12th Week: Sept 2-7
Sept 2 Monday: Lk 4:16-30:
Today’s Gospel presents the reaction of Jesus’ fellow- townsmen, to the “Inaugural Address” offered to them at a synagogue in Nazareth when Jesus visited the town as a rabbi with a band of disciples. The readings show us how Jesus faced skepticism and criticism with prophetic courage. The incident reminds us that we should have and show the courage of our Christian convictions daily as we live in our communities, especially when we face hatred and rejection because of our Christian Faith and its practice.
Amazement turns to hatred. The first reaction of the people in the synagogue to Jesus’ words was astonishment. They were amazed that one of their fellow villagers could speak with such grace, eloquence, and authority. But their amazement turned into displeasure when Jesus, speaking as a prophet, (different from the image of the miracle-worker that people wished to see), claimed identity with the Messiah described by Isaiah. That claim turned Jesus’ fellow-townsmen’s displeasure into anger, then hatred. They challenged Jesus’ Messianic claim, asking, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” They could not understand how a mere carpenter from their hometown Nazareth, could be the Messiah, who would liberate them from Roman rule and reestablish the Davidic kingdom. Jesus’ reaction to His people’s skepticism: Jesus reacted to their negative attitude with the comment, “No prophet is accepted in his native place.” Next, he referred to the Biblical stories of how God had blessed two Gentiles, while rejecting the many Jews in similar situations, precisely because those Gentiles were more open to the prophets than the Jewish people. Jesus reminded them of the Gentile widow of Zarephath, in Lebanon (1 Kgs 17:7-24). The Prophet Elijah stayed with her and her son during the three-and-a-half-year drought, fed them miraculously and, later, raised her son from death. Then Jesus described how Naaman, the pagan military general of Syria, was healed of leprosy by Elisha, the prophet.
Life messages: 1) We need to face rejection with prophetic courage and optimism, when we experience the pain of rejection, betrayal, abandonment, violated trust, neglect, or abuse from our friends, families, or childhood companions. 2) Let us not, like the people in Jesus’ hometown, reject God in our lives. Are we unwilling to be helped by God, or by others? Does our pride prevent us from recognizing God’s direction, help, and support in our lives through His words in the Bible, through the teachings of the Church and through the advice and examples of others? 3) We must have the prophetic courage of our convictions. This passage challenges us to have the courage of our Christian convictions in our day-to-day lives in our communities, when we face hatred and rejection because of our Christian Faith. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 2: Labor Day in the U. S. Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. Labor Day unofficially signals the beginning of a new “school” year of work and study and the end of the “lazy days of summer.” It was
President Grover Cleveland who signed a bill into law on June 28, 1894, declaring Labor Day a national holiday.
1) It is a day to acknowledge the dignity and necessity of labor and workers. We participate in the creative act of God by the various forms of work we do using our God-given talents, a) The Bible presents God as working six days in the creation of the world and commanding Adam to work six days and rest on the seventh. eg: The fresco of Michael Angelo in the Sistine chapel, showing God touching the finger of Adam, infusing power to work). God the Father continues to do the work of providing for His creatures, God the Son does the work of saving and God the Holy Spirit does the work of sanctification. b) Jesus, God’s Son, was a professional carpenter. c) Most of Jesus’ apostles were fishermen, and Paul was a tentmaker. d) In his inaugural speech in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus expressed his preferential option for the poor – the working class and those who cannot work. Work is necessary for our own well-being, for health of body, mind, and spirit. It enables us to be independent and to help those who are less fortunate and unable to work. e) Works of charity are the main criteria of our Last Judgement: “Whatever you did to one of these least brethren you did to Me.”
2) A day to remember the Church’s teaching on the nobility of work and the necessity of just wages. In the encyclical, Laborem exercens (September 14, 1981), Pope St. John Paul II instructs us that all of us are called to work together for a just society and a just economy which allow us all to share God’s blessings. He reminds us that governments should see that the greed of a minority does not make the life of the majority miserable. He advises labor unions to fight for social and economic justice, better wages and better working conditions.
3) It is the day to remember and pray for the jobless people: There are thousands without work and millions more who are underemployed, working at part-time jobs or jobs that do not pay a decent wage. Society has a moral obligation to reduce joblessness because it is through work that families are sustained, children are nurtured, and the future is secured. Joblessness is also a clear threat to family life.
