St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The truth of our faith has transformed ordinary sinners into extraordinary saints throughout Church history, as demonstrated by the life and death of St. Tarsicius. In 257, St. Tarsicius met his death on the Appian Way in Rome, becoming a victim of one of the most lethal waves of persecution to happen to the expanding Church.

Malicious tales at the time falsely accused Christians of cannibalism and other horrible practices, labeling believers as the Roman Empire's enemies, punishable by torture and death.

The faithful had to gather secretly to celebrate the Mass. The prisons swelled with Christians awaiting trial and execution. Isolated, terrorized with torture, and overwhelmed by the steady stream of martyrdoms, many of these prisoners lost courage, abandoning the faith to save their lives.

So, local pastors sent deacons and acolytes on the difficult mission of bringing the Blessed Sacrament to strengthen imprisoned Christians. The teenager Tarsicius was among them.

Tarsicius was stopped by a group of Roman soldiers during such a mission. They realized what he was doing and ordered him to hand over the Blessed Sacrament. He refused, knowing they only wanted to defile it. The soldiers became forceful; Tarsicius would not give in. They began to launch sticks at him; still, he clutched the Blessed Sacrament.

They took pavement stones and threw them down upon him until he died. When they seized his body to take the Blessed Sacrament, they found no sign of the Hosts he had been carrying; Tarsicius had fulfilled his mission.

St. Tarsicius risked his life because he knew that his fellow Christians needed food for their souls, or they would tire in their struggle to keep the faith. Jesus knows we can't win this struggle alone, so He goes with us through the Eucharist.

Through the incarnation, Jesus, the Word of God, reduced Himself to our level out of love by taking on our human nature. In the celebration and reception of the Eucharist, He raises us to His level, nourishing us with His Body and Blood.

The Eucharist is the sacrament of Christ's love, but His expression of love goes even further. Jesus offers Himself as food for our souls in Holy Communion, nourishing and replenishing all the virtues we need to resist temptation and continue in the battle for the Kingdom. He stays with us always.

After Mass, we reserve the remaining consecrated Hosts in the Tabernacle so we can pray in Jesus' physical presence throughout the week and take the Blessed Sacrament to the sick and elderly who cannot be with us for our Sunday celebration.

Jesus stays with us. He wants to be with us whenever we need Him. When we turn to Him, He gives us light, strength, comfort, and guidance.

Jesus Christ, God himself, not only inhabited Palestine centuries ago, but He literally dwells in every city, town, and neighborhood today, bringing the life of heaven into every person in every corner of the earth.

As we continue with this celebration of the Eucharist, let us thank Him for not abandoning us, and when we receive the Living Bread today, let's promise that we will never abandon Him.

Homily for Saturday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Gospel tells us about an incident where parents brought their children to Jesus, hoping He would lay His hands on them and pray for them. They recognized Jesus as a channel of God's life-giving work and wanted the best for their children. Today, parents who value Jesus and His teachings have the same desire to bring their children to Him, seeing Him as an extraordinary gift from God and wanting the best for their children's spiritual well-being.

In our Gospel, the parents' path was not without obstacles. The disciples initially tried to deter the parents. However, Jesus, in His wisdom, insisted that the children be brought to Him, conquering the resistance of His disciples.

This story serves as a powerful reminder to trust in the Lord's plan. He is always at work, guiding our efforts to bring our loved ones to Him. His desire for others to find life in Him will always prevail, overcoming any obstacles in the way. We must hold onto our faith, knowing that the Lord will always find a way to bring people to Him, regardless of the resistance we may face.

Homily for Friday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

The Pharisees often tested Jesus, as they knew His teaching usually went beyond what the Jewish law required and sometimes even undermined it.

In this instance, the Jewish leaders wanted to challenge Jesus on his faithfulness to the Jewish law regarding marriage. They suspected that Jesus' teaching would contradict the Jewish law's stance on divorce in some instances, and they were right.

Jesus' teachings on marriage were more radical than those of the Jewish law. He emphasized that men and women should commit to marriage for life, referencing the Book of Genesis to support His stance.

While it's a reality that many marriages do not last for life and relationships break down, the Gospels show that Jesus recognized and engaged with people as they were in their everyday lives.

