St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for the Memorial of St. Ambrose

We believe that Jesus was like us in every way except for sin, but the Gospels rarely mention His emotions. However, in today’s reading from Matthew, we see that when Jesus saw the crowds, “His heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” Compassion emerges when we empathize with the needs of others and feel compelled to take action. Jesus’ compassion for the crowd is evident in two significant ways in the Gospel.

First, He instructed His disciples to pray for God to send workers into His harvest. The troubled and abandoned people needed those who could journey alongside them and guide them.

Second, Jesus appointed workers Himself. He summoned twelve of His disciples and instructed them to share His life-giving message with others.

As we reflect on today’s Gospel reading, we should ask ourselves: Where do we see ourselves in this story? Who do we relate to?

At times, we may find ourselves among the troubled and abandoned. In these moments, today’s Gospel reassures us that the Lord is with us in our distress, drawing near with His compassion.

At other times, we might be among the workers the Lord sends forth, tasked with helping the troubled and abandoned. In these instances, the Gospel assures us that the Lord will empower us for the work He calls us to do.

Let us pray that, regardless of our circumstances, we may always feel the Lord’s presence within and around us and that we may both experience and share His compassion with others.

Homily for Friday of the 1st Week of Advent

In today’s Gospel passage, the two blind men do more than just ask Jesus to heal them; they approach Him and say, “Son of David, have pity on us.” This statement is a clear expression of their faith in Him. They follow Jesus until He reaches the house where He is going, and once inside, He turns to them and asks, “Do you believe that I can do this?” Their response to Jesus’ question, “Yes, Lord,” is another demonstration of their faith.

This scene of the two blind men crying out as Jesus walks by encourages us to keep reaching out to Him in faith. Like them, many of us often turn to prayer when we are aware of our needs. We all experience various forms of neediness in our lives. There may be areas of weakness within us that require healing; we all face imperfections and vulnerabilities that leave us feeling broken. 

The example of the two blind men inspires us to continually turn to the Lord in prayer, even when it seems as though He is not listening. Ultimately, our prayers of faith will not go unanswered.

Homily for Thursday of the 1st Week of Advent

We can all relate to Jesus's weather metaphors in today's Gospel. He talks about rain, floods, and winds—concepts that are easy to understand. Living in New England, we can add snow to that list and still grasp the message Jesus conveys.

Beyond the weather, we all experience personal storms, regardless of where we live. We may find ourselves grappling with life's challenges, facing difficulties and obstacles that seem insurmountable.

Jesus warns us that storms will come, but He wants to help us overcome them. When these storms arrive, we can either feel helpless and be tossed about or find the strength to stand firm and move beyond them.

Jesus wants to be our rock during these turbulent times. If we listen to and follow His teachings, we can remain safe even when the storms rage around us. He reminds us of the importance of doing God's will and encourages us to consistently return to that focal point. By doing so, we can endure any storm we encounter.

Homily for Wednesday of the 1st Week of Advent

Today's Mass readings refer to the concept of the high ground. In the first reading, Isaiah describes a mountain where the Lord invites everyone to an abundant banquet featuring rich food and fine wines. On this mountain, all mourning, sadness, and shame will be removed; even death will be destroyed. This vision lifts us beyond our current experiences toward a realm where everything aligns with God's intentions.

In today's Gospel, Jesus ascends a mountainside, and a large crowd follows Him. There, high above the Sea of Galilee, Jesus restores speech to the mute, mobility to the lame, and sight to the blind. He also feeds the hungry with minimal resources, providing so much that everyone eats to their fill and has abundant leftovers.

Isaiah's words in the first reading become a reality in the Gospel. Both readings convey the message that God desires that we have life and experience it in abundance. Saint Irenaeus once said that God's glory is the human person fully alive. In the Gospel, the Lord relies on others to bring the sick to Him; He needs the disciples to assist in feeding the crowd. He continues to depend on us for His life-giving work to be accomplished.

