St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for Saturday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew indicates the traditional side of Jesus and how He saw His mission as directed to the conversion of His own people. He was sent to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" and not to foreigners. However, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew tells of Jesus' new vision that perfects and supersedes the old law with "You have heard the commandment.. but now I say to you..." The importance of this change from Judaism to the Church's spread is also found in Matthew: "Go... and make disciples of all the nations." This was new and marked a clear distinction between Jesus's disciples and those of John the Baptist.

New wineskins refer to animal skins that are not tanned and processed and have great flexibility. When fermenting wine is stored in new skins, the skins will stretch, while old, hardened skins will burst open, causing the wine and skins to be lost. Like unshrunken cloth sewn onto an old garment, it will cause a greater tear when it shrinks.

These metaphors, from a Jewish experience, indicate that Jesus' preaching and healing convey a significant departure from the past. What started at the periphery has now shifted to the core. He brings a new type of joy, a new garment rather than one patched with old pieces, and new wineskins to contain the new wine of his life-giving Spirit.

Change can provoke a variety of reactions. Above all, we should strive to remain at peace and be willing to adapt to new circumstances, knowing that we are guided by the teachings of Jesus. Divine providence represents a path of continuity towards the ultimate goal of eternal life in heaven. Still, it is deeply intertwined with the human experience in all its forms. We must endeavor to be worthy followers of Jesus, allowing him to bring new ideas into our lives, and demonstrate the same level of acceptance of change as the early Church.

Homily for Friday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus often behaved in ways that surprised people, as is evident in today’s Gospel. In the story, Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him and shares a table with Matthew and other tax collectors. In the religious community of that time, people like Matthew were considered sinners, and others were supposed to avoid them for fear of being contaminated.

However, Jesus did not follow this practice. He was not afraid of being influenced negatively by others. Instead, He believed that His own goodness could transform others for the better. When Jesus said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” He meant that He wanted His followers to show mercy and kindness in their actions. In the same way, we are also called to bring positive change to others through our own goodness. We are all meant to be agents of the Lord’s transformative love and mercy.

Homily for Thursday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel, Jesus points out that it is difficult to forgive the sins of others that have been committed against us. It can also be difficult to forgive the sins that people have committed against others, especially against those whom we love the most.

However, this is what we are called to do. A lack of forgiveness is sinful in nature. It may be a natural response to particular offenses, but we are called to free the other person—and ourselves—by our forgiveness.

Jesus came to earth so that God might forgive us for our transgressions. In response, people who felt threatened by His message put Him to death. From the Cross, as He took His final breaths, He showed us how to forgive when He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

St. Paul tells us to "be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ."

Homily for the Feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle

Today, we celebrate the feast day of our parish's beloved patron saint, Thomas the Apostle. His life continues to inspire and guide us in our faith journey.

In John's Gospel, we are introduced to Thomas in a moment of great significance. After the death of Lazarus, when fear gripped some of the Apostles about going with Jesus to Judea, it was Thomas who boldly declared, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." This act of courage and faith is a testament to his character.

Next, we hear from Thomas after Jesus explained that he was going to His heavenly Father and that, one day, the Apostles would join Him there. Thomas responded, saying, "LORD, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?"

We also hear from Thomas in the scene for which he is perhaps best known: He doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead and said he would not believe until he saw and touched Jesus's wounds, which he did during a subsequent appearance by the Risen LORD. He is so well-known for this scene that skeptical people are often called "Doubting Thomases."

Thomas had much more to say during his lifetime. He traveled to India and preached the Gospel, establishing seven churches before being martyred in 72 AD. It is also believed that he traveled to China and, possibly, to Indonesia.

As our patron Saint, let us pray, asking St. Thomas' intercession that our faith may be strong and that we may follow wherever the LORD calls.

Homily for Tuesday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel reading, we learn about a sudden and unexpected storm on the Sea of Galilee. Just like the disciples faced a sudden crisis, we may also experience overwhelming challenges without warning. Even if everything seemed fine yesterday, today's Gospel passage reminds us that we could be in crisis at any moment.

St. Matthew's version of the storm story connects it closely to the experiences of his Church. The disciples' desperate plea, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" reflects the needs of St. Matthew's readers and all of us in times of despair. The message is that the Lord is always near. Our urgent prayers for help will not go unanswered. The Lord is more powerful than any storm we may encounter, and when we call out, "Lord, save us!" we can trust that help will be given.

Homily for Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel, the Scribe expresses his willingness to follow Jesus with great enthusiasm. However, Jesus reminds him of the challenges that come with being a disciple, emphasizing that He leads a nomadic life without a permanent home. This interaction highlights the clash between our initial enthusiasm and the harsh realities we face. Although the disciples were eager to follow Jesus at first, they struggled to maintain their commitment when faced with the difficulties of the journey, especially as the prospect of the Cross loomed ahead.

Maintaining our idealism, enthusiasm, and generosity of spirit can be difficult, especially when we encounter challenges. At such times, we realize that our own strength and optimism are not enough. We need the Lord to be our source of strength when we feel disheartened, our inspiration when we are tempted to settle for less, and our refuge amidst life's storms.

To remain faithful to our journey with the Lord, we must rely on Him every step of the way. He does not expect us to walk alone, but rather to lean on Him for support.

Homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A Benedictine Monk tells of how he looks at the bulletin board every morning before prayer. The items he pays the most attention to are the requests for prayers. They come from all over and are about almost everything. There is a regular "prayer client" who mentions various intentions. One time, in her list, she mentioned the need for prayers for someone seriously ill. The following day, she left a message saying, "No need to pray for so and so; he's already dead."We Catholics pray for both the living and the dead. In the incident of the woman who told the monks not to pray for the person who had died, there is a common thread with today's Gospel. There is Jairus, who didn't hesitate to pray for his daughter's healing. Upon arriving at the house, the people told him not to bother Jesus any longer because the girl had died. But Jesus told the father, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." He continued to express his faith in Jesus, and his daughter was raised to life. Jesus performed a miracle with the faith of the Jairus.

God's word for us today helps us to examine specific aspects of our faith relationship with the Lord.

The first aspect is that the way to healing in Jesus is through faith in Him. We express our faith in our prayers. Jairus was not discouraged and kept hoping against hope, even with the death of his daughter, that his prayers would be answered. To the realistic but discouraging remarks of the people on the girl's condition, Jesus kept inspiring him, telling him to just have faith. In our relationship with God, faith paves the way for healing.

The second aspect would be to look at death, again, from the perspective of the Christian faith. Some of us could relate concrete stories of extraordinary healing even when dying. But most of us know that although our ailing loved one did not recover and now rests in peace, we still believe in the Lord; we still believe that, on a different level, our departed loved ones have indeed been raised to new life.

In our first reading today, we heard that God's strongest desire for us is life. It isn't that God created us to be immortal like Him; we are mortal. But there are two kinds of death: physical death and spiritual death.

We experience the physical death at the end of our lease of life. But we may still be physically alive while having experienced spiritual death.

Through the Resurrection of Jesus, we know and believe that beyond physical death, there is eternal life with God by our faith in Christ. Yet what the devil aims at in this life is our spiritual death, our separation from God while we are still alive. It is the more dangerous death we can experience and must guard ourselves against. It is in this death of our spirit that the devil wants to possess us. With bodily ailments, both kinds of death are possible. We may die if the illness turns deadly serious. But we could also be spiritually dead as we begin to despair, distrust the Lord, and refuse His offer of a more excellent life. Illness can turn us away from God but can also lead to greater faith in the Lord. Jairus's faith led to a new life for his child. He serves as a model of living in faith.

May our prayer today, and always, be for spiritual life and the hope that that life can be renewed – even resurrected – by our faith in Jesus and our hope against hope that Jesus can always fill us with His powerful love – in this life and the next.

Homily for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

St. Peter stood out from the other disciples because of his divinely inspired awareness of Jesus as the Messiah. Due to this insight, Jesus gave Peter a unique role among His followers as the "rock" on which He would build His Church. This was a significant role, as Jesus also gave Peter "the keys to the Kingdom of heaven," implying authority to interpret and make decisions. However, Peter, despite his important position, still had flaws. He once tried to dissuade Jesus from the path of the Cross and later denied Him. Jesus indeed entrusted a significant role to someone who remained flawed.

Teaching is linked with St. Peter while preaching is associated with St. Paul in scripture. St. Paul spread the Gospel to the pagans across the Roman Empire and gave his final sermon in Rome, where, like St. Peter, he was martyred for his faith in Christ. In a poignant text, likely written from his prison cell, St. Paul expressed, "I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith." The imagery of competition and race conveys that "keeping the faith" was a struggle for St. Paul; it was not a simple task, just as keeping the faith was not easy for St. Peter.

Keeping the faith isn't always easy for any of us. St. Paul's words show that he was fully aware that his ability to keep the faith wasn't solely due to his efforts; it was the LORD who enabled him. He said, "The LORD stood by me and gave me strength." It is the LORD who strengthens and empowers all of us to keep the faith. His faithfulness enables us to be faithful to Him, and His love encourages us to keep returning to Him, even after failure. The faithful witness of Saints Peter and Paul ultimately speaks to us of the LORD'S faithfulness to us all.

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr

During Jesus’ time, lepers were considered “untouchable” due to the fear of spreading their disease. They were isolated from the community and allowed contact only with other lepers to prevent contagion.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus did touch the leper. His touch would heal the leper rather than cause Him to be contaminated by the leper’s touch. The leper approached Jesus cautiously, requesting, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus responded clearly and confidently: “I will do it.”

Jesus is not afraid to touch our lives, even the parts we might find unattractive or undesirable. The Risen Lord fearlessly involves Himself in our personal and communal situations, bringing healing and life. All we need to do is approach Him, just as the leper did, and invite Him into our lives and souls.

Homily for Thursday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time

We have been reading the Sermon on the Mount at Mass for weeks, and today we read the final section. In this great Sermon, Jesus outlines three essential activities for his followers: speaking, listening, and doing. When we gather for public prayer, we speak, calling on Jesus as Lord. In public worship and private prayer, we listen to the Word of God and let it pour into our hearts. Speaking and listening are prominent in the life of a disciple. However, Jesus emphasizes that their value is diminished unless they lead to good actions.

It's not enough to just call on the Lord. We must also do the will of God. Merely listening to Jesus' words isn't enough; we must act on them. Our actions should align with our words and what we hear. When our prayer and listening to God's Word result in good deeds, mirroring Jesus' life, our lives become firm and solid, like a house built on rock. Today's Gospel assures us that if our words to God and God's words to us influence our attitudes and behavior, we can better withstand life's storms.