The context: The“Beatitudes” form the introductory section in Mathew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. They are the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, as the Sermon on the Mount is the heart of the whole Gospel, or the “Compendium of Christian Doctrine." This sermon contains the most essential aspects of Christian behavior that we need to live out, if we are to reach Christian perfection. In essence, the Beatitudes both fulfill and complete the Ten Commandments.
Bombshells: In both Matthew and Luke the Beatitudes have been called a “series of bombshells” or blinding “flashes of lightning followed by deafening thunder of surprise and shock," because Jesus reverses our “natural” assumption that happiness lies in riches, power, influence, and pleasure. We believe in personal pride: Jesus blesses poverty of spirit. We seek pleasure: Jesus blesses those who mourn. We see the prosperity of aggressive people: Jesus blesses the meek. We love good food and drink: Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Thus, Jesus instructs his disciples in the paradoxical blessedness of poverty, hunger, sorrow, and persecution. In poverty, we recognize God’s reign; in hunger, His Providence; in sorrow, true happiness; and in persecution, true joy. In other words, the blessed on Jesus’ list are the poor in spirit, the compassionate, the meek, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, and those who are willing even to be insulted and persecuted for their following of Jesus in action.
Life messages: 1) We need to respond to the challenge of the Beatitudes in daily life. The Beatitudes propose to us a way of life, inviting us to identify with the poor, those who mourn, who are meek, and who hunger and thirst after justice. 2) They challenge us to become compassionate people, to become men and women who are pure in heart, and to become peacemakers in our dealings with one another, in our families and in the society at large, even when this approach to things exposes us to ridicule and persecution. 3) Let us remember that each time we reach out to help the needy, the sick and the oppressed, we share with them a foretaste of the promises of the Beatitudes here and now. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 13 Tuesday (St. Anthony of Padua, Priest, Doctor of the Church): In the time of Jesus, salt was connected in people’s minds with three special qualities. (i) Salt was connected with purity because it was white and came from the purest of all things, the sun and the sea. Salt was the most primitive of all offerings to the gods. Jewish sacrifices were offered with salt. As the “salt of the earth,” the Christian must be an example of purity, exercising absolute purity in speech, in conduct, and even in thought. God calls His children to preserve and purify. The Church is to preserve modesty (1 Tm 2:9), morality (Eph 5:3-12), and honesty and integrity (Jn 8:44-47). (ii) Salt was the commonest of all preservatives in the ancient world when people did not have fridges and freezers. It was used to prevent the putrefaction of meat, fish, fruits, and pickles. As the salt of the earth, the Christian must have a certain antiseptic influence on life and society, defeating corruption and making it easier for others to be good. Christians are to be a preserving influence to retard moral and spiritual spoilage in the world. (iii) Salt lends flavor to food items. One of the main functions of salt is to season food, to give it taste and flavor. To be the “salt” of society also means that we are deeply concerned with its well-being. We have to preserve the cultural values and moral principles Jesus has given us, and in this way to make a contribution to the development of a “Culture of Life” to replace the “culture of death” currently darkening our world. Thus, we will be adding flavor to the common life, religious and social. As salt seasoned and preserved food, and as salt keeps a fire burning uniformly in an oven for a longer time, the disciples were to improve the tone of society ("season" it), preserve the Faith, and extend the fire of the Spirit through their evangelization efforts.
The four roles of Christians as Christ’s light of the world. (i) A light is something which is meant to be seen. Christians are a lamp stand. Jesus therefore expects His followers let his light be seen by the whole world (Jn 13:35; 17:21). In addition, they must radiate and give light. "Let your light shine before men" (Mt 5:16). By this metaphor Jesus means that our Christianity should be visible in our ordinary activities and interactions in the world, for example, in the way we treat a shop assistant across the counter, in the way we order a meal in a restaurant, in the way we treat our employees or serve our employer, in the way we play a game, or drive or park a motor car, in the daily language we use, and in the daily literature we read. (ii) A lamp or light is a guide to make clear the way. So then, a Christian must make the way clear to others. That is to say, a Christian must of necessity be an example, showing the world what Jesus would do in every situation. iii) A light can often be a warning light. A light is often the warning which tells us to halt when there is danger ahead. It is sometimes the Christian’s duty to bring to one’s brother/sister a necessary warning of dangers, present or ahead. If our warnings are given, not in anger, not in irritation, not in criticism, not in condemnation, but in love, they may be effective. iv) Light exposes everything hidden by darkness. (Note Jn 3:19; 1 Cor 4:5; Eph 5:8–11). Let us pause for a moment and ask ourselves whether we are carrying Jesus in our lives, shining through our Christian living, as the Light Who lovingly warns and guides.
