St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for the Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle

St. Barnabas, whose given name was Josef, was celebrated for inspiring others in the early Church. In today's passage from Acts, we observe him actively involved in this ministry. A profound and life-altering event was unfolding within the Christian community in Antioch. The Gospel had been proclaimed to both pagans and Jews, sparking the birth of a new kind of Church, one that welcomed members from diverse Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds.

When Barnabas was dispatched to Antioch by the Apostles to evaluate the situation, he swiftly discerned it as the work of the Lord and lent his support to this new development. His discernment proved spot-on; it was indeed the work of the Lord.

God's work is not confined to the past but always unfolds in new and creative ways among us. It is a great gift and a responsibility to recognize divine inspiration wherever it is found and to celebrate and encourage its effects. St. Barnabas had this gift, not because he was special, but because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. The Holy Spirit, our guide, plays a crucial role in helping us recognize the work of the Spirit. As St. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, spiritual things are discerned spiritually.

Homily for Monday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time

The Beatitudes are a portrayal of Jesus' character. When Jesus spoke these Beatitudes, He painted a picture of Himself and what He desired from His followers. He is poor in spirit, relying on the Father for everything. He is gentle and compassionate, mourns when God’s will is not being done on earth as in heaven, hungers and thirsts for justice, and suffers to bring that about. He is merciful to sinners, has a purity of heart desiring what God desires, and works to bring about peace between God and humanity and among human beings.

By presenting this image of Himself through words, Jesus also showed what His disciples should aim to become. It's the image we are called to embody. We can't become people of the Beatitudes on our own; we need the help of the Holy Spirit, who works within us to shape us into the likeness of Christ.

Homily for the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus was focused on His mission. He worked hard to communicate His message of salvation, to train His Apostles, to heal the sick, and to comfort the troubled. In fact, He worked so hard to fulfill His mission that it was "impossible for [Him and His disciples] even to eat."

However, not everyone appreciated Jesus and His dedication to His mission. Even members of His extended family, as told in St. Mark's Gospel, thought He was crazy. The more popular and respected religious and cultural leaders of the time rejected Him and accused Him of being an instrument of the devil.

Despite the opposition, mockery, and misunderstanding, Jesus persevered and stayed faithful to His mission. His courage and strength came from His relationship with the Father, and His heart was anchored in the everlasting love of the Lord.

Just like Jesus, we too face challenges and opposition, and need courage. We also need to anchor our hearts in the Lord so that we can persevere, be strong, and endure.

A clear sign that our hearts are anchored in heaven is interior joy. Even in the face of our weaknesses and difficulties, being firmly anchored in God allows us to be cheerful at heart.

Ultimately, holiness is the path to true happiness. The closer we are united with God, the more we will experience and spread true joy.

To keep our hearts anchored in the Lord, we need to focus on prayer, the sacraments, following Christ's teachings and example, and true Christian fellowship.

By making these a part of our lives, we can keep our hearts anchored in the Lord so that no difficulty, opposition, or challenge can throw us off course.

Homily for the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Immaculate Heart of Mary, which we celebrate today, is a profound sign of our Blessed Mother's interior life. It encapsulates her profound joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and above all, her boundless love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus, and her compassionate love for all people.

Our understanding of this devotion is firmly rooted in scripture, particularly the Gospel of Luke. Here, we observe that Mary kept all things in her heart, pondering on them and praying about them.

Venerating the Immaculate Heart of Mary is similar to worshiping the Sacred Heart of Jesus. However, devotion to the heart of Jesus is directed to the "divine heart" as overflowing with love for humanity. In contrast, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary focuses on Mary's love for Jesus and the Father.

Today, we remind ourselves that Mary is the perfect example of devotion to God and His will in our lives. Let us turn to her to intercede for us so that our love of Her Son and God our Father may always grow stronger in our hearts.

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Today’s Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus marks the occasion of God coming among us as a human being, experiencing all the aspects of human life except sin. Jesus possessed a human heart that felt the same emotions and struggles that we do. He experienced pity, distress, and pain, even succumbing to death on the Cross.

The significance of this lies in that when God chose to manifest as a human, He did not choose the easy path. Jesus endured the same trials and tribulations we face, demonstrating profound empathy. By doing so, God shows His intimate understanding of our human condition, drawing us closer to Him.

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart calls us to reflect on how we perceive Jesus when we pray. Do we envision Jesus as a distant, abstract figure, or do we picture the man who lived among us, sharing in our experiences?

As we pray to Jesus, let us see Him as one who deeply loves us and seeks closeness, as someone with whom we can identify. This way, our hearts become one with Jesus' Sacred Heart.

Homily for Thursday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time

The Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' time were obsessed with many rules and were real sticklers on all the details. From their perspective, knowing all the rules and nuances and keeping them was seen as a guarantee that you were living according to the will of God. It was easy and comforting, albeit requiring due diligence.

In our Gospel passage, a particular Scribe approached Jesus, wanting to know which commandment He believed was the greatest.

