16th Week; July 21-26:
July 21, Monday: Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, priest and doctor;
Mt 12:38-42: When someone claimed to be the
messengers of God, the Jews demanded, “Prove your claims by doing
something extraordinary.” The Jews asked for a sign from Jesus because
they were guilty of one fundamental mistake. They desired to see God in the extraordinary;
they forgot that we are never nearer God, and God never shows himself to us so
much and so continually as in the ordinary things of every day. That is why
Jesus calls them an evil and adulterous generation. The word adulterous is
not to be taken literally; here, it means apostate or unfaithful.
Behind this word, there is a favorite Old Testament prophetic picture. The
relationship between Israel and God was conceived of as a marriage bond with
God the husband and Israel the bride. When, therefore, Israel was unfaithful
and gave her love to other gods, the nation was said to be adulterous and
to go a-whoring after strange gods.
Jesus says that the only sign which will be given to this
nation is “the sign of Jonah the prophet…”. The point is that, to the
Ninevites, Jonah himself was God’s sign, and Jonah’s
words were God’s message. Jesus is saying, equivalently, “You
are asking for a sign — I am God’s sign. You have failed to
recognize me. The Ninevites recognized God’s warning in Jonah; the Queen of
Sheba recognized God’s wisdom in Solomon. In me, there has come to you a
greater wisdom than Solomon ever had, and a greater message than Jonah ever
brought — but you are so blind that you cannot see the truth, and so deaf that
you cannot hear the warning. And for that very reason, the day will come when
these people from the early days of the First Covenant, who recognized God when
they saw him, will be witnesses against you, who had so much better a chance,
and failed to recognize God because you refused to do so.” Jesus is
God’s sign, just as Jonah was God’s message to the Ninevites, and Solomon God’s
wisdom to the Queen of Sheba.
Life messages: Let us check our reaction when we
are confronted with God in Jesus Christ. Is that reaction bleak hostility, as
it was in the case of the Scribes and Pharisees? Or, is it humble acceptance of
God’s warning and God’s truth as it was in the case of the people of Nineveh,
and of the Queen of Sheba? 2) The all-important question is: “What do
you think of the Christ?” Then we must answer whether we believe in
Jesus as the Christ of God, surrender our entire being to him as Christ and
accept him as the Christ of God, our only Lord and Savior.
July 22 Tuesday: Saint Mary Magdalene—
Jn 20:1-2, 11-18: The context: Today’s
Gospel presents one of the great recognition scenes in the New Testament: Mary
Magdalene, at the tomb of Jesus early in the morning of the first day of the
week, was not able to recognize the Risen Jesus until she heard him called her
by name. Gradual recognition, or misunderstanding, as a stage on the path to
belief and understanding, occurs frequently in the narratives of John’s Gospel.
[See, for example, the conversations Jesus had
with Nicodemus (ch. 3), and the Samaritan woman (ch. 4).] In today’s passage,
we find it once again: Mary thought at first that Jesus was the gardener.
Mary Magdalene failed to recognize Jesus because of her
false assumption that Jesus’ dead body had been taken away from the tomb. Her
attention was concentrated on the now-empty tomb. Her tears of intense grief
could also have blurred her vision. Once Mary heard Jesus call her by name, she
recognized him, exclaiming “Rabbuoni!” Jesus told her,
“… go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and
your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary obeyed at once, her
introduction to the apostles being, “I have seen the Lord,” with
Jesus’ message following. This procedure and message became the
basis and essence of the later preaching of the apostles and of all Christian
witness-bearing. St Thomas Aquinas said that one old lady (una vetera),
might have more Faith than a host of learned theologians.
Life messages: 1) We need to be open in mind and
heart to experience the presence of the Risen Lord in our lives through our
prayer, our Sacramental life, and our meditative reading of the Bible. These
all enable us to bear witness to the Risen Lord in our Jesus, the Risen Lord.
2) Jesus, risen from the dead, is truly alive and present under the appearances
of the consecrated Bread and Wine. 3) Jesus, with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, one God, is also present, in our souls, and so in our daily lives; it
is the indwelling TriUne God Who gives us the strength to fight temptations and
to serve our brothers and sisters in corporal and spiritual works of serving,
gentle mercy with love.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 23 Wednesday: Saint Bridget of Sweden, religious—for
a brief account of her life
Mt 13:1-9: The context: Today’s
Gospel passage gives us the parable of the sower, the seeds sown, and the yield
depending upon the type of soil. It is the first parable of Jesus in the New
Testament about the Kingdom of Heaven. It is also a parable Jesus personally
interprets for the Apostles. This parable was intended as a warning to the
hearers to be attentive, and to the apostles to be hopeful receivers, living
out Jesus’ teachings and ideas. The sower is God, while the Church, with the
parents in their homes, are the teachers. The seed sown is the high-yielding
word of God, which has a cutting edge like “a sharp sword” (Is 49:2), “two-edged
sword” (Heb 4:12), and a purifying and strengthening power like “fire
and hammer” (Jer 23:29).
Soil-type and the yield: The hardened soil on the
foot path represents people with minds closed because of laziness, pride,
prejudice, or fear. The soil on flat rock pieces represents emotional types of
people who go after novelties without sticking to anything and who are unwilling
to “put down roots” by surrendering their minds, hearts, and
wills to God. The soil filled with weeds represents people addicted to evil
habits and evil tendencies and those whose hearts are filled with hatred,
jealousy, and greed. These last are interested only in acquiring money by any
means and in enjoying life in any way possible. The good, fertile soil
represents well-intentioned people with open minds and clean hearts, earnest in
hearing the word and zealous in putting it into practice. Zacchaeus, the sinful
woman, and the thief crucified on Jesus’ right side, St. Augustine, St. Francis
of Assisi, and St. Francis Xavier, among others, fall into this category of the
good soil.