4) It is an appropriate time to acknowledge and bless the temporal and spiritual work that our parishioners do for their families, for their neighbors, and for the parish community. It is also a day to remind ourselves that our workplace gives us an opportunity to practice what we believe, and to display a level of integrity that matches our Faith, thus witnessing to Christ.
5) It is a day to pay attention to a warning: The warning is that we should be aware of the danger in work. If not properly oriented it can make us workaholics: we may turn work into our God or may use it as an escape mechanism to run away from spouse, children, and neighbors.
Thus, on this Labor Day, let us try to realize the dignity of work, the necessity of work, and the danger involved in work. Let us thank the Lord for the talents and work he has given us to do. Let us pray that we may find joy and satisfaction in our work, realizing that we are co-creators with God and stewards of His creation. By offering our work for God’s glory, let us transform our work to prayer. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 3 Tuesday; Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
Context: After the sad experience in Nazareth, Jesus used the city of Capernaum — 30 miles away from Nazareth; planted on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, serving as the center of the fishing business — as a base for his teaching, healing, and preaching ministry. The people were impressed by the authority with which Jesus taught. The Old Testament prophets had taught using God’s delegated authority, and the scribes and Pharisees taught quoting Moses, the prophets and the great rabbis. But Jesus, as God Incarnate, taught using Divine authority and the Perfect knowledge of God, acting always in perfect obedience to the will of God His Father, and having absolute confidence in God as the Source and Support of his teaching authority. The second part of today’s Gospel describes a healing by exorcism, which Jesus performed in the synagogue. We are told how Jesus, as God Incarnate, exercised Divine authority to cast out the devil by just one compound command: “Be silent, and come out of him!” The demon obeyed at once, throwing the man it had possessed to the floor in the midst of the people in the synagogue on its departure. The people were impressed with Jesus’ power and authority that could command even evil spirits.
Life messages: 1) Our Faith is based on the Divinity of Christ, demonstrated by His miracles, which in turn give authority and validity to His teaching and promises. Hence, let us accept Jesus’ teachings, even if some of them are mysteries beyond our understanding. 2) Let us read the authoritative word of God every day and assimilate it into our lives. 3) In our illnesses, let us confidently approach Jesus the Healer with trusting Faith first, then go to the doctors who are the ordinary instruments of Jesus’ healing ministry in our midst.
(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 4 Wednesday; Lk 4:38-44: The context: Today’s Gospel tells us that preaching the Good News of God’s love, mercy, and salvation, and healing the sick were the means Jesus used to build up the Kingdom of God. By preaching and healing, Jesus drew listeners to belief in a loving and providing God and to loving obedience to His will. We are told that Jesus drew renewed spiritual strength from God, His Father, every day by talking with and listening to Him, often in a desolate place at night.
Healing mission: Jesus never tired of healing the sick, thus demonstrating the mercy and compassion of His Heavenly Father to every sick person who approached with trusting Faith. Having finished the day’s preaching in the synagogue on one Sabbath, Jesus went to Simon’s home and healed Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever. In the evening, when the Sabbath rest was over, people brought all their sick dear ones to Jesus for healing and exorcism. Jesus either concluded the day or, as here, began the new day, by spending time with the Father in prayer in a lonely place.
Life messages: 1) We are called to continue Jesus’ preaching mission primarily by bearing witness to Christ through our day-to-day lives, radiating Christ’s mercy, love, forgiveness, and spirit of humble service to all around us. 2) We can participate in Jesus’ healing mission by praying for the sick and by visiting, helping, and encouraging the sick and shut-ins. 3) We, too, need to have our spiritual batteries recharged by prayer every day, as Jesus did. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 5 Thursday: Lk 5:1-11:1
The context: The scene is the Sea of Galilee (Gennesaret in Greekand Tiberiusin Latin). The story of the miraculous catch of fish described in today’s Gospel is similar to the post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus recounted in Jn 21:4-14. It is one of the “epiphany-call stories” which direct our attention to the fact that Jesus had distinct criteria for selecting people to be apostles. The reading challenges us to examine our own personal calls to conversion and discipleship.
