St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We do not know a lot about the details of his life. We know that he was much older than Mary. We know that he was a carpenter. We know that he had dreams in which an angel appeared to him at crucial times in the time before the birth of Jesus and in His early life. And we know that because he listened to the angel in these times, and followed their guidance, he played a very important role in bringing to fruition the mission for which God came to earth in the person of Jesus.

So, while we do not know much about the details of Joseph’s life, we do know about the faith and character of this man, chosen for the role of foster father of Jesus and husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. His is a life, then, that we should emulate.

Through his intercession, may we be always aware of the ways in which God is calling to us and guiding us, and may we humbly act in accord with that call and guidance with the same trust and conviction as did St. Joseph.+

Homily for Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Lent

During His ministry, Jesus made wonderful use of imagery to describe what is important in life. At one point, He compared His ministry to new wine, then said that this new wine required new wineskins. In other words, the traditional way of doing things would no longer be enough; what was and is needed is a combination of tradition and innovation.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declared that He came not to abolish the Law and the prophets but to complete them. He did not pretend to be starting over. There was much in Jewish tradition that He treasured, but He wanted to bring that tradition to a greater fullness; He came to renew Israel’s tradition, not to discard it. His attitude suggests that we don’t simply abandon our religious tradition, but neither should we idolize it.

Our faith is always in need of reform and renewal; the new wine of the Holy Spirit will always require new wineskins. The work of renewal will always involve honoring what is best in our tradition by allowing its rich potential to be fully realized. +

Homily for Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Lent

Today’s Gospel parable speaks of renewal. The forgiveness one receives from God must then be offered and passed on to all our fellow human beings. “Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,” the Master asked his servant, “as I had pity on you?'

What we receive with gratitude builds us up; we cannot be our best unless we share our gifts unreservedly. The gift from God that is most difficult to share and bestow upon another is forgiveness. Yet, it is often the gift of which we stand most in need. By giving we receive, and by it, communion with others and with God is made possible. In Lent, we seek forgiveness from God, but on the way, we also seek to be reconciled with our neighbors.+

Homily for Monday of the 3rd Week of Lent

In the Bronx, a group of women head out every day to work with the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind… all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society. They are the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by St. Teresa of Calcutta, and those they serve include drug addicts, homeless men and women, patients with AIDS and unwed mothers.

All around our nation, there are college students who, despite the demands of their studies, volunteer a few hours every week to spend time with and befriend kids who have lost a parent through Big Brothers Big Sisters. Many of them believe they get just as much out of these friendships as do they little ones they serve.

Finally, here in our own parish, the people of our newly established Take & Eat program, providing meals for the sick and elderly, are already serving more than 100 people, supported by the prayers and wonderful financial support of our parishioners.

All of these people are prophets. The word prophet comes from the Greek word meaning “one who proclaims.” Not all prophets appear in the First Testament; there are prophets among us right here and right now who proclaim the Word of God in their ministries, in their compassion and kindness toward others, in their humble and ordinary efforts fill voids in people’s lives, in their answering Jesus’ command to help those most in need.

Let us pray that our Lenten observance may make us God’s worthy and faithful prophets and that every moment of our lives may find us proclaiming the Gospel of Christ.+

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent

In Wyoming, there’s an inspiring natural phenomenon: a tree growing out of solid rock. Near it is a sign that that says: "The original line of the Union Pacific Railroad passed within a few feet of this point and supposedly was deflected slightly to avoid the destruction of this tree. The firemen of each passing train never failed to drench the tree with a bucket of water.”

How many people are there who, like that struggling tree, would have withered away and died, if it hadn't been for the care that other people freely bestowed on them. 

There is an old adage: "Bloom where you are planted.” Like most old adages – easier said than done. Our backgrounds are very different and some environments in which we live will encourage a full and prosperous life while others will stifle it.

There are people in this world who live in some difficult situations, who cannot begin to bloom where they are planted or even survive without the generous help of other caring people.

The strong and the rich and the healthy also need help from time to time, especially in spiritual matters. Even Jesus, the most self-sufficient person to ever walk this earth, in today's Gospel, asks for a drink of water from some unknown Samaritan woman.

We all know the story quite well:  She was out in the noonday heat because she couldn't very well show her face at the well in the morning when the so-called 'respectable' women were there to gather water. The Jews of the time absolutely hated the Samaritans and considered them to be half-pagan heretics and religious infidels. Jews who were traveling would rather go around Samaria, even though it took much longer, than to step foot in that land.

