Easter 7th Week: June 2-7:
June 2 Monday: Saints Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs: John 16: 29-33:
Context: Jesus is speaking to his apostles after the
Last Supper.
Scripture lessons: In this Last Supper
discourse, Jesus explains his Divine origin and his relationship to God his
Father in clear terms without using any metaphors. The apostles acknowledge
that they understand the Divinity of Jesus. But Jesus prophesies that they will
soon desert him and seek their own safety, while he will be arrested, brought
to trial, and crucified. Our Faith is tested every day when we live in a world
filled with agnostics, atheists, and pleasure-seekers who see true believers as
superstitious people and hate them. That is why Jesus gave his apostles and all
his future disciples the assurance of the anointing of the Holy Spirit Who
would strengthen them and guide them. The Second Vatican Council teaches in
connection with this passage: “The Lord Jesus who said `Be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33), did not by these words
promise complete victory to his Church in this world. This sacred Council
rejoices that the earth which has been sown with the seed of the Gospel is now
bringing forth fruit in many places under the guidance of the Spirit of the
Lord, who is filling the world” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 22).
Life messages: 1) Our Faith is firmly rooted in
the Divinity of Jesus demonstrated by his Messianic miracles, most of which
were foretold by the prophets. The Resurrection of Jesus is the Miracle of
miracles proving Jesus’ Divinity beyond doubt. 2) We need to get our daily
infusion of spiritual strength by recognizing the presence of God – the Father,
the Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit — living within us wherever we are, and by
communicating with our indwelling God in prayer.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 3 Tuesday; St. John Paul XXIII, Pope: St. John
Paul XXIII: Jn 17:1-11a
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is taken
from the “High Priestly Prayer” Jesus offered to the Father for himself, the
apostles and all future believers at the end of his long Last Supper discourse.
It is called the High Priestly Prayer because it is as the
High Priest of the New Covenant that Jesus offers to God, his Father, the
imminent sacrifice of his passion and death, his apostles and their mission,
and all future believers.
Glory in crucifixion: In the first part of the
prayer, Jesus asks for the glorification of his human nature and the acceptance
of his sacrifice on the cross by his Father. Jesus
considered his crucifixion as his glorification — just
as the martyrs would later do. The cross was the glory of Jesus
because it was the completion of his double work of saving mankind and of
demonstrating to us how much God loves us. Further, it was his death on the
cross that led to his Resurrection in glory. Jesus glorified God 1)
by accepting death on the cross in perfect obedience to God, to complete His
eternal plan of salvation; 2) by revealing God to men as a loving, forgiving
and saving Father; and 3) by giving believers Eternal Life in making them
his disciples and teaching them to obey his new commandment of love.
The essence of Eternal Life: According to the
New Testament, Eternal Life is: “to know You, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ Whom You have sent” (John 17:3). To “know”
God in the Gospel sense is to have a deep, personal experience of God Who
is working in one’s life. It involves a close, intimate relationship
which matures eventually into mutual love and trust. Christian Faith is
essentially a “believing in”- a total surrender. It is the
way we come to “know” Christ closely, to experience Him intimately,
and to love Him personally.
Life messages: 1) Let us center our
Christian life on prayer and the glorification of God.
Prayer means getting into contact with God — listening to Him and talking
to Him. If we are convinced of the presence of God within us, we can talk
to Him even while we are driving, waiting in a queue, or doing routine
work in the kitchen or yard. Our talk with God can include adoration,
praise, thanksgiving, pleas for forgiveness for ourselves and
for those who injure us and/or others, and prayer for the needs of
others and of ourselves. A few minutes spent in reading the Bible is
the best way of listening to God. We glorify God by obeying His commandments,
especially the commandment of love given by Jesus. Fr. Tony
June 4 Wednesday; Saints Charles Lwanga and
companions, Martyrs:
Jn 17:11b-19: In today’s Gospel passage,
taken from Jesus’ high-priestly prayer, Jesus prays in particular, for those
disciples who are sharing the meal with him. Jesus prayed for
the victory, unity, protection, and consecration of his
disciples. (i) Jesus prayed that they might find victory by
living out their Christianity in the rough-and-tumble of life.
