St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for the Memorial of St. John Chrysostom

In our Gospel reading, we hear about a widow mourning her only son. In the time and place where this scene occurs, a widow would have no means to provide for herself; she would have to rely on her son. In this case, her only son has died. She perhaps mourns not only for her dead son but also for the possibly destitute life ahead of her.

 

So, Jesus’ raising her son from the dead is not simply a miracle of life after death. It is another example of Jesus’ compassion for the poor, the suffering, and those who mourn. A compassion that is often lacking in our world.

 

Let us pray that the compassion of Jesus may fill our hearts and souls, as well as our words and actions, so that His love may be spread through us as His ambassadors in our world.+

Homily for Monday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel passage, it is clear that the people knew they should be thoughtful of one another. Since the centurion had built the synagogue at Capernaum, the Jewish people told Jesus that he should perform the miracle of curing the centurion's servant. They were saying that, in a sense, He owed it to him. Similarly, as Jesus gained redemption for us by giving His life on the Cross, we owe kindness and compassion to those he loves and redeems.

The story about the centurion also demonstrates the humility of both Jesus and the centurion. By his authority, the centurion could do whatever he wanted. However, he realized that Jesus was holier and closer to God than he was; he saw himself as subordinate to Jesus, and rather than summoning Jesus, he, seeing himself as unworthy to approach Jesus, sent messengers to Him with his request; he did not want Jesus to go out of His way for him.

Jesus saw the faith and humility of the centurion and recognized his closeness to God. So, while there was no obligation, Jesus cured the centurion's servant. Humility is the at the core of faith, and faith is the foundation of all other virtues.+

Homily for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We have heard these parables of forgiveness so many times that we may have missed Jesus' real point. But we might ask: Is it even proper to call them parables of "forgiveness"? We hear it said: "Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.' So, to them, he addressed this parable."

 

Those to whom Jesus addressed the parables were the complainers, the leaders, and people who didn't want sinners to have a place in Jesus' life and ministry. The parable is NOT a word to sinners about God's mercy; it is a parable of challenge and judgment to anyone who lacks mercy. The images of a shepherd seeking his one lost sheep and the woman searching for her one lost coin are meant to challenge these religious leaders out of their self-righteousness and their reluctance to accept a God whose mercy and hospitality extend to all peoples of all times.

 

God has always been God of mercy, God of patience, and God who seeks out the lost. How then, Jesus asks the leaders, do you dare to create a god of your rules, you narrowness, your elitism, and ignore the true God?

 

So, today is a Sunday of self-reflection. If we have been or are now in sin, God's mercy is searching for our deepest souls, with love beyond imagining, ready to receive and welcome us no less than Jesus welcomed sinners in his time.

 

If we are leading lights of the Church, the parish, and the diocese, the examination must be about our hospitality or lack thereof to those "outside" our system. No matter how wise, authentic, and accurate our teaching, our moral laws, and our Church norms are, we must be people of mercy and welcome as we answer the call to lead others to the life and light of Christ.+

Homily for Saturday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

What is visible and tangible is not all that matters. The two houses in today’s parable may have looked the same in fine weather. But it turns out that they were very different. One was built on sand, and the other on solid rock. The most important part of a house is its foundation, yet, it is invisible.

 

Jesus pushes us to have a sure foundation below the surface of our daily living. Just as the two houses had to withstand rugged conditions, we often have to deal with various difficulties relating to our health, relationships, and work. Our ability to cope with those issues will depend on how solidly we are grounded in faith and our emotional strength.
Jesus offers Himself as the foundation for our faith and our daily lives. Listening to Him and following in his way is how we build our spiritual lives on rock, capable of withstanding the storms of life. 

 

Our LORD desires to be the foundation of our lives. For this to happen, we must cooperate with His call and build our lives on Him.

Homily for the Memorial of St. Peter Claver

Today, we celebrate the Memorial of St. Peter Claver, a native of Spain who lived from 1580 until 1654. He was born to a devoutly Catholic family in Catalonia. He entered the Jesuits at the age of 20. He volunteered to work in the Spanish colonies and, in 1610, was assigned to work in the New Kingdom of Granada. He studied in Columbia, a center of the slave trade in the New World, and he was deeply distressed at the plight of the slaves.

 

In Cartagena, he started ministering to slaves, and it is estimated that in his 40 years of ministry, he personally catechized and baptized more than 300,000 slaves and heard more than 5,000 confessions a year. He also preached to sailors and traders in the city square and ministered to a wide and varied segment of society, including the poor, the rich, lepers, and prisoners. Due to his diligent work, it was reported that there had been some improvement in how the slaves were treated.

 

His last four years were filled with pain, and he was largely left alone, forgotten, in his room, mistreated by those entrusted with his care.

 

Some suggest that he was a part of the problem with the slave trade, that he didn’t do enough, and that, in some ways, he participated in it. But it has also been pointed out that some saints worked for structural change, and some worked on caring for people directly; St. Peter Claver did the latter at personal risk to himself.

 

Let us pray that we may have the dedication to our faith and the courage to reach out to help the needy and vulnerable among us.

 

Homily for the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today we join people worldwide in celebrating the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is believed that the celebration of Mary's birth began at some point in the Sixth Century, possibly even earlier.

