St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for Wednesday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Once again, in today’s Gospel, Jesus is expressing His displeasure with the Pharisees and goes after them for their efforts at attaining status within their society. Public honor and status were highly prized in the culture of the time. Most of the generous giving for public parks, baths, and temples was not so much to provide for the people but with gaining honor among the people. The donor’s name would be clearly inscribed for all to see. In a sense, things haven’t really changed very much since that time. People still seek status.

Jesus never sought honor or prestige for Himself, nor did He want His followers to look for it, even though they were prone to doing so, each one competing to appear important.

The mother of James and John wanted her sons to have the most prominent seats in the kingdom of God. But according to Jesus, we should direct all honor to God and not seek it for ourselves or our families. All the good things we do should be for the honor of God and not to for our own glory. At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus invites us to, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” +

Homily for Tuesday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Throughout the Gospels there are many instances such as the one that we witness in today’s passage from Luke. Here, Jesus is, once again, in the presence of the Pharisees – he has actually been invited to dine in the home of a Pharisee – and He is confronted with their judgment based on the letter of the Law (as they interpret it).

Jesus sees that the Pharisee had taken note that He did not perform the customary ritual washings before reclining at table to dine. In response, Jesus points out the error of the Pharisees in their focus on the letter of the Law rather than the spirit of the Law.

This really is at the heart of Jesus’ ongoing disagreement with the Pharisees. They focus on minute details of particular practices and rituals all while ignoring God’s call for mercy and compassion for the sick, the suffering, and the oppressed.

In the story of the Good Samaritan, the people who refused to help the injured man were doing so not because they didn’t care, but because they were observing the letter of the law regarding purity; they couldn’t touch a bleeding person. The Samaritan, who was not beholden to these laws, actually fulfilled God’s Law by helping someone who was in need.

There is a part of human nature that can tend to focus on tiny details all while missing the big picture. Let us pray, today and always, that all the things that we do in life, whether they be mundane or great, may focus on the two most important laws – love of God and love of neighbor – and may our doing so bring a spirit of purity to our lives and our souls, helping us to become the good people that God made each of us to be. +

Homily for Monday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus often seemed frustrated with people who sought signs and were unwilling to put their faith in the power given to Him by His Father in heaven. He knew that, in reality, there was no sign that would give them faith; that they would simply find themselves entertained by the “magic” of the sign and then move onto something else. They would completely miss the power and the authority behind such a sign. 

Jesus points to the sign and the preaching of Jonah (a “mere” prophet) and how he was able to lead the Ninevites to repentance, and yet, they had one among them who was far greater than Jonah and they couldn’t see Him for who He was, or understand what He was about. He was just too ordinary for them.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to recognize when the power and presence of Jesus are active in the ordinary moments of our everyday lives; may that recognition lead us to greater faith in the love, mercy, and active presence of God in our midst. +

Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Several years ago, the magazine U.S. Catholic told the story of a young girl named Laura who was severely challenged since birth and struggled with many physical problems and cognitive disabilities. The doctors told her parents that she might live to be three. When she was eight years old, her parents knew her days would probably be few.

 

Her parents wanted her to make her First Communion, but they thought their daughter's unique challenges would exclude her from sharing in the Eucharist. However, when they asked the parish Religious Education director if Laura could receive First Communion, she said, "If not Laura, then who?"

 

In the weeks preceding the First Communion, Laura's mom decided to make Laura's white dress herself. She used a pattern with a large square collar and long sleeves, which would hide the straps that held her in the wheelchair and the arm splints Laura had to wear. The sewing machine hummed for days as the white fabric and lace took shape.

 

Laura's mom remembers that the bedroom where she was working became a very sacred space and the sewing of the dress became a sacred creative action. It was a time of inner transformation. Laura's spiritual journey became intertwined with that of her mom as the stitches she sewed began to close old wounds and piece together a faith that faded for her the years following Laura's birth.

