St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

Homily for Friday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel reading, a parable describes a rich man who confronts his steward about the mismanagement of his property. He orders the steward to prepare a full accounting and informs him that he will no longer be employed.

Recognizing his predicament, the steward courageously decides to seek help from his master’s debtors. He calls each of them and reduces the amounts they owe. While this action involves a level of dishonesty, it conveys a more profound message.

Interestingly, the master seems less angry with the steward after seeing how he has eased the burden on the debtors. Perhaps witnessing the steward’s mercy towards the debtors softened the master’s response as well. This highlights the transformative power of mercy in the face of wrongdoing.

Homily for Thursday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel reading, we see the persistent tendency of the Scribes and Pharisees to exclude individuals they consider imperfect. They criticize Jesus for eating and spending time with these people.

However, Jesus responds to His critics with parables, encouraging them to focus on the very individuals He is with. He reminds them that He has not come for the righteous, but to save the lost and forsaken. To do this, He meets people where they are, rather than waiting for them to redeem themselves. This means that Jesus will eat with, speak to, spend time with, and love them.

We, too, are called to seek out the lost and forsaken and to serve those in need: the sick, the oppressed, the poor, and even sinners. 

May our lives reflect Jesus's teachings as we strive to be His voice, His hands, His feet, and His instruments in the world.

Homily for Wednesday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time

Many people find today's Gospel passage challenging, especially the part about needing to "hate" family members. This idea can be uncomfortable and seems to contradict what Jesus and the Scriptures, including the Ten Commandments, say about honoring our parents. So, what is Jesus really trying to convey?

Jesus is not speaking about "hate" in the way we commonly understand it. Instead, He emphasizes that we must love Him and our heavenly Father even more than we love our parents or family members. He is teaching us that when we face a choice between following Him or our family, we must always prioritize Him, even if it creates tension.

While Jesus' wording may sound harsh, He often used strong language to capture the attention of His listeners. He aimed to highlight that, at times, following Him can be challenging and, in rare instances, may even put us at odds with those we love the most. We must be prepared to choose Him over our family when necessary.

Let us pray for unwavering faith and trust in Jesus, even when following Him requires us to bear difficult crosses and burdens.

Homily for the Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo

In today's Gospel passage, a man hosts a lavish dinner and invites many people to attend. However, they are too preoccupied with their own concerns to accept the invitation. As a result, the man sends his servants into the streets and alleys to invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame, even reaching out to those on the outskirts of town to invite anyone they can find.

This reflects how God interacts with us. He invites us to embrace His love and grace and to experience the joy of His kingdom, even while we are still living on earth.

For many of us, the immediate demands of life can hinder us from accepting that invitation. We often think we will find time for God once we have addressed all our earthly and material concerns. However, we risk waiting too long.

God's invitation to experience His love and grace is extended to everyone. Let us pray that we remain attentive to that invitation at every moment in our lives, so we can grow in God's love and actively share in the Banquet of Life.

Homily for Monday of the 31st Week in Ordinary tIme

In today's Gospel, a wealthy Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner. This is unusual because Pharisees typically dined only with those who shared their views. During the meal, Jesus suggests that His host should often invite people he wouldn't ordinarily welcome—those who are outsiders or who are experiencing illness, hunger, and poverty.

Unlike the Pharisees, who limited their social circles, Jesus regularly shared meals with a diverse array of people, including the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, the devout and the outsiders, as well as men and women. His choice of dining companions reflects His inclusive nature; no one was excluded from His presence or from His mission of preaching the kingdom of God. Jesus aimed to reveal God's generous welcome for everyone, especially those who were marginalized.

Through His authentic lifestyle and the company He kept, Jesus demonstrated the wide hospitality of His Father. In contrast, the Pharisees viewed God as exclusive rather than inclusive.

Let us pray that we will follow Jesus' example and welcome those who may be considered outsiders and those in need, so that we may share our knowledge of and faith in God with others.

Homily for the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed

My favorite season of the year is Autumn, and for many years, I have traveled the Green River Road from Greenfield, through Colrain, and up into Guilford, Vermont. I always end my trip in Brattleboro with lunch. It's a beautiful ride any time of year, but especially in the Fall.

Several years ago, I traveled this road with a friend during the peak foliage season. It was a bright sunny day; there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The brightness of the sun seemed to illuminate the yellows, oranges, and reds of the leaves, which stood in sharp contrast to the crisp blue sky and scattered themselves on the ground, floating over the rocky bed of the Green River. The day couldn't have been more perfect. Then we came to one of my favorite spots on the road. Just into Vermont, the road takes a sharp right and goes over a single-lane wooden covered bridge.

Just as we went over the bridge — and I was feeling euphoric — my friend turned to me and said, “Isn't is amazing that the most beautiful season in the year is the season of dying?"

Suddenly, the day seemed to lose its brilliance. The sky didn't look quite as blue, and the leaves seemed a little dull. I felt like someone had thrown a wet blanket over me. I couldn't quite believe what my friend had said.