Jesus didn't answer with any of the human-made commandments or the Ten Commandments. Instead, He indicated that love of God and love of neighbor were the two most important commandments. The Scribe understood and responded accordingly.

May we, too, understand that our love of God and our love of one another (all made in God's image) must be paramount in our hearts and minds as we seek to do God's will and trust that, in so doing, we will be moving closer to our promised redemption.

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

The Sadducees, who posed a question to Jesus in our Gospel passage, only accepted the authority of the first five books of the Old Testament. They did not find any mention of an afterlife in these books. They questioned Jesus about this, even though they knew His teachings differed. They presented a scenario in which the afterlife was seen as a simple extension of our earthly life. However, Jesus explained that the afterlife would be fundamentally different.

Jesus spoke of an eternal life that is not just a continuation of our earthly life but something entirely new and beyond our current understanding. St. Paul also described the afterlife as a transformation, stating that love will last forever. Our love for God and each other will not cease in death but will be perfected in heaven, fulfilling the purpose for which God created us.

Homily for Tuesday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus faced increasing opposition from religious leaders as His popularity grew among the people. The leaders were afraid that the people would revolt if they arrested Him. Instead of confronting Jesus directly, they tried to trap Him with a series of questions to discredit Him in the eyes of the people or the Roman authorities. Although the leaders seemed sincere, they had hidden agendas, including their own ideas about the role of the Messiah and what it meant to be part of His kingdom.

Similarly, we often approach Jesus with our own agendas. While it's natural and good to bring our needs and desires to Him, throughout history, some people have used religion to justify violence, hatred, bigotry, discrimination, and censorship to advance their own narrow and sometimes distorted view of the world order.

The heart of authentic prayer lies in its sincerity, constantly inspired by the Holy Spirit. It requires us to set aside our personal agendas, biases, and fears and allow the Spirit to influence our thoughts and hearts, guiding our actions and prayers. Reflecting on the significance of genuine prayer can lead us to a deeper understanding of our spiritual journey.

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and companions, Martyrs

The "blessed" of the Gospel are right here among us. Despite life's labors and challenges, the "blessed" of God readily adopt the spirit of humility that begins with cherishing life as a gift from God, which we have received only through God's deep and infinite love.

May God give each of us the vision, courage, and grace to welcome the "blessedness" of the Beatitudes – to live our lives in loving thankfulness to God, who invites us to "rejoice and be glad – God's heaven is ours."

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

The Solemnity we celebrate today, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi, has a rich historical context. As the narrative goes, the origin of this feast traces back to a priest's struggle with his belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. His faith was waning, but one day, as he consecrated the host, it began to bleed during Mass. This miraculous event rekindled his faith and that of his congregation. In honor of this event, that community started celebrating Corpus Christi, a tradition that has now spread throughout the Church.

At first, the focus of the celebration was on the miracle that happened to the host. As time passed, however, and especially since the Second Vatican Council, our celebration has focused on the spiritual nourishment we receive in communion with the whole Church when we eat the Body of Christ and drink His Blood.

God has joined us together, all of us, in a relationship that goes far beyond anything of our own creation. This relationship is marked by something more than human. It means that we now encounter God by turning our attention deep into the center of our own lives and those around us, especially in our worship together, because, as St. Augustine points out, that is where God has chosen to be with us. It means that the way we treat one another is the way we treat Christ. Jesus said that whatever we do for one another, we do for Him.

At the heart of our faith in Christ is our commitment to morality, an ethic of love for one another. And it is to a very particular understanding and practice of love that we are called as Christians. Jesus set the standard simply enough: we are to love one another as God has loved us. While we may call others to task for their actions, our attitude toward others can never be what we might think the other deserves or what feels right to us at the moment. Instead, our attitude must mirror God's own attitude.

Again, in Christ's words, we must love our enemies if we are to be His people, His Body. A radical calling? Yes, but one which Jesus carried out in His own life.

Every week, every day, the Church commemorates the mystery of our profound connection with God. We do not just acknowledge and respect this mystery, but we actively participate in it and bring it to life. Our worship, partaking in the Eucharist, is the conduit through which God has chosen to unite with us. God could have chosen numerous ways to establish this intimacy with His people, but He chose this food, this drink. God selected the very human act of eating as how He would elevate us beyond our humanity. This level of intimacy is beyond comprehension, beyond imagination; it necessitates faith.

And so, the Eucharist is integral to what it means to be the community of the Church. We not only partake in the Body and Blood of Christ, but every time we gather together in God's name and work to bring about the justice of which the Gospel speaks, we are the Body of Christ on earth.

St. Paul tells the Corinthians: "Now you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it." In her prayer, St. Theresa tells us, "Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet but yours." 

As we celebrate the Eucharist today and every day, as we partake together in the One Bread and the One Cup, as we eat the real Body of our God and Savior, let us be mindful that we, the Church, are the Body of Christ on earth and that, as such, we are called to be the hands and feet, the instruments of God's love to all people, so that, through our actions of love, care, and concern, all people may witness the love and care and concern of God who acts in and through each one of us.