24th Week: Sept 12-17:
Sept 12 Monday: (The Most Holy Name of Mary): Context: Jesus’ healing of the centurion’s slave, described in today’s Gospel, shows us how God listens to our Faith-filled prayers and meets our needs. Centurions were reliable, commanding officers, brave captains in charge of 80 soldiers in the first century AD. They were the backbone of the Roman army. According to Luke’s account (Lk 7:1-10), this centurion loved the Jews, respected their religious customs, built a synagogue for them, loved his sick servant, trusted in Jesus’ power of healing, and was ready to face the ridicule of his fellow-centurions by pleading before a Jewish rabbi.
The remote healing: The centurion asked Jesus to shout a
command, as the centurion did with his soldiers, so that the illness might
leave his servant by the power of that order. Jesus was moved by the
centurion’s Faith-filled request and rewarded the trusting Faith of this
Gentile officer by performing a telepathic healing. When we ask for the
intercession of the saints, we are like the centurion, acknowledging that we
are not worthy, by our own merits, to stand before the Lord and bring Him our
request.
Life message: 1) We need to grow to the level of
the Faith of the centurion by knowing and personally experiencing Jesus in our
lives. We do so by daily meditative reading of the Bible, by our daily personal
and family prayers and by frequenting the Sacraments, especially the
Eucharistic celebration. The next step to which the Holy Spirit brings us is
the complete surrender of our whole being and life to Jesus whom we have
experienced, by rendering loving service to others seeing Jesus in them. (Fr.
Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 13 Tuesday: (St. John Chrysostom, Bishop,
Doctor of the Church):
The context: Today’s Gospel presents one of the
three stories in the Gospel where Jesus brings a dead person back to life. The
other stories are those of Lazarus and of the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue
leader. Today’s story is found only in Luke. Nain is a village six miles SE of
Nazareth, and it is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. The scene is
particularly sad because the mother in this story, who had already lost her
husband, has now lost her only son and her only means of support.
Jesus’ touch of human kindness: Jesus was visibly moved by
the sight of the weeping widow, perhaps because he could foresee his own mother
in the same position at the foot of his cross. His compassionate heart prompted
him to console the widow saying: “Do not weep.” Then Luke reports, “He touched
the bier and when the bearers stood still, he said, ‘Young man, I say
to you, arise.’ And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And he
gave him to his mother,” and participated in her indescribable joy. There
were instances in the Old Testament of people being raised from death, by
Elijah (1 Kgs 17:17-24), and Elisha (2 Kgs 4:32-37). Jesus’ miracle took place
near the spot where the prophet Elisha had brought another mother’s son back to
life again (see 2 Kgs 4:18-37). These miracles were signs of the power of God
working through His prophets. In the case of the widow’s son in today’s Gospel,
the miracle showed the people that Jesus, like Elijah and Elisha, was, at the
least, a great prophet.
Life messages: 1) St. Augustine compares the joy
of that widow to the joy of our Mother the Church when her sinful children
return to the life of grace: “Our Mother the Church rejoices every day when
people are raised again in spirit.” 2) The event also reminds us to have the
same love and compassion for those who suffer that Jesus had. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 14 Wednesday: (The Exaltation of the Holy Cross)
Introduction: We celebrate this feast of the
Exaltation of the Cross for two reasons: (1) to understand the history of the
discovery and recovery of the True Cross and (2) to appreciate better the
importance of the symbol and reality of Christ’s sacrificial love, namely, the
cross in the daily life of every Christian.
