St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for Monday of the 4th Week of Lent

In our Gospel passage, we learned about a court official who approached Jesus for help to cure his seriously ill son. Many people had already approached Jesus for help in the villages he visited. Initially, Jesus seemed to refuse the official's request, but the official persisted and said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus granted his request, but not in the way the man wanted. He simply said, "Your son will live." The man believed Jesus' words and returned home. On the way, he discovered that his prayer had been answered.

When we pray to the LORD for help, we may feel that our prayers are unanswered. We may not receive the answer we were hoping for, but we must persevere in prayer, like the royal official in the Gospel. We must trust in the LORD's promises and journey with them in our hearts. Like the royal official, we will discover that the LORD will answer our prayers, even if not in the way we expected.

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent

A painting of great worth by the renowned artist Caravaggio hung in the dining room of a Jesuit house in Dublin for years, unnoticed by its inhabitants. One day, an art expert recognized its value, and upon closer examination, confirmed that it was indeed a masterpiece by the great Roman painter. The painting is now displayed at the National Art Gallery in Ireland as one of its most precious treasures. 

In today's second reading, St. Paul speaks of how we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to lead a good life. Similar to the Caravaggio painting, our worth may go unnoticed, even to ourselves. Though we may not see ourselves as works of art, God sees and values us as such. Through the words of Isaiah, God reminds us that we are precious in His sight and that He loves us. 

When we recognize our worth to God, it strengthens our hope. We can also view others as works of art and treasure them, valuing them for who they are. When someone is precious to us, we do everything we can to show our love and devotion to them. In doing so, we catch a glimpse of how the Lord relates to us. We are loved in a way that transcends all cost, as the gospel reminds us: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." 

While the Cross is not a symbol of glorifying suffering, it is a symbol of how far God is willing to go to show His love for us. The Cross is a reminder of how valued we are to God, so much so that He gave up His only Son to save us all.

Homily for Saturday of the 3rd Week of Lent

In the Gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee who takes pride in his dutiful life. He brags about his fasting and tithing while looking down on the humble tax collector. However, no matter how well we live, we never have a special claim on God.

We all struggle with excessive self-worth and pride from time to time. Jesus warns us to guard against pride, even when we have done a great job at something. He said, "When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

The good news is that we don't need to earn God's favor through our accomplishments. God has already blessed us by giving us His Son. In response, we serve God by humbly doing His will. Our service to the LORD pales compared to the LORD's faithful service to us.

Homily for Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent

The Scribes are generally portrayed as arguing against Jesus. But in today's encounter, Jesus and the Scribe are on the same page. Jesus tells him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." They agreed about the two great commandments of the Law. The first commandment calls us to love God, and the second to love our neighbor. The highest love is given to God.

The two commandments differ in the vigor of the love demanded. God is to be loved with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is only God who is deserving of our absolute love. To love God in this way is to be caught up in God's love for humanity, which is where the second commandment comes in. Love of neighbor is where God's pure and total love unfailingly leads us.

Homily for Thursday of the 3rd Week of Lent

Some people who witnessed Jesus driving out a demon from a mute man thought that he did it through Satan's power instead of acknowledging that it was God's power at work in Jesus. This was a severe misjudgment. Jesus responded by proclaiming that it was through the power of God that he healed people. Sometimes, we are blind to the working of God among us, especially when he is working through those with whom we don't always agree.

God often graces us in many ways, but we fail to notice it. Instead of focusing on what we don't have or what's wrong in our lives, we should recognize and give thanks for the blessings that God has bestowed upon us.

We should pray for the gift of seeing as Jesus sees. Jesus saw the working of God in Creation, the sower, the vineyard, the flowers of the field, and the birds of the air. He saw God's presence in those others had written off because of their imperfections and faults. Jesus teaches us to see with eyes of generosity, hope, and mercy. When we do so, we will be inspired to give thanks in all circumstances, as St. Paul said.

Homily for Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Lent

Throughout His ministry, Jesus used powerful imagery to describe what is essential in life. In all three synoptic Gospels, He compared His ministry to new wine, saying that this new wine required new wineskins. Otherwise, the skins would burst. In other words, more than the traditional way of doing things would be needed. 

However, Jesus greatly respected tradition, particularly His Jewish tradition, and the Scriptures of His people that nourished and inspired Him. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declared that He had come not to abolish the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them. He did not intend to start from scratch, as He valued the Jewish tradition greatly. Instead, He aimed to bring it to a more extraordinary richness and fullness; He came to renew Israel’s tradition rather than discard it. 

Jesus' attitude suggests that we should not abandon our religious tradition, nor should we idolize it into a set of absolute rules and dogmas. Instead, the work of renewal will always involve honoring what is best in our tradition by allowing its rich potential to be fully realized and being open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to guide us in new ways.

Homily for Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Lent

Peter was a well-known figure in the community where Matthew lived. Only in Matthew's gospel does Jesus refer to Simon Peter as the "rock" on which He will build His church. It is also only in Matthew's gospel that Peter asks Jesus, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?"

