day-pope-paul-vi/

Mk 11:11-26: 11 And he entered Jerusalem, and went into the temple; and when he had looked round at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he taught, and said to them, “Is it not written, `My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18-26

The context: Today’s Gospel gives us the dramatic account of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem after symbolically drying out a fruitless fig tree, which represented the sterility of Israel and its infidelity to God. He drove out the merchants and money-changers with moral indignation at their unjust commercialization of God’s House of Prayer and at their exploitation of poor pilgrims in the name of religion. The merchants sold animals for sacrifices at exorbitant prices, and the money-changers charged unjust commissions for the required exchange of pagan coins for Temple coins. The Temple Jesus cleansed was the Temple in Jerusalem, originally built by Solomon in 966 BC, rebuilt by Zerubbabel in 515 BC after the Babylonians had destroyed it, and finally renovated by King Herod the Great starting in 20 BC. The abuses which infuriated Jesus were 1) the conversion of God’s place of prayer to a noisy marketplace, and 2) the unjust business practices of animal merchants and money-changers encouraged by the Temple authorities. Hence, Jesus made a whip of cords and drove away the animals and the money-changers, and, in doing this, quoted the prophet Jeremiah, commanding, “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace” (Jer 7: 11).

Life messages: 1) We need to avoid the business mentality of loss and profit in Divine worship. Our relationship with God must be that of a child to his parent, one of mutual love, respect and the common good, with no thought of loss or gain. 2) We need to remember that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we have no right to desecrate God’s temple by impurity, injustice, pride, hatred or jealousy. 3) We need to love our parish Church and use it. Our Church is the place where we come together as a community to praise and worship God, to thank Him for His blessings, to ask pardon and forgiveness for our sins and to offer our lives and petitions on the altar. Let us make our Church an even more holy place by adding our prayers and songs to community worship and by offering our time and talents in the various ministries of our parish. Fr. Tony (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

May 30 Saturday: Mk 11:27-33 27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you a question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me.” 31 And they argued with one another, “If we say, `From heaven,’ he will say, `Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, `From men’?” — they were afraid of the people, for all held that John was a real prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Mk 11: 27-33).

The context: After casting out animal merchants and money- changers from the Temple immediately after the Palm Sunday procession, Jesus started teaching in the Temple courts. Hence, the chief priests and elders of the people approached Jesus questioning his authority for entering the city in a triumphal procession, for allowing the crowds to acclaim him, for curing the sick, for casting merchants and moneychangers out of the Temple area, and for his right to teach in the Temple area. This was a trap. If Jesus claimed that his authority was Divine as the Messiah, they would arrest him as a blasphemer. If he claimed that his authority was human, he would be arrested as a mad zealot damaging the people’s simple Faith in the Temple and what it stood for. Since Jesus did not want to risk his life and mission a few days ahead of time, he silenced them by asking a challenging counter-question about John the Baptist and his message – was this from God or man? Was this Divine or human?

If they answered that it was Divine, the questioners would be asked to explain why they had not accepted John’s message and his witness-bearing that Jesus was the Messiah. If they answered that it was human, they would have to face the anger of the crowd who had accepted John as a prophet. Hence, they kept silent opting for a shameful self-humiliation.

Life message: In religious matters we should not ask whether our stand for Christ is safe or useful. Instead, we need to stand for Truth with the courage of our Christian convictions even if it costs us our life. Fr. Tony (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

HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY [A] (May 31, 2026) 1-page summary (L-26).

Introduction: The mystery of the most Holy Trinity is a basic doctrine of Faith in Christianity, understandable not with our heads but with our hearts. It teaches us that there are three distinct Persons in one God, sharing the same Divine Nature, co-equal and co-eternal. Our mind cannot grasp this doctrine which teaches that 1+1+1 = 1 and not 3. But we believe in this Mystery because Jesus, Who is God, taught it clearly, the Evangelists recorded it, the Fathers of the Church tried to explain it, and the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople defined it as a dogma of Christian Faith. (Add a pertinent anecdote).

Importance of Holy Trinity in Christian life: 1) All prayers in the Church begin in the Name of the Holy Trinity and end glorifying the Trinity. 2) All Sacraments are administered (we are baptized, confirmed, anointed, our sins are forgiven, our marriage is blessed, and our Bishops, priests and deacons are ordained) in the name of the Holy Trinity. 3) When Church bells ring thrice daily, they remind us to give glory to the Holy Trinity for the Incarnation of Jesus and His Redemption of all of us. 4) We bless ourselves, and the priest blesses us, in the Name of the Holy Trinity.

Biblical basis: There are only vague and hidden references to the Trinity in the Old Testament. But the New Testament gives clear teachings on the Holy Trinity.

1) At the Annunciation, God the Father sends His angel to Mary, God the Holy Spirit comes upon her, the Power of the Most High overshadows her, and God the Son becomes Incarnate in her womb.

2) At the baptism of Jesus, when the Son receives baptism from John the Baptist, the Father’s Voice is heard, and the Holy Spirit appears as a Dove and descends upon Jesus.

3) At the Ascension, Jesus gives the missionary command to his disciples to baptize those who believe, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

4) John’s account: In John’s Gospel, chapters 15–18, we have a detailed account of Jesus’ teaching of the role of each Person of the Holy Trinity: a) God the Father creates and provides for His creatures. b) God the Son redeems us and reconciles us with God. c) God the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, strengthens us, teaches us, and guides us to God.

Life messages:

1) Let us respect ourselves and others because everyone is the temple of the Holy Spirit where all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity abide.

2) Let us have the firm conviction that the Trinitarian God abides in us, that He is the Source of our hope, courage and strength, and that He is our final destination.

3) Let us practice the Trinitarian relationship of love and unity in the family relationships of father, mother, and children because by Baptism we become children of God and members of God’s Trinitarian family.

4) Let us practice the I–God–my neighbor vertical and horizontal Trinitarian relationships in this life by loving God.

 HOLY TRINITY: Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9; II Cor 13:11-13; Jn 3:16-18

Homily starter anecdotes # 1: Simplified explanations by Saints Patrick, Cyril and Jean-Marie Vianney: Since the Holy Trinity is a mystery, all these examples are only the shadows of the shadows of the Truth. The shamrock, a kind of clover, is a leguminous herb that grows in marshy places. St. Patrick, the missionary patron saint of Ireland, it is said, used the shamrock to explain the Holy Tri8nity.  The story goes that one day his friends asked Patrick to explain the Mystery of the Trinity.  He looked at the ground and saw shamrocks growing amid the grass at his feet.  He picked one up one of its trifoliate leaves and asked if it were one leaf or three.    Patrick’s friends couldn’t answer – the shamrock leaf looked like one but it clearly had three parts.  Patrick explained to them: “The mystery of the Holy Trinity – one God in Three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – is like this, but more complex and less intelligible.”     As the story goes, St. Cyril, the teacher of the Slavs, used the sun to give a hint of the Mystery of Three-In-One Nature of the the Most Holy Trinity.  He said, “God the Father is that blazing sun. God the Son is its light and God the Holy Spirit is its heat — but there is only one sun. So, there are three Persons in the Holy Trinity but God is One and indivisible.” St. Jean-Marie Vianney offered visual comparisons to illustrate, at a great distance, the Mystery of the Unity of Persons in the TriUnity God IS, that is the Holy Trinity. The Cure of Ars used lighted candles, roses on the altar, and water in the cruets. “The flame has color, warmth and shape. But these are expressions of one flame. Similarly, the rose has color, fragrance and shape. But these are expressions of one reality, namely, rose. Water, steam and ice are three distinct expressions of one reality. In the same way, one God revealed Himself to us as Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.” Watch:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw&feature=player_detailpage (Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/))

