St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for the Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions

Throughout His ministry, Jesus stressed that He came not to be served but to serve. While Jesus lived on this earth as God and as human, He still needed the help of others to perform His mission. Today’s Gospel calls us to focus on how He was helped by several women who followed Him and supported His mission. St. Luke says that as Jesus made His way preaching throughout many towns and villages, several women provided for Him out of their own resources. Their service to Him enabled Him to serve others.

If Jesus needed the help of others to complete His mission, then we also need such help. By our Baptism, we are called to serve others and accept their service because we really need their help; we cannot answer God’s call relying solely on our own resources.

Serving others embodies a spirit of generosity and humility that recognizes our need for interdependence. In his teachings, St. Paul reminds us that we are all interdependent within the Church, the Body of Christ on earth. The Spirit is at work in all our lives, guiding and supporting us in our service. We need others, and others need us. We all have something valuable to give and something valuable to receive. Let us recognize our need for, and be deeply grateful for, those who journey with us and help us through life.

Homily for Thursday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Most people would never show up at a meal uninvited. Yet, the woman in today’s Gospel does precisely that. She did so not out of selfishness but deep humility and gratitude. She wanted to be near Jesus to show Him hospitality and love. This uninvited guest showed Jesus the hospitality His host should have shown Him but didn’t. She honored Jesus in return for what she received from Him: God’s forgiving love.

The woman is an example to all who wish to be true followers of Jesus. Like her, we have received generous gifts and a continuous flow of God’s favor and blessings. If we sense that we have been extraordinarily gifted with grace, it will hopefully prompt us, like the woman, to do something extraordinary in return. 

The woman displays how we should receive from the Lord and love Him in return, not only in our prayers of praise but also in how we serve Him not simply as a duty but as an expression of our love for God by helping those in need, just as Jesus did during His time on earth.

 

Homily for Wednesday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time

Some very good and conscientious people criticized John the Baptist. Some found his austere lifestyle to be strange. Many of these same people also grumbled about Jesus and how He associated with sinners and pagans. The habit of filtering reality through our own prejudices can lead us to reject things that are actually of God.

This really isn’t faith, nor is it healthy logic; it seeks to fit God carefully into our self-conceived and prearranged perception of reality.

What we truly need is to be malleable in our faith, allowing ourselves to be shaped by the will of God, rather than seeking to shape it to our own will. In the words of Isaiah the Prophet:

 

…Lord, you are our father;

we are the clay and you our potter:

we are all the work of your hand.[1]

 

[1] Isaiah 64:7

Homily for Tuesday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time

In our Gospel reading, we hear about a widow mourning her only son. In the time and place where this scene occurs, a widow would have no means to provide for herself; she would have to rely on her son. In this case, her only son has died, leaving her in a vulnerable and desperate situation. She perhaps mourns not only for her dead son but also for the destitute life ahead of her, a life without any means of support or protection.

So, Jesus’ raising her son from the dead is not simply a miracle of life after death. It is another example of Jesus’ universal compassion for the poor, the suffering, and those who mourn—a compassion that is often lacking in our world but one that we are all called to embody.

Let us recognize our role in this divine plan. Let us pray that Jesus' compassion may fill our hearts and souls, as well as our words and actions, so that His love may be spread through us as His ambassadors in our world.

Homily for the Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs

The words of the Roman Centurion, "I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof... but say the word and let my servant be healed," are adapted for the Mass as we prepare to receive Holy Communion. The Centurion, in his humility, respected the local customs and did not want to ask Jesus to violate the Jewish Law by entering the house of a pagan. His profound trust in the life-giving power of Jesus’ word was a testament to his remarkable faith, a faith that Jesus declared greater than any he had found in Israel.

If a person, such as a pagan soldier in an occupying army, can show such faith in Jesus, it is a source of inspiration and hope. His story is a powerful reminder that faith can be found in the most unlikely of people and at the most unexpected of times. Let us not hastily assume that anyone ceased to believe in the mercy of God. We cannot predict who is a person of faith and who is not.

