St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for Saturday of the 4th Week in Ordinary Time

It is often the case that things don’t go exactly as we had planned. On some morning we might plan to get something done during that day, but something unexpected comes up and it does not work out as we had hoped. On a larger scale, some plan we might have had for our career or our family does not happen. There are different possible responses to our plans not working out, short of completely giving up in hopelessness.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus’ plans for Himself and His disciples did not work out as He had hoped. He planned for them to go away to a deserted place for a time of rest and reflection because they had been so busy. However, when they reached that deserted place, they found that the crowd had gotten there before of them. Rather than becoming angry at this intrusion on their time of retreat, Jesus was moved with pity for the people. His plans had to be changed. Something else happened that served God’s purpose.

Whenever our own plans go awry, sometimes something better can replace them, if we are flexible and open. God’s plan is always greater than our plans. Whenever we have to let go of our plans in place of His plan, the LORD’s life-giving purpose for our lives always abounds.+

Homily for Friday of the 4th Week in Ordinary Time

The appeal made in St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews, “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect hospitality,” (Hebrews 13:1-2) is a noble, genuine invitation to all that is good in Christianity. What a contrast with the cruel interchange of lust, resentment, cynicism and cold-hearted violence that led to the beheading of John the Baptist.

Herod’s superficial self-indulgence, which was criticized by John the Baptist, led him to this tragic execution. Urged on by the spite of Herodias and the immodest dancing of her daughter Salome, the frivolous king sent a soldier to bring John’s head.

What a far cry from the ideals of love, hospitality, faithful marriage, and simple dignity, as proposed in our first reading today. But even in this moment of dire crisis, and in danger of his life, John the Baptist must have renewed his act of faith with that ultimate Psalm of promise, “The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?” (Psalm 27)+

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

St. Mark shows how, early into His ministry, Jesus sent out the Twelve that He had chosen to share in His work. He sent them out to do what He had been doing: to preach the gospel and to heal the sick. Jesus understood that He needed the help of others to do the work He had been sent to do. Jesus still needs us today to do His work. We are to be His eyes, His ears, His hands, His feet, His voice, and His presence wherever we are. He wants to work in and through us.

St. Paul understood this very clearly. He saw the Church as the Body of Christ in the world. The Body of Christ could not be fully functioning unless everyone plays the role they are called and equipped to play through their Baptism. Each has a unique contribution to make to the life of the Body and, thereby, to the work of the LORD in the world today. Each is indispensable and necessary. The first reading from the letter to the Hebrews puts it very simply: In the Church, everyone is a “first-born child” and a “citizen of heaven.” There are to be no second-class citizens in the Church. Each of us is a vital member of Christ’s Body, uniquely graced by the LORD for His work and mission in the world.+

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

The people of Nazareth should have recognized how God the Father was working through Jesus in a distinctive way. Instead, they sneered at Him and despised him. He was too familiar for them, too local, too known. They knew His mother and His family. As one of their own, he was too ordinary for them to take Him seriously. It is a classic case of “familiarity breeding contempt. 

We often fail to recognize the presence of God in the ordinary and in the familiar. In reality, we do not have to go long distances or witness miracles to recognize the wisdom and the power of God. It is all around us in the near, the familiar, and the ordinary, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. The Gospel invites us to see the familiar and the ordinary with new eyes. The failure of the people of Nazareth to see in this way inhibited what Jesus could do among them. Our seeing in this way gives the LORD space to work among us in new ways.+

Homily for Tuesday of the 4th Week in Ordinary Time

Throughout the four Gospels, Jesus asks many different questions. It can sometimes be valuable to take the questions He asks and to sit for a brief time to reflect upon them.

Today’s Gospel passage includes one of those questions, “Who has touched my clothes?” Jesus’ disciples were perplexed by His question, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?'” There were so many people touching Him.

However, Jesus knew that one person touched Him in an act of hope, as a final effort for healing. Many people were touching Him, but one deliberately reached out to make personal and physical contact with Him. When Jesus saw who it was, he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.” 