# 2: Mystery of man created by a mysterious TriUne God: How complex and mind-boggling is our physical construction –  with the major number of its parts invisible to the naked eye. Chemically, the body is unequalled for complexity.  Each one of its 30 trillion cells is a mini chemical factory that performs about 10,000 chemical functions. With its 206 bones, 639 muscles, 4 million pain sensors in the skin, 750 million air sacs in the lungs, 16 million nerve cells and 30 trillion cells in total, the human body is remarkably designed for life. And the brain!  The human brain with the nervous system is the most complex arrangement of matter anywhere in the universe.  One scientist estimated that our brain, on the average, processes over 10,000 thoughts and concepts each day. The three billion DNA pairs in a fertilized egg [which IS a child into whom God has already breathed an immortal, spiritual soul let us not forget!] control all human activities, 30,000 genes making 90,000 proteins in the body. Bill Bryson in his book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, says it is a miracle that we even exist.  Trillions of atoms come together for approximately 650,000 hours (74 years calculated as the average span of human life), and then begin to silently disassemble and go off to other things. There never was something like us before and there never will be something like us again. But for 650,000 hours the miracle or mystery that is uniquely us, exists here on earth. — One could spend years just dealing with the marvelous intricacies and majesty of God’s creation. We are, as the Psalmist states “fearfully and wonderfully made.” No wonder we cannot understand the mystery of the TriUne God Who created us! Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 # 3: The mystery of the magnitude of the universe: The universe has around 100–1000 billion galaxies. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way. The Milky Way contains 100–400 billion stars with their planets, including the sun and its planets, and our earth is one of its tiny planets. This means that our Sun is just one star among the hundreds of billions of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.  The diameter of the observable universe is about 93 billion light years, and a   light-year is a unit of length equal to 6 trillion miles. The number and size of galaxies and stars and planets in the universe remain mind-baffling mysteries in spite of all our latest astronomical discoveries and studies, and we have been able to send astronomers only to our earth’s sole natural satellite, the moon. — If the universe is so mysterious, no wonder the nature of the TriUne God Who created it, remains a mystery and why we have to accept the mystery of the TriUne God  as revealed by God Himself in Holy Scripture!
( https://youtu.be/hTuJby2_97E)  (https://youtu.be/9Dsq-FrEJxo). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 # 4: “But that is impossible, my dear child:” There is a very old and much-repeated story about St. Augustine of Hippo (in Africa), one of the intellectual giants of the Church.  He was walking by the seashore one day, attempting to conceive of an intelligible explanation for the mystery of the Trinity.  As he walked along, he saw a small boy on the beach, pourng seawater from a shell into a small hole in the sand.  “What are you doing, my child?” asked Augustine.  “I am emptying the sea into this hole,” the boy answered with an innocent smile.  “But that is impossible, my dear child,” said Augustine.  The boy stood up, looked straight into the eyes of Augustine and replied, “What you are trying to do – comprehend the immensity of God with your small head – is even more impossible.”  Then he vanished. — The child was an angel sent by God to teach Augustine a lesson.  Later, Augustine wrote: “You see the Trinity, if you see love.”  According to him, the Father is the lover, the Son is the loved one and the Holy Spirit is the personification of the very act of loving. This means that we can understand something of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity more readily with the believing heart than with our feeble mind. Evagrius of Pontus, a Greek monk of the 4th century who came from what is now Turkey in Asia and later lived out his vocation in Egypt, said: “God cannot be grasped by the mind. If God could be grasped, God would not be God.” Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

Introduction: Today’s feast invites us to live in the awareness of the presence of the TriUne God within us: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Holy Trinity, a doctrine enunciated by the ecumenical councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, is one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity and the greatest mystery of our Faith, namely, that there are Three Divine Persons, sharing the same Divine Nature in one God.     “There is one God, who has three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Each Person is God, yet there is still only one God” (CCC #234, #253-256). We can attribute certain activities to each of the Three Persons – the Father as Creator, the Son as the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier, the Counselor – but the Whole TriUne God is, in reality, responsible for all God’s works. The doctrine of Three Persons in one God, co-equal and co-eternal in Divinity yet distinct in Person, is not explicitly spelt out in the Bible. Even the very word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible, but the doctrine of the Trinity underlies all major Christian feasts, including Christmas, the Epiphany, Good Friday, Easter, the Ascension, and Pentecost. All the official prayers of the Church, including the Holy Mass and the Sacraments, begin with an address to the Holy Trinity: “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We are baptized, absolved of our sins, and anointed in the name of the Blessed Trinity. Throughout the world, when Church bells ring three times a day, for the Angelus  (or the Regina Coeli in Eastertide) Christians are being invited to pray to God the Father (the Provider); God the Son (the Savior); and God the Holy Spirit (the Sanctifier), giving glory to the TriUne God for the Incarnation of the Son and our Redemption through His suffering and His  death and rising,. We bless ourselves with the Sign of the Cross, invoking the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and we conclude our prayers glorifying the Holy Trinity, saying “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit….” Today’s readings convey the fundamental mystery that the TriUne God reaches out to all people with love, seeking deepest communion with them!

The first reading explained: Today’s first reading, taken from the book of Exodus, describes how God revealed His name to Moses as “Yahweh,” which means, “I am Who am.”  But Orthodox Jews in absolute reverence, never used that most sacred Name name.  They addressed God by calling Him, Elohim (God, the common Name)  or Lord (Adonai).  The passage is also as close as the Bible comes to giving a definition of God. The Lord God says of Himself, “The Lord, the Lord [is] a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” Every part of that statement stresses God in relationship to humankind, and it emphasizes especially God’s great love for us. The revelation of God’s nature as Triune was made by Jesus.  In fact, the very word “Trinity,” referring to Three Persons in One God — one in Godhead yet distinct in Person — is not explicitly spelled out in the Bible. Although the doctrine on Trinity is mentioned about forty times in the New Testament, the term “Trinity”never appears . Rather, the early Church arrived at the doctrine of the Trinity when, guided by the Holy Spirit, she reflected on the Revelation which she had received from Jesus in Faith.

Today’s second reading explained: Taken from St. Paul’s second Letter to the Corinthians, today’s second reading contains the ancient apostolic blessing in the name of the Holy Trinity: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”  Paul reminds the people of the Father’s love, the grace that comes through Jesus Christ and the fellowship or the unifying power of the Holy Spirit. The word “grace” in a theological context refers to Divine favor. In Christ, the Incarnate Second Person of the Trinity, God has shown favor toward us humans, a special care for us, and a desire that through Jesus’ life, death and Resurrection we might find and enjoy a right relationship with God. We often use the phrase “the love of God” to describe our response to God and our duty to love God. That is both correct and appropriate. But what comes first is God’s love for us. The Scriptures emphasize that God has loved us first and that our love for God is only a fitting response. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit shapes and animates the life of the Christian community. In other words, we live our Christian lives in the fellowship, or koinonia, formed by the Holy Spirit because it is He who guides, empowers and teaches us in Christ’s place and brings us together in Faith, Love, and Hope. In the story of salvation, we usually attribute Creation to the Father, Redemption to the Son, and Sanctification to the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, though they are distinct as Persons, neither the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit ever exists in separation or acts in isolation from the other Two Persons of the Godhead.  The inner relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is such that each of them is fully God, yet These Divine Persons are not three Gods but One.  This is not comprehendible by the human mind.  This is a Mystery, He has revealed to us so that we may worship Him thus, in Faith  and loving gratitude.

Today’s Gospel comes from the story of Jesus’ night-time encounter with Nicodemus.  Jesus was speaking to the seeking Pharisee about the Father Who had sent Jesus (the Son). Then, after the Last Supper, He told the Apostles about the about the Holy Spirit Who would be sent to them as a comforter and Advocate by the Father at Jesus’ request AFTER His death and rising. Further, Jesus assures the Apostles that the Father has given him (the Son) all that He has and that Jesus, in turn, has given to the Holy Spirit all that he has received from the Father.  In this we see the unity of purpose among the Three Persons of the Trinity.

Frank Sheed’s explanation of the Holy Trinity: The great apologist Frank Sheed used to give a very interesting explanation of the Most Holy Trinity. He started by thinking about our own human nature. Each one of us exists, but since we are spiritual, we also have an idea of ourselves. We can think about ourselves, reflect on ourselves, and know ourselves. This is why human beings are the only animals on earth who write diaries.

That’s similar to what happens in the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. God the Father is spiritual, able to know Himself. He has an Idea of Himself. But, since His knowledge is limitless, unlike ours, that Idea of Himself is perfect and perfectly complete. But to be perfect, the Idea, or the Word, has to share in God’s own existence; the Word actually has to be a Divine Person. And so, God the Father, from all eternity, knowing Himself, eternaly engenders the Son, the perfect Image of the Father. And then, of course, since both the Father and the Son are Infinitely Good and Beautiful, as soon as They know Each Other, They also love Each Other. Even we, when we think about ourselves, begin to know our selves as we really are (a life-long process),  and then to love ourselves that way, we want the best for ourselves. We are glad that we exist. But God’s Love, like his Knowledge, is limitless, Infinite, and so this Love, too, has to be Infinite and so intense and so full that it shares fully in the Divine existence; this Love is a Divine Person – the Holy Spirit. We who are creatures of matter and spirit speak of God’s Mystery in terms of time — before, after, later, sooner —  and separate events, but in God there is no change and all simply IS. We and the angels are equally finite creatures, though they are pure spirits who will never change or die, and we, on the other hand, being matter and immortal spirit are conceived, born, live and then must die (only once!) and face the Personal Judgement Jesus wi pass on each of us at that final moment. If we choose to fail that Judgment, reject God and hate Him, we are driven into the Hell we have freely, persistently chosen. If we pass that Judgment, some of us will go next to purgation to remove any slightest stain of attachment to sin that remains in us,before we join the Righteous and enter the Heaven of everlasting life.  This is the mystery we profess each week when we affirm our belief in the Son of God, who is “consubstantial [one in Being] with the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God” and in the Holy Spirit, who “with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.” (E- Priest) — (Holy Trinity: Our God is far beyond the grasp of our intellect. All we can say is: God, the Father, our Father, is Omnipresent, and so I live in Him because the universe exists in Him. The Son, Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us — and so He is always with me; I live with Him. The Holy Spirit is the One Who inspires us all from within us, and so The Holy Spirit lives in my heart. There is only one God.  We live in Him; He lives with us and He lives in us. Yahweh – “I am Who am” — He is all (Joe Vempeny)  — The great 20th-century Catholic Theologian Father Karl Rahner, SJ, was allegedly asked once by a priest friend how he should explain the Holy Trinity when preaching. Father Rahner’s reply was simple: “Don’t!” The mystery we celebrate in today’s feast defies not only explanation but also finite created intellectual comprehension (OSV)

Exegetical notes 1) The development of the Trinitarian doctrine in the Church.  The oldest doctrinal formulation of the Church’s belief in the Trinity is found in the Apostles’ Creed which has served both as the basis of instruction for catechumens and as the Baptismal confession of Faith since the second century.  Later, the Nicene Creed, originating at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325), stated the doctrine more explicitly.  This creed was introduced into our Western liturgy by the regional council of Toledo in AD 589. God has revealed to us three separate functions that are attributed to the Three Persons.  He has told us that it is proper to attribute to God the Father the work of Creation, to God the Son the work of Redemption, and to God the Holy Spirit the work of Sanctification.  Our knowledge of God as Trinity is made possible by God, Who has chosen to reveal Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  As Father, God has brought forth the created universe, including our own being, through the Father’s Only-begotten Son (Who was later made Incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit and named Jesus). In Jesus, God is made known as One Who hears our cries, Who cares, Who counts the hairs on our head, and Who loves us so passionately that He became one of us in order to suffer for our sins, and even to die for us. As Spirit, God remains with us and within us.