The disciples must win the world for Christ by living out their
Christianity within the world. They must bear witness to Christ
through their transparent Christian lives, reflecting Christ’s love, mercy,
forgiveness, and spirit of humble service. (ii) Jesus
prayed for the unity of his disciples. The world
cannot be evangelized by competing Churches, and that is why Jesus prayed that
his disciples might be as fully one as He and
the Father are One. Christian unity is determined by whether and how
well we love one another, and whether we reflect the love of God in Christ
for the world. (Eph 4:4–6: … one body and one Spirit, just as you
were called to the one hope that belongs to your call; 5 one Lord,
one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of us all, Who is above all and
through all and in all). (iii) Jesus prayed
for His Father’s protection for his disciples from the attacks
of the Evil One. If the disciples of Christ fall, it is because they try
to meet life with their own strength alone, and do not remember
the presence of their protecting God and seek His help. (iv) Jesus
prayed that his disciples might be consecrated in the Truth. (a) GOD
alone IS TRUTH, and ‘Consecrate’ means to set apart for a special task
(Jer 1:5; Ex 28:41), namely to live out and to bear witness to His
TRUTH in our lives; (b) ‘Consecrate’ also
means to equip a man with the qualities of mind, heart, and
character which are necessary for that task. God has chosen us and
dedicated us for His special service of loving and obeying Him ourselves and of
bringing others to do the same. c) He has not left us to carry out that
great task with only our own strength, but by His grace He fits us for our
task, if we place our lives in His hands.
Life messages: 1): We need to
understand, appreciate, cooperate with, and pray with and for each other:
The denominations are a reality. There is no use in
our blaming each other for the historical events which caused these
divisions in Christ’s Body. What we can do is to learn sympathetically
about the doctrinal similarities and differences among the members of
our Christian community and learn to love each one and cooperate with the
members of all denominations in all ways possible. 2) Let us pray
fervently that God may show us how to proceed in building true and
lasting Christian unity without sacrificing TRUTH, the basic
Christian principles and teachings. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 5 Thursday: Saint Boniface, bishop and
martyr:
Jn 17:20-26:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is the
concluding part of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” in his Last Supper
discourse. Here, Jesus prays for true unity among his followers who accept him
as their Lord and Savior.
Divisions in Christianity: The first major division
in Christianity, which took place in the fifth century, was
the schism caused when the Eastern Orthodox Churches under the
patriarchs separated themselves from the Western Church under the Pope.
Next, the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century separated
its followers from unity with the Church centered in Rome and freed them from
her Authority. During the following five centuries, this separation resulted in
the formation of more than 30,000 Protestant denominations. According
to Pope St. Paul VI [canonized October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis] “the
Church founded by Jesus Christ and for which he prayed is indefectibly one in
Faith, in worship and in the bond of hierarchical communion” (Creed of the
People of God, 21).
Jesus’ prayer for unity: In his prayer for
unity among his disciples, Jesus mentions that the basis and criterion of
unity must be the Unity of God in His Three Divine Persons among Whom
there is eternal, mutual love and Self-giving/receiving. The unity of
Jesus and his Father is a unity of love and obedience and a unity of personal
relationship. Another reason for Christian unity is the union of the
faithful with Jesus Christ in His Mystical Body by Baptism, and
through Him with the Father (verse 23). This means that the fullness of Unity
is attained through the supernatural grace, which comes to us from the Father
through Christ (cf. Jn 15:5). Jesus declares that unity among the believers
is essential if the world is to acknowledge Him as Lord and
Savior, because the disunity among Christians acts as the biggest block for
evangelization, as it offers living, constant counter-witness to the Good News
of Redemption.
