33 Week: Nov 18-23
Nov 18 Monday: Dedication of Basilicas of Saints. Peter & Paul:
Historical note: Today the Church celebrates the
anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral Church of Rome by Pope Sylvester
I (AD 314-335), in AD 324. This Church serves as the Episcopal seat of the Pope
as the Bishop of Rome and, hence, is called “the Mother and Head of all
Churches of Rome and the world.”
The basilica and baptistery were built originally by the
Emperor Constantine and called Basilica Constantinia. Later it was named the
Arch-Basilica of the Most Holy Savior. However, it is now called St. Johns
Lateran Basilica because it was built on property donated to the Church by the
Laterani family, and because the monks from the monastery of St. John the
Baptist and St. John the Divine served it. The name St. Johns comes, first,
from the Baptistery, rebuilt after its hard treatment by the Visigoths (AD
410), by Pope St. Sixtus II (AD 432-440), and dedicated by him to St. John the
Baptist. Later, Pope St. Hilary (AD 461-468), dedicated it to St. John the
Evangelist, in thanksgiving to that apostle for saving his life. [Richard P.
McBrien, Lives of the Popes
The context: The event presented by today’s
Gospel is the scene immediately following Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the five
thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish. Sensing the danger of having
the people make him the leader of a revolt, Jesus promptly instructed his
apostles to leave the place by boat and, after dispersing the crowd, went alone
to the mountain to pray.
A double miracle on the sea: When the apostles
in the boat were several furlongs away from the shore, they faced an unexpected
storm on the sea caused by the hot wind of the desert rushing into the Sea of
Galilee through the gaps in the Golan Heights. Recognizing the danger, Jesus
walked on the stormy waters toward the boat. Jesus calmed the frightened
disciples as He approached the boat, allowed Peter to do a trial walk on water,
then saved the apostle from drowning when he panicked. As soon as Jesus brought
Peter into the boat the storm ceased miraculously. The apostles recognized the
presence of God in their midst, and they all worshipped Jesus.
Life messages: 1) Let us approach Jesus with strong
Faith in his ability and willing availability to calm the storms in our lives
and in the life of the Church. Church History shows us how Jesus saved his
Church from storms of persecution in the first three centuries, storms of
heresies in the fifth and sixth centuries, storms of moral degradation and the
Protestant reformation movement in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and
storms of sex abuse scandals of the clergy in the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries. 2) Let us ask Jesus to protect us when we face storms of strong
temptations, storms of doubts about our religious beliefs, and storms of fear,
anxiety, and worries about the future, as in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, in
our personal lives. 3) Experiencing Jesus’ presence in our lives, let us
confess our Faith in him and call out for his help and protection. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Nov 19 Tuesday:
The context: The theme of today’s Gospel is the
benevolent and forgiving mercy of God for sinners and the response of
repentance and conversion expected from us. The story is that of the
instantaneous conversion of the tax-collector, Zacchaeus. As the chief
tax-collector in Jericho, Zacchaeus was probably a man of much wealth and few
friends. Since he worked for the Romans and extracted more tax money than
required by the law, he was probably hated by the Jews who considered all
tax-collectors as public sinners. The account describes how Jesus recognized
Zacchaeus for exactly who he was – a lost sinner in need of a Savior. Jesus’
response lets us see how God’s grace worked in Zacchaeus to lead him from idle
curiosity to repentance, conversion, and the making of restitution. The episode
emphasizes the fact that such a conversion can only result from a person’s
fully receiving the love, acceptance, and grace of a merciful Lord. The story
of Zacchaeus reinforces the lessons of the fifteenth chapter of Luke in which a
lost sheep and a lost coin are found, and a lost son is embraced. It also
demonstrates the fact that nobody is beyond the possibility of conversion.
Life messages: 1) We need to accept the Divine
invitation to repentance. We are all sinners to a greater or lesser degree.
Jesus is inviting each one of us to total conversion today by means of this
Gospel lesson. Let us remember that Jesus loves us, in spite of our ugly
thoughts, broken promises, and sullied ideals, our lack of prayer, our lack of
Faith, our resentments, and our lusts. Hence, let us confess to Him all our
weaknesses and sins, repenting, and ask Him trustfully for His Mercy. 2) We
need to love others in spite of their sins, as Jesus loves us. Jesus loved
Zacchaeus—a great sinner — and by that love, Zacchaeus was transformed. As
parents or teachers, can we lovingly accept our children without first
setting up for them standards of behavior as conditions for
being loved? Just as Jesus loved Zacchaeus, even though he was a public sinner,
so we must love others in spite of their sins. Jesus expects this of us. 3) We
need to be set free from selfishness and choose generosity: Zacchaeus was
changed from being greedy to being generous, from selfishness to selflessness.