2) The Triune God as seen in the Old Testament: Since Yahweh, the God of Israel, was careful to protect His Chosen People from the pagan practice of worshipping several gods, the Old Testament books give only indirect and passing references to the Trinity, and the Jewish rabbis never understood them as references to the Holy Trinity.    Gn 1:26 presents God speaking to Himself:  “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”    Gn 18:2 describes how Yahweh visited Abraham under the appearance of three men, an event that the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates as the “Trinitarian Experience of Abraham.” In Gn 11:7, before punishing the proud builders of the Tower of Babel, God says, “Come, let Us go down among them and confuse their language.“ These passages imply, rather than state, the doctrine of the Trinity.


3) Clear doctrine of the Trinity in the New Testament.

1. The Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38), describes how God the Father sends the Archangel Gabriel to Mary to announce to her that God the Holy Spirit, will “come upon” her, that “the power the Most High will overshadow” her, that the Son will be made flesh in her womb: “Therefore, the Child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
2. b) During the baptism of Jesus (Mt 3:16-17), the Holy Spirit is shown descending on Jesus in the form of a Dove, while the Voice of God the Father is heard from the clouds, saying, “You are My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased” (Lk 4:22).
3. c) John (Chapters 15 through 18) presents the detailed teaching of Jesus on the Persons of the Holy Trinity.
4. d) In the preaching mission given by the risen Lord to the disciples, Jesus commanded them to baptize people “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”(Confer also Mt 28:19; Jn 10:30).

Trintarian heresies: It became necessary for the Church to define the mystery of th the Holy Trinity more fully to counter certain heresies like the belief in three gods (Tritheism) or that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit referred not to real distinction within the Godhead but to different ways in which God relates to us (the heresies of Monarchianism, Sabellianism, Atripassianism and Modalism).  The most grievous heresy that threatened the Church was Arianism, the view that only the Father is God while Jesus is a  human creature, who,  although superior to other humans in a relationship with the Father, was inferior to the Father.  The Church called 4^th century Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381) to combat the Arian heresy and to produce creeds that defined the nature and relationship of the Trinity.  We affirm our belief in the Trinity in the Creed of Nicaea-Constantinople which the congregation professes aloud just after the Gospel and Homily, in the liturgy of the Sunday Mass.

The dogma of the Trinity, as defined by the Catholic Church, is composed of three crucial elements: 1) God is one substance or being and three Persons. 2) The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three distinct Persons within the Godhead. With regard to the Trinity, the word “Person” is a technical term that designates the three distinct subsistent relations within the Trinity: the Father (paternity), the Son (filiation), and the Holy Spirit (passive spiration).  These three relations are rooted in the two “processions” of the inner life of the Trinity: The Father eternally begets the Son and The Holy Spirit proceeds (spirates) from the Father and the Son. The conclusion is that the three Persons of the Trinity are, therefore, differentiated from one another by virtue of the different relations they have to one another.  (See CCC 232, 234, 244, 237-38, 251, 261, 684, 732 and the www.agapebiblestudy.com document “Monotheism and the Mystery of the Triune God).

Life messages: 1) We need to respect ourselves and respect others.  Our living belief in the presence of the Triune God within us should help us to esteem ourselves as God’s holy dwelling place, to behave well in His holy presence, and to lead purer and holier lives, practicing acts of justice and charity.  This Triune Presence should also encourage us to respect and honor others as “Temples of the Holy Spirit.”

 We need to be aware of God as the Source of our strength and courage. Our awareness and conviction of the presence of God within us give us the strength to face the manifold problems of life with Christian courage.  It was such a conviction that prompted the early Christian martyrs being taken to their execution to shout the heroic prayer of Faith from the Psalms: “The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge ” (Ps 46:7,11).

3) We need to see the Trinity as the model for our Christian families: We are created in love to be a community of loving persons, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One in Love. From the day of our Baptism, we have belonged to the One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  How privileged we are to grow up in such a beautiful Family! Hence, let us turn to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in prayer every day.  We belong to the Family of the Triune God.  The love, unity, and joy in the relationship among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit should be the supreme model of our relationships within our Christian families.  Our families become truly Christian when we live in a relationship of love with God and with others.

4) We are called to become more like the Triune God through all our relationships.  We are made in God’s image and likeness.  Just as God is God only in a Trinitarian relationship, so we can be fully human only as one member of a relationship of three partners.  The self needs to be in a horizontal relationship with all other people and in a vertical relationship with God.  In that way our life becomes Trinitarian like that of God.  Modern society follows the so-called “I-and-I” principle of unbridled individualism and the resulting consumerism.  But the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity challenges us to adopt an “I-and-God-and-neighbor” principle: “I am a Christian insofar as I live in a relationship of love with God and other people.”  Like God the Father, we are called upon to be productive and creative persons by contributing to the building up of the fabric of life and love in our family, our Church, our community, and our nation.  Like God the Son, we are called to a life of sacrificial love and service so that we may help Him to reconcile others to Him, to be peacemakers among our families, in our workplaces, our communities and our schools, to put back together that which has been broken, and to restore what has been shattered.  Like God the Holy Spirit, we are called, with His help, to uncover and teach Truth and to dispel ignorance not in anger but in love. (Trinitarian spirituality: The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that it belongs to God’s very Nature to be committed to humanity and its history, that God’s Covenant with us is irrevocable, that God’s Face is immutably turned toward us in love, that God’s Presence to us is utterly reliable and constant…. Trinitarian spirituality is one of solidarity between and among persons. It is a way of living the Gospel attentive to the requirements of justice, understood as rightly ordered relationships between and among persons.” Dictionary of Spirituality)  

St. Francis Xavier’s favorite prayer was: “Most Holy Trinity, Who live in me, I praise You, I worship You, I adore You, and I love You.”  May the Son lead us to the Father through the Spirit, to live with the Triune God forever and ever. Amen.

JOKES OF THE WEEK:     

1) Trinitarian Love, the essence of family life: One day, while he was walking with God in the Garden of Eden Adam said, “Excuse me God, can I ask you a few questions?” God replied, “Go on Adam, but be quick.  I have a world to create.”
So, Adam says, “When you created Eve, why did you make her body so curved and tender unlike mine?” “I did that, Adam, so that you could love her.” “Oh, well then, why did you give her long, shiny, beautiful hair?” “I did that Adam so that you could love her.” “Oh, well then, why did you make her so stupid?  Is that too because I should love her?” “Well, Adam, no.  I did that so that she could love you.”

# 2: Wisdom from child’s mouth:  A priest went into a second-grade classroom of the parish school and asked, “Who can tell me what the Blessed Trinity means?” A little girl lisped, “The Blethed Twinity meanth there are thwee perthonth in one God.” The priest, taken aback by the lisp, said, “Would you say that again? I don’t understand what you said.” The little girl answered, “Y’not thuppothed to underthtand; ‘t’th a mythtewy.”(Another version: At confirmation, the Archbishop asked the children for a definition of the Holy Trinity. A girl answered very softly – “The Holy Trinity is three persons in one God.” The Archbishop, who was rather old and almost deaf, replied, “I didn’t understand what you said.” And the young theologian standing in front of him replied: “Well, Your Excellency, you are not supposed to. The Trinity is a mystery. Nobody understands it.)”

# 4: Trinitarian pastor: One parishioner said, “The mystery of the Trinitarian God is a lot like our pastor. I don’t see him through the week, and I don’t understand him on Sunday.”

5) God Is Everywhere: A pastor was trying to explain to a little Sunday school child that God is calling people everywhere in the world to believe in him. “God is much bigger than we imagine him to be and God can use all of us in lots of different ways to do his work everywhere,” the pastor said. “God is everywhere!” “Everywhere?” asked the little boy. “Everywhere!” said the pastor. The boy went home and told his mother, said the mother. “God is everywhere! The pastor said so.” “Yes, I know,” “You mean He is even in the cupboard?” “Yes,” said the mother. “In the refrigerator — even when we close the door and the light goes out?” “Yes,” said the mother. “Even in the sugar bowl?” the lad asked as he took the lid off. “Yes,” said the mother, “even in the sugar bowl.” The boy slammed down the lid and said, “Now I’ve got Him.”

8) Lutheran satire about St. Patrick’s bad analogies (Funny You Tube joke): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw&feature=player_detailpage

USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK (For homilies & Bible study groups) (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).