And, here we have Jesus actually talking with her – a woman who probably considered herself to be very lowly. After their initial greetings and conversation, Jesus' love finally gets through to her and she opens up her heart to Him. Thirsty for the gifts of 'living water', she welcomes Jesus into the deepest part of her heart.

We, too, may consider ourselves to be very lowly when it comes to recognizing our dignity as children of God. The experience of the Samaritan woman is our own. When we were baptized, we, too, were washed with Jesus' living water. At every Easter vigil, we are washed again and forgiven and transformed.

However, sometimes we continue to doubt that such a radical transformation in us is possible.  

Lent should be a life-altering season. All Jesus asks of us is a cupful of faith. Trust in Him and He'll show us exactly what He wants of us this Lent and in the days to follow.

We should never give up or despair that we can't change ourselves. We must allow Jesus to help us bloom where we are at any given moment, to transform our hearts into hearts filled with love and hope, and to give us new minds filled with openness to what He wants of us. We must let Jesus transform us by His love.

All of us go to the well of God’s grace: sometimes to drink from the well and sometimes to offer a cup of faith to others. The act of giving what we have received from God – as the Church of God, the Body of Christ on Earth – inextricably linked to our celebration of the Eucharist – God giving Himself to us – is the very heart of what we are as Church.+

Homily for Saturday of the 2nd Week of lent

Forgiveness and reconciliation are the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To be a dedicated disciple of Jesus is to be dedicated to the work of reconciliation, even when we have disagreements and differing opinions.

Forgiveness demands our facing our responsibility in hurting others, as did the Prodigal Son. Often, this entails putting aside our own agendas, desires, and control, as well as our own hurts, so that we can see the goal of reconciliation and work toward that as we also deal with our hurts. This is difficult but it’s what the Gospel calls us to do. We’re called to balance reconciliation and healing rather than vengeance and punishment. This is the same difficult path that the father in today’s Gospel reading must walk between his two sons.

May we dedicate ourselves to the hard work of reconciliation: to forgive without reprisal, to humbly work to bring healing to those we have hurt, and to restore to hope and dignity, those who have suffered at our hands.+

Homily for Friday of the 2nd Week of Lent

As Christians, we call ourselves servants of the LORD. We are called to serve the LORD and to serve Him by our service to others. We are called to be ambassadors of God’s love and providence, recognizing that all we have comes to us from God and that we are called to share our gifts and our talents to bring about God’s kingdom on earth. 

Let us pray that when we see an opportunity to help those in need, that we not see it as a burden but as an opportunity to do the work of the LORD.+

Homily for Thursday of the 2nd Week of Lent

“Blessed are they who hope in the LORD.”

Hope is a very important thing in our faith lives and in our everyday lives. When hope is there, even when all else seems lost, we have a reason to keep going; we have a reason to think that things will get better.

God gives us the gifts of faith, hope, and love. Even when faith and love seem absent, hope keeps our eyes fixed on God, trusting that even when all seems lost, it will all be brought together again in us by the mercy and providence of God.

May this season of Lent, then, be a season of hope; hope that God is always with us to guide us and to give us all that we truly need.+

Homily for Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Lent

As we just heard, Jesus asked James and John, “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” In other words, were they truly prepared to share His chalice, to cast their lots with Him, to follow where He would lead them, even though it could cost them their lives?

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.”[1] Yet, He went on to drink that cup on the Cross. At the Last Supper, He drank of the cup and then gave it to His disciples, who also drank from it. Yet, a little later, they deserted Him and fled. Despite what they promised Him, James and John would not follow Him when things got really challenging.

We, too, are invited to drink from the LORD’S chalice, the chalice of sacrifice, the chalice of suffering, the chalice of the Eucharist. When we do so, we express our willingness to go where He leads and walk in His way, with all its challenges and joys. 

Jesus teaches that His way of selfless service of others is that to which we are called. We pray that, in drinking from the LORD’S chalice today, we will be faithful to what that action signifies: walking in the footsteps of the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve.+

[1] Matthew 26:39

Homily for Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Lent

Humility is a great theme during this season of Lent because it takes humility – it takes a humble heart – to acknowledge our failures and imperfections and to accept our need for God’s forgiveness.

Humility is also a hallmark of Christianity in that we model ourselves after Jesus who, as God, humbled Himself to become one of us and to live, to suffer, and to die, just like we do.

May our following the example of Jesus’ humility bring us closer to Him and closer to being the kind of people He has called each one of us to be.+