June 14 Wednesday:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage, taken fromJesus’ Sermon on the Mount, presents Jesus as giving the highest compliments to the Mosaic Law. These words of Jesus which Matthew reports touched the communities of converted Jews, helping them to overcome the criticism of the brothers of their own race who accused them saying, “You are unfaithful to the Law of Moses.” Ironically, Jesus himself would be falsely condemned and crucified as a Lawbreaker. Jesus says that the Old Testament, as the word of God, has Divine authority and deserves total respect. The Mosaic Law was ultimately intended to help people honor God by practicing love. Its moral precepts are to be respected and obeyed because they are, for the most part, specific, Divine-positive promulgations of the natural law. But Christians are not obliged to observe the legal and liturgical precepts of Old Testament because they were laid down by God for a specific stage in Salvation History.
Jesus’ teaching: In Jesus’ time, the Law was understood differently by different groups of the Jews to be: 1) The Ten Commandments, 2) The Pentateuch, 3) The Law and the Prophets, or 4) The oral (Scribal) and the written Law. Jesus, and later Paul, considered the oral Law as a heavy burden on the people and criticized it, while honoring the Mosaic Law and the teachings of the prophets. At the time of Jesus, the Jews believed that the Torah (Law given to Moses), was the eternal, unchangeable, Self-Revelation of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that he did not come to destroy the Torah but to bring it to perfection by bringing out its inner meaning because He IS the ultimate self-Revelation of God, the Lawgiver. That is why the Council of Trent declared that Jesus was given to us, “not only as a Redeemer, in whom we are to trust, but also as a Lawgiver whom we are to obey" ("De Iustificatione," can. 21). Jesus honored the two basic principles on which the Ten Commandments were based, namely the principle of reverence and the principle of respect. In the first four commandments, we are asked to reverence God, reverence His holy Name, reverence His holy day, and reverence our father and mother. The next set of commandments instructs us to respect life, the marriage bond, one’s personal integrity and others’ good name, the legal system, another’s property and spouse, and one’s own spouse. Jesus declares that he has come to fulfill all Divine laws based on these principles. By “fulfilling the law,” Jesus means fulfilling the purpose for which the Law was given: that is, justice, or “righteousness,” as the Scriptures call it – a word that includes a just relationship with God).
Life messages: 1) In obeying God’s laws and Church laws, let us remember these basic principles of respect and reverence. 2) Our obedience to the laws needs to be prompted by love of God and gratitude to God for His blessings. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 15 Thursday:
The context: For the Scribes and the Pharisees, the external fulfillment of the precepts of the Mosaic Law was the guarantee of a person’s salvation. In other words, a man saved himself through the external works of the Law. Jesus rejects this view in today’s Gospel passage, taken from the Sermon on the Mount. For Jesus, justification or sanctification is a grace, a free, strengthening gift from God. Man’s role is one of cooperating with that grace by being faithful to it, and using it as God means it to be used. Jesus then outlines new moral standards for his disciples.
Control of anger: Anger is the rawest, strongest, and most destructive of human emotions. Describing three stages of anger and the punishment each deserves, Jesus advises his disciples not to get angry in such a way that they sin.
1) Anger in the heart (“brief stage of insanity” Cicero): It has two forms: a) a sudden, blazing flame of anger which dies suddenly. b) a surge of anger which boils inside and lingers, so that the heart seeks revenge and refuses to forgive or forget. Jesus prescribes trial and punishment by the Village Court of Elders as its punishment.