• Nick’s collection of Sunday homilies from 65 priests & weekday homilies: https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies
• Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org/featured-homilies/ (Copy it on the Address bar and press the Enter button)
• Geoffrey Plant’s beautiful & scholarly video classes on Sunday gospel, Bible & RCIA topics:   https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant20663)
• Brant Pitre’s commentary on Cycle A Sunday Scripture for Bible Class: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-Biblical basis of Catholic doctrines: http://scripturecatholic.com/
• Agape Catholic Bible Lessons: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/
• Father’s advice to his son in law before giving his daughter in marriage; (Hilarious video illustrating the role of the Trinitarian God in marriage)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eqEkPjUbmIA

7)Catholic doctrines in short videos; http://thatcatholicshow.sqpn.com/

8) Catholic pages Directory: http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/default.asp

9) The Catholic Liturgical Calendar page: http://www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/index.php

10)Virtual tour of Sistine chapel, Vatcan: http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html?utm_source=Twitter

11) Free program for men’s renewal in parishes:  https://www.paradisusdei.org/index.php/programs/tmiy

(Video URL)= https://www.paradisusdei.org/index.php/programs/tmiy

 

 

 

31 Additional anecdotes:

1)  Trinity prayer of Tolstoy’s hermits: Three Russian monks lived on a faraway Island. Nobody ever went there. However, one day their Bishop decided to make a pastoral visit to learn more about their religious life. But when he arrived, he discovered that they did not know even the Lord’s Prayer. So, he spent all his time and energy teaching them the Our Father and then left them, satisfied with his pastoral visit. But when his small ship had left the island and was back in the open sea, he suddenly noticed the three monks walking on the water – in fact they were running after the ship. When they approached it, they cried out, “Dear Bishop we have forgotten the Lord’s Prayer you taught us!” The Bishop, overwhelmed by what he was seeing and hearing asked them, “But dear brothers, how then do you pray?”  They answered, “We just say, there are three of us and there are three of you, have mercy on us.” The bishop, awestruck by their sanctity and simplicity said, “Go back to your island and be at peace.” [Adapted from Leo Tolstoy- The Three Hermits“ (Russian: Три Старца), a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy (Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy), was written in 1885 and first published in 1886 in the weekly periodical Niva (нива).] Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

2) The world’s biggest mysteries scientists still can’t solve: Ghost ships, alien contact, and technology, all built thousands of years before their time,  still remain mysteries, unexplained by modern science.  Ten such mysteries are the 1) Baghdad, or Parthian, Battery, date ca. 2000 years ago, capable of generating electric charge. 2) Terrifying SOS message about the death of all crew members from a from a Dutch freighter, the SS Ourang Medan. 3) The Dancing Plague of 1518 which made 400 women hysterically dance themselves to death. 3) Man, with no identity: A man who would soon adopt the name Benjaman Kyle woke up in 2004 outside of a Burger King in Georgia without any clothes, any ID, or any memories. 4)  The WOW! Signal received by Jerry Ehman, a volunteer for SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence from within the Sagittarius constellation near a star called Tau Sagittarii, 120 light years away. 5)  The Voynich Manuscript: The writing is composed of over 170,000 characters written in patterns that resemble natural language. The sections appear to describe different topics of herbal, astronomical, biological, cosmological, and pharmaceutical nature. 6) Oak Island Money Pit: Oak Island is the home of what is informally known as the “Money Pit,” of Nova Scotia in eastern Canada. It is an incredibly deep hole of incredibly elaborate construction discovered in 1795. 7) The Antikythera mechanism is an incredibly intricate analogue computer found in a shipwreck near Greece in the year 1900. The device was used to determine the positions of celestial bodies using a mind-bogglingly complex series of bronze gears. 8) “Sea Peoples” — a technologically inferior, unaffiliated group of seafaring warriors who raided the lands and are often credited with the collapse of once-great civilizations in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean regions. 9) Turkey’s Göbekli Tepe is composed of more than 200 pillars, up to 20 feet in height and weighing up to 20 tonnes, arranged in roughly 20 circles, built more than 13,000 years ago, predating Stonehenge by more than 8,000 years. 10) The Confederate Treasury. The year was 1865, and the American Civil War was drawing to a close. As the Union army marched the final path to victory, the Confederate Secretary of the Treasury George Trenholm made one last effort to preserve the South’s assets by liquefying all gold and silver and burying them in untraceable places along with jewels. (http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/archaeology/the-worlds-biggest-mysteries-scientists-still-cant-solve/news-story/aac87ed0bc09d5cd4dfba0d49f613334) — But these are no mysteries in comparison with the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

3) Human mystery confronting divine mystery: The story is told that Franklin D. Roosevelt and one of his close friends, Bernard Baruch, talked late into the night one evening at the White House. At last, President Roosevelt suggested that they go out into the Rose Garden and look at the stars before going to bed. They went out and looked into the sky for several minutes, peering at a nebula with thousands of stars. Then the President said, “All right, I think we feel small enough now to go in and go to sleep.”  — The wonder of the power and wisdom of God puts things in perspective for us humans. Creation was not an accident, but the result of a Divine Plan; planets, stars, plants, birds, fish, and animals were all created by God. And the climax of God’s creation was humanity. (Fr. Kayala). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

4)Aggressively selfish child: A report some years ago, allegedly by the Minnesota Crime Commission, painted a dark picture of human nature indeed, particularly with regard to small children. I quote: “Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it – his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toy, his uncle’s watch.  Deny him these once, and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He is, in fact dirty. He has no morals, no knowledge, no skills. This means that all children not just certain children are born delinquent.  If permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free rein to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal a thief, a killer, or a rapist.” [Cited in R. Scott Richards, Myths the World Taught Me (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991), p.  39.] — It is to transform this self-centered human nature into a selfless, loving, God-centered one that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took human form as described in today’s Gospel. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

5) “You ask me a riddle?”  Richard, Cardinal Cushing (d. 11/2/1970; Archbishop of Boston, MA), told of an occasion when he was administering last rites to a man who had collapsed in a general store. Following his usual custom, he knelt by the man and asked, “Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?” The Cardinal said the man roused a little bit, opened an eye, looked at him and said, “Here I am, dying, and you ask me a riddle?” — Call them riddles. Call them Mysteries. There are things about life and Faith we do not understand, but I am not going to suggest that you resign your effort to understand. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 

6) “The undertaker!” There is an old story about a henpecked husband who went to a psychologist. He was tired of being dominated by his wife. The psychologist told him, “You do not have to accept your wife’s bullying. You need to go home right now and let her know that you’re your own boss.” The husband decided to take the doctor’s advice. He went home and slammed the door on the way in. He confronted his wife and said, “From now on you’ll do what I say. Get my supper, then go upstairs and lay out my clothes. After I eat, I’m going out with the boys while you stay home. By the way, do you know who is going to tie my tie for me?” “I sure do,” said his wife calmly, “the undertaker!” — Some marriages are filled with conflict. So are some offices. Unfortunately, some Churches are filled with conflict as well. The feast of the Holy Trinity challenges us to cultivate the Trinitarian relationship of love and unity in our families and offices, parishes, and classrooms. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

7) “Bad things always come in threes.” An old adage warns, “Bad things always come in threes.” Have you found this true in your own experience? That bad things (and good things), like to happen in community, in bunches? You say: we invent this connection by suddenly realizing that we got a flat tire on the same day that a computer glitch devoured our hard drive, shortly after our last contact lens just slid down the drain.  I say: there seems to be something significant about the power of three. – On this Sunday, “Trinity Sunday,” the Church celebrates the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, affirming the Truth that good things also come in threes. We recognize God as Creator (the Father), God as Redeemer (the Son), and God as Sanctifier (the Holy Spirit). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

8) “But the machine can’t ask me about my arthritis.” This true story is told of a woman named Mamie who made frequent trips to the branch post office. One day she confronted a long line of people who were waiting for service from the postal clerk. Mamie only needed stamps, so a helpful observer asked her, “Why don’t you just use the stamp machine? You can get all the stamps you need and you won’t have to wait in line.” Mamie said, “I know, but the machine can’t ask me about my arthritis.” — That’s part of the wisdom of Christ’s coming to our earth to live among us as described in John’s Gospel (Jn 3: 16-18).  He can relate to us in all of our daily needs. As we try to walk in Jesus’ steps, we might do well to pray the ancient Irish poem set to an Irish ballad tune, which says,

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all. (Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

9) A dumb debate on God: The following imagined debate for mute and deaf scholars is a warning to our pastors who think that they have explained Holy Trinity well to their flock on Trinity Sunday.  The Jews and the Catholics are having a debate about God and decide that they will each send one representative to prove that their side is right. The only rule is that words are not allowed to speak. They decide on their representatives. The Vatican decides to send their best brain – Cardinal Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation on Faith and Morals – while the Jews pick one of their best rabbis to represent them. As a sign of respect, the Jews allow the debate to be held at the local cathedral. The time for the debate comes and the rabbi walks into the cathedral and up to the cardinal. The cardinal waves his hand towards the sky. The rabbi responds by slamming his fist into his palm. The cardinal holds up three fingers. The rabbi responds by holding up his middle finger. The cardinal then pulls out bread and wine. The rabbi then reaches into a bag and pulls out two fish. At this point the cardinal holds up his hands and walks away.

