St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for Thursday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time

King Herod Antipas ruled the province of Galilee on behalf of Rome. Saint Luke portrayed his attitude toward Jesus as rather trivial. When he heard about Jesus’ activities and about the great interest that people had in Him, Herod became perplexed and made attempts to see Him. They finally met during the course of Jesus’ Passion, when Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for his opinion about His guilt. Herod questioned Jesus at length but, in the end, treated Him with contempt. Herod did have a curiosity about Jesus, but it was not was serious nor did it lead to faith.

There were others who showed interest in Jesus and their curiosity did lead them to faith. But, even for people of faith, there is much to wonder about in the life of Jesus. The question asked by Herod Antipas, “Who then is this?” is one for us all to consider. We must always be searchers in regard to Jesus since we can never know Him fully. As Saint Paul said, “At present, we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face.” We seek to know Him more clearly, love Him more dearly, and follow Him more nearly. +

 

 

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest

As we have seen in today's Gospel passage, as Jesus sent His Apostles on a mission, He told them to travel light. He wanted them to depend on the hospitality of those to whom they would preach the Gospel. Instead of being self-reliant, He wanted them to be reliant on others, to trust in the LORD, who would actively help them through the kindness of strangers.

Most of us like to be independent, and to some extent, we need to be. But we are never really totally self-sufficient. In our early lives, we were dependent on our parents and others; when we come towards the end of our lives, we will again need others to care for us. In between these two periods of total dependence, we still depend on others for those things that we do not have within ourselves, and others rely on us for what they do not have. So, we are interdependent.

The LORD wants us to welcome others' generous service and offer what we have as well. Each of us has much to give and much to receive. The LORD, who uses us to serve others, also wants us to avail of others' help and to recognize the presence and work of the LORD in this mutual reliance upon one another.+

Homily for Tuesday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time

In response to the people telling Him that family members were looking for Him, Jesus said that His real family “are those who hear the Word of God and act on it.” It is clear from His response that Jesus wants to relate to us as His family. He calls us His brothers and sisters and wants us to belong to His spiritual family. For us to become His family is simple in theory: we need to hear the Word of God and put it into practice in our everyday lives.

Throughout His life and ministry, Jesus’ focus was on the Word of God and the will of God. He heard that Word so fully that it shaped everything He said and did. John’s Gospel even calls Jesus the Word made flesh. (John 1:14)

As Christians, we are called to hear the Word of God and to act on it in everything that we say and do. Like the seed that fell on rich soil, we must take the Word to our deepest selves and yield an abundant harvest. (Matthew 13:18) If we listen to God’s Word and let it shape us and our lives, then we are brothers and sisters to Jesus our LORD. +

Homily for the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle

Our story in today’s Gospel passage is one that we know well. Matthew, whose feast day we celebrate today, is a tax collector and, presumably, a sinful man, and followed Jesus and ate with Him, as did other sinners. The Pharisees objected to this because it violated their laws regarding ritual purity.

In Jesus’ response to the objections of the Pharisees, He echoed Hosea when He said, “Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” Jesus was referring to the acts of Temple sacrifice. If mercy is above these sacrifices, then how much more is it above the rules of ritual purity?

The Pharisees knew Scripture well; they knew the law well, and they saw adherence to these strict laws in every aspect of life as doing the will of God. Yet, Jesus put mercy and love above these laws and traditions.

St. Paul affirmed this in his first letter to the people of Corinth when he said, “If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-4a)

Mercy springs forth from love and not righteousness. Mercy is the voice of God’s love for us and His desire that we have life, and have it to the fullest, on earth, and in the kingdom to come. Exclusion and criticism of sinners – of those whom Jesus came to save – is not a part of a merciful response.

In late June of 2018, Pope Francis addressed the fourteen people whom he had elevated to the rank of cardinal with these words: “None of us must feel superior to anyone. None of us should look down at others from above. The only time we can look at a person in this way is when we are helping them to stand up.”

As we seek to answer the call to spread the Good News, let us pray that the mercy and love of God may be the source of all our actions, words, and attitudes, toward and on behalf of the people we are called to serve. +

 

Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

For many people, today’s parable about the workers in the vineyard is a tough one to swallow.  There just doesn't seem to be any fairness to it and yet, this parable isn’t about fairness; it’s about generosity and mercy.

From the perspective of those who labored all day long, it does seem unfair that the owner of the vineyard gives them the same pay as he did people who worked only one hour 

The latecomers, of course, are the ones who didn't exactly rush to get in line so that they could work, the ones who, perhaps, might have preferred enjoying the finished product rather than making it.  So, why is the owner being so generous to them? Perhaps he is being compassionate when he gives the latecomers a full day's pay so that they could buy enough food to feed their families.

The vineyard owner is, of course, representative of God and we are fortunate that God is like that; generous and compassionate in His love for us.  After all, even if we work hard to follow God’s will in our lives, we know that we often fail and it is then that we really don’t want God to judge us with fairness, but with mercy instead. None of us can fulfill our mission in this life without God and, because of our failures and sinful nature, none of us can really make it to heaven without God’s mercy.  Not even the saints believed they deserved heaven or that they could reach heaven without the mercy of God.

God's kingdom is His free gift to us.  All we can do is love God and our neighbor and trust that He will give us all the graces that we will ever need toward our salvation.

Perhaps the best way to look at how this parable relates to us is this:  All that is good in us is ours, not by right but a free gift of God.   Certainly, there is much that we have earned: our salaries, our homes, our cars, even our parish church and our school and other facilities.