The LORD is always passing by; He is always among us. Sometimes we barely notice Him. The woman in today’s Gospel shows us the power of a personal and deliberate reaching out to the LORD. This is how we can better experience His life-giving presence in our lives.+

Homily for Monday of the 4th Week in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel reading today tells us an unsettling story about a man who was possessed by demons. He was very much out of control, completely separate from himself and from others. He was more dead than alive, as is indicated by his living among the tombs. He was the absolute outsider. Yet, Jesus engaged with him and, as a result of his encounter, the man was healed and his relationship with his community was restored. Having just calmed a storm at sea, Jesus calmed the storm in this man’s mind and spirit and sent him out as a messenger of good news to his community.

Hopefully, we may never be as troubled as this man was, but we can all find ourselves out of sorts from time to time; out of sorts with ourselves and with others, feeling only half alive within ourselves, tossed and thrown about. It is then that we need to come before the LORD as the man in the gospel did. His initial approach to the LORD was quite aggressive; it was full of anger, “What have you to do with me, Jesus of Nazareth?” Perhaps, when we are distressed, that can also be our starting point when we come before the LORD in prayer. Yet, He is never put off by our disturbance within. If we let Him, He will pour His peace into our hearts; He will calm us as He calmed the storm, and having done so, He will send us out to share His peace and mercy with others, just as He sent out the man in the Gospel.+

Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the LORD

In our Gospel reading today, St. Luke tells us about a very joyful day in the city of Jerusalem. A young couple, along with their young son, meet two elderly people named Simeon and Anna. Simeon responded to meeting Jesus by praying aloud. Cradling the infant Jesus in his arms, he blessed God in a prayer that has made its way into Compline, the Church’s official Night Prayer.

Anna’s response was to tell everyone about Jesus, especially those people who were waiting in hope for a sign of God’s favor.

These two very devout Jewish people of very advanced age embody two fundamental qualities of being aware of the presence of God. Simeon lifted up his heart in prayer, and Anna spoke out about Jesus before others. Simeon’s meeting with the Holy Family led him toward God in prayer; Anna’s meeting with the Holy Family led her to share the Good News.

Each of them has something fundamental to teach us about how to welcome the LORD. We are to thank the LORD in prayer and to bear witness to the presence of God in our lives. Like Simeon, we thank God in prayer for the gift of His Son, the Light who enlightens us. Like Anna, we proclaim God’s gift to others, by what we say and do. The LORD who entered His temple as the Light of the World has entered our lives too. Simeon and Anna show us how to respond to His gracious coming.+

Homily for Saturday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s Gospel passage shows Jesus saying the wind and the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” much as He did when silencing the demons that possessed some of the people that He met in His travels and ministry. Just by His simple words, Jesus calms the turbulence of the wind and sea.

In today’s Gospel passage, the scene that we witness gives us a sign of Jesus’ saving presence and the reliance of His disciples on that presence, even amid the plots and persecutions that threatened His own life.

May we, too, turn to the LORD in the turbulent moments of our lives and recognize that Jesus’ saving presence is always with us and within our grasp.+

Homily for Friday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time

Once again, today, we hear Jesus telling people something very important in parables, in simple words and metaphors with which they are familiar and that lead them to understand a deeper reality; a deeper truth about God.

Today, He uses the metaphor of a tiny seed growing into the largest of plants, giving much room and shade to provide shelter for numerous birds of the air. He uses this part of life, with which the people are quite familiar, to describe the kingdom of God.

As the Church, the Body of Christ on earth, we are called – collectively and individually – to be a part of building up the kingdom of God on earth. We are called to take our seeds, that is, our gifts, talents, and skills, no matter how small, and to plant them in our world, and to let the grace of God give strength to our efforts to bring about the kingdom of God.+

Homily for the Thursday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time

We must listen very carefully to what Jesus says, “Take care what you hear.” There are so many things that we hear, but we do not always pay attention to or take notice of what we hear. Just as there is often more to someone than meets the eye, so there can be more to what someone says than meets the ear. When we listen attentively, we can often hear more in what someone says that may not be immediately obvious to a less-than-attentive ear.

That which applies to our ordinary conversations applies, even more, when the LORD’S word is spoken. There is always more to the word of the LORD than first meets the ear. Jesus declares in the gospel that the more carefully we listen, the more we will receive, “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.” The riches contained within the LORD’S words are plentiful and He is generous with them, but it is our generosity, our generous and attentive listening, that allows those riches to be released into our lives.+