In their culture, the number seven represented completeness and fullness. Forgiving someone seven times would be seen as forgiving them as much as possible. However, Jesus tells Peter and us, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times." Jesus wants us to understand that there should be no limit to our willingness to forgive one another.

Jesus is aware that humans tend to limit our willingness to forgive. Nonetheless, He encourages us to use God's infinite mercy as an example of how we should forgive. 

In today's parable, Jesus emphasizes how forgiving God is. He sets a high standard and calls on us to emulate God's mercy by being ready to forgive those who have wronged us. In other words, as we hear in Matthew 5, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Homily for Monday of the 3rd Week of Lent

In our Gospel passage, Jesus confronts a narrow view of God held by His fellow Nazoreans. They believed that God belonged only to the Israelites. When Jesus reminded them of a couple of instances in the Scriptures when God seemed to prefer the pagans over the Jewish people, they resented it and drove Him away. This rejection in Nazareth predicted His even more violent rejection to come in Jerusalem.

Jesus wanted to expand the people's understanding of God, which was too limited. He wanted them to see that, as St. Peter later said, "God has no favorites."

Jesus wanted people to know that God is generous and inclusive beyond what they could imagine. He always tried to show them there was so much more to God than they comprehended. Jesus' vision of God is still a challenge for us today, but it is still "Good News" for all who are open and willing to receive it.

3rd Sunday of Lent

Everything we do in life has to do with the pursuit of satisfaction, spiritual contentment, and fulfillment. We strive for new experiences, relationships, accomplishments, and adventures because we have an innate drive for meaning, happiness, and purpose. This is a wonderful aspect of our nature because it is how God made us.

God created human beings to experience true and lasting fulfillment in a deep and personal relationship with Him. That's why the first three Commandments focus on our relationship with God, which is the most essential reality of our lives. But our fallen human nature seeks fulfillment in other places: career success, money, physical pleasure, power, popularity, et cetera.

But that is wrong.

Those things may be acceptable in themselves and have their place in the human story. However, they cannot replace the fulfillment of a close relationship with God. God alone can satisfy our deepest yearning. That is why Jesus gets so upset in today's Gospel.

The Temple was where people could pray, encounter God, and develop friendships with Him. But the merchants and money changers had made it into a marketplace for buying and selling things. The place that should have helped people find God instead became an obstacle to that goal.

Jesus fervently wants us to find God because He wants us to find true fulfillment. He wants our friendship because we can only find fulfillment and satisfaction when seeking communion with God.

Our responsibility in building this friendship consists of two parts: First, we seek to know and love Christ through prayer. Second, we strive to follow Christ by fulfilling God's will for our lives.

This phrase — "God's will" — is easily and often misunderstood or even abused as an excuse to justify questionable personal agendas, whether violent, political, or self-serving.

But there are safeguards against this kind of error. As Christians, we go to Christ's example and teaching and the instruction of the Old Testament, as we heard in our first reading from Exodus when the Commandments were given to the people. These let us know God's will quickly and clearly most of the time.

Jesus wants us to avoid anger, arrogance, judgementalism, gossip, lust, greed, laziness, and dishonesty. These sins damage our friendship with Him and cause serious harm to those around us.

Jesus also wants us to develop our God-given talents and opportunities and use them to build society. Recall His words, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

That's God's will for us, and, again, most of the time, it's perfectly clear if we simply think about it.

However, for those other times when we are doubtful, we need more assistance, which God gave us in His Church. He has promised to instruct us through the teachings of the Church, which sheds the light of Christ's truth on challenging social, personal, and spiritual issues as it has done faithfully for the last 2,000 years. To know, love, and follow Christ also involves knowing, loving, and following Christ's Church.

Jesus wants the Temple of our hearts filled with his friendship, not false idols and empty promises. May we allow Him to cleanse from our hearts, minds, and lives whatever He wants to so that that friendship with Him may thrive.

Homily for Saturday of the 2nd Week of Lent

Forgiveness and reconciliation are at the core of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To be a true disciple of Jesus means to be dedicated to achieving unity of spirit even when we have differences and disagreements.

The work of reconciliation is not limited to a specific time or place, nor is it conditioned on any set of circumstances. It is not just offered to certain individuals or groups of people.

The work of forgiveness requires us to face our responsibility in hurting others, just like the Prodigal Son did. This often means putting aside our own agendas, desires, and desire for control. Sometimes, it even means setting aside our own hurts to focus on the goal of reconciliation and working towards it. It is not an easy journey, but it is what the Gospel calls us to do. We are called to balance reconciliation and healing, rather than seeking vengeance and punishment. This is the same difficult path that the father in today’s Gospel reading must walk between his two sons.

May we all dedicate ourselves to the work of reconciliation: forgiving without seeking revenge, humbly working to bring healing to those we have hurt, and restoring hope and dignity to those who have suffered at our hands.