19th Week: August 9-14
Aug 9 Monday (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross,
Virgin, Martyr)
The context: The first part of today’s Gospel gives Jesus’ second prediction of His sufferings, death and Resurrection. The second part is Jesus’ explanation of why He pays the Temple tax.
Today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus’ disciples were “distressed” by their master’s repeated reminders of a coming shameful death as a heretic and lawbreaker. They were distressed because the reminders shattered their dream of ruling Israel after Jesus had conquered the Romans and reestablished the Davidic kingdom. They did not understand that their master would be dying to liberate the whole of mankind from the bondage of sin. In the second part of today’s Gospel, Peter assures the Temple tax officials that the Master, Jesus, is a devout Jew and, hence, pays the Temple tax. All Jewish males 20 years old or older had to pay a half-shekel (roughly equivalent to two days’ wages), as Temple tax for the upkeep of the Temple and its sacrifices. When they reached Peter’s home, Jesus instructed Peter to go fishing, open the mouth of the first fish he caught and, with the coin he would find there, pay both Peter’s and his own tax. Jesus’ reason was that they were to give good example to others, even though, as the Son of God, Jesus was legally exempted from paying any type of tax to anyone. The Gospel passage foreshadows a dilemma that would be experienced by the first century Jewish Christians as to whether they should continue to pay the Temple tax meant for the Jews.Life messages: 1) Let us express our gratitude
to Jesus our Savior for the price of suffering and death He paid for our sins.
We can do this by avoiding all occasions of sins, by offering our pains and
sufferings as atonement for our sins, and by helping others sacrificially. 2)
We should obey the laws of the Church and of our country as loyal Christians
and loyal citizens and contribute to the needs of the Church and its mission by
our tithing, while we help the government by paying our taxes. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 10 Tuesday (St. Lawrence, Deacon, Martyr)
The context: Jesus tells us a short parable followed
by two amazing paradoxes. The parable is that of a grain of wheat sown into the
muddy field, growing up and yielding a good crop.The parable followed by the
paradoxes teaches us three lessons for Christian life. The first lesson is that
life comes only through death. Only when the grain of wheat dies in the muddy
soil of the field does it become a seedling. In the same way, the Church would
grow up and flourish in the death of its martyrs: “The blood of the martyrs is
the seed of the Church.” When we die to our personal ambitions and desires, we
are born as useful instruments in the hands of God. The second lesson is that
only by spending life we can retain it. The world owes a lot to saintly people
like St. Don Bosco, St. Vincent De Paul, St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother
Teresa), St. Jeanne Jugan, and St. Damien, among others, who spent their energy
for service of the poor and the down-trodden and gave themselves to God. The
third lesson is that greatness comes through selfless and committed service.
This explains why the world still honors and cherishes the memory of great
souls mentioned above.
Life message: Let us surrender our lives to God
in the service of others with agápe love in all humility,
seeing the face of Jesus in each of them. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
Aug 11 Wednesday (St. Clare, Virgin)
The context: The first part of today’s
portion of Matthew’s Gospel is one of the passages many have found difficult to
interpret. Many Bible commentators think that Jesus never said these things,
that probably they were a later addition by the Church because 1) there was no
organized Church at that time, 2) Jesus never considered a sinner as a hopeless
case, and 3) Jesus loved Gentiles and tax collectors.
The real meaning: What Jesus actually meant was, “Do
whatever you can to make the guilty person realize and confess his fault, thus
helping him to repair the damage he or she has done to his or her personal and
communal relationships.” Jesus seems to suggest the following steps to repair a
broken personal relationship: 1) One-on-one encounter: If you are sure that
somebody has wronged you, tell him lovingly and politely that he has hurt you.
2) The group encounter: If the first step does not work, meet him again in the
company of two or three wise and honorable persons and try to make the culprit
realize what he has done wrong. 3) Parish encounter: If steps one and two do
not work, bring his case to the pastor or to the parish council or the
Christian fellowship. 4) Leave him to Lord’s mercy: If the culprit remains
stubborn, like a Gentile or proud tax collector, continue to pray for him and
leave him to God’s mercy.
Life messages: 1) Let us have the good will and
generosity to accept our mistakes and ask pardon and forgiveness from the
offended victim. 2) Let us also learn to forgive and forget the offenses done
against us (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
Aug 12 Thursday: (St. Frances de Chantal,
Religious)
The lessons taught by the parable: (1) We must
forgive so that we may be forgiven. Jesus explains this truth after teaching
the prayer, “Our Father.” He warns us, “For if you forgive men their
trespasses, your Heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not
forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mt
6:14-15). As James states it later, “For judgment is without mercy to
the one who has shown no mercy” (Jas 2:13). Clearly, Divine and human
forgiveness work together.
