St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for Saturday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time

The execution of John the Baptist serves as a dramatic example of the abuse of power that is prevalent throughout human history. During the time of Jesus, Herod Antipas was the ruler in Galilee. Although ultimately subject to the emperor in Rome, he had a free hand to exercise his local power as he saw fit, as long as he followed the laws of Rome. In this particular incident, Herod misused his power by ordering the execution of an innocent man.

People who abuse power in this way lose their authority. In this passage, John the Baptist had no power; he was Herod’s prisoner. But he had higher moral authority rooted in his relationship with God. That gave John the freedom to speak the truth to powerful people and to confront King Herod for breaking the Jewish law. For speaking out, John was imprisoned and eventually executed. 

John’s martyrdom foreshadowed that of Jesus. As Jesus hung from the Cross, He, too, had no power. As St. Paul says, “He was crucified in weakness.”[1] Yet, at that moment, He had great authority: the authority of a life of integrity and goodness, the authority of God’s faithful Son. A fact that, remarkably, was recognized by the centurion in charge of the Crucifixion.[2] 

Even if we have little or no power, we can have authority in the gospel sense. Like John the Baptist, we are called to be people of the Word who let God shape our values, attitudes, and our whole lives.

 

[1] 2 Corinthians 13:4

[2] Matthew 27:54

Homily for Friday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus returned to His home in Nazareth, the people recognized Him as the son of Joseph, the carpenter, whose mother, Mary, and whose brothers and sisters were known to them. He was one of them, a working man just like them. Yet, in many ways, He is not like them at all. The people of Nazareth were astonished at His wisdom and His miraculous powers. They needed help understanding where He would get all that. They were perplexed by Him. 

Jesus was both ordinary and extraordinary. As we have been taught, He was like us in every way, but sin. He was fully human and fully divine, and the wisdom and power of God were at work within Him. St. John expressed it clearly when he said at the beginning of his Gospel that the Word became flesh.[1] He was “flesh” like all of us, fully human, the son of a carpenter from a particular place in Galilee who lived at a specific time in history. This emphasis on His humanity makes us feel understood, as He experienced the same struggles and joys as we do. Yet, this man uniquely revealed God. That is the “scandal” of the Incarnation that troubled the Nazareth people.

The son of the carpenter, the son of Mary, is with us today as Risen Lord in and through the familiar and the ordinary. He said to His disciples, “Whoever receives you, receives me;”[2] “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me;”[3] and, “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”[4]

The sacred and the temporal are not so far apart; we meet the holy in the temporal and the divine in the human. This realization should inspire us, as it shows that we are always on holy ground and that the divine is present in every human interaction and experience.

 

[1] John 1:14

[2] Matthew 10:40

[3] Matthew 18:5

[4] Matthew 25:40

Homily for the Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori

The message in today's Gospel is similar to that of Tuesday's Gospel: Throughout life on earth, there will be both good and bad people, virtue and vice. Sometimes, this can be hard to take, and we may wonder why God allows it.

Jesus connects a shared experience of the people when He compares the process of hauling a full net of fish ashore and separating the bad from the good to the angels doing so at the end of time.

Let us pray for patience and hope that God will indeed separate the good from the bad at the end of time. In the face of life's challenges, let us do all that we can and must do to enter the kingdom of God.

Homily for the Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Sometimes, we unexpectedly come across something valuable, even when not actively searching for it. Sometimes, a precious gift or a significant person can enter our lives without us trying to make it happen. It could be a sudden realization or insight that comes to us when we are relaxing and not thinking about anything specific.

In the first parable from today's Gospel, a day laborer discovers a treasure while working in someone else's field. He decides to sell all he has to purchase that field and obtain the unexpected treasure.

In the second parable, a wealthy merchant searches for the finest pearl and eventually finds it. He is willing to sell everything he has to acquire it.

Jesus compares the kingdom of God to these two human experiences. Sometimes, God blesses us when we least expect it. Other times, we have to actively seek God and put effort into finding Him. Jesus encourages us to persist in our search, to keep seeking, asking, and knocking, like the wealthy merchant. When God graces us, we must be ready to give up whatever is necessary to receive and hold onto that gift of the kingdom.

Homily for Tuesday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time

At the request of His disciples, Jesus explained to them the Parable of the Weeds in the Field. The main idea of the parable is the division between the good and the wicked at the end of time. Jesus indicates that until that final separation, good and evil will coexist in the world, in the Church, and even within our hearts, minds, and souls. The weeds and the wheat will grow together, and God will make the final separation during the final judgment at the end of time. It is not anyone's place to judge another person's moral quality at present, as judgment about people's motives belongs to God alone.

One of Pope Francis's favorite themes is the importance of not being quick to judge. Often, we see ourselves as superior and label others as inferior. It's important to remember the words of Saint Paul, who cautioned against premature judgments. He said, "Do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God" [1]It's crucial to keep in mind that "the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy."[2]

[1] 1 Corinthians 4:5

[2] Psalm 145:8

Homily for the Memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

Today's Gospel passage evokes empathy for Martha. She works hard to prepare a meal for Jesus and His friends. But when she complains that her sister Mary isn't helping, Jesus says Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken from her. This may seem unfair to Martha.

We can see from other stories in Scripture that Jesus did not oppose hard work in the service of others. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, He praises the man's mercy and love when he cares for the victim of robbers. The Book of Ecclesiastes says, "There is a time for everything, and a time for every activity under the heavens." So, we might say, "There is a time to be active and a time to refrain from activity."