After the debate the cardinal heads back to the Vatican to talk it over with the pope and the other cardinals. “Man, those Jews have it all figured out. First, I said to him, ‘God is everywhere,’ and he responded, ‘God is right here.’ I was taken aback. So, I held up three fingers representing the Holy Trinity, and he responded, ‘We all worship the same one God.’ I didn’t know what to do so I showed him bread and wine representing the sacrifice of Jesus, and he responded with two fish, representing that God provides.

The Rabbi headed back to the synagogue to tell the others his version what had happened. “Man, you wouldn’t believe those Catholics. The moment I walked in this guy with a weird hat gestures at me ‘No Jews Allowed.’ I said ‘I’m staying right here.’ Then he said, ‘You have three minutes.’ I said, ‘Get lost.’ Then he pulled out his lunch, so I showed him mine.” Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

10) “Why Isn’t the Whole West Coast Included?“

A woman wrote to Reader’s Digest   about an experience that she had when she took a young girl from India to Church with her. It was the eleven-year-old girl’s first exposure to a Christian worship service. The young lady’s parents were traveling on business and had left her in the care of their American friends. The little Hindu girl decided on her own to go with the family to Church one Sunday. After the service was over, they went out to lunch. — The little girl had some questions. She said, “I don’t understand! Why isn’t the West Coast included, too?” Her Christian friends were puzzled and asked, “What do you mean?” She responded, “You know. I kept hearing the people say, ‘In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the whole East Coast.’” Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

11) “God Is Everywhere:” A pastor was trying to explain to a little Sunday school child that God is calling people everywhere in the world to believe in Him. “God is much bigger than we imagine Him to be, and God can use all of us in lots of different ways to do His work everywhere,” the pastor said. “God is everywhere!” “Everywhere?” asked the little boy. “Everywhere!” said the pastor. The boy went home and told his mother, “God is everywhere! The pastor said so.” “Yes, I know,” said the mother. “You mean He is even in the cupboard?” “Yes,” said the mother. “In the refrigerator — even when we close the door and the light goes out?” “Yes,” said the mother. “Even in the sugar bowl?” the lad asked as he took the lid off. “Yes,” said the mother, “even in the sugar bowl.” The boy slammed down the lid and said, “Now I’ve got Him.” Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

12) “What?” Jesus said, “Who do men say that I am?” And his disciples answered and said, “Some say you are John the Baptist returned from the dead; others say Elijah, or other of the old prophets.” And Jesus answered and said, “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Logos of the Father, the Son Whom the Father loved from eternity and Whom the Holy Spirit, the eternal Personification of the love between the Father and the Son, begot on the Virgin Mary.” And Jesus answering, said, “What?”  Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

13) “I’m surprised at you!” An English teacher of a 21-sophomore high school class put a small chalk dot on the blackboard. He then asked the class what it was. A few seconds passed and then someone said, “That is a chalk dot on the blackboard.” The rest of the class seemed relieved that the obvious had been stated, and no one else had anything to say. “I’m surprised at you,” the teacher told the class. “I did the same exercise yesterday with a group of kindergartners and they thought of 50 different things the chalk mark could be: an owl’s eye, a cigar butt, the top of a telephone pole, a star, a pebble, a squashed bug, a rotten egg, a bird’s eye, and so on.” — The older students had learned how to find a right answer but had lost the ability to look for more than one right answer. The Holy Spirit helps us, in His wonderful Wisdom, to see more than we might have seen by ourselves. The Spirit’s vision allows us wonderful options for expansion and new possibilities. It is the Spirit’s Wisdom that reveals the Word to us. It is also the Wisdom of the Spirit that shows us our sin, which guides us, which instructs us, and which leads us in the way to Life Everlasting. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 14) Trinitarian design for medieval cathedrals: When the architect and engineer Aldo Spirito was commissioned to design a cathedral for the Archdiocese of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, West Africa, he used a number of architectural elements, as was the tradition of the builders of the medieval cathedrals, to reinforce the truths of our Faith. Among those elements is the fact that the basic structure of his cathedral is triangular, so as to state dramatically the fundamental truth of Christian Faith: God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

15) The Sundial: A missionary from Africa, on his home-leave, came across a beautiful sundial. He thought to himself, “That sundial would be ideal for my villagers in Africa. I could use it to teach them to tell the time of the day.” The missionary bought the sundial, crated it and took it back to Africa. When the village chief saw it, he insisted that it be set up in the centre of the village. The villagers were thrilled with the sundial. They had never seen something so beautiful in their lives. They were even more thrilled when they learned how it worked. The missionary was delighted by everyone’s response to his sundial. He was totally unprepared for what happened a few days later. The people of the village got together and built a roof over the sundial to protect it from the rain and the sun! — Well, I think the sundial is a lot like the Holy Trinity, and we Christians are a lot like the African villagers. The most beautiful revelation of our Faith is the teaching about the Holy Trinity, namely, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. But instead of putting the teaching to work in our daily lives, we have built a roof over it, just as the villagers did over their sundial. For many of us the Trinity seems of little practical value, when it comes to our daily lives. We treat it more like an ornament of our Faith. (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).  Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

16) Jesus’ brother, Isukiri, died in Jesus’ place on the cross and Jesus went to Japan : While visiting one of the members of one of the congregations I served some years ago I was offered a cup of coffee, and while I sat in the lounge waiting, I noticed something unusual.  On a table there was what appeared to be a shrine.  Inside was a Buddha statue with candles and flowers and food and other symbols.  As we sipped coffee, I asked about the display on the table expecting to hear a story about an overseas trip and souvenirs. Instead, I heard a story about this person’s involvement in the cultic Japanese religion Mahikari and how she felt that what she was learning through this religion complemented and supported her Christian Faith.  She told me how it taught her about karma, reincarnation, ancestor worship, and making food offerings to the spirits of the departed, and so on.  She told me that Jesus’ brother, Isukiri, died in Jesus’ place on the cross, that Jesus went to Japan when he was 37 and he died there when he 106. The amazing thing about all this, is that this person saw no conflict between what she confessed on Sunday mornings when she said the Apostles’ Creed with us and what she did the rest of the week as she prayed before the shrine in her lounge.  This reminds me of the young man who asked if he could go into the Church to pray.  Before the pastor could respond, he quickly added, “By the way, what kind of Church is this?  Not that it makes any difference.  I don’t follow any particular religion.  Whenever I pass a Church or a mosque, I go in say a prayer and plug into the Divine.  Any God will do!” — “Plug into the Divine,” as if  it were   magic, a kind of pill that will keep us safe and sound!  Today’s feast reminds us that our God is a Triune God, one God in Three Persons. (Rev. Gerhardy). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

17) Exploring the mystery of Holy Trinity: Explorers and the pioneer families did solve the mystery of what was out there beyond the coastal strip. In fact, people have been exploring the mysteries of our world on many fronts – medicine, technology, and what is out there in space. Where there is any kind of a mystery, people will try to solve it. But there are some Mysteries that will always be Mysteries. Today, Trinity Sunday, we come up against one of those Mysteries – God.  Who is God? Where is God? What is God? I can’t touch Him. I can’t say how big He is. I can’t see Him. The early Christians started talking about a Triune God. This wasn’t to make God more logical and understandable and acceptable to human ways of thinking. In fact, the idea of the Trinity intensified the Mystery and awesomeness of God. They observed that Jesus had a unique relationship with the Father and that the Holy Spirit had a unique relationship with the Father and the Son. Against all sorts of odds, against all human logic, and in the face of mounting opposition, the Church maintained that Jesus Christ is true God, equal with the Father, and that the Holy Spirit is God, equal with the Father and the Son. Who is God? He is our Heavenly Father Who made us, takes cares of us and calls us His dear children. Who is God? He is Jesus Christ Who gave His life on the cross to re-establish our relationship with God. He reveals the way to God and to eternal life. Who is God? God is the Holy Spirit in us giving us Faith in God and guiding us in our daily walk as a Christian. — Faith in the TriUne God acknowledges the might and majesty of God but, at the same time, trusts in His care and intimate knowledge of our needs and of what is happening in our lives. “O LORD, our Lord, the majesty of Your Name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens”(Ps 8:1). Let us make this our prayer: “Lord God, in spite of our unbelief and lack of understanding of Who You are, show us Your new way of living. Amen.”  (Rev. Gerhardy). Fr. Tony  (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

18) Holy Trinity prayer (Fr. De Mello version of Tolstoy’s The Three Hermits):    When the Bishop’s ship stopped at a remote island for a day, he decided to use the time as profitably as possible. He strolled along the seashore and came across three fishermen mending their nets. In Pidgin English they explained to him that, centuries ago, they had been Christianized by missionaries. “We, Christians!” they said, proudly pointing to themselves. The bishop was impressed. Did they know the Lord’s Prayer? They had never heard of it. The bishop was shocked. How could these men claim to be Christians when they did not know something as elementary as the Lord’s Prayer? “What do you say, then, when you pray?” the bishop asked. “We lift eyes in heaven. We pray, ‘We are three, You are three, have mercy on us.’” The bishop was appalled at the primitive, downright heretical nature of their prayer. So he spent the whole day teaching them to say the Lord’s Prayer, and he succeeded although the fishermen were slow learners.

