St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for Monday of the 6th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel passage, St. Mark shows Jesus responding with a deep sigh to the Pharisees' arguments and their request for a sign. He asks, "Why does this generation seek a sign?"

 

As we listen to this story unfold, it's hard to miss the frustration in the Lord's sigh, which comes from "the depths of His spirit." We've all experienced similar sighs of frustration in ourselves and others, and we recognize the emotion they convey. But why was Jesus sighing? What caused His frustration with the Pharisees?

 

Many religious people have been tempted throughout history to seek extraordinary signs and visions from heaven. However, Jesus constantly directs our attention to the ordinary moments where we can find the divine. He uses examples like the sower who goes out to plant seeds, the woman who searches for a lost coin, the Samaritan who helps a stranger on the road, and the man who unexpectedly discovers treasure in his field. The list goes on.

 

When we only look for God in miraculous events, we risk missing His presence in the everyday moments of our lives, where He is always present. Often, in these ordinary experiences, we find the mystery of God's kingdom, since Creation is filled with His glory.

Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Several years ago, the late actor Michael Landon was driving on the freeway in LA. It was hot. Traffic was congested. Horns were honking, tempers were flaring, and drivers were exchanging assorted gestures with one another.

As he sat in his car watching all of this, he asked, “Why is so much energy wasted on anger? What would happen if we used that energy on kindness instead?”

It was then that he began to think about creating a television series dedicated to the idea that kindness, and not anger, will best address the problems of our world. That idea spawned the television series, “Highway to Heaven.”

The theme of the show was the same point Jesus makes: to show kindness to others, even when we are treated unkindly.

Kindness blesses the person to whom we are kind, and it also blesses us.

When he was 19, Landon was paid $260 for his first TV acting job. He felt so rich that he went to Beverly Hills to look in the store windows.

As he passed by a toy store, he saw two boys looking through the window at the toys inside. He stopped and asked them which toys they liked best. One boy pointed to a wagon, the other to a model airplane. He took them inside and bought the wagon and the model airplane for them.

The boys were filled with great excitement and joy. What surprised Landon most was the thrill that he got from his act of kindness. It was more satisfying than anything he had experienced before. And more lasting, he would remember it for the rest of his life.

Today’s readings invite us to ask ourselves how much kindness is present in our lives; to look at our own lives and our love, and to ask how they compare to the life and love Jesus describes in His Sermon on the Mount; to ask what would happen if we took the energy we now expend on anger and expend it on kindness. How would our lives and the lives of others change and become happier?

Kindness is a tremendous power, and our supply of it is unlimited. The more we give of it, the more there is to give, much like the loaves and fish Jesus gave to the hungry crowd.

Let us pray, then, that God will help us to appreciate the power of kindness and that He will help us to use this power to bring happiness, peace, and joy to those around us.

Homily for the Memorial of Sts. Cyril & Methodius

In today's Gospel passage, we hear the well-known story of Jesus feeding a hungry crowd. He did so with only seven loaves of bread and a few fish. Interestingly, even though He could have, Jesus didn’t create the bread or fish out of nothing. Instead, He used what the people offered, emphasizing the value of our gifts—even those that may seem small—and encouraging us to trust that God will do great things with them.

 

During His ministry, Jesus didn’t use magic words or wave a wand to make things happen instantly. Instead, He relied on the gifts, talents, words, and actions of the people around Him. From the very beginning, the Lord didn’t just make us beneficiaries of His grace; He made us coworkers and partners in His mission, and we continue that mission today.

 

May we always remember that we can and should offer our gifts, talents, and commitment to the mission of our Lord, and may we trust that He will bring our efforts to fulfillment.

Homily for Friday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

In our Gospel reading, we come across the uncommon word "ephphatha," which means "be opened." This phrase encourages us to recognize the many opportunities we have to invite God's friendship and forgiveness into our lives and those of the people we love and meet.

 

"Ephphatha" calls us to appreciate and be thankful for our identity and for everything we have received from God. It urges us to listen for God's voice amid the constant noise and distractions around us and to seek His presence when we feel overwhelmed by anger, jealousy, or disappointment.

 

Let "ephphatha" be our prayer as we strive to stay open to God's presence in both joyful and difficult times. This openness will help us share God's compassion, mercy, and love with our families, friends, and everyone we meet.

 

Homily for Thursday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Focusing on one thing can often cause us to overlook something else. Even Jesus seems hesitant to shift His attention from His chosen people, Israel, to the Gentile woman. There’s no clear way to soften Jesus’ seemingly harsh reply except to suggest that He did not want to repeat the mistakes of Solomon, who allowed himself to be led astray by foreign women.

 

The woman’s humility, perseverance, and love for her child soften the impact of Jesus’ initial refusal. She does not seek personal gain or selfish pleasure; instead, her plea is for her daughter’s well-being. She responds to Jesus’ difficult words by saying, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” This clever reply addresses His first objections and leads to her daughter’s healing. It stands as a strong example of how gentle perseverance can be rewarded.

Homily for the Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes

Traditionally, the human heart is seen as a symbol of love. However, in today's Gospel reading, Jesus offers a different perspective on the human heart, emphasizing it as the source of evil intentions that can harm and destroy others.

 

The heart represents a person's inner core, encompassing both light and darkness. It can be a reservoir for goodness or become a channel for evil. One powerful image in our faith is the Sacred Heart of Jesus—a figure that was prominent in my home while I was growing up and still holds significance today. This image represents God's inner core, which embodies completely selfless love. This love was fully revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, showing a love that is deeply creative and life-giving.