History: The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross is one of twelve “Master feasts” celebrated in the Church to honour Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Master. This feast is celebrated to memorialize the first
installation of the remnants of the true cross of Jesus in the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre at Mount Calvary, September 14, AD 335, and its reinstallation
on September 14, AD 630. The original cross on which Jesus was crucified was
excavated in AD 326 by a team led by St. Helena, the mother of the first
Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine. The Emperor built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
on Calvary, it was consecrated on September 14, AD 335, and the remains of the
cross were installed in it by Archbishop Maccharios of Jerusalem. After three
centuries, the Persians invaded Jerusalem, plundered it of all valuables and
took with them the relic of the Holy Cross. In AD 630, Heraclius II defeated
the Persians, recaptured the casket containing the holy relic, and reinstalled
it in the rebuilt Church, which was destroyed by Muslims in 1009. The crusaders
rebuilt it as the present Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1149. The largest
fragment of the holy cross is now kept in Santa Croce Church in Rome. The first
reading today (Nm 21:4b—9) describes how God healed the complaining Israelites
through the brazen serpent. The second reading Phil 2:6-11) reminds us that
Jesus, “ humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even
death on a cross,” In today’s Gospel, answering the question raised by
Nicodemus, Jesus cites the example of how, when the Israelites were in the
desert, the impaled brazen serpent (representing the healing power of God),
which God commanded Moses to raise, saved from death the serpent-bitten
Israelites who looked at it (Nm 21:4-9). Then Jesus explains how He is going to
save the world by dying on the cross.
Life messages: 1) We should honor and venerate
the cross and carry it on our person to remind ourselves of the love of God for
us and the price Jesus paid for our salvation. 2) The cross will give us
strength in our sufferings and remind us of our hope of eternal glory with the
risen Lord. With St. Paul, we express our belief that the “message of the
cross is foolishness only to those who are perishing” (1Cor 1:18-24), and
that we should “glory in the cross of Our Lord” (Gal 6:14). 3) We
should bless ourselves with the sign of the cross to remind ourselves that we
belong to Christ Jesus, to honor the Most Holy Trinity, and to ask the Triune
God to bless us, save us and protect us from all danger and evil. 4) The
crucifix should remind us that we are forgiven sinners and, hence, we are
expected to forgive those who offend us and to ask for forgiveness whenever we
offend others or hurt their feelings. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 15 Thursday: (Our Lady of Sorrows or Mother of
Sorrows)
Today we remember the spiritual martyrdom of the Mother of
Jesus and her participation in the sufferings of her Divine Son. Mary is the
Queen of martyrs because she suffered in spirit all Jesus suffered during His
Passion and death, her spiritual torments were greater than the bodily agonies
of the martyrs, and Mary offered her sorrows to God for our sake. The principal
Biblical references to Mary’s sorrows are found in Lk 2:35 and Jn 19:26-27.
Many early Church writers interpret the sword prophesied by Simeon as Mary’s
sorrows, especially as she saw Jesus die on the cross. In the past, the Church
celebrated two feasts to commemorate separately 1) the spiritual
martyrdom of the Blessed Virgin Mary throughout her life as the mother
of Jesus and 2) her compassion for her Divine Son during his
suffering and death. The devotion to the Seven Dolors (sorrows)
of Mary honors her for the motherly sufferings she endured during the whole life
of Jesus on earth. In 1239 the seven founders of the Servite Order took up the
sorrows of Mary who stood under the Cross as the main devotion of their
religious Order. Originally, this day was kept on the Friday before Good
Friday. It was Pope Pius XII who changed the date of the feast to the 15th of
September immediately after the feast of the Triumph of the Cross.
The nineteenth-century German mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich claimed to have
received a vision in which Mary actually kisses the blood of Jesus in the many
sacred places on the way of the cross. In his film, The Passion of the
Christ, Mel Gibson, inspired by this vision, pictures Claudia, Pontius
Pilate’s wife, secretly handing Mary cloths to collect the blood of Jesus from
the streets of Jerusalem. The seven sorrows: There are seven times of great
suffering in Mary’s life. These events remind many parents of their personal
family experiences of sorrow and mourning for their dear children. 1) Hearing
the prophecy of Simeon, 2) Fleeing with Jesus and Joseph into Egypt, to escape
Herod’s soldiers sent to kill Jesus, 3) Losing Child Jesus in Jerusalem, 4)
Meeting Jesus on the road to Calvary, 5) Standing at the foot of Jesus’ Cross,
6) Receiving the Body of Jesus as it is taken down from the Cross, and 7) The
burial of Jesus.
