St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

In today's Gospel, a man "with a spirit of an unclean demon" asked Jesus loudly, "What have you come to do with us…? Have you come to destroy us?" Jesus neither shrank in the face of this aggression nor reacted in kind. Instead, He only addressed the demon and brought the man healing and peace.

So often, in the Gospels, Jesus does not respond in kind to those who oppose Him, but neither does He back down from them. The LORD does not relate to us as we often relate to Him. His approach is always more generous, more loving, and more merciful than our approach to Him and to one another.

When the people in the synagogue saw Jesus' encounter with the disturbed man, they were amazed at His authority and the power He had over unclean spirits. Jesus exercises His authority by showing love and kindness to those with no claim on it except for their need. In that way, He shows us what genuine authority looks like.

Let us pray that Jesus's example may guide us in approaching one another in a spirit of love and mercy and with a desire for understanding and peace.

Homily for Monday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and then sat down, He made a commentary on what He had read, identifying Himself as the prophet who was sent to “bring glad tidings to the poor… to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” He also identified Himself with two other prophets, Elijah and Elisha, who ministered to non-Israelites, a hungry widow from Zarephath, and a leper from Syria who had been cured of his affliction. Jesus was saying to the people at Nazareth that He had come for all, especially those in the greatest need; it didn’t matter who they were or from where they came.

When Jesus claimed this vision of generosity as His own mission, the people of Nazareth became outraged. They thought that since Jesus was one of their own, they would receive special treatment from Him, but Jesus came to save all those in need. If He had any partiality, it was towards those broken in body, mind, or spirit.

The Lord continuously reaches out to us in our need and pain; all He asks is that we receive Him as He is, on His own terms, which the people of Nazareth were unable to do. The Lord is always close to all of us; it is our need, our suffering, whatever form it takes, that can bring us close to Him.

Homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Many of us are creatures of habit to some extent. We have consistently followed habits and traditions that can be beneficial but may also hold us back. When this happens, it can take time and effort to change. Similarly, communal traditions, which are traditional ways of doing things as a society or within a Church, can be beneficial but can also become restrictive.

In the Gospel, Jesus clashed with the Pharisees, who held the tradition of the elders in high regard. This tradition was passed down orally for hundreds of years and involved applying the Jewish Law to every detail of daily life. While not written in the Scriptures, these traditions had gained authority equal to that of the Scriptures.

During His ministry, Jesus challenged the emphasis that the Pharisees and other religious leaders placed on their human-made spiritual traditions. Jesus suggested that the religious leaders had undermined God's commandment in their zeal to uphold these traditions. Jesus emphasized that ritualistic traditions did not hold importance to God and taught that what truly matters is the condition of our hearts and intentions.

Gardeners know that pruning bushes and shrubs is essential to maintain health and quality. Similarly, Jesus acted as a pruner, cutting back traditions that had become overly important and emphasizing what truly mattered to God. Jesus did not wholly abandon Jewish tradition but instead critiqued it to reveal God's true desires. By doing so, he aimed to allow the best aspects of the tradition to thrive while removing elements that obscured God's presence.

Our religious traditions, personal and within the community of the Church, need to be constantly re-evaluated because what we think is important may not align with what is important to God. It's crucial to revisit the New Testament, especially the Gospels, to understand what Jesus emphasizes as important. St. James urges us to accept and submit to the Word planted within us through Baptism. This involves not just listening but also acting upon it. Caring for the sick, the oppressed, and all those in need and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world is the genuine expression of religion in the eyes of God.

God's primary focus is how we interact with each other, especially with the most vulnerable among us. Jesus didn't hesitate to heal the sick on the Sabbath, even though it was considered work and unlawful by the elders' tradition. Jesus' actions and teachings are the best guide to understanding the actual value of our religious tradition and what we need to reconsider.

Homily for Saturday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time

In the parable, one of the servants saw his master in a negative light. He believed him to be a demanding man who reaped where he had not sown. In his perspective and fear, the servant did nothing with what he had been given. However, the other two servants had a much more charitable view of their master. As a result, they were free to take initiative and even take risks with what they had been given.

Jesus revealed God as being infinitely generous. He demonstrated that God's goodness leaves us amazed and that God remains faithful even when we are not. Jesus did not reveal a god waiting for us to fail, as the third servant viewed his master. Instead, Jesus showed us that God wants us to take risks and that we remain in His love whether or not we succeed.

God's unfailing love should encourage us to take risks with the gifts we have received from Him. The first letter of John tells us that perfect love casts out fear. We should not be paralyzed by fear like the third servant in the parable. God, who has blessed us abundantly, expects us to share our blessings generously and trust Him with the rest.

Homily for Friday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time

In today's parable, the bridegroom arrived quite late and would have been thrilled to discover that some bridesmaids were there to meet him. Despite his late arrival and their long wait, their perseverance was a testament to their unwavering faithfulness.

Immediately after relating this parable, Jesus told His disciples, "Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." He wanted them to remain faithful, particularly when He seemed absent, and their expectations of Him were unmet.

Jesus wants us to keep our light burning right to the end, through good and bad times. This constant commitment to faithfulness shows our devotion to the Lord and trust in His love.

Earlier, Jesus referred to His disciples as the light of the world and encouraged them to allow their light to shine so that others could see their good deeds and give glory to God. Continuously keeping our lamps burning and allowing our light to shine until the end involves carrying out the good works that the Lord asks of us for as long as we can.

Homily for the Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist

As we know, John the Baptist was a significant figure predestined to herald the coming of the Messiah. In his late teens he was guided by the Spirit to live an abstemious and reflective life in the desert. At the age of thirty, he appeared as a preacher of reform and regeneration. He called the people to repent and be baptized, washing away their sins, while proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. He was looked upon as a genuine prophet of God, and his voice resounded with a clear call to faith and virtuous reform.

