14th Week: July 6-11:
July 6 Monday: St. Maria Goretti, Virgin, Martyr: Mt
9:18-26:
The context: Today’s Gospel is a beautiful
presentation of two miracles, a healing and a revival-and-restoration-of-life.
These miracles were worked by Jesus as reward for the trusting Faith of a
synagogue ruler and of a woman with a hemorrhage. Though the ruler trusted
Jesus out of desperation and the woman’s Faith may have been a bit
superstitious, even their defective faith was amply rewarded.
The ruler and the woman: The ruler of the synagogue
supported Jewish orthodoxy, and he could have despised Jesus who befriended
sinners. But he bravely approached Jesus as a last resort when all the doctors
had failed, and his daughter was dying. Since the Jews believed that one was
not actually dead until three days had passed, when word came that the child
had died, the ruler showed courage and Faith in staying with Jesus, ignoring
the ridicule of fellow-Jews. In the same way, the woman with the bleeding disease
was ritually unclean, and she was not supposed to appear in public. She had the
courage and Faith to ignore a social and religious taboo in order to approach
and reach out to touch the tassle of Jesus’ garment in the crush of the crowd
around her and him. Both the ruler’s daughter and the sick woman were brought
back to life and to the community.
Life messages: 1) Jesus accepts us as we are.
Hence, we need not wait until we have the correct motive and strong Faith to
bring our problems before Jesus. Let us bring our bodily and spiritual wounds
to Jesus asking for the Lord’s healing touch.
2) We do our share in Christ’s healing mission by visiting
the sick, praying for their healing, and boosting their morale through our
loving presence, words of encouragement, and inspiration.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 7 Tuesday: Mt 9:32-38:
The context: Today’s Gospel describes the healing of
a deaf and mute man by an exorcism which Jesus performed during one preaching
and healing journey. It also mentions the Pharisees’ accusation that Jesus used
the power of Beelzebub to heal the man, and then describes Jesus’ sympathy for
the whole of the leaderless people.
Jesus had a double mission, to preach the Good News of God’s
love and salvation to the “lost sheep” of the House of Israel,
and to liberate people from the power of sin, illnesses, and evil spirits. The
first part of today’s Gospel describes the misinterpretation of Jesus’
liberating mission by the Pharisees when Jesus healed a deaf and mute man by
exorcism. In the second part, Jesus expresses true compassion for the
shepherdless sheep of Israel because their shepherds were more interested in
the external observance of the Law and its sacrifices than in giving people
God’s word and promoting by example and word, the practice of love, mercy, and
justice. That is why Jesus reminds the listeners to pray for genuine shepherds
to feed them and lead them.
Life message1) We need to share Christ’s preaching
and liberating mission. Let us remember te words of St. Teresa of Avila: “Now
Jesus has no other mouths, eyes, ears, hands and feet than ours.” Jesus
places a preaching and healing mission in our care and helps us to continue it.
The most effective way of preaching Christ is by leading a transparent
Christian life, radiating Jesus’ love, mercy, and forgiveness. But we cannot
liberate others as long as we are in chains. Hence, let us first receive Jesus’
liberation of us from the chains which bind us. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 8 Wednesday: Mt 10:1-7:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives a
short account of the call and mission of the apostles. The first missionary was
sent to this world when God the Father dispatched His only-begotten Son,
Incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth, into this world with the “Good News” that
God is a loving, merciful, and forgiving Father Who wants to save everyone
through His Son Jesus. Today’s Gospel describes how this first missionary
selected and empowered twelve future missionaries as apostles, sending them to
the Jewish towns and villages as heralds to announce the Good News that God was
keeping His promises now.
Special features: Jesus selected very ordinary
people, most of them hard-working fishermen with no social status, learning, or
political influence, because he was sure that they would be very effective
instruments in God’s hands. It was a strange mix of people: Matthew was
a hated tax collector for a foreign power, while Simon the Cananaean
was a Zealot — a fanatical nationalist determined to destroy Roman
rule by any means; the others were mostly professional fishermen with a lot of
good will, patience and stamina. It was only their admiration and love for
Jesus that united them. Jesus selected them after a night of prayer and gave
them a share in his Divine powers of healing and exorcism with the mission to
announce the coming of the “kingdom of God” in an immediate
visit to them by “the One Who is to come”
Life message: 1) As Christians, we have
the same mission Jesus entrusted to the apostles. W fulfill this mission by
proclaiming the word of God, primarily by our “living out” of Jesus’ teachings,
and by promoting and helping world-wide missionary activities of the Church
with prayer, moral support, and financial aid.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 9 Thursday: St. Augustine Zhao Rong,
Priest and Companion- Martyrs: Mt 10:7-15:
The context: Today’s Gospel describes the
commissioning of the twelve apostles for the apostolic work of preparing the
towns and villages for Jesus’ coming visit to them. Sent out in pairs to preach
the coming of the Kingdom of God, repentance, the forgiveness of sins, and
liberation, they were to follow Jesus’ detailed action-plan and
bear witness to Jesus by their simple lifestyle.
