AD SENSE

14th Week: July 5-10:

 14th Week: July 5-10:

July 5 Monday (St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest) 

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 haemorrhage. 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 touch the garment of Jesus from behind. 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, by praying for their healing, by boosting their morale through our loving presence, words of encouragement, and inspiration. (Fr. Tony) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/L/21

July 6 Tuesday (St. Maria Goretti, Virgin, Martyr) 

 mute man by an exorcism Jesus performed during one preaching and healing journey. It also mentions the false accusation by Pharisees about Jesus’ exorcism and expresses Jesus’ sympathy for the leaderless people.

Jesus had a double mission, of preaching the Good News of God’s love and salvation and of liberating 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 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 words and promoting 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 messages: We need to share Christ’s preaching and liberating mission. Let us remember the 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. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21

July 7 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 Flesh and time 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 selects and empowers twelve future missionaries as apostles, sending them to the Jewish towns and villages as heralds, announcing the Good News that God was keeping His promises.

Special features: Jesus selected very ordinary people, most of them hard-working fishermen with no social status, learning, or political influence, because the Master was sure that they would be very effective instruments in God’s hands. It was a strange mixture 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 Divine powers of healing and exorcism with the mission of announcing the coming of preaching the “kingdom of God by “the One Who is to come”

Life messages:  1) As Christians, we have the same mission that Jesus entrusted to the apostles. 2) We fulfil 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) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/L/21

July 8 Thursday: 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, forgiveness of sins, and liberationthey 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, because hospitality was an important religious tradition in Palestine. 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 the food and accommodation they received, not search 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 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, 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) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/L/21

July 9 Friday (St. Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest and companions, Martyrs) 

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 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 we have freedom to practice the religion of our choice, the extreme interpretation of the “separation of Church and state” policy 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. 2) The secular media, 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. 2) 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) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/L/21

July 10 Saturday:

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 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) and will vindicate the faithful. That God will not permit evil to win is the promise of 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 have no power over the soul. The third reason we should not be afraid is God’s compassionate love. 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:  Be not afraid: We can suffer from many fears: (A) Fear of Loss: a) Loss of life by illness or accident; b) Loss of dear ones – spouse, children, parents; c) 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)  Fears about terrorist attack, nuclear holocaust, plagues, like Corvic-19, war etc. 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) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/