When we feel the warmth of God’s presence within us, that warmth will, in
itself, melt our coldness and selfishness, leading us to repentance and
generosity.
(Fr. Tony) https://frtonyshomilies.com/
Nov 20 Wednesday:
The context: The central theme of today’s Gospel
is an invitation to live in such a way that we make the best use of the talents
God has given us, so that at the hour of our death Our Lord will say: “Well
done, good servant! Come and share the joy of your Master.” The
parable of the talents challenges us to do something positive, constructive,
and life-affirming with our talents here and now.
The parable: A very rich Master, about to set off on a
journey, entrusted very large sums of money (talents), to three of his
servant-slaves (10 according to Luke 19), each according to his personal
ability: five, two, and one. He wanted them to do business with the money in
his absence. Through skillful trading and investing, the servant-slaves with
the five talents and the two talents managed to double their master’s money.
But the servant-slave with one talent buried it in the ground for fear of loss
in business. On the day of accounting, the Master rewarded the two clever
servant-slaves and punished the third servant-slave whom he called “wicked and
slothful.” He took the third servant-slave’s talent and gave it to the first
servant-slave.
Life messages: 1) We need to trust God enough to
make use of the gifts and abilities He has given us. We may be especially
talented in teaching children, or cooking meals, or repairing homes, or
programming computers. Let us use our particular gifts in the service of our
families, our Christian community, and the wider society. 2) We need to make
use of our talents in our parish. We should be always willing to share our
abilities in creative worship in the Church and in the various ministries in
our parish, such as Sunday-school teacher, singer in the choir, volunteer,
and/or member of one or more of the various parish organizations and community
outreach programs. 3) We need to trade with our talent of Christian Faith: All
of us in the Church today have received at least one talent namely, the gift of
Faith. Our responsibility is not just to preserve and “keep” the Faith, but to
work with it and grow with it. We need to promote and add value to Faith by
living it out.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Nov 21 Thursday:The Presentation of Blessed Virgin
Mary:
Mt 12:46-50 This feast commemorates
the presentation of the Blessed Virgin as a young girl in the Temple. (Mary’s
house was in Nazareth, 95 miles away from Jerusalem which meant 4-5 days
walking distance). Tradition holds that all young Jewish girls were left in the
care of the Temple for a period, during which they were educated in reading
Scriptures, singing liturgical songs and helping in the Temple. As with Mary’s
birth, we read of Mary’s presentation in the Temple only in apocryphal
literature. The Protoevangelium of James (recognized as an
unhistorical account), tells us that Anna and Joachim offered Mary to God in
the Temple when she was very young. Later versions of the story (such as
the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Gospel of the
Nativity of Mary), tell us that Mary was taken to the Temple at around the
age of three in fulfillment of a vow made by her parents. Tradition held that
she was to remain there to be educated in preparation for her role as Theotokos —
Mother of God. This was to carry out her mother’s promise made to God when Anna
was still childless. The feast originated as a celebration of the dedication of
the Basilica of Saint Mary the New, built in AD 543 by the Byzantines under
Emperor Justinian I near the site of the ruined Temple in Jerusalem. The
feast originated in the Orient probably about the 7th century. The Eastern
Orthodox church celebrates it on November 21 as one of its twelve “Great
Feasts.” The feast continued to be celebrated throughout the East, and by the
ninth century had spread to the west, first in the monasteries of
Southern Italy. It was formally introduced into the whole Western
Church in the 14th century. In the 1974 encyclical Marialis
Cultus, Pope St. Paul VI (canonized by Pope Francis, October 14, 2018)
wrote, “despite its apocryphal content, it presents lofty and exemplary values
and carries on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern
Churches.” Though it cannot be proven historically, Mary’s presentation has an
important theological purpose. It continues the impact of the feasts of the
Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary. It emphasizes that the holiness
conferred on Mary from the beginning of her life on earth continued through her
early childhood and beyond.