2) Anger in speech: The use of words which are insulting (“raka“=“fool”), or damaging to the reputation (“moros” = a person of loose morals). Jesus says that such an angry (verbally abusive) person should be sent to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religion’s Supreme Court, for trial and punishment.
3) Anger in action: Sudden outbursts of uncontrollable anger, which often result in physical assault or abuse. Jesus says that such anger deserves hellfire as its punishment.
In short, Jesus teaches that long-lasting anger is bad, contemptuous speech or destroying someone’s reputation is worse and harming another physically is the worst.
Life messages: 1)Let us try to forgive,forget, and move toward reconciliation as soon as possible. St. Paul advises us “Be angry (righteous anger), but do not sin” (Eph 4:26). 2) When we keep anger in our mind, we are inviting physical illnesses like hypertension, and mental illnesses like depression. 3) Let us relax and keep silence when we are angry and pray for God’s strength for self-control , and for the grace, first to desire to forgive, and then actually to forgive, those who have injured us Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 16 Friday: (Most Sacred Heart of Jesus): Mt 11:25-30:Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the second most popular Catholic devotion (the first being the Rosary). The other devotions are morning and evening prayers, prayers before and after meals, the Angelus, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, making the Sign of the Cross praising the Holy Trinity, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, novenas, the Stations of the Cross, Litanies, etc. The “Holy Hour,” the "Litany of the Sacred Heart," "The Act of Consecration of the Family and the Human Race to the Sacred Heart,” the “First Friday Devotion” and the “Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus” are different forms of this devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: The infinite love and mercy of God is shown in many different metaphors and symbols. First of all, his undeserved mercy is shown in the fact of the Incarnation symbolized by the image of baby Jesus in the manger: God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son who became one of us. The early Church expressed the love of Christ in the symbol of the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. The symbols of this love vary from age to age. The Medieval Period used the symbol of the crucifix which showed the tortured body of Jesus. In the seventeenth Century, the symbol of the Sacred Heart of Jesus began to be used. The Sunday after Easter has been designated by Pope John Paul II as Divine Mercy Sunday: This commemorates the lavish and undeserved love of God for all of us.
History: The devotion to the sacred Heart is based on the apparitions of Our Lord from 1673 to 1675 to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun of the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial in France. In her mystical experiences, Jesus revealed to St. Margaret Mary the great mystery of his infinite love for us, represented by his flaming Sacred Heart. Jesus asked that homes be consecrated to his Sacred Heart as a sign of his living presence with us in the Church, especially through the Holy Eucharist. The Gospel passage, "They shall look on him whom they have pierced" (Jn 19:35-37) is at the foundation of the whole tradition of devotion to the Divine Heart. The practices of the “Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” in the home and the consecration and dedication of the family to the Sacred Heart were begun by Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. His work was first confirmed and blessed by Pope St. Pius X and then by every later Pope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting Pope Pius XII’s beautiful encyclical Haurietis Aquas (1956), states, "[Jesus] has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, ‘is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that…love…." (no. 478).
The objectives of this devotion and the aims of “enthronement” of the picture of the Sacred Heart in a prominent place in the house are:
a) "Official and social recognition of the rule of Jesus over the Christian family" (Mateo Crawley-Boevey). b) The Enthronement is a way of life, the acceptance of Christ as King of our hearts, as our constant Companion, as our Brother, and as our Friend, helping us and guiding us in the small and big matters of daily life. c) The Enthronement daily reminds each member of the family to follow in Christ’s royal way by making reparation for sins committed and by striving to serve God and neighbor more lovingly. d) The Enthronement gives every member of the family an occasion daily, and perhaps, many times daily, to gaze upon the Face of Christ and to have Christ gaze upon his/her face, thus reminding him/her that s/he is under the protection of Jesus. e) The Enthronement is a source of special blessings to the members of the family from the Lord. f) The essence of this devotion is to create awareness in us of the merciful love of Christ, a love he offers to all who come to him with Faith and the willingness to obey his teaching.