 

Scripture does not tell us anything about the birth of Mary. However, while being rather debatable, the somewhat fictional Protoevangelium of James could fill in the gap. While it has no historical value, it shows us some of the early development of Christian piety. According to this account, Mary's parents, Anna and Joachim, prayed for a child and received the promise of a child who would be an active participant in God's salvation plan. Much like many biblical stories, this one stresses God's remarkable presence in Mary's life from its beginning.

 

Saint Augustine connected Mary's birth with the mission of salvation of Jesus. He said, “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth, the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.” Indeed, her life and her cooperation with the plan of God opened the way for the One who would change our sinful nature forever, in this life and the next.+

Homily for Wednesday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary time

In today’s Gospel, Jesus acknowledges that joy and sadness, wealth and poverty, are all a part of our world. He promises that those who suffer in this world, whether due to poverty, hunger, sadness, or those who experience hatred and ridicule for their faith, will experience the opposite in the kingdom of heaven.

 

He speaks to those who are rich, well-fed, laughing, and enjoying this world, and tells them that they will experience the opposite in the afterlife. When he says this, he is speaking to those who experience these things as their ultimate goals, not turning to God in prayer, not using their resources to help those in need. Wealth, temporal comfort, and happiness are where they find their security and ultimate meaning

 

This world is not an end in itself. Its purpose is to be used as a means to make our way to heaven, to be a place where we can be instruments of God’s love for all people, to care for the poor and the hungry, to bring healing to the sick, comfort to the dying, consolation to those who mourn, and to help others to strive for the things of heaven.

Homily for Tuesday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel passage today tells us that Jesus spent the night in prayer before choosing his apostles. Why God chooses some for particular ministries in the Church is a mystery. Some have some severe flaws, yet they go on to be great ambassadors of the love and mercy of God.

 

Despite our flaws, each of us is called to serve God. Each of us has a unique calling; not all of us are called to be great and strong leaders, but we are called to be God's hand, feet, and voice from our place in this world.

 

To do this, we need to remain close to God; we need to be healed of our spiritual afflictions and forgiven of our sins. Only when we are close to God can we truly experience his healing and be effective instruments of his love, mercy, and compassion.+

Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

I am a huge fan of the late comedian Jack Benny. I really enjoy listening to recordings of his radio show from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.

One of Mr. Benny’s running jokes depicted him as an extreme tightwad, always looking for ways to make money and even more ways to avoid spending it. Mr. Benny and his writers used this gag in every program.

One classic scene has Jack walking down a dark alley on a rainy night. Suddenly, a figure comes out of the shadows approached Jack and demands, “Your money or your life!” This is followed by a long and unexpected silence. So, the robber yells even louder, “Hey Bud, I said, ‘Your money or your life!’” Jack, clearly annoyed, says, “I’m thinking it over!”

Of course, the idea is that everyone hearing this encounter is incredulous that the answer isn’t so obvious to Jack Benny.

Jesus, too, must have been incredulous that some of the people He encountered in His ministry could not recognize and appreciate the offer He was giving them. He wanted them to choose between life and death, and they really didn’t know which one to choose. In the end, many refused and turned and walked away from Him, returning to their former way of life. They preferred not to know the truth rather than to live up to the challenges - and thus, the rewards - of the truth. It was easier.

Others, though, did not want to turn away. Recognizing that Jesus had the words of everlasting life, that He was the Holy One of God, they knew they had nowhere else to turn.

So often, people look at the ways of faith as a burden, and, in some ways, faith can seem to be burdensome. Jesus even acknowledges this fact. However, the truth and what it leads to for eternity immeasurably outweigh even our greatest sacrifices.

A few years ago, Christmas fell on a Saturday. The previous weekend, I was talking with a parishioner after Mass and another parishioner approached me and asked, “Do we have to go to Mass twice next weekend?” The other parishioner jumped in and said, “You get to go to Mass twice next weekend!” Clearly, one saw celebrating Mass twice as a burden, while the other saw it as a gift.

Indeed, some people look at religion as a burden, as something that ties us down, as a list of rules and checks and balances, and, to be honest, some people, even religious leaders make it just that.

Jesus always followed the laws of His faith but not the “laws” that others made up for the people to follow. It was the “breaking” of these human-made laws that found him in conflict with the Pharisees and Scribes who simply could not accept the offer of life that He came to bring to us.

Let us recognize in the Scriptures, in our celebration of the Mass, in our practices of faith the incredible offer Jesus gives us in His invitation to His Father’s kingdom. May we recognize the great sacrifice He made on our behalf, and may we be willing to make sacrifices that lead us to an acceptance of that offer all while inviting others to do the same.+

Homily for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

A teacher was testing the children in her CCD class to see if they understood the concept of getting to Heaven. She asked them, "If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?"

"NO!" the children answered.

She then asked, "If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?"

Again, the answer from the whole class was, "NO!"

So she asked, "Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into Heaven? 

Again, they all answered, "NO!"

She said, "Well then, how can I get into Heaven?" A six-year-old boy shouted out, “You have to be dead!”

We have a lot of jokes about Heaven, I suspect because somewhere in our heads is the constant question about what happens after we die. Every religion has to have answers to this ultimate question. Not so much why do we have to die but, what happens after death? Today’s feast is about what happens after death. It is also a key to what is happening in our life.

If you look at Mary's life as recorded in the Gospels there is nothing special about it. It is a life of faith, not vision. It is only Divine Revelation that 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, the first person to share in the resurrection of 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 life than we can see or 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 me to be a model of the Christian life: We have a life within our life. We have the life of God within our life. We have to 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, mortality becomes immortality.+