 

Laura's First Communion day was the most blessed and joyous of her whole life.

 

Ten months later, Laura died, and she was buried in that beautiful dress. Her mother said of that day: "The stillness of her hands folded together in prayer seemed strangely comforting. I was unprepared for the joy."[1]

 

During our lifetimes, we struggle to piece together different parts of our lives, much like putting together pieces of cloth to create a garment. The pieces we are trying to put together are the experiences and facets of our lives, which will make us presentable to God in the banquet of heaven when brought together in God's grace. Like the First Communion dress that Laura's mother made, our metaphorical garment is made from our hurts, worries, and struggles as well as all the joys and triumphs of our lives. It is decorated with our efforts to bring the love and peace of God to others.

 

While working to be prepared for the banquet of heaven may be rough at times, God's invitation should fill us with hope rather than fear. Our life's focus should be on working to make God's will our own will and making our lives into a fitting garment for the banquet of eternal life in heaven.[2]

 

[1] From "Clothe Her in Your Care " by Ann Schreckenberger, U.S. Catholic, August 2001

[2] Cormier, Jay, Connections, Londonderry, NH, October 2002

Homily for Saturday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel passage today must be one of the shortest Gospel readings in our Lectionary; it is just two verses long. This brief story of the exchange between Jesus and a nameless woman is told only by St. Luke.

Women have a more prominent place in Luke’s Gospel than they do in the other Gospels. Of the four Evangelists, Luke offers the best balance between the male and female disciples of Jesus.

On this particular occasion, a woman was so impressed by Jesus that she suddenly spoke out with praise for His mother, whom she proclaimed to be blessed for carrying Jesus in her womb.

While we know that Jesus loved and cherished His mother, He used the woman’s words as an opportunity to give praise to a much wider group. Even happier and more blessed than His own mother, are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Jesus’ mother belonged to that wider group and she, more than anyone else, heard the Word of God and kept it.

Mary’s blessedness is due to giving herself over to hearing and doing God’s Word. To that Word her lifelong answer was, “May it be to me according to your word.” [Luke 1:38] May we devote ourselves to hearing and doing God’s word, that we, too, may be blessed. +

Homily for Friday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

As we hear in today’s Gospel passage, some people, in an effort to test Him, asked Jesus for a sign, some miracle from heaven. They did so because they failed to recognize the presence of God in the person of Jesus. So, they believed that if He performed some sign, on demand, that it would prove that God was with Him.

In reality, God was powerfully at work in Jesus’ ministry, if only people had the eyes of faith to see it. There really was no need for miracles in order for the people to accept His message. As Jesus would later say to Thomas after the Resurrection, “Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed.” [John 20:29]

Sometimes even people of faith can be drawn to “signs and wonders”, obsessed with shrines and miracles. We can fail to see that the Lord is present among us in and through the goodness, kindness, mercy, love, and hospitality of others; in all kinds of ordinary expressions of love; even in people’s quiet prayerfulness.

We can miss the divine presence in the everyday and the familiar. In a wonderful poem, the great Irish patriot and poet Joseph Mary Plunkett wrote, “I see His blood upon the rose and in the stars the glory of His eyes.” Nature spoke to him of Christ. The best of human nature and our relationships with one another can also speak to us of God. +

Homily for Thursday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Gospel passage comes just after Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray; what we now call the “Our Father” or “The LORD’s Prayer.” In that prayer, the intentions are simple and clear: We praise God and ask that His kingdom come upon the earth; we pray for that which we need each day, for the forgiveness of our sins in the same measure with which we forgive, and, finally, that we not be put to the final test; that God will protect us from evil.