Life messages: 1) Since Jesus Christ himself
left us his final wish for unity through his prayer to the Father: “that
they may all be one; even as You, Father are in Me, and I in You, that they
also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me” (Jn
17:21), it is our duty to pray and work for
meaningful unity among Christians. 2) Let us learn to appreciate each
other’s common beliefs and enter into genuine dialogue and cooperation
with members of other Christian denominations, instead of accusing each other
of heresy. 3) We need to remember that the present non-Catholic Christians are
not responsible for the historical events and actions from which the various
denominations originated in the past.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 6 Friday; Saint Norbert, bishop
Jn: 21:15-19; The context: This
is a post-Resurrection apparition scene. After miraculously providing breakfast
for his apostles who had been fishing all night, Jesus conferred on Peter the
Primacy in his Church, which Jesus had promised as a reward for Peter’s
profession of Faith (Mt 16:16-19).
The triple question: As if to give him a triple
chance to atone for his triple denial, Jesus asks Peter, three
times, “Simon, son of John, do you love me (agápe love) more
than these?” Jesus asks Peter if he loves Jesus more than he loves his
boat and fishing equipment, occupation, family, and friends. Jesus is also
asking whether Peter loves him more than the other Apostles do. Instead of
boasting of his own fidelity, strength, and greater love, as he had done before
his triple denial of the Master, Peter humbly puts everything in Christ’s
hands. “Lord, You know well that I love (philia love=love
of a friend) You.” The dual reward: 1) Primacy of
jurisdiction over the Church was formally defined by the First Vatican Council
(Vatican I) in the First Dogmatic Constitution “On the Church of
Christ,” (Pastor Aeternus, Chapter 1) declaring, “We
therefore teach and declare that, according to the testimony of the Gospel, the
primacy of jurisdiction over the universal Church of God was immediately and
directly promised and given to Blessed Peter the Apostle by Christ our
Lord. […] And it was upon Simon Peter alone, that Jesus, after his
Resurrection, bestowed the jurisdiction of chief pastor and ruler over all his
fold in the words: ‘Feed My lambs; feed My sheep (Jn 21:15-17).’” 2)
Peter was also given the promise of a martyr’s death because
real love involves responsibility as well as sacrifice. According to Tradition,
St. Peter followed his Master to the point of dying by crucifixion — head
downwards, because he felt unworthy to die as Jesus had done. This happened
during Nero’s persecution of the Christians, which took place between the years
64 and 68 in Rome.
Life messages: 1) We need to pray for the Pope,
the successor of Peter, and for the bishops, the successors of the Apostles,
and to support them in their ministry. 2) Jesus is a God of second chances Who
gives chance after chance to sinners to return to his love, as is made clear by
Jesus’ conferring primacy in his Church on the repentant Peter.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 7 Saturday: Jn 21:20-25: Context: Today’s
Gospel passage describes the role of Peter as the chief shepherd of Christ’s
people and of John as a long-lived witness to Christ in the early Church. The
last part of the passage was intended to correct the false notion in the early
Church that John would not die until the much-expected, imminent “second
coming” of Jesus.
Jesus’ reply: Jesus’ response implies that
what is important is not to be curious about what the future will bring one but
to serve the Lord faithfully each day, keeping to the way He has marked out for
one.
John’s testimony about his Gospel: The passage
concludes with John’s testimony about the truth of the content of his Gospel.
It also explains the purpose of John’s Gospel: to strengthen our Faith in what
Jesus did and taught. In addition, it tells us that the written Gospels contain
only a fraction of what Jesus taught and did, implying that we have to depend
upon the Sacred Tradition of the early Church handed down to us by the early
Fathers of the Church to complete the truth of the written testimony.
Life message: 1) Just as Peter and John each had
his unique role in Christ’s Church, so each believer, as a member of this
Mystical Body of Christ, each of us with our different talents,
strengths, weaknesses, and limits, has one’s own particular work to
do in bringing the task of the Body – to bring the world to Christ and
Christ to the world – to its completion. Hence, it is our duty to bear witness
to Christ by surrendering our lives to Christ on the altar of service for the
people of God and by offering ourselves as humble instruments in the hands of
Christ. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
