12th Sunday: June 24-29:
June 24 Monday (The nativity of St. John the Baptist): The
context: Today’s Gospel describes the birth and naming of St. John the
Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet. He was given the mission of heralding
the promised Messiah and of preparing the Chosen People to welcome that Messiah
by preaching to them repentance and the renewal of life. John was born
miraculously to the priest, Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth in their old age.
Today’s Gospel passage describes John’s birth, Circumcision, and Naming
ceremony.
A miraculous birth and an event of double joy: His elderly
parents rejoiced in John’s birth, as he was a gift from God in their old age.
Since the child was a boy, all their neighbors rejoiced with them, and the
village musicians celebrated the birth by playing their joyful music. The
Naming followed the baby’s Circumcision, and Elizabeth insisted that the child
should be named John (which means “the Lord is gracious”), the name given him
by the Archangel Gabriel when he spoke to Zechariah. Appealed to by the
gathered people, the mute Zechariah approved that name by writing, “His
name is John.” At Zechariah’s action of obedient surrender to the
Lord God, the priest’s speech was restored. At once Zechariah loudly proclaimed
the praises of God Who had blessed him with a son who would serve as Herald for
the long-awaited Deliverer of Israel, the Messiah of God.
Life messages: 1) We need to pray for our
parents and be thankful to them for the gift of life, the training, and the
discipline they have given us, and the love and affection they have lavished on
us. Let us ask God’s pardon if we are, or were, ungrateful to them, do/did not
take proper care of them in their illness or old age or ever inflicted pain on
them. 2) We need to remember and pray for our godparents who sponsored us in
Baptism, which made us children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, heirs of
Heaven, and members of Jesus’ Mystical Body, the Church.
3) We should have the courage of our Christian convictions
as John the Baptist did, and we should become heralds of Christ as the Baptist
was, by our transparent Christian lives. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
The context: Today’s Gospel passage, taken from
the Sermon on the Mount, speaks about the proper use of holy things, the
“Golden Rule” we have to obey, and the less-traveled narrow way we need to take
in our Christian lives.
1) Jesus advises his listeners to use holy things in a holy
manner. The Jews had a statement in their Scriptures, (“Do not put a
golden ring in the nose of a pig or on the ears of a dog” Prv 11:22), which
is parallel to Jesus’ statement, “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do
not throw your pearls before swine” (Mt 7:12)The Jews understood the
injunction to mean the exclusiveness of their religion, which meant that they
should not teach the Law to the Gentiles. The early Church interpreted Jesus’
statement in its earliest catechism,the Didache, to mean that
only the baptized should approach the Eucharistic table. This view is reflected
in the canons of the Oriental Churches, introducing a command in the text of
the Mass before Eucharistic prayer, “Let the catechumens, hearers and
unbelievers quit,” and a serious warning before Holy Communion, “Holy
things are for holy people.” 2) The statement of the Golden Rule,
“Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them” (Mt
7:12),is Jesus’ positive contribution to ancient and negative Jewish
principles, meaning that real Christianity consists in doing good to others by
loving service and works of mercy. 3) Enter by the narrow gate:Supplementing
the instructions given by Moses (Dt 30:15-20), Joshua (Jos 24:15), and Jeremiah
(21:8), Jesus challenges his followers to “enter by the narrow gate and take
the hard way that leads to life.”
Life message: 1) Let us learn to reverence and
respect holy things in a holy manner. 2) Let us do to others what we wish them
to do to us. 3) Let us choose Jesus’ narrow way of sacrificial love and humble
service.
June 26 Wednesday: The context: In today’s
Gospel passage, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives his Church a
warning against false prophets and their false doctrines. Jesus compares them
to wolves in sheep’s clothing and tells us we can recognize them by observing
the lives they lead and the doctrines they teach.
False and true prophets: The Old Testament speaks of false
prophets and how they mislead God’s people. Jer 23:9-40 is a classic example.
The prophet condemns the false prophets of Baal. The Old Testament gives three
signs of true prophets: a) they honor God and promote the worship of the one
true God; b) they care for the poor; c) they fight for justice. Modern false
prophets in the Church try to remove the cross from Christianity, dilute sin,
and avoid teaching about God’s judgment while teaching that morality is
relative which God abhors: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who change darkness into light and light into darkness” (Is 5:20).
They try to separate the people of God from the Magisterium of the Church. But
modern true prophets lead exemplary and righteous lives, obey God’s laws and
the Church laws, and demonstrate the virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice,
Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance. In addition, they produce the fruits of
the Holy Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal
5:22-23). The pre- Vatican II Baltimore Catechism expanded
this passage from Galatians to Twelve Fruits: “Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience,
Benignity [Kindness], Goodness, Long-suffering [Patience] Mildness
[Gentleness], Modesty, Continency, Chastity [three effects of Self-Control].
Life message: 1) As Christians, we participate
in the prophetic role of Christ. Hence, we have the duty of leading others to
Christ by our exemplary Christian lives.
June 27 Thursday: [Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop
and
Doctor of the Church]: The context: Today’s Gospel is the
concluding part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus gives us two warnings:
1) that we must match our profession of Faith with actual obedience to the will
of God, and 2) that we must build our life on the firm foundation of his teachings.
Jesus warns us against hypocrisy and challenges us to make a radical commitment
to his word by putting it into action.
