St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

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.

Homily for Friday of the 2nd Week of Lent

As we just heard, Jesus taught a parable about tenants who killed the vineyard owner's son to claim the property. This was a creative introduction to Jesus' Passion. After telling the parable, Jesus quoted from the Psalms, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," which looks forward to His Resurrection. Although rejected by the religious and political leaders of the day, Jesus rose from the dead and became the cornerstone of a new temple, the Church, made up of people who have faith in Him.

Jesus teaches us that what we reject may be of critical importance. The things in our lives that we want to leave behind may actually be how God speaks to us. The elements of our lives that we may be slow to accept may be the means through which the Lord can work most powerfully in our lives and, through us, in the lives of others. The experience of Jesus also implies that God may have a purpose for what we reject. God never rejects us, even if we turn our backs on Him.

Homily for Thursday of the 2nd Week of Lent

The parable for today is not meant to criticize wealth itself. Rather, it prompts those who have more than enough to consider whether they are sharing with others who are in need. Are we doing our part to reduce the gap between those who have plenty and those who have very little?

Although possessions are not inherently evil, they should not divert our attention from those in the world who have so little.

In this parable, the rich man is criticized for using his wealth only for his own benefit, which shows his indifference towards others. Although we may not consider ourselves wealthy, we can still become complacent towards the poor. The story raises an important question of whether we are even aware of the poverty that exists around us and among us.

The parable does not have an ending, which leaves us wondering if the five brothers ever received the message about the negative outcomes of neglecting individuals who are experiencing poverty. This allows us to create our own conclusion about how we will live our lives, having learned about the contrast between the temporary wealth of this world and the eternal riches of God's kingdom.

Homily for Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Lent

As we just heard, Jesus asked James and John, “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” In other words, were they truly prepared to share His chalice, cast their lots with Him, and follow where He would lead them, even though it could cost them their lives?

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” Yet, He went on to drink that cup on the Cross.

At the Last Supper, He drank of the Chalice and then gave it to His disciples, who also drank from it. Yet, a little later, they deserted him and fled. Despite what they promised Him, James and John would not follow Him when things got really challenging.

We, too, are invited to drink from the Lord’s Chalice, the Chalice of sacrifice, the Chalice of suffering, and the Chalice of the Eucharist. When we do so, we express our willingness to go where He leads and walk in His way, with all its challenges and joys.

Jesus teaches that His way of selfless service to others is that to which we are called. May we be faithful to what that action signifies: walking in the footsteps of the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve.

Homily for Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Lent

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus blames the Pharisees for imposing unwarranted and heavy burdens on ordinary people's shoulders. However, He invites everyone to come to Him, especially those who are burdened and tired, and promises to give them rest.

As we go through life, we all face different types of burdens. While some of these burdens are necessary and unavoidable, such as the burdens of love and responsibility for others, Jesus rejects unnecessary and unjustified burdens placed upon others.

It is our responsibility to make life less burdensome for the people around us. We must help them to the best of our abilities and in the spirit of the One who promised to give us rest from our labors.

Whenever we feel burdened, we should turn to God for help and comfort. We should also allow God to work through us to ease the burdens of those around us.

Homily for Monday of the 2nd Week of Lent

We often measure our success by what we have accumulated, such as money, possessions, or achievements.

However, those of us who have faith are called to invest our love, care, and compassion in others without expecting a reward. Love and mercy are what matter most in God's eyes.

Jesus instructs us to love one another unconditionally and without limit, just as God loves us. Ultimately, God will reward us with the things of heaven.

Let us pray that God will open our hearts and minds to focus on the things of heaven as the ultimate reward for all our actions in this life.