St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for the Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles

In today's Gospel, we hear Philip say to Jesus, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." This request may resonate with us, as we may feel that we will only be satisfied when we see God in heaven. However, Jesus responds to Philip by saying that God the Father, whom he longs to see, he already sees in Jesus: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." Jesus reminds us that he has already begun to satisfy our deepest longing for God.

Through his life, death, and Resurrection, Jesus has shown us the face of God Himself. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, we will begin to see the face of God, and heaven will become a present reality to some degree. Jesus wants us to appreciate and experience the presence of God in His person, who is with us always until the end of time. He is with us in his word, in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and in each other.

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Athanasius

The Scriptures are filled with texts about joy and rejoicing. St. Paul teaches that such joy is the fruit of the Spirit. In the Gospel, Jesus expresses His desire for His joy to be in us. At the very core of the Gospel, this joy is a beacon of hope and positivity, as the word Gospel itself means 'good news.' On the eve of His Crucifixion, Jesus yearned for His joy to be in His disciples, a testament to the enduring power of joy in the face of adversity.

It may seem odd to think of experiencing joy in such a daunting situation where hostility and violent death are looming. However, Jesus' sense of joy stems from His unshakable knowledge that He is beloved by His Father. This joy also arises from His sharing of that love with His disciples and all of humanity. 

Joy is the great outgrowth of genuine love, which originates from God's love for us, and then our love for each other in His Name.

Homily for Wednesday of the 5th Week of Easter

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus uses the metaphor of the vine and its branches to refer to Himself and His people, and He refers to pruning away those branches that don’t bear fruit. This pruning can refer to many things because there are many things that we need to prune, not only from the vine but from ourselves, the branches. 

We need to be pruned of those things that keep us from those two essential commandments: to believe in and love God and to love one another as Jesus commanded.

We need to prune away those things that prevent our faith from fruition in our lives and in our souls.

Each of us will have different needs for pruning. It could be our pride, selfishness, materialistic desires, negative thoughts, or unhealthy relationships. But we can be sure that all of us, by virtue of our human nature, need to remove these perceptions, prejudices, judgments, and attitudes that keep our faith from fruition.

So, let us take some time in prayer to ask ourselves what prevents us from keeping those two most important commandments, and let us resolve to prune those things from our lives.

Homily for Tuesday of the 5th Week of Easter

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus offers comfort and courage to His disciples who are worried about His impending death. He tells them, "Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid," a message that is a recurring theme throughout the Gospel. This reassures us of Jesus's unwavering love and support.

As disciples of Jesus, there are times when we need to be challenged and times when we need to be encouraged. Both Jesus and St. Paul knew how to provide encouragement when a renewed heart was needed.

Today, the Risen LORD continues to encourage His disciples. When we get discouraged about our options, it can bring us down and hinder us from doing what is within our power. The LORD wants to put fresh enthusiasm into our hearts, which the Gospel describes as a peace that the world cannot give. This peace is not the absence of conflict, but a deep sense of tranquility and security that comes from a strong faith in Jesus.

Therefore, it is good to invite Jesus to put fresh enthusiasm into our hearts so that we can be joyful in living by our faith. He strengthens us through the Holy Spirit, who is often called the "Comforter" or "Consoler." So, we turn to the Holy Spirit and pray for the refreshment and renewal we need.

Homily for the Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena

Love is central to today's gospel passage; it speaks of our love for Jesus, His love for us, and the Father's love for us. God the Father shows His love by giving us His Son. Jesus shows His love for us by laying down His life for us and telling us all He has learned from the Father. We show our love for Jesus by keeping His word and living according to His teaching, which is summed up as, "Love one another as I have loved you."

Jesus promises to send us the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's role is to keep bringing Jesus' outlook and perspective to our minds. The Holy Spirit helps us keep Jesus' word and love one another as He has loved us. That gospel passage gives a whole vision of the Christian life: God's relationship with us as Father, Son, and Spirit and our loving relationship with God and each other.

 

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter

There is a story about a woman who attended a parish retreat. One of the evenings, the topic was forgiveness.

At the beginning of that evening, everyone attending was given a beautiful rock. At the end of the evening, everyone could walk up to the front of the church and place their rock in a basket. It was a way to signify that they were forgiving everything and everyone negatively affecting their life.