Life message: 1) On this feast day let us pray
for those who continue to endure similar sufferings that they may receive from
God the strength that they desperately need to continue to carry their
spiritual crosses. Let us try to enter into the sorrowing hearts of the mothers
in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Nigeria and other
terrorist-haunted nations and the mothers in the United States and other
countries grieving for their children, soldiers and civilians alike. 2) Let us
also remember with repentant hearts that it is our sins which caused the
suffering of Jesus and Mary.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 16 Friday: (St. Cornelius, Pope and
St. Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
The context: Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus
began his preaching and healing ministry in the company of the twelve Apostles
and a group of women volunteers. Luke’s Gospel pays special attention to women.
The female following of Jesus was out of the ordinary at the time and in the
place where Jesus lived. In those days, strict rabbis would not speak to a
woman in public, and very strict ones would not speak to their own wives in the
streets or public places. In his Gospel, Luke provides Mary’s recollections of
her own history with Jesus whom she outlived, describes several women around
Jesus, like Elizabeth, Mary’s kinswoman, the prophetess Anna, the sinful woman,
Martha and Mary, the crippled woman, the woman with hemorrhage, the women who
supplied the needs of Jesus and his Apostles out of their own resources, and,
in the parables, the woman kneading yeast into the dough, the woman with the
lost coin and the woman who tamed the judge.
The ministry and the associates: Jesus started preaching the
“Good News” that God His Father is not a judging and punishing God, but a
loving and forgiving God Who wants to save mankind through His Son Jesus. Luke
mentions the names of a few women who helped Jesus’ ministry by their voluntary
service and financial assistance. Some among them were rich and influential
like Joanna, the wife of King Herod’s steward, Chuza. We meet Joanna again
among the women who went to the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection (Luke
24:10). Some others like Mary of Magdala were following Jesus to express their
gratitude for the healing they had received from Jesus. This mixture of
different types of women volunteers, all attracted by the person and message of
Jesus, supported his Messianic Mission by providing food and other material
assistance to Jesus and the Apostles who proclaimed the Gospel by word and deed
and by their communal and shared life. It is nice to know that our Lord availed
Himself of their charity and that they responded to Him with such refined and
generous detachment that Christian women feel filled with a holy and fruitful
envy (St. Josemaria Escriva). At crucial moments, Jesus was better served by
the women disciples than by the men.
Life message: 1) The evangelizing work of the
Church needs the preaching of the missionaries and preachers, feeding and
leading the believers in parishes. 2) This work also needs the active support
of all Christians by their transparent Christian lives, fervent prayers and
financial assistance. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 17 Saturday: (St. Robert Bellarmine, Bishop,
Doctor of the Church), St. Hildegard of Bingen, Virgin, Doctor of the Church)
The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives us the
parable of the sower, the seeds sown, and the yield (depending upon the soil
type). This, the first parable of Jesus in the New Testament about the Kingdom
of Heaven, is also a parable interpreted by Jesus himself. It was intended as a
warning to the hearers to be attentive, and to the apostles to be hopeful,
about Jesus’ preaching in the face of growing opposition to Jesus and his
ideas. The sower is God—through Jesus, the Church, the parents, and the
teachers. The seed sown is the high-yielding word of God which is also described
as “a sharp sword” (Is 49:2), “two-edged sword” (Heb 4:12), and “fire and
hammer” (Jer 23:29).
Soil type and yield: The hardened soil on
the footpath 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 are unwilling to
surrender their wills to God. “I will remove the heart of stone from
their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19). The soil
filled with weeds represents people addicted to evil habits and evil
tendencies, those whose hearts are filled with hatred, jealousy, or the greed
that makes them interested only in acquiring money by any means and in enjoying
life in any way possible. The good and 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
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 harvests 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. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