When Jesus visited Mary and Martha, He felt it was important for them to take a break from their work and listen to what He had to say. Mary understood that Jesus valued the hospitality of listening over the hospitality of being busy. She was more attuned to what the Lord wanted compared to Martha. While the Lord wants us to work for Him, He also wants us to take breaks to listen to Him. True wisdom involves knowing when it's time to be active in the Lord's service and when it's time to sit and listen to His Word.

Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Several years ago, I watched part of a documentary that followed the family of an older woman who lived in Appalachia in the South. The film crew gave glimpses and insights as they followed the family for a year. The woman had several children, most of whom still lived in the poverty in which they were brought up. They were now raising their children as they were raised.

The film beautifully showcased the family's resilience, their shared lives, their occasional disagreements, and the various challenges each member was facing. The underlying theme of the documentary was the universal dream of 'escaping' to a better life or finding work. Many tried, but they always returned.

As one of the family members, an eighteen-year-old grandson was mulling over the possibility of moving away and finding work, many in the family were trying to dissuade him from leaving. The grandmother was more philosophical in her response. The cameras were on her as she was placing a huge plate of cinnamon rolls on the table and she said that anybody could leave if they wanted to and if they wanted to come back, that was fine, too, there was always plenty of food on the table.

I noticed this throughout the film: despite their intense poverty, the family always had food on the table, and it was there because together, they used the land and the gifts God gave them to produce the food.

In our Gospel reading today, we hear the famous story of how Jesus fed a huge crowd of people with barely enough food to feed one person. The miracle Jesus performed spoke to a reality more profound than filling our bellies. It speaks to the power of God in our lives and the fact that God can truly take care of all of our physical and spiritual needs.

In the documentary, the family members received something else—the love and support of family and friends, which was most often evident when they were at the table. While they fought, argued, and disagreed, there was evident a strong bond that could be called nothing other than love.

And love is what God really wants to bring us. It is what God wants us to offer one another. Through our offering of love to one another, we feed people's souls just as Jesus fed the hungry masses. We take our meager talents and offerings and, with the love and power of God, we can transform the world; we can be instruments of God satisfying the spiritual hunger of the people of God.

And that's what we are doing here in this Church today, gathered at this Table to share in the One Bread, the Body of Jesus our Savior. We nourish ourselves with a tiny piece of bread. But it is not bread that we take. It is our Salvation. It is the food of everlasting life. And the meal doesn't end at this table. We are called to go out and be the Body of Christ for those who do not believe, those who feel alienated, and those who have lost hope. We are called to go out and to let others know that there is always plenty of food at this Table when we gather together in prayer and in service of God and one another.

As Christians, we're not simply called to show up and eat every Sunday; we're also called to bring others to the Table of the Lord, to share in this meal, and to share in God's love.

Homily for Saturday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time

The Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat illustrates the difference in perspective between the farmer and his servants. When weeds appeared among the wheat, the servants wanted to immediately remove them to keep the field pure. However, the farmer advised letting the wheat and weeds grow together until the harvest when they could be separated. He was patient, knowing he would eventually obtain pure wheat without the weeds.

In this parable, Jesus conveys a message about the Church and the individual disciples who form it. He acknowledges that the Church will consist of a mixture of good and bad until the end of time when all that is not of God will vanish.

Individually, we are a blend of light and darkness until we are fully formed into the likeness of God's Son in the afterlife. While we persistently endeavor to mirror God's image, we must recognize that sin will always be a part of our earthly existence.

Like the farmer, the Lord is patient with us. We need to be patient with ourselves and others. This is not self-approval but an acknowledgment that we are all a work in progress. Being a 'work in progress' is hopeful, as God has initiated good work in our lives. Even if it is not completed in this life, God will bring His work to completion in eternity, a promise that fills us with hope and reassurance.

Homily for the Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Jesus often used parables to teach people about life, faith, and His mission to lead them to the Kingdom of Heaven. He used metaphors that the people could relate to, and in today's passage, He explains to His Apostles the meanings behind these metaphors.

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus focuses on the different types of soil on which the seed falls, representing how people receive the Word of God. Some never accept the Word; others believe briefly but fall away due to criticism of their faith; some believe, but the Word is choked by worldly anxiety and the seduction of riches; while others respond to the Word and produce abundant fruit.

Let's pray that we always remain as the fertile soil on which the seed of God’s Word falls and that we take that Word and share it with others through our words, actions, and attitudes.

Homily for the Feast of St. James, Apostle

The Gospel passage today illustrates the human tendency to seek status and importance. In this instance, the mother of two of Jesus' disciples seeks this for her sons. We understand that this tendency can be rooted in pride, whether for ourselves or for those we love. The offense taken by the other Apostles is another example of the desire to appear important in the eyes of others.

This tendency is evident in various areas such as the media, government, and other areas where people aim to seem more important and influential than others.

Jesus's teaching in this story is clear: status-seeking has no place in the lives of His disciples. To truly follow Him, they must be willing to experience suffering, as He did. They must serve others and not seek to be served. Humility and putting others before ourselves are the keys to true greatness, the kind of greatness to which we are all called. It's the greatness of being born in the image of God, following His ways, and returning home to our Father at the end of time, with nothing except the fruits of our actions on earth.