Life message: Let us become the good soil and
produce hundred-fold yields by earnestly hearing, faithfully assimilating and
daily cultivating the word of God we have received, so that the Holy Spirit may
produce His fruits in our lives.
(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 24, Thursday: Saint Sharbel Makhlūf, priest:
Mt 13:10-17: The context: Jesus’ disciples
wanted to know why Jesus spoke in parables to the common people but explained
to his disciples the parables’ implicit and hidden meanings.
Reasons: Jesus gives two reasons for using parables. 1) The
so-called intellectuals, like the scribes and the Pharisees, were proud, filled
with themselves, leaving no space for God’s word in their hearts. That is one
of the reasons why Jesus started speaking to the common people who were humble
with receptive hearts, using their simple language and telling them stories and
parables based on their lives. 2) The secrets of God’s kingdom are meant for
people with open minds and large receptive hearts, not for proud intellectuals
who are closed to them.
Life Message
Blessings: Then Jesus congratulates his apostles and the
common people on their good fortune in seeing the long-awaited Messiah, hearing
his word: 1) We are more blessed than Jesus’ first-century audience because we
have his message in written form, the Holy Spirit through the Magisterium of
the Church to interpret it for us, and his Presence in the Holy Eucharist, in
the Holy Bible and in the praying community. Hence, let us read the Bible and
listen to the teaching of the Church with open minds and welcoming, responsive
hearts.
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 25 Friday: Saint James, Apostle
Mt 20:20-28:
The context: Today, we celebrate the feast of
James, the Apostle, also called St. James the Greater. James was the son
of Zebedee the fisherman and Salome, the sister/cousin of Jesus’ mother, and
the brother of John, the Evangelist and Apostle. James was one of Jesus’
inner circle of three disciples who had the privilege of witnessing the Transfiguration of
Jesus, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus, and Jesus’
agony in Gethsemane. He is in the first three of every list of the apostles in
the four Gospels. Jesus called James and John “boanerges,” or
“sons of thunder,” probably because of their volatile character and
high ambitions: they once offered to “call down fire from Heaven” —
the power he had given them for their mission journeys — on the Samaritan
village which had refused Jesus permission to cross through their village
because he was going to Jerusalem. Jesus refused the offer! Later, James was
known as James the Greater to distinguish him from James
the Less (the son of Clopas), who was leader of the Church in
Jerusalem and wrote the Epistle that bears his name. James the Greater
was probably the first apostle martyred — by Herod in 44 AD, in his attempt to
please the Jews (Acts 12:1-3).
The Gospel episode: The incident described in today’s
Gospel shows us how ambitious, far-sighted, and power-hungry James and his
brother John were in their youth with their impulsive and hot-tempered Galilean
blood. They asked their mother to ask Jesus to make them the second and
third in command when Jesus established his Messianic Kingdom after ousting the
Romans. Their request was ill timed! Jesus had just made a third
prediction of his passion and death, promising them a share in his sufferings.
Responding to their request, Jesus asked them if they could drink the cup he
would have to drink, and they said that they could,, Jesus answered they would
drink that cup, but that assigning places in the Kingdom belonged to the
Father, not to him. Then Jesus told the apostles that it was only the spirit of
service which would make his disciples “great,” because he
himself had come “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life
as a ransom for many.” St. James the Greater is the patron saint of
Spain.
Life messages: 1) The leaders in Jesus’
Church must be the servants of all as the Blessed Virgin Mary was (“Behold
the handmaid of the Lord”). That is why Pope is called “the servant of
the servants of God” and the priesthood of our pastors is called “ministerial
priesthood.” 2) Our vocation as Christians is to serve others sacrificially,
with agápe love in all humility, without expecting anything in
return, so our spiritual leaders need to be humble, loving, selfless, and
serviceable, just as Jesus was, for our Lord loved and served us all
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 26 Saturday: Saints Joachim and Ann,
parents of Mary
Mt 13: 16-17: The Bible does not say anything
about the parents of Mary. The traditional belief that they were Joachim, a
shepherd from the tribe of Judah and Ann from the tribe of Levi is taken from
the legendary apocryphal source (Protoevangelium Jacobi) written more
than a century after Jesus died. According to Protoevangelium
Jacobi, Mary was born to her parents in their old age as a gift from
God for their fervent and persistent prayer for a child. Mary’s parents offered
her to the Temple, and as it was the custom, she was entrusted to the custody
of pious widows who assisted the priests in the Temple worship. They taught
Mary the prayers, hymns, psalms, and services in the Temple until she became a
teenager. Her parents then gave her in marriage to St. Joseph, the carpenter.
St. Joachim and St. Anne continued their lives of prayer until God called them
home to Heaven. They transmitted to Mary and helped her develop all her good
qualities, like trust in God’s providence, humility, love of the Word of God,
and a spirit of committed and loving service. They faithfully performed their
duties, practiced their Faith and established an atmosphere for the coming of
the Messiah, but remained obscure. Veneration of Ann originated in the East in
the 6th century where Ann was honored as the patroness of
childless women and miners. Devotion to Joachim began in the eighth century.
France and Canada possess the principal sanctuaries of Saint Anne: in
France, at Apt in Provence, and at Auray in Britany; in Canada at
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in the Province of Québec.
Life message: Let us remember and pray for
our grandparents on this feast of the grandparents of Jesus,
gratefully acknowledging the lessons of Faith they taught us and the good
religious training they imparted to us, directly or through our parents whom
they trained.