(2) We represent the greater debtor in the parable; that is,
we owe God the ten thousand talents of the parable. We commit sins every day
and, hence, we need God’s forgiveness every day. The sum total of all the
offenses which our brothers and sisters commit against us is equivalent to the
small debt of the second debtor in the parable, namely 100 denarii. Yet,
shockingly and sadly, we are merciless towards our fellow human beings. The
moral of Jesus’ story is that, as members of a community, we must treat one
another as God has treated each of us. Here is a Divine call to throw away the
calculator when it comes to forgiveness. We must choose the more
honorable path and forgive one another “from the heart.” We have been forgiven
a debt beyond all human paying – the sin of man which God forgave through the
willing, sacrificial death of His own Son, Incarnate in human flesh. Since that
is so, we must forgive others as God has forgiven us. Otherwise, we cannot hope
to receive any mercy ourselves.
Life messages: 1) We need to forgive: Having
experienced forgiveness at the hands of God and God’s people, we are then
called to make it possible for others to experience the same forgiveness. Let
us forgive the person who has wronged us before hatred eats away at our ability
to forgive.
2) Forgiveness will not be easy, but God is there to help
us. We can call on God’s help by offering that individual to God, not by
sitting in judgment, but simply by saying, “Help so-and-so and mend our
relationship.” We may never forget the hurt we have experienced, but we can
choose to forgive.
3) We need to remind ourselves that with God’s grace we have
already forgiven the one that hurt us. As life goes on, we may remember the
incident or occasion that was hurtful. Then let us offer the offender to God’s
mercy and pray for God’s blessings on him or her. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
Aug 13 Friday (Saints Pontian, Pope and Hippolytus,
Martyr)
Jesus’ explanation of a Mosaic sanction: Jesus
explains that Moses’ permission for divorce was only a temporary concession
which was meant to control the growing rate of divorce in Moses’ own time by
introducing a law governing divorce. Jesus adds that it was because of
the hard-heartedness of the Jewish men that Moses allowed such a concession.
By denying the man’s right to divorce, Jesus places the husband and
wife on an equal footing in marriage and teaches that no Mosaic regulation
dealing with a temporary situation can alter the permanence and unity of
marriage.
Jesus’ clear teaching on divorce: Jesus reminds
us that His doctrine goes back to the original intention of God.
Citing the book of Genesis, Jesus says that God made us male
and female and commanded that “the two shall become one flesh.” He
then draws the conclusion that “they are no longer two, but one body”
– partners with equal rights – and he declares that
no man is allowed to separate what God has joined together (Mt 19:6).
Catholic teaching: Based on the NT teachings
given in Mk 10:1-12, Mt 5:31-32; Mt 19:3-9; Lk 16:18; and 1 Cor 7:10-11, the
Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a Sacrament involving both a sacred
and legal contract between a man and a woman and, at the same time, a special
Covenant with the Lord. “Divorce is also a grave offense
against the natural law. Besides, it claims to break the contract,
to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death……
Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family
and into society” (CCC #2384, #2385).
Life messages: 1) Let us keep all the families
of our parish in our daily prayers, that the spouses may have a mutual
understanding and appreciation of each other, the willingness to ask pardon and
give pardon, the generosity to forgive and forget, and the good will to serve
each other, because all these virtues help to make a marriage permanent. 2) Let
us also pray for all the divorced in the parish and welcome them as active
members of the parish, both those who have remained single and those who have remarried
without annulment. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
Aug 14 Saturday (St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest,
Martyr)
The context: Today’s Gospel passage describes
one of the loveliest incidents in the Gospel story. Jewish mothers used
to bring their children to great rabbis to have them pray over the little ones,
especially on their first birthday. Naturally, mothers wanted the healing
touch and blessing of the most popular rabbi, Jesus. In an attempt to
protect their master from the crowd of mothers and noisy children, the apostles
started rebuking them. The passage describes Jesus’ reaction and
teaching.
Childlike qualities for entrance into Heaven: By
showing his displeasure at the rough reaction of his apostles, Jesus made it
clear that everyone is equally important to him as a child of God. The
mothers came to Jesus because he was welcoming, warm, and approachable.
Jesus decided to use the occasion as a teachable moment. He taught his
disciples that entry into Heaven demands the childlike qualities of humility,
innocence, obedience, simplicity, openness, teachability, freedom from
prejudice, readiness for change and adaptation, total trust in a loving and
providing God, confidence in the essential goodness of people
and the readiness to forgive and forget. Only such people are ready
to hear the message of the Gospel in its fullness and accept it.
Life messages: 1) Let us live in the awareness
that we are the children of a loving and providing Heavenly Father and that, by
Baptism, we are members of God’s family. Hence, we are expected to behave
well every day, as worthy children of a Holy Father.
2) Let us pray for all the children in our families and for all our young parishioners and let us find time to cooperate in the parish ministries meant for children and young people. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