Advent calls upon all of us to be instruments of the Lord's life-giving and healing presence in the world. During Advent, we pray, "Come, Lord Jesus," and offer ourselves as channels for the Lord's coming.

Homily for the Memorial of St. Francis Xavier

All people are offered gifts from the Holy Spirit, which help us live as children of God and enable us to be instruments of God’s love and grace in the world.

We are a sacramental Church, opening ourselves to the creative grace of God, our loving Father; the compassionate and loving grace of Jesus Christ; and the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit. In the Sacrament of Confirmation, we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as described in our first reading from the prophet Isaiah: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, holiness, knowledge, and fear of the LORD.

These gifts will transform us if we are genuinely open to the Spirit and to God’s love and grace. Real transformation means that we must use these gifts for our own good and for the good of all people.

This Advent season calls us to slow down and reflect on how the Holy Spirit has gifted us and how we are called to use these gifts.

However, we cannot stop there; we must work actively to utilize them so that God’s love and peace may flow through us, allowing us to fulfill our vocation of bringing ourselves and others to God’s kingdom of love.

Homily for Monday of the 1st Week of Adent

When we get sick, our joints ache, our heads throb, and our stomachs feel unsettled – but we understand that it's usually just waiting for the cold or flu to pass. We know that, in time, we will feel better.

However, there are times when waiting becomes uncertain and filled with worry. We don't know how our suffering will end, and we're fearful of what our symptoms may mean. We wait for lab results, medications to take effect, surgeries to be completed, and cures to be discovered.

And sometimes, we find ourselves waiting… for God.

Advent is the season of waiting for healing, transformation, and the arrival of God in the person of Jesus. In today's Gospel, the centurion exemplifies the essence of Advent waiting. He has cared for his servant and now awaits a cure. His faith enables him to wait with hope. This Gentile's faith allows him to trust that God will act through Jesus. With a beautiful combination of dignity and humility, he asks Jesus simply to speak a word of healing.

This Advent season invites us to hope that our waiting, our longing for healing, peace, and salvation will be fulfilled.

Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent

Many people today do not generally value patience while waiting. They want things to be done quickly and efficiently. We have microwaves that cook food much more rapidly than conventional methods, mobile phones so that we are immediately available, texts to communicate simple things right away, emails to get written information to their destination instantly, computers, and personal organizers—all to save time so we do not have to wait.

A man recently told a story about trying to work through some new variations on his computer. It took a little time to resolve and crank the work on his laser printer. So, as he waited, he went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. He filled the cup with hot tap water and put it in the microwave. He said that he was frustrated because he had to wait for the printout for his computer and the cup of tea. His mind then flashed back to many years when he was young and lived on a farm without computers or microwave ovens. He said, “If I wanted a cup of tea, I would have to go out to the well in the backyard, and I would have to pump the water, bring it back, and put it on the wood-burning stove. It would have been a half hour before I could drink my tea, and here I am, frustrated because it takes two minutes to get my tea and to have my computer turn out what it should.”

Waiting patiently, as I said, is not always our strong point. Yet, this weekend, we begin the new Church Year with Advent — a period of waiting. One woman, with good insight, likens Advent to being with child. She writes, “Waiting is an impractical time in our thoughts, good for nothing, but mysteriously necessary to all that is coming. As in pregnancy, nothing of value comes into being without a period of quiet incubation. Not a healthy baby, not a loving relationship, not a reconciliation, a work of art, and never a transformation. A shortened period of incubation brings forth what is not strong.” And so we must wait patiently.

Perhaps this is why Mary is Advent’s chief figure. Even though she said “yes” to God’s call, Mary had to wait. Patiently, she had to create space in her womb and in her life. She had to wait nine months to look into the face of her Savior and ours. She could not make it happen; she had to let it happen.

This is what we are asked to do during this period of Advent. We will make all kinds of necessary preparations for our celebration of Christmas. This includes Christmas cards, shopping for and wrapping gifts, working out the details for parties, etc. But we are also asked to make room in our hearts and our lives for some quiet waiting to reflect on what we are gearing up for in a few weeks: the birth of our Savior. Like Mary, we need to take time in this busy season to sit quietly and let the Spirit do what it will.