Jesus’ instructions and travel tips. By his
instructions, it is clear that Jesus meant his disciples to take no supplies
for the road. They were simply to trust that God, the Provider, would open
the hearts of believers to take care of their needs. Jesus’ instructions also
suggest that the apostles should not be like the acquisitive priests of the
day, interested only in gaining riches. They should be walking examples
of God’s love and providence. The Jews supported their rabbis, and they judged
doing so a privilege as well as an obligation, seeing hospitality as an
important religious tradition. The apostles are told they should choose
temporary accommodation in a reputable household, should bless the residents
with God’s peace, and should be satisfied with whatever food and accommodation
they received, not searching for better. They were to preach “’the Kingdom
of Heaven is at hand,’ heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast
out demons.”
Life messages: 1) We, too, have a
witnessing mission: Each Christian is called not
only to be a disciple, but also to be an apostle. As apostles, we have to
evangelize the world by sharing with others, not just words, or ideas, or
doctrines, but our own experience of God and His Son, Jesus. It is through our
transparent Christian lives that we must show the love, mercy, and concern of
Jesus to the people around us. 2) We also have a liberating
mission: There are many demons which can control the lives of people
around us, making them helpless slaves — the demon of nicotine & drugs, the
demon of alcohol, the demon of gambling, the demon of pornography, the demon of
promiscuous sex, the demon of materialism, and the demon of consumerism. We
need the help of Jesus to liberate ourselves and others from these things. (Fr.
Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 10 Friday: Mt 10:16-23:
The context: Matthew’s Judeo-Christian
community had experienced much persecution. Jesus’ prophetic words, “You
will be dragged before governors and kings” and “brother
will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will
rise against their parents and have them put to death,” were beginning
to be fulfilled. The Apostle James had been martyred by King Herod, and the
lives of other apostles were also in danger. Hence, by repeating Jesus’
warning to the apostles, Matthew encouraged his Judeo-Christians to rely on Jesus’
promise of the protective power of a providing God as they persevered in Faith
and its practice.
Persecutions, past and present: Jesus gave his frank
warning to the apostles that their lives and their future followers’ lives were
not going to be beds of roses. Jesus foretold three types of persecution
awaiting Christians: by the Roman government, by the local Jewish synagogues, and
by their Jewish or pagan family members. The main accusations against the
first-century Christians were that they were cannibals, atheists, and
incendiaries, that they practiced immorality during worship services, that they
caused their families to split, and that they considered slaves as equals — in
an empire with 60 million slaves!
Life messages: 1) Although in the USA we have freedom to practice the religion of our choice, the extreme interpretation of the “separation of Church and state” policy (as “freedom from religion” in the Public Square), eliminates the religious instruction and moral training of children in public schools, allowing youngsters who are not given this training at home to grow up as pagans. The secular media, largely run by atheists and agnostics, ridicule all religious beliefs and practices, inflicting a type of “white martyrdom” on believers and “brain-washing” the unwary and children. Hence, the duty of parents to see that their children receive religious and moral instruction from their parishes and families becomes more important daily. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
July 11 Saturday: St. Benedict, Abbot: Mt
10:24-33: The context: Today’s Gospel passage
comes from the end of Jesus’ instruction to the apostles, sending
them forth to carry on the mission of preaching and healing and
instructing them to live simple lives, expecting opposition and
rejection. Predicting future opposition and persecution, Jesus
encourages the apostles to stand firm, three times urging them, and
us, “Do not fear!” “Do not be afraid!” Thus, we know that we, too,
will be successful despite the opposition we encounter.
Have no fear: Jesus gives three reasons why the
apostles, and we, should not be frightened. The first
reason is that their mission will succeed, and opponents
will not be able to prevent Jesus’ followers from succeeding in their
mission because God will expose their evil plans and deeds: “Nothing is
covered up that will not be uncovered.” The Lord “will bring
to light the hidden things of darkness” (1 Cor 4:5), will vindicate the
faithful, and will not permit evil to win (v. 26). The second
reason not to be afraid is the limited power of our
opponents. They can kill the body, which dies all too soon anyway,
but they have no power over the soul. The third reason we
should not be afraid is that the providential care and protection of their
Heavenly Father who cares for all His creatures will never fail. Jesus tells us
that we are more important to God than sparrows “sold at two for a penny.” The
God Who cares for a trivial bird like the sparrow also cares about our smallest
problems – even counting the hairs on our heads. While this is an encouraging
assurance, we may find it difficult to believe in the midst of persecution.
Life message: 1 Be not afraid: We can suffer from many fears: (A) Fear of Loss: i) Loss of life by illness or accident; ii) Loss of dear ones – spouse, children, parents; iii) Loss of belongings and property or savings; d) Loss of job; e) Loss of good name and reputation by slanderers (B) Baseless fears due to mental illness. C) Global fears about terrorist attacks, nuclear holocaust, plagues, like Covid-19, war etc. 2) When we are afraid let us remind ourselves that God cares – we are each a dear child of His and He cares for each of us. “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