Jesus related to people in the context of their lives, acknowledging the reality of their situations. However, he also presented God's vision for human life, including married life. He articulated this vision while still lovingly engaging with those who, for various reasons, could not attain it.

In essence, Jesus' relationship with us is twofold; He loves us as we are yet also encourages us to strive for something greater than ourselves.

Homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

After dying together in a freak accident, three friends go to Heaven for an orientation session. They are all asked the same question: "When you are in your casket and family and friends are mourning over you, what would you like to hear them say about you?"

The first guy responds: "I would like to hear them say that I was one of the greatest doctors of my time and a great family man."

The second guy says: "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and a school teacher who made a huge difference in the children of tomorrow."

The third guy thinks for a while and then replies: "I guess I'd like to hear them say, 'Look – he's moving!'"

There are a lot of jokes about heaven, and I suppose it’s because we have a lot of questions about what it will be like.

It's natural to have questions about what happens after we die. Every religion seeks to provide answers to this ultimate question. Today's feast reflects on what happens after death, offering a key to understanding the profound mysteries of our lives. In the Christian perspective, we find hope and purpose in understanding that our journey continues beyond death.

If you look at Mary's life as recorded in the Gospels, on the surface, there is nothing special about it. It is a life of faith, not vision. Only divine Revelation lets us look at the hidden glory of her life. Revelation tells us that at her death, she was assumed body and soul into Heaven, a belief that signifies her unique role in salvation history and her special relationship with her son, Jesus.

Because of Christ's Resurrection and Mary's Assumption, we have hope that our death is a beginning, but also that in our life, we can look back from that vantage point and find the infinite in the finite. There is so much more going on in our lives than we can see, understand, or even imagine. When Mary conceived Jesus in her womb, she had a life within her life. Every woman who has conceived must have experienced this—a life within her life. This seems to be a model of the Christian life: We have the life of God within our lives. We must be attentive to the life we bear, nurture it, and bring forth its fruit. Nothing is as it seems. Death is life, suffering is redemptive, and mortality becomes immortality.

Homily for the Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe

Today marks the 83rd anniversary of the death of Franciscan Friar Maximilian Kolbe in Auschwitz. He volunteered to take the place of a man with a family who was condemned to starve to death. After two weeks of prayer with no food, Maximilian was the last one alive. The guards then injected him with carbolic acid. The following day, his body was cremated.

St. Maximilian Kolbe exemplified self-sacrifice, dying for others as Jesus did. He also lived a life of service, hiding over 2,000 Jewish people during the early years of the Holocaust and rejecting special treatment from the Nazis due to his German descent.

Let us pray for the strength to make sacrifices for others and the courage to uphold our Christian values.

Homily for Tuesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

People's questions often indicate their priorities. In today's Gospel passage, the disciples asked Jesus, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" This question suggests their special interest in status and rank.

In response Jesus called a child over and placed it in their midst; He then told them that they must become like that child merely to enter the kingdom of heaven, never mind becoming the greatest in the kingdom.

Jesus instructed His disciples to become child-like in the sense that a child trusts a loving parent. Such a trust awaits everything from God and seizes nothing, including status and rank.

True greatness comes to those who make themselves as reliant on God as children are on adults for their well-being. Jesus' response to the question of His disciples reflects the first beatitude that He had told them about earlier in Matthew's Gospel, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Homily for Monday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel, we see Jesus and His disciples continuing their journey despite Jesus having foretold His death and Resurrection. They arrive in Capernaum, Simon Peter's home, where an interesting incident takes place. The half-shekel tax was an annual payment made by every Jewish person at the time for the maintenance of the Temple. Jesus states that He and His followers are exempt from this tax, as He is the "New Temple."

However, He tells Peter to pay the tax to avoid offending the religious leaders. Essentially, Jesus proclaims freedom from this obligation but advises setting aside this freedom momentarily to prevent unnecessary offense. This serves as a powerful reminder that while we may have freedom in particular cases, it is wise to forgo that freedom when it could imperil the well-being of others and the common good.

Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Many of us engage in a fair amount of complaining, and sometimes for valid reasons. We frequently complain about the weather and may grumble about various things. If we're not careful, we can find ourselves constantly griping about anything and everything. This can lead to a negative mindset, where we only see problems without noticing anything else, failing to see the bigger picture, which always has some brighter aspects. Our vision becomes limited to what is wrong, absent, or inadequate.

Today's Gospel passage begins with the people murmuring (i.e. complaining) about Jesus. They saw Him as a problem. They knew His father and mother, but He claimed to be the Bread that came down from heaven, which scandalized them. They couldn't believe someone they knew so well could make such claims. Their response to Jesus was to complain. But complaining alone is rarely an adequate response.

Jesus calls for a unique response from us: to listen to and respond positively to His Father's teaching; those who do, He says, will come to Him. As followers of Jesus, we continually go to Him throughout our lives. We never fully reach Him in this life; we never fully understand Him, so we find ourselves always journeying to Him to know Him better. And wherever we are on our faith journey, the Lord continues to call us to come to Him.

Jesus proclaims that no one can come to Him without God's help. This help isn't merely passive but is an engaged, steering power in our lives, constantly drawing us to Jesus. There is a drive within us from God, an impetus that will guide us to Jesus if we are receptive to it, even in the slightest way.

Jesus refers to Himself as the "Bread that came down from heaven" and urges us to consume this Bread. This invitation is to come to Him by participating in the Eucharist and the Word. In the Old Testament, bread often symbolizes the Word of God. As it is said in the Book of Deuteronomy, "…it is not by bread alone that people live, but by all that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord." We require the nourishment that comes from receiving the Body and Blood of Christ – His REAL Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – AND we need the nourishment we receive from God's Word in the Sacred Scriptures.  To feed on the Word of the Lord means to reflect on it, allowing it to guide our thoughts and actions, thus enriching our souls.

By continuously coming to Jesus in the Eucharist, in His Word, in prayer, in His presence among us always, He will shape our lives; He will provide us with what we need to live the kind of life Saint Paul describes in our second reading, a life of love in which are "kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven [us] in Christ, [being] imitators of God, as beloved children, and [living] in love."

Homily for the Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

In 258, Saint Lawrence, the chief deacon of the Diocese of Rome, offered the wealth of the Church to those who had nothing of their own. A deacon's responsibility is to proclaim the Word of God, look after the material goods of the Church, and care for the poor. As the chief deacon of a diocese as large as Rome, Lawrence held a great deal of responsibility, overseeing the Church's resources and ensuring they were used to help those in need.

He was called to act upon all these roles one day when Pope Sixtus II was put under civil arrest. Soon after, the pope was martyred, and Lawrence knew that he would be one of the next Christians the Empire would come after. So, Lawrence sought out the poor, the widows, and the orphans of Rome and gave them all the money he held, even selling the sacred vessels of the Church.

The Prefect of Rome called Lawrence before him and demanded that he produce the treasure of the Church. Lawrence then gathered together the blind and the lame, the leprous, the widows, and orphans, and lined them up before the Prefect's villa. When the Prefect arrived, Lawrence said, "Here is the treasure of the Church." The Prefect not only did not understand Lawrence's words, but he also did not understand Lawrence spending his life in the service of such people. It's unlikely, in fact, that the Prefect cared one way or the other since four days after the death of the Pope, Lawrence was martyred as well, on August 10th.

Saint Lawrence understood that the true wealth of the Church lies in the manner in which our lives touch the lives of others. In our lives as Christians, one of the most important challenges we face is to realize to what extent - both for good and evil - our lives are connected to the lives of others.

Homily for Friday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus often spoke in paradoxes. One of the most noticeable paradoxes occurred when Jesus said, "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." In other words, we will lose ourselves if we are concerned only with ourselves and our needs and desires. However, if we look beyond ourselves toward the Lord and to the lives and needs of those around us, we will find our true selves.

Jesus also expressed this fundamental paradox of his teaching in another way when he said, "Give, and gifts will be given to you." In other words, it is in giving that we receive.

Hopefully, our own experience has taught us that when we look beyond ourselves to others, to the Lord present in others, we experience the Lord's own joy and life, which is an indication of the joy and life of the kingdom of heaven.