But, all this is possible only because so much has been given to us: life itself, eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to touch, a good mind, a heart to beat with Christ's love, the power to give hope to someone in despair, to love where others hate.   All of these things and so much more are pure gifts, not rewards. 

Each of us is loved deeply by God.  But, none of us is able to do anything to have either earned it or demanded it. 

So, let us change our ways of thinking until we are no longer confused by God's generosity and mercy.   We have to remember that God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. Our challenge is to let God be God. It would be a lot better for the whole world if we do so.+

Homily for Friday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Throughout His ministry, Jesus made it clear that He came not to be served but to serve. Although Jesus lived on this earth both as God and as human, at times He still needed the help of others in order to fulfill His mission. Today’s Gospel calls us to focus on some of the ways in which He was helped by a number of women who were His followers and supported His mission. Luke says that as Jesus made His way preaching throughout many towns and villages, a number of women provided for Him out of their own resources. Their service to Him enabled Him to serve others.

 

It stands to reason that if Jesus needed the help of others to complete His mission, then we are also in need of such help. By virtue of our Baptism, we are called to serve others, and we are also called to accept the service of others because we really do need their help; we cannot answer God’s call to us simply on our own resources.

 

Serving others calls for a spirit of generosity and for a spirit of humility, wanting to do for others while recognizing our need for interdependence with others. Saint Paul taught us that within the Church, the Body of Christ on earth, we are all interdependent. The Spirit is at work in all our lives in many different ways. We need others and others need us. We all have something worthwhile to give and something worthwhile to receive. Let us recognize our need for, and be grateful for, those who journey with us and who help us through life.+

Homily for Thursday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Most people would never even consider showing up at a meal unless they were invited. Yet, the woman in today’s Gospel passage does just that. It is important to note that she did so, not out of selfishness, but because she so anxiously wanted to be near Jesus and to show Him a service of hospitality and love. This uninvited guest showed Jesus the hospitality that His host should have shown Him, but he failed to do so. The woman honored Jesus in an overstated way in return for what she had already received from Him. She had felt God’s forgiving love through Jesus, and such was her gratitude for this gift that she wanted to offer love in return.

The woman should be an example to all who wish to be true followers of Jesus. Like her, all of us have received abundant gifts and, as John’s Gospel tells us, “from His fullness we have all received grace in place of grace.” [1] And like her, if we have a sense that we have been greatly gifted with grace, it will, hopefully, prompt us to do something great in return. 

The woman in the house of the Pharisee shows us how to receive from the LORD and how to love Him in return, not only in our prayers of praise but also in the ways that we serve Him in our service to the least fortunate among us.

 

[1] John 1:16

Homily for Wednesday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time

There were some very good and conscientious people in the time of Jesus who criticized John the Baptist. Some found his ascetic lifestyle to be crazy. Many of these same people also whined about Jesus and how he associated with sinners and pagans. The habit of filtering reality through our own prejudices can lead us to reject things that are genuinely of God. This really isn’t faith nor is it healthy logic; it is seeking to fit God neatly into our own self-conceived and prearranged perception of reality.

 

What we really need to do is to become pliable in the ways of faith and let ourselves be shaped by the will of God, rather than seeking it to be the other way around. In the words of Isaiah the Prophet:

 

Yet, Lord, you are our father;

we are the clay and you our potter:

we are all the work of your hand.[1]

 

[1] Isaiah 64:7

Homily for the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

When someone we love experiences suffering and pain in their lives, we suffer along with them. This is especially true of parents. When sons or daughters struggle physically, emotionally, or mentally, parents suffer just as much as their children. Sometimes, they suffer even more.

When we give our hearts to someone in love, there is always the risk that it will be broken. All love entails some suffering. The only way to avoid that kind of suffering is to close off our hearts. The temptation can be to refuse to give our hearts to anyone, so that it never gets broken, but to do that is only to be half alive. The only way to live is to love and to accept the inevitable suffering it brings.

As she stood at the foot of the Cross and watched Jesus die, Mary's heart was broken. Many years earlier, as he held the infant Jesus in his arms, Simeon had linked Jesus' suffering with that of his mother, saying to her, "And you yourself a sword will pierce."[1]

When our troubles are difficult to shoulder, we can look to Our Lady of Sorrows as our inspiration and help.+

 

[1] Luke 2:35

Homily for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Back in the time of Jesus, no one thought of crucifixion as an exaltation of any kind. Yet, the Cross on which Jesus was executed is exactly what the Church celebrates today. In the terrible time of being crucified, Jesus was victorious. It was the highest triumph of love over hatred. As Saint John says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” Jesus revealed God’s love in all that He said and did, but He revealed God’s love most fully as he hung on the Cross.

For the apostle St. Paul, the Cross of Christ reveals the power and wisdom of God. Shortly before Good Friday Jesus foresaw His crucifixion as the hour when He would be glorified. Authentic love is always life-giving and that is extraordinarily so of God’s love. The Cross is both the triumph of love over hatred and the triumph of life over death. Jesus’ execution on the Cross was cruel, but through His death He passed over into a new life — a life now offered to us all. The blood and water from the side of Jesus speaks to us of the life that flows through the death of Jesus.

The Cross is celebrated in Christian art as the Tree of Life. The triumph, the exaltation, of the cross, which is the triumph of God and of Jesus over Satan and all the forces of evil and death; it is a triumph in which we all share. From the Cross Jesus draws all of us into the love and life of God. As He said in John’s gospel, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”[1] We simply have to let ourselves be drawn by Him. + 

[1] John 12:32