Life message: 1) Every Holy Mass
in which we participate is our presentation. Although we were officially
presented to God on the day of our Baptism, we present ourselves and our dear
ones on the altar before God our Father through our Savior Jesus Christ at
every Holy Mass. Hence, we need to live our daily lives with the awareness both
that we are dedicated people consecrated to God and that we are therefore
obliged to lead holy lives. We offer ourselves to God, asking to be made holy
under the patronage of Mary and assisted by her powerful intercession and the
union of her merits.
Nov 22 Friday: St. Cecilia, Virgin, Martyr:
Context: Today’s Gospel gives us the dramatic
account of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem. He drove out its
merchants and money-changers with moral indignation at the unjust
commercialization of God’s House of Prayer and the exploitation of the poor
pilgrims in the name of religion. The merchants charged exorbitant prices for
the animals to be sacrificed, and the money-changers charged unjust
commissions for the required exchange of pagan coins for Temple
coins. The Temple Jesus cleansed was the Temple in Jerusalem, originally
built by Solomon in 966 BC, rebuilt by Zerubbabel in 515 BC
after the Babylonians had destroyed it, and in Jesus’ day was still being
renovated, a work begun by King Herod the Great in 20 BC. The abuses
which infuriated Jesus were: 1) the conversion of a place of prayer into a
noisy marketplace, and 2), the unjust business practices of animal merchants
and moneychangers, encouraged by the Temple authorities. Hence, Jesus
made a whip of cords and drove away the animals, the dealers and the
money-changers, quoting the prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, “Stop making my
Father’s house a marketplace” (Lk 19:46; see also, Is 56:7;
Jer 7:11).
Life messages: 1) We need to
avoid the business mentality of loss and profit in Divine worship.
Our relationship with God must be that of child-to-parent, with no thought of
loss or gain, but only of mutual love, respect, and the common good. 2)
Secondly, we need to remember that we are the temples of the Holy
Spirit. Hence, we have no right to desecrate God’s temple by acts of
impurity, injustice, pride, hatred, or jealousy. 3) We need
to love our parish Church and use it. Our Church is the place where
we come together as a community to praise and worship God, to thank Him for His
blessings, to ask pardon and forgiveness for our sins, and to receive His
offered healing and nourishment. Let us make our Church an even more holy
place by adding our prayers and songs to community worship and by offering our
time and talents in the various ministries of our parish. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Nov 23 Saturday: St. Clement I, Pope, Martyr: St.
Columban, Abbot, St. Migul Austin Pro, Priest,
Martyr:
The context: Jesus reached Jerusalem for
His final Passover feast. As part of a well-planned plot to trap
Jesus, the chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees met Jesus with
controversial questions. The Sadducees did not believe in resurrection of
the dead because they claimed that Moses wrote nothing about it. If
Jesus defended the concept of the resurrection, the Sadducees would be angered;
if Jesus failed to do so, the Pharisees would be enraged. In either
case, one group would be alienated. Hence, in their hypothetical question,
they asked Jesus who, in Heaven, would be the husband of the woman who had been
married (levirate marriage) in succession to seven of her brothers–in-law
(levires), and had died childless.
Jesus goes on the offensive as defense: Jesus begins
the counter- argument by pointing out the ignorance of the Sadducees about the
existence and nature of life after death with God. Then Jesus provides
positive Biblical proof for the reality of resurrected existence. Jesus
is presuming that Yahweh’s burning bush statement demonstrates that these three
patriarchs were still alive at the time of Moses, 600 years after their
deaths. Since God declared Himself to be God of the
patriarchs, He must somehow still be sustaining the
patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thus granting them resurrection and
eternal life. Thus, Jesus uses the Sadducees’ sacred text of the Torah to
refute their anti-resurrection belief. Second, Jesus explains that
the afterlife will not be just an eternal replay of this life. Things
will be different after death. Normal human relationships, including
marriage, will be transformed. Then Jesus tells the Sadducees that those
to whom God has granted resurrection and Heavenly life with Him will be immortal,
like the angels, and hence “children of God.”
Life messages: 1) We need to live the lives of Resurrection people: That is, we are not to lie buried in the tomb of our sins and evil habits. Instead, we are to live joyful and peaceful lives, constantly experiencing the Real Presence of the Risen Lord Who gives us the assurance that our bodies also will be raised. 2) The salutary thought of our own resurrection and eternal glory should also inspire us to honor our bodies, keeping them holy, pure, and free from evil habits, and to respect those with whom we come in contact, rendering them loving and humble service. (Fr. Kadavil) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