Homily for the Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle

The story of the calling of Andrew and his brother Simon, along with the brothers James and John, possesses a beautiful simplicity. Jesus saw Simon and Andrew casting their nets into the sea as they went about their daily work. He called out to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We are told that the brothers immediately followed Him.

It is natural to expect some hesitation when responding to Jesus' call, as doing so would mean leaving behind everything they had ever known, including their livelihood, and venturing into "uncharted waters." Catching people is much harder than catching fish. Nonetheless, whatever reluctance Andrew and Simon may have felt, they immediately overcame it and chose to follow Jesus, becoming great evangelists who preached the Gospel of Christ.

Perhaps it can be said that the Lord works in our lives much like He did in the lives of Andrew, Simon, James, and John. He often calls us amid our daily tasks—in the ordinary, sometimes monotonous moments of life. He invites us to step beyond our familiar surroundings and comfort zones to serve God's kingdom. This call can come in small, subtle ways. While we may initially resist it, if we listen and allow it to resonate within us, responding positively can lead to surprising and good works through us by the Lord.

Homily for Friday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time

We live in a world that is constantly changing and doing so at a rapid pace. Many people find change challenging; most of us need certain constants in our lives, and we find it easier to manage change when some things remain the same.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus speaks about a profoundly significant change. He proclaims that even heaven and earth will pass away, which is difficult to imagine. Yet, He immediately highlights something that will never change: "My words will not pass away.”

Amid even the most drastic changes, the Lord’s word remains solid and unyielding because the Lord Himself is perpetual and true. He is the rock that stands firm when everything else fades away. Amid unsettling change, we can take comfort in knowing that the Lord remains constant. Our relationship with Him helps to keep us steady when everything else seems to be falling apart.

Homily for Thanksgiving Day

Today, people all across the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving. As we observe this day of gratitude, we are particularly mindful of the harvest. Family tables will be adorned with squash, pumpkins, colorful leaves, corn, grapevines, and other seasonal decorations that reflect the day we celebrate.

Families will gather to enjoy abundant feasts of turkey with all the trimmings and desserts like apple or pumpkin pie. We will indulge in the bounties of the harvest. In prayer and action, we will remember the poor and the less fortunate. We will host dinners at churches, shelters, and soup kitchens and contribute a little extra to food banks. We will feel good about these efforts.

It is right to celebrate and thank God for what He has provided; it is good to share the earth's bounty and express our gratitude for God's goodness. However, Thanksgiving may feel incomplete, depending on our overall attitude toward life and what God has done and continues to do for us.

There is a significant difference between giving thanks on one specific day and living in a state of gratitude every day. Thanksgiving Day is an event with a clear beginning and end. The spirit of Thanksgiving, however, should be more than just a single occasion; it should be a way of life.

Giving thanks is essential. When we express gratitude as a community of faith or as a family, we are reminded of the many blessings and good people that God has provided us. We acknowledge that we have been blessed and recognize that there is a greater good beyond ourselves. We become aware of our dependence on God and His goodness.

However, the temptation is to return to our independence, to forget God, and to think that we alone are responsible for our achievements, forgetting that even our ability to act is a gift from Him. This is where living a life of gratitude comes in. We begin to truly "live thanks" when we open our lives to God and prioritize Him above all else.

As we embrace a life of Thanksgiving, humbling ourselves before God and acknowledging Him as the source of all good things, our awareness of our blessings increases. Our joy becomes fuller, and we find ourselves in a state of grace. 

Our continual gratitude for our blessings can evolve into a lifelong commitment to living out those blessings and sharing them as we understand deep down that God is the giver of it all. 

As you give thanks this Thanksgiving Day, remember your calling to be joyful always, to pray continually, and to give thanks in all circumstances. This is what God desires for you. In embracing this attitude, you will discover the fullness of what God has in store for you.