Months later the bishop’s ship happened to pass by those islands, and the bishop, as he paced the deck saying his evening prayers, recalled with pleasure the fact that on that distant island were three fishermen who were now able to pray correctly, thanks to his patient efforts. While he was lost in thought he happened to look up and noticed a spot of light in the east. The light kept approaching the ship and, as the bishop gazed in wonder, he saw three figures walking on the surface of the water towards the boat. The captain stopped the ship and all the sailors leaned over the rails to see this amazing sight. When they were within speaking distance, the bishop recognized his three friends, the fishermen. “Bishop!” they exclaimed, “we are so glad meet you! We heard your boat go past island and came hurry, hurry to meet you.” “What do you want?” asked the bishop filled with wonder seeing them walking on water as Jesus did. “Bishop,” they said, “we so sorry. We forgot that lovely prayer you taught us. We remember only this much: ‘Our Father in Heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom come’ . . .the rest  we forgot. Please teach us whole prayer again.” The bishop felt humbled. “Go back to your homes, my good men,” he said, “and each time you pray, say your Holy Trinity prayer, ‘We are three, You are three, have mercy on us!’” (Fr. Anthony de Mello S.J., The Song of the Bird, adapted from Tolstoy’s original story, The Three Hermits). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 19)  “Welcome!” There is a beautiful Russian icon of the Blessed Trinity painted by a monk named Rublev. The monk, Andrei Rublev (c. 1360 – 1430), was a medieval Russian who painted Orthodox icons and frescoes. His Trinity icon is considered the greatest of its kind, and one of the finest works of religious art ever created, depicting a wordless conversation among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is based on an earlier icon known as the “Hospitality of Abraham” illustrating Genesis 18 which depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (see Gn 18:1-15) sitting around a table.  The painting is full of symbolism and is often interpreted as an icon of the Holy Trinity. A dish of food lies on the table. But the thing that immediately strikes you is the fact that at the front of the table there is a vacant place. The vacant place is meant to convey openness, hospitality and welcome towards the stranger and outsider. — That vacant place is meant for each one of us, and for all the human family. It signifies God’s invitation to us to share in the life of the Trinity. God doesn’t exclude us. He invites us to come in and sit at His table. He wants to share His life with us. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).  Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 20) We don’t need to understand God to allow Him to take over our lives

Thomas Edison, the inventor, once remarked: “We don’t know what water is. We don’t know what light is. We don’t know what electricity is. We don’t know what heat is. We have a lot of hypotheses about these things, but that is all. But we don’t let our ignorance about these things deprive us of their use.” — The truth of that statement is real. Most of us do not know how an electric light works, how a telephone or a TV works, but this does not prevent us from using them. Let us try to apply the same common sense to our Faith in the doctrine of the Trinity. (John Pichappily in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho).  Fr.  Tony(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

21) “Holy, Holy, Holy”: Today’s “signature” Hymn is familiar to all of us. It begins,

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!

 Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

 Holy, Holy, holy, merciful and mighty,

 God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity. 

Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

22) Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity Becomes a House of God: No one understood this better that Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. She grew up in France in the late eighteen hundreds, the daughter of a successful military officer who died of a heart attack while she was still only a girl.     She was an extremely strong-willed and temperamental child.     Her frequent fits of rage were almost uncontrollable, and she was known as the “little devil.”     This began to change after her first Communion, when she was eleven.    That afternoon she met for the first time the prioress of the nearby Carmelite convent.     The nun explained that the girl’s name, Elizabeth, meant “house of God,” and wrote her a note that said:     “Your blessed name hides a mystery, accomplished on this great day. Child. Your heart is the House of God on earth, of the God of love.”     From then on, recognizing that God had taken up residence in her soul, she waged a holy war against her violent temper.     She didn’t win overnight, but she did win, eventually, and she also discovered her vocation to become a Carmelite herself.    Her mother didn’t like the idea, however, and made her wait until she was twenty-one.     She won friends of all ages during those years of waiting, singing in the parish choirs, arranging parish day-care service for families that worked in the local tobacco factory, and also winning several prizes for her skill at the piano.     She died only five years after entering the convent, at the age of 26, after having suffered horribly for months from an extremely painful disease of the kidneys.    But her realization that the Blessed Trinity dwelt within her enabled her to suffer with patience and even with joy.     As she wrote to her mother:     “The bride belongs to the Bridegroom, and mine has taken me. [Jesus] wants me to be another humanity for him in which he can still suffer for the glory of his Father, to help the needs of his Church: this thought has done me so much good.” — Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity had discovered the intimate, loving presence of God that He so eagerly wants to reveal to all of us. (E-Priest). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 23) “As there is fire and water in this brick” According to Tradition, when St. Spyridon of Trimithund was asked at the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) how three can simultaneously be one, he responded (with a little Divine help!) by taking up a brick and squeezing it. From the now-soft clay in his hands, a flame flared up, while simultaneously water flowed downward. “As there is fire and water, and clay in this brick,” said St. Spyridon, “in the same way there are three persons in the one Godhead.” (The great 20th-century Catholic theologian Father Karl Rahner, SJ, was supposedly asked once by a priest friend how he should explain the Holy Trinity when preaching. Father Rahner’s reply was simple: “Don’t!”) — The mystery we celebrate in today’s feast defies not only explanation but also created intellectual comprehension. The preacher is left to reaffirm our core belief that God, remaining One, is somehow also Three in that Oneness – TriUne.  The preacher is further challenged to help his congregants (and himself) understand why that truth might matter in their daily lives.) https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/DailyTake/Article/TabId/736/ArtMID/13645/ArticleID/22072/June-11-2017-The-Incomprehensible-Mystery-of-the-Trinity.aspx). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

24) The universal testimony: A good illustration of the Trinity comes from world-renowned scientist Dr. Henry Morris. He notes that the entire universe is Trinitarian by design. The universe consists of three things: matter, space, and time. Take away any one of those three and the universe would cease to exist. But each one of those is itself a trinity. Matter = mass + energy + motion. Space = length + height + breadth. Time = past + present + future. Thus, the whole universe witnesses to the character of the God who made it (cf. Psalm 19:1). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

25 Another simple explanation: ”St. John of Damascus, a great Eastern theologian of the eighth century, said we should think ‘of the Father as a root, the Son as a branch, and of the Spirit as a fruit, for the substance of these three is one.’ He also said, ‘Think of the Father as a Spring of Life, begetting the Son like a River and the Holy Ghost like a sea, for the spring, the river and the sea are all one nature.’”(https://anastpaul.com)    Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

26) A Divine Mystery in our world of mysteries: The world, we live in, is not as simple as it might seem to be. It is full of unexplained mysteries that raise several questions that remain to be answered even today. There are many such mysterious phenomena, which find no satisfactory explanation in science. Many of the mysteries keep us wondering, asking questions, and striving to learn more about our world; others are simply amusing. They have perplexed individuals all throughout history. The Bermuda Triangle is believed to possess certain supernatural powers due to which aircraft and ships coming in its vicinity disappear. Moreover, researchers have never been able to find the exact cause of the disappearing of vessels and aircraft, neither have they been able to trace the lost objects. The Bermuda Triangle remains an unexplained mystery. Unidentified objects, abbreviated as UFOs, are disk-like objects seen in the night sky. Some of them glow and have lights. People claim to have seen them float in sky or fly across speedily. It is said that they could be spaceships or vehicles of the aliens traveling to Earth. Archaeologists have found about thirteen crystal skulls in parts of Mexico as well as Central and South America. They are 5000 to 36000-year-old human like skulls made out of milky crystal rock. Long years of research might be able to find answers to some of them while many will remain being unresolved for generations to come. —  If there are so many things that cannot be explained in this world, how can we expect to explain the mysteries relating to the Creator of this world? Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is a mystery that cannot be comprehended by the human beings. (Fr. Bobby Jose). Fr. Tony(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

27) The “Dogmatic” Sarcophagus, also known as the “Trinity Sarcophagus” is an early Christian sarcophagus dating to 320–350,^[2] now in the Vatican Museums (Vatican 104). ^[1] The three persons of the Trinity are portrayed as three bearded males, in the act of creating Eve while Adam lies nearby in a deep sleep. It was discovered in the 19th century during rebuilding works at the Basilica  di San Paolo fuori le Mura, (Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Wall), in Rome, Italy. Together with the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, it one of the most important examples of Christian-Roman sculpture of the Constantinian era. It draws its name from its clear references to the dogmas of the Council of Nicaea (325), in particular to Christ being consubstantial with God the Father, as shown (for example) by the scene of a figure with the appearance of Jesus between Adam and Eve, though whether the figure is to be understood as Christ or God the Father is less clear – the dogmatic point works either way. (Sanchez Archives & Wikipedia). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

28)  Icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev:  In 1425 AD,  Andrew Rublev, a Russian monk, painted an icon of the Trinity in which three angelic figures are seated around a small table, engaged in intimate conversation. On the table is a chalice, in the background is a tree. The trio of figures and the tree are reminiscent of the visit which angelic messengers paid to Sarah and Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. As they enjoyed the generous welcome of Sarah and Abraham, the messengers announced the unexpected birth of Isaac (Gn 18) whom Abraham would later be willing to sacrifice if God willed it (Gn 22). — From his knowledge of iconography, Henri Nouwen has suggested that Rublev intended this angelic appearance to prefigure the Divine Incarnation by which God sends the unexpected gift of His Son, who sacrifices himself for sin and gives new life through the Spirit. Rublev wished that his icon would offer his fellow monks a way to keep their hearts centered on God, Father, Son and Spirit, despite the chaotic world of political unrest in which they lived. (Sanchez Archives). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)   L/21