Jesus tells us that we need to turn to our Father in heaven, in prayer, and ask for that which we truly need in this life. He does not tell us to pray for miracles, for selfish things, for things as we would have them. Rather, He tells us to trust that the Father will give us good things; He tells us to trust that the Father will give us the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit that will give us the courage, the trust, and the faith we need to truly ask that God’s will be done in our lives; to trust that, despite what we may believe to be the best for ourselves and our world, God’s ways are ultimately better; to trust that even when things don’t work out as we had hoped, our prayers are still answered in having God’s Holy Spirit alive in our hearts, minds, and souls, giving us strength and wisdom as well as trust in the promise of redemption and eternal life. +

Homily for the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary

Today the Church celebrates the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Rosary calls us to reflect on the great mysteries of the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus. 

Scripture depicts Mary as a deeply reflective person. In the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel, in response to the words of the shepherds, it is said that “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) Again, in response to the words of the child Jesus to her in the temple, Luke says that Mary “kept all these things in her heart.” (Luke 2:51)

Luke depicts Mary as a meditative person, reflecting deeply on all that was happening in the life of her Son. So, Mary exemplifies the manner of mind and heart that we are invited to bring to the praying of the Rosary.

In praying the Rosary, we treasure and contemplate the key moments in the life of Jesus in this world and His going from this world to God the Father. Mary not only contemplated on what God was doing in the words and deeds of Jesus, but she surrendered herself to what God was doing, as shown by her response to the visit of the angel Gabriel when she says, “May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

Like Mary, may we, too, reflect upon all that God is doing in the words and actions of Jesus; and also like Mary, may we, too, surrender ourselves more fully to God’s will in our lives, thus becoming more fully the people God made us to be. +

Homily for Tuesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

On hearing today’s gospel passage, many people feel empathy for Martha. We see her working hard to prepare a meal for Jesus and His friends, and, when she complains that her sister Mary is not helping her, Jesus proclaims that Mary has chosen the better part. That seems rather unfair to Martha.

 

We know from other stories in Scripture that Jesus was not opposed to people working hard in the service of others: In the parable of the Good Samaritan, which we heard during yesterday’s Mass, He praised the man’s mercy and love when he worked so hard to care for the man who was the victim of robbers. But, as the book of Ecclesiastes says, “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1).” With this in mind, we might say, “There is a time to be active and a time to refrain from activity.”

 

When visiting the home of Mary and Martha, Jesus saw it as a time for them to refrain from activity so that they could listen to what He had to say. Mary recognized that this was the kind of hospitality Jesus wanted on this occasion: the hospitality of listening rather than the hospitality of activity. Mary was more attuned to what the LORD really wanted than was Martha. While the LORD wants us to work on His behalf, He also wants us to stop working at different times so that we may truly listen to Him. Wisdom consists in knowing when it’s time to be active and busy in the LORD’S service and when it is time simply to sit and listen to His word.+

Homily for Monday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

In our gospel reading this morning, a lawyer asks Jesus two essential questions: First, he asks, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus prompts the lawyer to answer the question himself. He does so by referring to the primary love command: love of God and love of neighbor. Second (perhaps, to justify himself for not treating everyone as his neighbor), he asks, “And who is my neighbor?” It is in His response to that question Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan.

 

In looking carefully at the parable, we see that it doesn’t answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Instead, it seems to answer another question, “Which of these three proved himself to be a neighbor?” The parable explains what it means to be a genuine neighbor. Jesus implies that it is more important to be a neighbor to others than to define who my neighbor is. The implication is that everyone is my neighbor.

 

We could say that the answer to the lawyer’s first question (“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”) is to be a good neighbor. If you want to know what it means to be a neighbor, look at the Samaritan. The priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan all noticed the wounded man by the roadside. What sets the Samaritan apart is that he responded to what he noticed. 

 

The priest and the Levite probably saw with eyes focused on the laws of purity, which they saw as more important than showing compassion. Their way of seeing precluded any assistance to the man on the road. The Samaritan’s way of seeing gave way to compassion and mercy. It is the kind of seeing that characterized Jesus Himself. His answer to the lawyer’s first question is, “Be a good neighbor in the way that I am.”+