Life messages: a) An invitation for a “heart transplant.” Our hearts become stony and insensitive through our daily exposure, virtual or in person, to acts of cruelty, terrorism, injustice, and impurity. Hence, God prescribes a change of heart through His prophet Ezekiel (Ez 11:19-20) to make our hearts soft, elastic, large and sensitive:” I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with a natural heart.” The Sacred Heart of Jesus should be the ideal heart for this medical procedure: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Let us have and use the Heart of Jesus as He wishes.
b) An invitation to love. The Sacred Heart of Jesus challenges us to love others as Jesus loved: selflessly, unconditionally and sacrificially, and to express this love in humble and loving service done to others.
c) An invitation to pray: First, let us pray for all suffering from, and killed by Covid-19. Then, let us continue to pray for the grace of healing for those who have been the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, as the Church expresses its sorrow and seeks forgiveness from these victims. Let us also pray that these victims may, in turn, accept the grace to forgive those who have harmed and betrayed them. Next, let us pray for the grace of courage for our bishops to be true shepherds in caring for their flocks; in restoring restore discipline in clerical and religious life and in ending the dissent that has undermined the Magisterium. Finally, let us pray for the grace of perseverance, that clergy and laity alike will keep the Faith and not lose hope in this difficult time of purification. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 17 Saturday: (The Immaculate heart of Blessed Virgin Mary):
This feast commemorates the joys and sorrows of the Mother of God, her virtues and perfections, her love for God and her Divine Son and her compassionate love for mankind. … In 1969, Pope St. Paul VI moved the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a special form of devotion to the venerable person of Mary, similar to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Mary’s Immaculate Heart represents her interior life and the beauty of her soul. Devotion to the Heart of Jesus is especially directed to the Divine Heart as overflowing with love for men. This devotion is an attempt to respond to Jesus’ love and to make reparation for the lack of love on the part of mankind. In the devotion to the Heart of Mary, on the other hand, what seems to attract us above all else is the love of Mary’s Immaculate Heart for Jesus and for God. The objective is to love God and Jesus better, by uniting ourselves to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues. In this devotion, we think of the love, virtues, and sentiments of Mary’s interior life and try to put them into practice.
Scriptural basis of this devotion: It was mostly the love, humility, faith, and other virtues of the Heart of Mary that attracted early Christians to Mary, the mother of Jesus. They saw Mary’s heart in its true color at the foot of the Cross. Simeon’s prophecy furnished this devotion with its most popular representation: the heart pierced with a sword. St. Augustine remarks: “At the foot of the cross, Mary cooperated with Jesus in the work of our redemption through charity.” One Scriptural passage in support of this devotion is the twice repeated (Lk 2:19; 2:51) saying of St. Luke given in today’s Gospel that “Mary kept all the things [the saying
and doings of Jesus] in her heart,” that she might ponder on them and live by them. A few of the sayings of Mary recorded in the Gospel, particularly the Magnificat, disclose new features in Marian psychology. Elizabeth proclaims Mary blessed because she has believed the words of the angel. The Magnificat (Lk 1:46-56) is also an expression of her humility. The last words of Mary recorded in Scripture were spoken at the wedding feast in Cana when the wine ran out, and Mary approached Jesus, as usual, to tell them of this calamity. He had answered her that this was not His responsibility any longer, nor was it hers, for His Hour had not yet come. Mary understood that being the Messiah of God had changed Jesus’ position radically, and she humbly accepted this necessary change in their relationship as Mother and Son as God’s will for both of them, turning to the serving boys telling them, “Do whatever He tells you!” (Jn 2:5), the same instruction she gives all of us on every occasion! Finally, answering the woman in the crowd who praised Jesus’ mother as blessed, Jesus commented "Blessed rather are they that hear the word of God and keep it"(Lk 11:28). It was Mary’s readiness to hear and do the will of God that endeared her to God and caused her to be selected as the Mother of Jesus.
Life message: Let us take Mary as our role model and practice her virtues of trusting Faith, serving humility and readiness to do God’s will in our daily lives, thus becoming immaculate children of an Immaculate Heavenly Mother. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