29) The Most Holy Trinity: During his third voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) landed on an island in the South Caribbean Sea on July 31, 1498. He called this island Trinidad to honor the Most Holy Trinity. Later, when Spanish explorer Alonso De Leon (1639-1691) established a Spanish mission in Texas, he gave the name Trinityto the 550-mile-long river that flows through Texas from north to south. Like Columbus and De Leon, we continue to honor the Most Holy Trinity by giving the name Trinity to some churches and educational institutions. Also, once a year, we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity to remember and honor the three persons in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is the story of a wealthy Jewish man who was also a militant atheist. He had a son he sent to Trinity Schoolto get a good education. After attending the school for a few days, the son said to his father casually, “Dad, now I know what Trinity means.H” “What does it mean?” the father asked him with a suspicious look on his face. “It means there are three persons in God,” the boy replied, “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Alarmed at the prospect of his son becoming a believer, he said, “Son, I am going to tell you something now, and I want you to remember it always. Forget the Trinity. There is only one God, and we don’t even believe in Him.”  — This militant atheist was not an atheist. However, he had a tough time understanding the mystery of the Holy Trinity. That is why he was so vehement in his denial of the reality of the Holy Trinity. We cannot blame him for his lack of understanding of the Holy Trinity because we don’t really understand this mystery either. Yes, we don’t really understand this mystery. However, we genuinely believe in it because it has been revealed to us through the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, in our personal lives, we continue to experience the love of our heavenly Father, the saving grace of the Son, and the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit. Our faith, as well as our personal experience, assure us that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Fr. Jose P CMI).

 30) “Encourage one another” Richard G. E. Beemer, in a recent article on the International Special Olympics, told a touching story about the power of encouragement. The “Special Olympics,” of course, are athletic contests for people old and young who are physically or mentally handicapped. It was Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President John F. Kennedy, who launched these “Olympic” contests in 1963 as a builder of morale among the disadvantaged. Perhaps many people are unaware that one of the late President’s sisters suffered a mental handicap. Hence, Mrs. Shriver’s particular interest.) In 1979, the Special Olympics, previously participated in only by Americans, were declared international. Held that year at Brockport, New York, they attracted contestants and “fans” from several nations. In these contests, as in earlier ones, winning was not the aim; finishing was. Everybody who finished was cheered and hugged just for making the effort. One of the events at Brockport was a wheelchair race. A thunderstorm broke out during the race, but the racers reached their goal anyhow. With one exception. The slowest of the “wheelers” had an accident. He hit some wet ground and fell out of his chair. What did the audience do? “No one went to his aid,” Beemer reported. ”Instead, the crowd cheered wildly for him to get back into his wheelchair, and after what seemed a very long time, he finally struggled back onto the wheelchair and finished the race.”One of the spectators noticed that a coach sitting in the sidelines was crying. “Are you all right?” he asked him. The trainer answered wiping away his tears, “I’ve been coaching and working with that boy for over two years, trying to teach him to climb back onto his chair should he ever fall out. This is the first time he’s ever made it.” The coach was crying for joy, not for sorrow. Encouragement had turned the trick. Father George Farrell, a Jesuit priest who took part in the Baton Rouge I.S.O. of 1983, had this comment: “These kids need the sense of accomplishment, the sense of self-worth. It gives you a great thrill knowing you’ve helped them to do something important.” — When St. Paul told the Corinthians to “encourage one another,” (today’s second reading), he did not have only “special” people in mind. Specials are not the only ones helped by cheering. All of us need a pat on the back. All of us “love to be loved.” -Father Robert F. McNamara.

31) Holy Trinity in art: The earliest known representation of the Trinity is preserved on the “Dogmatic Sarcophagus”, an art work from the mid-fourth century C.E. which can now be seen in the Lateran Museum in Rome. The three persons of the Trinity are portrayed as three bearded males, in the act of creating Eve while Adam lies nearby in a deep sleep.

Paintings from the early tenth century C.E. depict the popular legend that Patrick, apostle to Ireland (ca 389 C.E.- ca. 461 C.E.), used a shamrock in order to teach the Trinity to those he proselytized.

A tenth century artist rendered the Trinity as three virtually identical figures, each wearing a cruciform nimbus. This work is on display in the Bibliotèque Nationale in Paris whereas another late fifteenth century C.E. painting exhibited in the Louvre Museum in Paris images the Father as an elderly figure, the Son as the risen Christ, emerging from the tomb, with the Spirit being breathed forth from their lips as a dove.

Rarely represented in North American folk art, the triune persons of the One God were depicted by David Bixler (1828 C.E.) as present and active in the heart of a pious person.

In 1425 C.E., Andrew Rublev, a Russian monk painted an icon of the Trinity in which three angelic figures are seated around a small table, engaged in intimate conversation. On the table is a chalice, in the background is a tree. The trio of figures and the tree are reminiscent of the visit which angelic messengers paid to Sarah and Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. As they enjoyed the generous welcome of Sarah and Abraham, the messengers announced the unexpected birth of Isaac (Genesis 18) whom Abraham would later be willing to sacrifice if God willed it (Genesis 22). From his knowledge of iconography, Henri Nouwen has suggested that Rublev intended this angelic appearance to prefigure the Divine Incarnation by which God sends us the unexpected gift of his son, who sacrifices himself for sin and gives new life through the Spirit. Rublev wished that his icon would offer his fellow monks a way to keep their hearts centered on God — Father, Son and Spirit, — despite the chaotic world of political unrest in which they lived. He wished that those who contemplated his icon would hear its gentle invitation to join the Holy Trio in their intimate conversation and to recognize that “the movement from the Father toward the Son and the movement of both Son and Spirit toward the Father becomes a movement in which the one who prays is lifted up and held secure.” (Henri Nouwen, Behold the Beauty of the Lord, Praying With Jesus, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana: 1988). — Underlying each of these pictorial renderings of the Trinity is one common factor: the human experience of the mystery of God who has chosen to reveal himself as triune.  (Sanchez Files). L/26

 “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle A(No. 35) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

You may visit my website by clicking on http://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.” Kindly visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  under CBCI or Fr. Tony for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican official website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  My post-retirement contact postal address in the U. S. is Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. M. C. Joseph, Pastor  St. Agatha Catholic Parish 1001 Hand Ave, Bay Minette, AL 36507 36507. Contact me by email only at akadavil@gmail.com. I am back at my home in my home country since June 2023. I live in my home in my home country since my final retirement in June 2023.

May 18-23:May 18 Monday: St. John I, Pope and Martyr:(https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-john-i/) John 16: 29-33: His disciples said, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. 30 Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.”* 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? 32 Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered* to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 3I I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world

Context: Jesus is speaking to his apostles after the Last Supper.

Scripture lessons: In this Last Supper discourse, Jesus explains his Divine origin and his relationship to God his Father in clear terms without using any metaphors. The apostles acknowledge that they understand the Divinity of Jesus. But Jesus prophesies that they will soon desert him and seek their own safety, while he will be arrested, brought to trial and crucified. Our Faith is tested every day when we live in a world filled with agnostics, atheists, and pleasure-seekers who see true believers as superstitious people and hate them. That is why Jesus gave his apostles and all his future disciples the assurance of the anointing of the Holy Spirit Who would strengthen them and guide them. The Second Vatican Council teaches in connection with this passage: “The Lord Jesus who said `Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33), did not by these words promise complete victory to his Church in this world. This sacred Council rejoices that the earth which has been sown with the seed of the Gospel is now bringing forth fruit in many places under the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord, who is filling the world” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 22).

Life messages: 1) Our Faith is firmly rooted in the Divinity of Jesus demonstrated by his Messianic miracles, most of which were foretold by the prophets. The Resurrection of Jesus is the Miracle of miracles proving Jesus’ Divinity beyond doubt. 2) We need to get our daily infusion of spiritual strength by recognizing the presence of God – the Father, the Son Incarnate, and the Holy Spirit — living within us wherever we are, and by communicating with our indwelling God in prayer. (Fr. Tony) (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

May 19 Tuesday: Jn 17:1-11a 1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee, 2 since thou hast given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. 4 I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gave me to do; 5

The context: Today’s Gospel passage is taken from the “High Priestly Prayer” which Jesus offered to the Father  for himself, the apostles and all future believers at the end of his long Last Supper discourse. It is called the High Priestly Prayer because it is as the High Priest of the New Covenant that Jesus offers to God, his Father, the imminent sacrifice of his passion and death, to his apostles and their mission, and  to all future believers.

Glory in crucifixion: In the first part of the prayer, Jesus asks for the glorification of his human nature and the acceptance of his sacrifice on the cross by his Father.  Jesus considered his crucifixion as his glorification — just as the martyrs would later do.  The cross was the glory of Jesus because it was the completion of his  double work of saving mankind and of demonstrating to us how much God loves us. Further, it was his death on the cross that led to his Resurrection in glory.   Jesus glorified God 1) by accepting death on the cross in perfect obedience to God, to complete His eternal plan of salvation; 2) by revealing God to men as a loving, forgiving and saving Father; and 3) by giving believers Eternal Life in making them his disciples and teaching them to obey his new commandment of love.