Criterion for entrance to Heaven: In the first part of the
Gospel for today, Jesus asserts that fidelity, both in Faith and in its
practice, is what gives one admission into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is
speaking about the future leaders in his Church who will prophesy, cast out
demons, and accomplish deeds of power in the cause of Christ without stopping
to reflect on whether they are obeying Jesus and living according to his
ideals. Fine words can never be a substitute for fine deeds. We may deceive men
with our words, but we cannot deceive God who reads our hearts. That is why the
Apostle James advises us in his epistle, “Be doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving yourselves (James 1: 22).
The obedient wise man and the disobedient fool: Jesus
contrasts a wise man who practices what he believes with a fool who does not
practice his religious beliefs, using the images of one man who built his house
on firm rock and another who built his house on loose sand in summer, right in
the rainy season flood-plain of a river.
Life messages: 1) We need to build our family on a
strong foundation: There can be no great marriage and no great
family without a solid foundation, and that foundation begins with the husband
and wife doing and being the love of Christ for each other and for their
children. The members of the family must love one another the way Jesus wants
us to love, to forgive each other as he teaches and practices on the
cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are
doing!”), and to become servants of one another the way Jesus was to
everyone.
2) We need to synchronize our living with our profession of
Faith: The test of our Sunday worship is the effect it has on us during the
rest of the week in our homes, schools, and workplaces and the way it
influences our relationships with friends and neighbors. The great test is the
care, consideration, and sensitivity we show to our neighbors, many of whom
would otherwise lack affection, words of encouragement, and forgiveness. Fr.
Tony
June 28 Friday (Saint Irenaeus, Bishop, Martyr, and
Doctor of the Church):
The context: Today’s Gospel describes Jesus
healing a leper as soon as he had finished his Sermon on the Mount and come
down the mountain. In those days, all skin diseases were considered leprosy,
and leprosy was known to be highly contagious. Hence “lepers” were separated
from their families and considered socially and ritually unclean. In addition,
they were treated as sinners who had been punished by God with a contagious
disease. The punishment given to Miriam, the complaining sister of Moses (Nm
12:9-10), to Gehazi the greedy servant of the prophet Elisha (II Kgs 5: 27) and
to the proud king Uzziah (Chr 26:19) supported this Jewish belief. As a general
rule, when a Jewish leper was healed (from any of the skin diseases considered
as leprosy), he had to go to the local priest to have him confirm that the
healed one was now clean and was permitted to mix with the general public.
Jesus rewards the trusting Faith of a humble leper: It is
such a leper who has the courage to approach Jesus in public with trusting
Faith in Jesus’ power to heal him. In all humility he kneels down and says to
Jesus, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Jesus
violates a social taboo by touching the leper, as he heals him with a single
command, “I will; be clean.”
Life message: 1) We all need healing from our
spiritual leprosy. Although we may not suffer from physical leprosy, we all
suffer from the “spiritual leprosy” of sins. It is sin that we carry with us
that keeps us unclean. Jesus, our Savior, wants to heal us. Since Jesus is not
afraid to touch our deepest impurities, and knows all of them better than we
do, let us not try to hide them, nor fear to confess them in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. Just as the lepers cried out to Jesus for healing, let us also
ask Jesus every night before we go to sleep to heal us from the spiritual
leprosy of sins, and let us approach Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation
whenever we are in grave sin. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
June 29 Saturday: (Saints Peter & Paul, Apostles): Peter and Paul are
the principal pillars of the Church. Today we celebrate the feast of their
martyrdom. Peter was son of Jona and brother of Andrew. He was a
professional fisherman from Bethsaida, a fishing town on the Lake of Galilee or
Gennesaret. He might have been a follower of John the Baptist. It was his
brother, Andrew, who introduced him to Jesus, and Jesus who changed his name
from Simon to Cephas or Peter. Jesus made Peter the leader of the apostles. At
Caesarea Philippi, Jesus promised to make Peter the head of the Church, and the
risen Jesus confirmed Peter’s precedence. It was the Holy Spirit through Whose
Presence and Power, Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost, inaugurated the
active life of the Church. Peter made missionary journeys to Lydda, Joppa and
Caesarea Maritima. He also offered the decisive argument settling the question
of Gentile converts and the Jewish Law at the first Council in Jerusalem. He
wrote two epistles to the whole Church, and he was martyred in Rome by
crucifixion under the emperor Nero.
Paul, the “Apostle to the Gentiles” and the greatest
apostolic missionary, was a Roman citizen by birth, as he had been born in the
Roman colony of Tarsus. His original name was Saul. As a Pharisee, he was sent
to Jerusalem by his parents to study the Mosaic Law under the great rabbi
Gamaliel. As a student, he learned the trade of tent-making. He was present at
the stoning of Stephen and “consented to” this deed (Acts 8:1). But he was
miraculously converted on his way to Damascus to arrest the Christians. He made
several missionary journeys, converted hundreds of Jews and Gentiles and
established Church communities. Paul wrote 14 epistles. He was arrested and
kept in prison for two years in Caesarea Maritima and lived under house arrest
for two more years in Rome. Finally, he was martyred by beheading at Tre
Fontane in Rome.
Life Messages: 1) Just as Peter and the other apostles did, we must open our eyes, ears, and hearts wide to see, hear and experience the Risen Lord coming into our life in various disguises, circumstances, and events, reminding us of our mission to proclaim the Good News in deed and in word. 2) We need to love, obey, and pray for Pope Francis and the bishops and priests who are the successors of Peter and the Apostles as they continue the work of the Risen Lord with and for us. 3) Each one of us has a unique mission in the church, as a believer, parent etc., and we are challenged to undertake and fulfill it. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