I did think about his words, however, and quickly realized that he was correct and that there was nothing dismal about it. It is true, as life begins to ebb from the leaves, instead of just drying up, they reveal a tremendous beauty in color that was there all throughout their short lifetime but only visible at the end. I also thought about how the leaves, after they put on their fiery show and fall to the ground, undergo the natural processes that make them part of the soil and thus provide food and nourishment for future generations of leaves.

It seems to me that there can be a great deal of similarity between the season of Autumn and the human experience of death and dying. How often I have known someone who, in their final months or years, has mellowed out a bit, opened up, and been able to share the beauty within after struggling to do so their entire life. It is true, too, that those who "nourish" us in this life continue to do so after they are gone. Their influence can sometimes be felt for generations, just like the leaves.

Back in 1998, I gathered with my family as we bade farewell to our Dad. He died at the age of 56 after a relatively short battle with cancer. As we gathered with extended family and friends to mourn and to celebrate, in faith, our Dad's new life, the words of my friend came back to me: "The most beautiful season of the year is the Season of Dying."

While my Dad did not know he was in danger of dying until a couple weeks before he did die, there was some power deep within him that seemed to know it was time and took care of all the deeper things that needed attention before he left this earth. This was his season of dying and it was, indeed, the most beautiful season of his life.

My Dad was always a good man and always well-liked by people. However, the last couple of years of his life were really good ones. It was a season of reconciliation in many ways. It was a time when my Dad really learned how to open the window of his heart, to reach out to others in love and compassion to those who were sick. As his life slowly and secretly ebbed away, we saw the wonderfully brilliant colors that illuminated his soul and enabled those around him to see and be touched by it. It was a wondrous sight to behold.

Just like the leaves that have fallen to the ground and continue to nourish the leaves of succeeding generations, our beloved deceased continue to nourish us. They are irrevocable parts of our lives in so many ways. Their spirits are a part of who we are.

It is not pessimistic to say that the most beautiful season is the season of dying. To miss that beauty, now that would be a dismal and tragic thing.

Homily for the Solemnity of All Saints

All Saints Day is not just a day to honor those who have attained sainthood; it is also a day to reflect on our call to follow Jesus and strive to live as His disciples, emulating the lives of the saints.

The late Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, was once asked, "How does one become a saint?" There are many answers to that question: most notably, proof of a miracle and living a holy life. Technically, one is not made a saint by the Church; instead, the Church recognizes the sanctity of that person's life and the belief that they are in heaven.

However, sainthood is the byproduct of sorts of a larger goal: to know and love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls. This strong and pure desire is something each of us is called to possess, and those who live out that passion in every aspect of their lives attain the byproduct of sainthood.

Sanctity is something we should all strive for in our lives. The lives of the saints, whom we celebrate today and throughout the year, serve as models of inspiration in our pursuit of unity with God.

Let us pray that the saints will be examples of holiness for us and that their lives will inspire us to truly live as God's holy people.

Homily for Friday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time

In our Gospel passage, Jesus is dining with some Pharisees and other devout individuals. There is a theory that the man with the open wound was intentionally brought to the dinner to trap Jesus, testing whether He would heal him on the Sabbath. Typically, a person who is sick would not have been invited as a guest. However, Jesus was willing to take the challenge.

Without hesitation, He healed the man and sent him on his way. 

Even today, we often see people who appear very religious and pious yet fail to show respect and compassion for others in times of need. 

Our Lord's approach is always to treat others with love and respect, no matter the circumstances. He calls us to follow His example. The way Jesus interacts with others should also guide our actions. All religious and devout practices mean little if we do not embody love, mercy, and compassion and actively help those in need.

Homily for Thursday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus uses the metaphor of a hen who longs to gather her chicks under her wings, just as He desires to unite the people of Jerusalem and lead them to salvation. However, His longing to gather and save them went unfulfilled because they chose not to listen.

Jesus does not force anyone to accept His message or invitation. God gives us the precious gift of human freedom, which means He seeks a genuine desire for salvation from us; He does not impose it upon us. We must make an effort and cooperate with God's grace.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit fills our hearts with a genuine desire for closeness to God and the salvation offered by our Lord.

Homily for Wednesday of the 30th Week in Ordinary TIme

“Will only a few people be saved?” Jesus does not provide a direct answer to this question, but He encourages us to enter through the narrow gate. Achieving salvation and a fulfilling life requires effort on our part, much like the focus needed to slim down and fit through a narrow opening.

The idea of a narrow gate does not necessarily mean that only a few will succeed in entering. In fact, Jesus says that people from the east, west, north, and south will be welcomed into the kingdom of God.

Additionally, the Book of Revelation describes a vast multitude gathered around the throne. However, this understanding should not lead to complacency. We must still strive to enter through the narrow gate by following Jesus and seeking to do God’s will.