John’s message infuriated Herod and Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother Philip, with whom he lived in defiance of the law. John boldly criticized them for the scandal and was imprisoned.

At a lavish birthday banquet in the royal palace, Salome, the daughter of Philip and Herodias, so enchanted the guests with her dancing that Herod pledged to grant her whatever she asked. Provoked by her mother, the girl asked for the head of John the Baptist. Acting on her wishes, Herod reluctantly had John beheaded. 

Today's memorial honors the great herald of Jesus, who gave his life for the truth about a year before the Passion of Jesus. He foresaw Jesus' death on the Cross, referring to him as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Augustine

Jesus continues to express His righteous anger toward the scribes and the Pharisees. Yesterday, He admonished them for focusing on the details of the law while ignoring the Torah's values. 
 
In today's passage, He indicates the importance of our inner reality over the image we portray to others. What really matters, He tells us, is who and what we are in the deepest recesses of our being. 
 
Jesus was swollen, bruised, and bleeding while dying on the Cross – a gruesome image – but it was then that His love for us was most powerfully visible. 
 
The widow who donated two small coins to the Temple treasury seemed unimportant. However, Jesus not only saw her, but He recognized her generosity of heart; He saw that she was prepared, like Him, to give everything she had.
 
Indeed, appearances can be misleading. The scribes and Pharisees had far less substance than their outer image. In the widow and the crucified Jesus, there was far more than met the eye. Jesus tells us to be less concerned with how we appear to others than the quality of love in our hearts. 
 
So, let us pray, today and always, that God's Holy Spirit will kindle in our hearts the fire of His love and that we may be recreated to become the people He created each of us to be in the first place.

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Monica

It's not often that we think of Jesus using humor to point out faulty mindsets. Yet, His imagery in today's Gospel has a playful twist. He humorously accuses the Pharisees of straining out gnats and swallowing camels. A gnat is practically invisible; a camel is large and imposing. The image of someone straining out a gnat to not swallow it while cheerfully swallowing a whole camel is funny and relatable in an outlandish way. 

He uses this relatable image to poke fun at those who make a big deal about what is unimportant while happily ignoring what is essential, scrupulously paying tithes on herbs while ignoring justice, mercy, and fidelity. Jesus is talking about getting our priorities right and keeping things in balance.

We can all be predisposed to get worked up about minor concerns while not attending adequately to what is essential. On this occasion, Jesus lists what is important: justice, mercy, and fidelity. Justice and mercy concern our relationship with our neighbor; fidelity concerns our relationship with God. Jesus is saying that what really matters is getting those two relationships right; everything else, no matter how urgent it may seem, is secondary. St. Paul says something similar: 'the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love.' 

We pray that this is, and will remain our priority.

Homily for Monday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus was critical of those who hindered others from believing in Him. He chastised His own disciples for trying to prevent children from drawing near to Him despite their parents' wishes that they do so. He rebuked those who wanted to avert the blind man Bartimaeus from making contact with Him. 

Instead of closing off the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus calls upon His followers to open it up to others. This is not a solitary task but a shared responsibility. We are meant to guide each other to the Lord, reveal the Lord to each other, and bolster one another on our journey towards Heaven.

The Gospels are rich with examples of individuals who brought others to Jesus, serving as a wellspring of inspiration for us. Consider John the Baptist, whose life's purpose was to lead people to Jesus and, in doing so, to open up the Kingdom to others. His dedication and fervor can ignite our own passion for this shared mission. 

As we navigate our pilgrim way through life, we all rely on the support of each other’s faith and lived witness. This mutual support is a crucial aspect of our shared experience as we journey together toward Heaven.

Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

I am a huge fan of the late comedian Jack Benny. I enjoy listening to his radio show recordings from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.

One of Jack’s running jokes depicted him as an extreme penny-pincher, always looking for ways to make money and even more ways to avoid spending it. Jack and his writers used this gag in every program.

In a classic scene, Jack walks down a dark alley on a rainy night. Suddenly, a figure comes out of the shadows, approaches Jack, and demands, “Your money or your life!” This is followed by a long and unexpected silence. So, the robber yells even louder, “Hey Bud, I said, ‘Your money or your life!’” Jack, clearly annoyed, says, “I’m thinking it over!”

Of course, the idea is that everyone hearing this encounter is shocked that the answer isn’t so obvious to Jack Benny.

Jesus must have been shocked that some of the people He encountered during His ministry could not recognize and appreciate what He was offering them. He wanted them to choose between life and death, but they really didn’t know which one to choose. In the end, many refused, turned, and walked away from Him, returning to their former way of life. They preferred not to know the truth rather than to live up to the challenges - and thus, the rewards - of the truth. It was easier.

However, some people recognized that Jesus had the words of everlasting life and that He was the Holy One of God, and they chose to stay with Him, realizing they had nowhere else to turn.

Some people view religion as a burden, something that ties us down with a list of rules and checks and balances, but it doesn't have to be that way. Jesus always followed the laws of His faith but not the “laws” that others made up for the people to follow. It was the “breaking” of these human-made laws that found Him in conflict with the Pharisees and Scribes, who could not accept the offer of life that He came to bring to us.

Let us recognize in the Scriptures, in our celebration of the Mass, and in our practices of faith the incredible offer Jesus makes in His invitation to His Father’s kingdom. May we recognize the great sacrifice He made on our behalf and be willing to make sacrifices that lead us to accept that offer while inviting others to do the same.