 

We are called to cultivate hearts that, in some way, reflect the Sacred Heart of Jesus—to have inner cores that share in God's essence. This profound vision of our central calling is beautifully captured in the simple yet powerful prayer many of us learned in our youth: "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love."

Homily for the Memorial of St. Scholastica

Jesus challenged His critics for putting human rules above God's commandments. He recognized that the religious traditions of His time often failed to align with God's will, as revealed in the Scriptures and, even more clearly, through His own teachings.

 

The Church must remain vigilant to make sure its traditions reflect God's Word, especially as expressed by Jesus. From time to time, the Church needs to renew itself, guided by the Holy Spirit, to purify its traditions so they match the true spirit of the Gospel. The Second Vatican Council is a major example of this kind of renewal.

 

Similarly, in our personal lives, we can slip into traditions that do not reflect the heart of God's message in Scripture. Whether in our religious practices or in everyday life, our personal traditions need to be reformed in light of the Gospel. We should always try to hear the Word of the Lord with fresh ears and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance.

 

Homily for Monday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel today emphasizes Jesus' incredible popularity among the people of Galilee. He especially attracted the sick and broken because God's healing power was clearly at work through Him. People were hurrying to bring their sick to Him. People begged Him to let them touch even the tassel on His cloak.

 

We often seek out the Lord with the greatest sense of urgency in our brokenness and weakness. Something happens to us that makes us see our vulnerability, weakness, and inability to manage things on our own.

 

When we face our frailties, those experiences reinforce our recognition of our need for and dependence on the Lord. Often, life’s darker and more painful experiences open us up to the Lord.

 

When St. Paul struggled with his "thorn in the flesh," he heard the Risen Lord say, "My power is made perfect in weakness." Our recognition of our weaknesses can be the opening through which we reach out to and encounter God.

Homily for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s readings remind us that each one of us has some gift or talent that has been given to us by God who has called us to use these gifts and talents to share with others so that we might be instruments of God’s love and compassion in our world.

The difficulty we often have is our inability to appreciate the gifts that each of us has to offer. Perhaps we think that we’re not good enough to actually be messengers of God’s glory. Perhaps we lack the self-esteem and self-confidence to believe that God would actually want to use us as instruments of peace and love in the world.

Several years ago, in my discernment about the priesthood, I kept procrastinating because I felt that I had to somehow be perfect or exceedingly holy to be a priest. But then I recognized that priests are people just like anyone else; that they, like me, are interested in things other than incense and vestments, that they have their faults and foibles. I recognized that priests didn’t have some special “connection” to God above and beyond the rest of the members of the Church. It was then that I was able to surrender myself to this tugging at my heart and say “yes” to God’s call.

Another difficulty is that we sometimes find it inconvenient to use our gifts. That using our gifts and talents is sometimes a painful thing to do is a very legitimate statement. But that is what sacrifice, more often than not, entails. When we make a choice to do something, we often make the choice not to do something else that we may very well have wanted to do.

Another personal story, again, several years ago, I was on my way to a store. On my way there I drove by a neighbor’s house whose father had recently died. My neighbor was sitting on the steps. My immediate feeling was that I should stop and talk to him, but I hesitated because I only had a short time to get to the store and get back. I kept driving by something inside me caused me to stop and go back to talk to him. When we started talking about his father he began to cry. We talked for about an hour. I never did get to the store, but I knew I had done the right thing by stopping. My neighbor needed to release his grief and sorrow and God put me in the right place to help him to do that. While I had no idea that stopping to talk would help my neighbor, farthest from my mind was the idea that I would benefit so much from his pouring forth of emotion. Indeed, sacrifice is often more life-giving than we can ever fully appreciate.

And so, we come back to the call of today’s readings, the call to recognize our gifts and talents, the call to share those gifts, the call to see that God can work through our imperfections and failings if we open our hearts to His grace.

In discerning our gifts and talents, we must remember that not everyone has the same ones. Some of us are called to roles of leadership, some of us are called to roles of teaching, and some of us are called to roles that play themselves out quietly. But all of us are called to bestow God’s blessings on others by the use of our gifts, to see that our practice of faith means more than showing up for Mass on Sundays and Holy Days; that it means being an active part of the Church, the Body of Christ on earth. What we do in the building should be reflected in all our actions so that the Gospel message of Christ might be heard and seen by all who know us.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a bushel basket. They set it on a stand where it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, your light must shine before all people so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your heavenly Father.”

Homily for Saturday of the 4th Week in Ordinary Time

Flexibility is a valuable gift because things don’t always go as planned. In the morning, we may intend to complete specific tasks by the end of the day, yet sometimes they remain unfinished. On a broader scale, we might envision particular goals for our lives that don’t come to fruition for various reasons. Such experiences can lead to feelings of despair. However, we can choose to respond differently and move beyond disappointment or frustration.

Jesus faced similar situations regarding His plans and those of His followers. As we heard in today’s Gospel, He intended to take them to a deserted place for quiet prayer and reflection because they had been so busy that they barely had time to eat or pray. However, when they arrived at that secluded spot, they found it crowded with people who had gotten there before them.

Jesus’ response to the disruption of His plans was not anger or resentment. Instead, “His heart was moved with pity for them... and He began to teach them many things.” His plans needed to change because a situation arose that aligned with God’s larger purpose.

Whenever our plans veer off course, we should remain open to the possibility that something better might take their place. Being flexible allows us to recognize greater opportunities beyond our own desires. Ultimately, God’s plan always takes precedence over our personal plans. When we must set aside our own goals and dreams, we should pray that the Lord’s life-giving purpose for our lives prevails.