The essence of Eternal Life: According to the New Testament, Eternal Life is: “to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent” (John 17:3).  To “know” God in the Gospel sense is to have a deep, personal experience of God Who is working in one’s life.  It involves a close, intimate relationship which matures eventually into mutual love and trust.  Christian Faith is essentially a “believing in”- a total surrender.  It is the way we come to “know” Christ closely, to experience Him intimately, and to love Him personally.

Life messages: 1) Let us center our Christian life on prayer and the glorification of God.  Prayer means getting into contact with God — listening to Him and talking to Him.  If we are convinced of the presence of God within us, we can talk to Him even while we are driving, waiting in a queue, or doing routine work in the kitchen or yard. Our talk with God can include adoration, praise, thanksgiving, pleas for forgiveness for ourselves and for those who injure us and/or others, and prayer for the needs of others and of ourselves. A few minutes spent in reading the Bible is the best way of listening to God. We glorify God by obeying His commandments, especially the commandment of love given by Jesus. Fr. Tony (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

May 20 Wednesday: St. Bernadine of Sienna, Priest: (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-bernardine-of-siena/) Jn 17:11b-19:: 11 And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you did send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth

In today’s Gospel passage, taken from Jesus’ High-Priestly prayer, Jesus prays in particular, for those disciples who are sharing the meal with him.  The substance of that Prayer is a request for the victory, unity, protection, and consecration of his disciples.  (1) Jesus prayed that they might find victory by living out their Christianity in the rough-and-tumble of life.  The disciples were to win the world for Christ by living out their Christianity within the world. They must bear witness to Christ through their transparent Christian lives, reflecting Christ’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and spirit of humble service.  (2) Jesus prayed for the unity of his disciples.  The world cannot be evangelized by competing Churches, and that is why Jesus prayed that his disciples might be as fully one as He and the Father are One. Christian unity is determined by whether and how well we love one another, and whether we reflect the love of God in Christ for the world. (Eph 4:4–6:  … one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope  that belongs to  your call; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of us all, Who is above all and through all and in all). (3) Jesus prayed for His Father’s protection for his disciples from the attacks of the Evil One.  If the disciples of Christ fall, it is because they try to meet life with their own strength alone, and fail to recall consiciously the presence of their protecting God and, so, to seek His help.  (4) Jesus prayed that his disciples might be consecrated in the Truth.  (a) GOD alone IS TRUTH, and  to “Consecrate” means to set apart for a special task (Jer 1:5; Ex 28:41), namely to live out and to bear witness to His TRUTH in our lives;  (b) to “Consecrate” also means to equip a man with the qualities of mind, heart, and character which are necessary for that task.  God has chosen us and dedicated us for His special service of loving and obeying Him ourselves and of bringing others to do the same.  c) He has not left us to carry out that great task with only our own strength, but by His grace He fits us for our task, if we place our lives in His hands.

Life messages: 1): We need to understand, appreciate, cooperate with, and pray with and for each other: The denominations are a reality.  There is no use in our blaming each other for the historical events which caused these divisions in Christ’s Body. What we can do is to learn sympathetically about the doctrinal similarities and differences among the members of our Christian community, and to learn to love each other, cooperating with the members of all denominations in all ways possible. 2)  Let us pray fervently that God may show us how to proceed in building true and lasting Christian unity without sacrificing TRUTH,  the basic Christian principles,  and the teachings. Fr. Tony (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

May 21 Thursday: St. Christopher Magallanes, Priest & companion-martyrs: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-cristobal-magallanes-and-companions/

Jn 17:20-26: 20 “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that  thou hast sent me. 22 The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as  thou hast loved me. 24 …

The context: Today’s Gospel passage is the concluding part of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” in his Last Supper discourse. Here, Jesus prays for true unity among his followers who accept him as their Lord and Savior.

Divisions in Christianity: The first major division in Christianity, which took place in the fifth century, was the schism caused when the Eastern Orthodox Churches under the patriarchs who separated themselves from the Western Church under the Pope.  Next, the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century separated its followers from unity with the Church centered in Rome and freed them from her Authority. During the following five centuries, this separation resulted in the formation of more than 30,000 Protestant denominations. According to Pope St.  Paul VI [canonized October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis] “the Church founded by Jesus Christ and for which he prayed is indefectibly one in Faith, in worship and in the bond of hierarchical communion” (Creed of the People of God, 21). 

Jesus’ prayer for unity:  In his prayer for unity among his disciples, Jesus mentions that the basis and criterion of unity must be the Unity of God in His Three Divine Persons among Whom there is eternal, mutual love and Self-giving/receiving.  The unity of Jesus and his Father is, essentially, a unity of love and obedience and a unity of personal relationship. Another reason for Christian unity is the union of the faithful with Jesus Christ in His Mystical Body by Baptism, and through Him with the Father (verse 23). This means that the fullness of Unity is attained through Sanctifying grace,  the Life of God, which comes to us from the Father through Christ (cf. Jn 15:5). Jesus declares that unity among the believers is essential if the world is  to acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior, because the disunity among Christians acts as the biggest block for evangelization, for it offers living, constant counter-witness to the Good News of Redemption.

Life messages: 1) Since Jesus Christ himself left us his final wish for unity through his prayer to the Father: “that they may all be one; even as You, Father are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me” (Jn 17:21), it is our duty to pray and work for meaningful unity among Christians. 2) Let us learn to appreciate each other’s common beliefs and enter into genuine dialogue and cooperation with members of other Christian denominations, instead of accusing each other of heresy. 3) We need to remember that the present non-Catholic Christians are not responsible for the historical events and actions from which the various denominations originated in the past. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/26

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/;

May 22 Friday: St. Rita of Cascia, religious: (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-rita-of-cascia/ (Jn:21:15-19); 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would;..19

The context: This is a post-Resurrection apparition scene. After miraculously providing breakfast for his apostles who had been fishing all night, Jesus conferred on Peter the Primacy in his Church, which Jesus had previously promised as a reward for Peter’s profession of Faith (Mt 16:16-19).

The triple question: As if to give him a triple chance to atone for his triple denial, Jesus asks Peter, three times, “Simon, son of John, do you love me (agápe love) more than these?” Jesus asks Peter if he loves Jesus more than he loves his boat and fishing equipment, occupation, family, and friends. Jesus is also asking whether Peter loves him more than the other Apostles do. Instead of boasting of his own fidelity, strength, and greater love, as he had done before his triple denial of the Master, Peter humbly puts everything in Christ’s hands.  “Lord, You know well that I love (philia love=love of a friend) You.” The dual reward: 1) Primacy of jurisdiction over the Church was formally defined by the First Vatican Council (Vatican I) in the First Dogmatic Constitution “On the Church of Christ,” (Pastor Aeternus, Chapter 1) declaring, “We therefore teach and declare that, according to the testimony of the Gospel, the primacy of jurisdiction over the universal Church of God was immediately and directly promised and given to Blessed Peter the Apostle by Christ our Lord.  […]  And it was upon Simon Peter alone, that Jesus, after his Resurrection, bestowed the jurisdiction of chief pastor and ruler over all his fold in the words: ‘Feed My lambs; feed My sheep (Jn 21:15-17).’” 2) Peter was also given the promise of a martyr’s death because real love involves responsibility as well as sacrifice. According to Tradition, St. Peter followed his Master to the point of dying by crucifixion — head downwards, because he felt unworthy to die as Jesus had done. This happened during Nero’s persecution of the Christians, which took place between the years 64 and 68 in Rome.

Life messages: 1) We need to pray for the Pope, the successor of Peter, and for the bishops, the successors of the Apostles, and to support them in their ministry. 2) Jesus is a God of second chances Who gives chance after chance to sinners to return to his love, as is made clear by Jesus’ conferring primacy in his Church on the repentant Peter.  (Fr. Tony) (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

 May 23 Saturday: Jn 21:20-25: 20 Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, “Lord, who  is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” 23 The saying spread abroad among the brethren that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If  it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” 24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Context: Today’s Gospel passage describes the role of Peter as the chief shepherd of Christ’s people and of John as a long-lived witness to Christ in the early Church. The last part of the passage was intended to correct the false notion in the early Church that John would not die until the much-expected, imminent “second coming” of Jesus.

 Jesus’ reply: Jesus’ response implies that what is important is not to be curious about what the future will bring one but to serve the Lord faithfully each day, keeping to the way He has marked out for one.

John’s testimony about his Gospel: The passage concludes with John’s testimony about the truth of the content of his Gospel. It also explains the purpose of John’s Gospel: to strengthen our Faith in what Jesus did and taught. In addition, it tells us that the written Gospels contain only a fraction of what Jesus taught and did, implying that we have to depend upon the Sacred Tradition of the early Church handed down to us by the early Fathers of the Church to complete the truth of the written testimony.

Life message: 1) Just as Peter and John each had his unique role in Christ’s Church, so each believer, as a member of this Mystical Body of Christ, each one of us with our differing talents,  strengths, weaknesses, and limits, has one’s own particular work  to do  in completing the task of the Mystical Body of Christ (The Church) – bringing the world to Christ and Christ to the world. Hence, it is our duty to bear witness to Christ by surrendering our lives to Christ on the altar of service for the people of God and by offering ourselves as humble instruments in the hands of Christ. (Fr. Tony) (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

 

 

Glory in crucifixion: In the first part of the prayer, Jesus asks for the glorification of his human nature and the acceptance of his sacrifice on the cross by his Father. Jesus considered his crucifixion as his glorification