Let us pray that such faith will continue to be discovered in the most surprising of places, inspiring us with faith found where we never knew it existed.

Homily for the Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Our limited insight into what makes others tick makes it precarious for us to judge them. It's tempting to think that we see things clearly while others cannot see the truth, but Jesus reminds us that we are all blind to some degree. It's often the blind leading the blind rather than the enlightened leading the blind. This humble acknowledgment of our own blindness should lead us to be more introspective and less judgmental.

Changing the metaphor somewhat, Jesus gives us the comical image of someone trying to take a splinter out of someone else's eye while unaware of the wooden beam in their own eye. Taking the wooden beam out of our eye means being more intent on tending to our own failings than to others'. Often, we do not see clearly enough to understand what is happening in another person. Therefore, we need to be patient and understanding, slow to judge and condemn. God sees clearly into every heart and is compassionate and merciful to all, even the unworthy. We are asked to try to be merciful and compassionate like that.

Homily for Thursday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

In Jesus' time, people who gave generously often did so with the expectation of a return. Giving to others was seen as putting them in your debt; it was a cultural norm. Our own culture is not so different, and we, too, struggle with selfless giving. However, Jesus challenges this cultural norm of giving to receive.

The love He calls for, devoid of any self-seeking, is a rare and precious treasure; it is how God loves. God's love is extended even to the ungrateful and the wicked; it is not given with the expectation of receiving in return. 

Can we mirror God's love and giving in our own lives? The world may view this as foolishness, assuming we will be left with nothing. Yet, if we give in this God-like way, we will receive God's grace with abundance. 

Let us embrace the profound treasure of Jesus' message and make it our own.

Homily for Wednesday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

It can be said that the Beatitudes sound strange to our ears. One might ask: How can people be happy if they are poor, hungry, or weeping? These declarations go against how we typically view life. So often, the teaching of Jesus compels us to rethink how we view life. He revealed a God who favors the distressed and the downtrodden. Jesus calls them blessed because God is on their side and wants a more just and shared world. Knowing our needs can open room for God to work in our lives, while in times of abundance, we can easily be self-satisfied and abandon God.

People often seek God with greater motivation when their needs are greater. We come before the Lord in our poverty, our hunger, and our sadness because it is in such times that we recognize that we are not self-sufficient.

Scripture recounts a profound moment as Jesus hung from the Cross. One of the two thieves being executed alongside Him pleaded, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." To this condemned man, Jesus responded, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." This powerful exchange serves as a poignant reminder that it is in our moments of greatest weakness that God's grace shines most brightly, offering hope and redemption to all.

Homily for Tuesday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

In a profoundly spiritual action, Jesus climbed the mountain and spent the night in prayer. After this personal communion with His Father, His energy was revitalized. In the morning, He summoned His disciples and chose twelve of them as His Apostles. He then began to teach and heal those who came to Him. The Gospel tells us, “power came forth from [H]im and healed them all.”

Jesus' experience illustrates for us the immense value of taking the time to pray to rejuvenate our energy and inspiration, especially before making significant decisions. Prayer supplies us with the direction and clarity we need in all aspects of our lives.

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest

In today's Gospel story, Jesus sensed that His enemies were setting a trap to portray Him in a negative light. Present with them was a man with a paralyzed hand, and they hoped that Jesus would break the Sabbath law by healing him and be seen as a lawbreaker. According to their strict interpretation of Sabbath observance, no work, not even healing, should be done on that holy day. They believed in rigidly adhering to rules without considering the circumstances. However, Jesus' compassionate nature could not be constrained by such legalistic views.

It is easy to concoct reasons for not doing the right thing, such as it being the wrong day of the week to seek help, fear of supporting the unemployed or disabled, or hesitation in confronting a powerful wrongdoer. Some people even find reasons to explain why God should not be generous. 

As a people of faith, we are called to recognize that Jesus often went against convention in order to do the will of His Father on earth. In following Jesus, we too will find ourselves in conflict with others. Let us pray that we may have the courage and determination to follow His example in our continuation of His mission.