10th Week: June 10-16:
June 10 Monday: 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,
the “happy,” 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 11 Tuesday: (Saint Barnabas, Apostle) 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 live lives of 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. (1) A light is something which is meant to
be seen. Christians are a lamp stand. Jesus therefore expects His followers let
God’s 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. (2) 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. 3) 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. 4) 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 how effectively we are carrying the
Light Jesus IS as we live our daily lives, allowing that Light to shine on
everyone we encounter through our Christian living — the Light Who lovingly
warms, warns and guides us all.
June 12 Wednesday: The context: Today’s Gospel
passage, taken from Jesus’ 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.
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 13 Thursday (Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and
Doctor of the Church): 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, pray for God’s strength for self-control, and ask
Him for grace, first to desire to forgive, and then actually to forgive, those
who have injured us Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 14 Friday: The context: In his Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus outlines a new moral code for his followers, which is different
from the Mosaic moral code. He insists that adultery, the violation of the
Sixth Commandment, is also committed through willfully generated evil and
impure looks, and evil thoughts and desires purposely created and held in the
mind.
Interpreting Jesus’ words about self-mutilation. Our hands
do not themselves sin, but are made the mind’s agents for sin according to what
we touch and how we touch, in lust or greed or violence. Our eyes become agents
of sins according to what they look at. In recommending mutilation of eyes and
hands, Jesus is not speaking literally because we have more sins than we have
body-parts. Besides, even if all offending parts were removed, our minds — the
source of all sins — would still be intact, causing us to sin by thoughts and
desires. So, Jesus teaches us that, just as a doctor might remove a limb or
some part of the body like an infected gall bladder, an inflamed appendix,
cancerous colon sections, etc., in order to preserve the life of the whole
body, so we must be ready to part with anything that causes us to commit grave
sin or which leads to spiritual death (the “near occasions of sin.”)
Hence, these warnings are actually about our attitudes, dispositions, and
inclinations. Jesus recommends that our hands become agents of compassion,
healing, and comfort, and that our eyes learn to see the truth, goodness, and
beauty that are all around us.
Clear teaching on divorce: According Matthew’s account,
adultery is the only ground in the Old Testament for sanctioning divorce. 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”.Fr.
Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 15 Saturday: The context: Jesus outlines a
new moral code for his followers in his Sermon on the Mount, different from,
and superior to, the Mosaic moral code. According to the teachings of Jewish
rabbis, the world stands fast on truth, justice, and peace; hence, liars,
slanderers, scoffers, and hypocrites will not enter Heaven. The rabbis
classified two types of oaths as offensive to God: 1) frivolous oaths using
God’s name to support a false statement, because this violates the second
commandment. 2) evasive oaths using words like Heaven, Jerusalem, my
head, because God is everywhere, and He owns everything.
Jesus’ teaching: Be righteous; be men and women of integrity
and character. If one is honest in one’s words and deeds, there is no need for
one to support one’s statements and transactions with oaths or swearing. “How
forceful are honest words”! (Job 6:25). An oath is a
solemn invocation of God (“So help me, God!”) to bear witness to the
truth of what one asserts to be the case or to the sincerity of one’s
undertakings in regard to future actions. It is necessary and admissible to ask
God’s help in the discharge of an important social duty (e.g., President’s oath
of office) or while bearing witness in a court of law (“I will tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me, God”). In
other cases, Jesus teaches, “Say ‘Yes,’ when you mean ‘Yes.’ and say
‘No,’ when you mean ‘No,’ (Mt 5:37). That is, He invites us to live in
truth in every instance and to conform our thinking, our words and our deeds to
the truth.
Life messages: 1) Let us be true to
God, to ourselves and to others. 2) Let us allow God’s word of truth to
penetrate our minds and heart and to form our conscience.
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 16 Sunday: FATHER’S DAY (in U. S. A.)
Message: June 16, 2024
Introduction: Happy Father’s Day to all who are
fathers or grandfathers or stepfathers! Five weeks ago, we observed Mother’s
Day and offered Mass for our moms. Today, on this Father’s Day, we are doing
the same – offering our dads, living or dead, on the altar of God during this
Holy Mass and invoking our Heavenly Father’s blessings on them.
The observance most similar to our Father’s Day was the
ancient Roman Parentalia, an annual family reunion to remember
and commemorate departed parents and kinsfolk. The originator and promoter of
Father’s Day was Mrs. Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington. Her father, William
Jackson Smart, had accomplished the amazing task of rearing his six children
after their young mother’s death. Mrs. Dodd’s suggestions for observing the day
included wearing a flower — a red rose to indicate a living father and a white
rose for a dead father. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge made the first
Presidential proclamation in support of Father’s Day, and in 1972, President
Richard Nixon declared the third Sunday in June a National Day of Observance in
honor of fathers.
The Father’s role in society: According to the Catechism of
the Catholic Church, the vital importance of the father’s role comes from the
fact that, with his wife, he cooperates with God the Creator in bringing a new
human life into the world. Children who are raised with fathers present in the
family have much lower rates of delinquency, drug and alcohol use, teen
pregnancy, and so on, than those with absent fathers. The father’s presence is
also a significant positive factor in the children’s getting a college
education, finding a satisfying job, and making a lasting marriage. A girl’s
choice of partner and satisfaction in marriage is often directly related to the
relationship she has had with her father.
A day to remember our Heavenly Father and our Rev. Fr. Pastors: Father’s Day is a day to remember, acknowledge and appreciate the “World’s Greatest Dad,” OUR HEAVENLY FATHER (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:6) Who isour spiritual Daddy, actively involved in all areas of our lives. It is He on Whom we lean in times of pain and hurt; it is He on Whom we call in times of need; it is He Who provides for us in all ways — practical, emotional, and spiritual. Many of us pray the “Our Father” day after day, without paying attention to, or experiencing, the love and providence of our Heavenly Father. Let us pray the Our Father during this Holy Mass, realizing the meaning of each clause and experiencing the love of our Heavenly Father for us. May all earthly fathers draw strength from their Heavenly Father! On this Father’s Day, please don’t forget to pray for us, your spiritual Fathers, – men who are called to be Fathers of an immensely large parish family through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