Well, this woman couldn't do that that evening. Instead, she kept that rock in her desk drawer at work every day for the next year and a half.

She was struggling to forgive herself for one of her past sins. She had gone to confession and spoken to her priest, but she just kept beating herself up. She couldn't understand how she could have committed this sin. She kept wondering how God could really forgive her. Through all these months, she kept praying and trying to trust God.

Finally, one Friday afternoon, she was sitting at her desk praying yet again when a voice in her head said, "Go to confession again tomorrow." So she did: She poured everything out, received some comforting words from the priest, and, for some inexplicable reason, emerged from the confessional feeling like a new person.

The moment of grace had arrived.

She got in her car, drove to the nearby beautiful riverfront, took that rock out of her purse, and threw it into the river as far as she could.

Finally, after 18 months of spiritual battle, she had received the grace to let go of her guilt and fully accept God's mercy and forgiveness.

We are all like St. Paul, full of rough edges that God is gradually polishing down. If we become impatient, we will only get in His way and may even give up on Him altogether.

But being patient doesn't mean we just sit around and twiddle our thumbs. In today's Gospel, Jesus makes it clear that we have to do our part for our lives to bear the fruit He wants them to bear.

One key way to do that is through loving obedience to God's will. St. John refers to this in today's Second Reading: "Children, let us not love one another in word or in speech, but in deed and truth."

It's easy to say pretty words and talk about being a good Catholic. But that talk has to translate into actions and the strength of virtues, into honesty, purity, faithfulness, courage, self-sacrifice, and obedience to Church teaching. Otherwise, we are no better than actors on a stage, making a show out of looking like Christ's followers but not really following Christ.

This loving obedience to God, our wise and all-powerful Father, in big things and little things, is the surest sign of humility, and humility is the shortcut to holiness, wisdom, and lasting happiness.

Homily for Saturday of the 4th Week of Easter

As Paul saw it, when he and Barnabas were thrown out of the synagogue and banished from the territory, what appeared to be a failure actually helped to spread the Gospel. Paul quotes Isaiah: "I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth."

Paul's approach is a good one in any crisis or change, trusting that the whole process is under the loving providence of our God.

His approach is one that we should take as well, especially during uncertain times.

Let us pray for a deep trust in God's goodness, confident that He will guide us and give us strength and wisdom if we open our minds and hearts to His grace.

Homily for Friday of the 4th Week of Easter

At the Last Supper, Jesus tells the Apostles that while He is leaving them, He is returning to the Father from whom He came. He promises that He will return one day to take them with Him into His Father’s house; that is our destiny. Jesus came among us to show us the Way to the Father, His whole mission.

The many rooms in His Father’s house symbolize universal hospitality. The kingdom of Heaven is not a place for a select few; it is a place of welcome and peace for the many. All people are called to follow Jesus because He is the Way to the Father for all who follow Him. He promised that, when raised from the earth, He would draw all people to Himself.

So, let us pray that we will follow Jesus as the Way from this life, with all its challenges and trials, to the life of Heaven, a life of eternal joy and peace.

Homily for the Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist

We know little about St. Mark. He was not one of the original Twelve Apostles but knew them. There is a strong suggestion that, as a young boy, he witnessed Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Mark’s Gospel is the first of the four New Testament Gospels and is shorter and more to the point than the other three.

Today’s passage from St. Mark’s Gospel recounts the story of the Apostles embarking on the continuation of Jesus’ mission on earth. This mission is not exclusive; Jesus commissions every one of us to step forward and spread His message of love and mercy to all people. Through our Baptism, we are all entrusted with the role of being ambassadors of God’s action in our world.

Let us pray that we, like the Apostles, will take the command to preach the Good News earnestly by our words, actions, and attitudes.

Homily for Wednesday of the 4th Week of Easter

In the Church at Antioch, the Holy Spirit inspired prophets and teachers to send Barnabas and Saul on a special mission to spread the message of Jesus to the wider world.

The Church continues to seek to unite all people as one worldwide family in Christ. Each local church is called not just to maintain itself but to serve other groups, whether near or far away. We seek to be as generous with others as God has been with us.

May our prayers and actions, as ambassadors of God's love and providence, spread the knowledge of God's love and help others with their needs.