The miraculous catch followed by the call: After teaching the crowd from a seat in the boat of Simon, Jesus said to him “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” Simon and his companions were stunned by the biggest catch of their lives. This event led Simon to acknowledge his unworthiness, as a sinner, even to stand before the Divine Presence of Jesus. Recognizing in Simon’s obedience and confession of unworthiness, the genuineness of their Faith, Jesus immediately invited Simon, Andrew, James and John to become close disciples and so to “catch men” instead of fish.
Life Messages: 1) Our encounter with the Holiness of God is meant to lead us to recognize our sinfulness. The Good News of today’s Gospel is that our sinfulness — our pride and self-centeredness – does not repel God. That is why we offer this Mass asking God’s pardon and forgiveness, and why we receive Jesus in Holy Communion only after acknowledging our unworthiness.
2) With Jesus, the seemingly impossible becomes possible. Today’s Gospel passage tells us an important truth about how God works in and through us for His glory. God chooses ordinary people – people like you and me – as His ambassadors. He uses the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives and our responses. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 6 Friday: Lk 5:33-39: The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives Jesus’ reply to the question asked by a few disciples of John the Baptist about fasting and feasting. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving were three cardinal works of Jewish religious life. Hence, John’s disciples wanted to know why they and the Pharisees fasted while Jesus’ disciples were seen feasting with him and never fasting.
Jesus’ reply: Jesus responds to their sincere question using three metaphors: the metaphor of the “children of the bridal chamber,” the metaphor of patching torn cloth, and the metaphor of wineskins. First, Jesus compares the apostles to the friends of the bride and groom who feasted in the company of bride and groom during a week of honeymoon. Nobody expected them to fast. Jesus explains that the apostles will fast when Jesus, the Bridegroom, has been taken away from them. In the same way, we are to welcome both the joys of Christian life and the crosses it offers us. Jesus uses the comparisons of the danger of using new, unshrunken cloth to make a patch for an old garment and of using old wineskins to store freshly fermented wine, to tell the questioners that they must have more elastic and open minds and larger hearts to understand and follow the new ideas they are hearing, which are in many cases different from the traditional Jewish teachings.
Life messages: 1) We need to be adjustable, responsive Christians with open and elastic minds: The Holy Spirit, working actively in the Church and guiding the Church’s teaching authority (Magisterium), enables the Church to have new visions, new ideas, and new adaptations and to refresh old ways of worship with new. So, we should have the generosity and good will to follow the teachings of the Church.
2) At the same time, we need the assistance of the Holy Spirit, Who works through the Church’s magisteriumto interpret and apply Scripture – the Old Testament revelations and the New Testament teachings — and Sacred Tradition to our daily lives. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Sept 7 Saturday: Lk 6:1-5: The context: Today’s Gospel passage gives Jesus’ teaching on the purpose of the Sabbath and on its proper observance. This was Jesus’ response to a criticism and a silly accusation made by some Pharisees against the apostles who, to satisfy their hunger on a Sabbath, had plucked ears of grain from a field for their snack, removed the husks by rubbing the grain between their palms and blowing away the chaff. The Pharisees accused them of violating Sabbath laws by performing three items of work forbidden on Sabbath, namely, harvesting, threshing and winnowing!
Counter-arguments: Jesus gives three counter-arguments from Holy Scripture defending the apostles. (1) Basic human needs, like hunger, take precedence over Divine worship and Sabbath observance. Jesus cites from Scripture the example of the hungry David and his selected soldiers. They approached Abimelech, the priest of Nob, who gave them for food the “offering bread” which only the priests were allowed to eat (1 Sm 21:1-6). (2) No law can stand against Divine worship. That is why the priests were not considered as violating Sabbath laws, although they did the work of preparing two rams for sacrifice in the Temple (Nm 28:9-10). (3) Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea to remind the accusers of God’s words: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Hos 6:6). Further augmenting the counter-arguments, Jesus, as Son of Man (a Messianic title), claims Lordship over the Sabbath itself.
Life messages: Like the Jewish Sabbath, the Christian Sunday is to be 1) a day of rest and refreshment with members of the family; 2) a day for thanksgiving and the recharging of spiritual batteries, (through participation in the Eucharistic celebration, for Catholics); 3) a day for parents to teach religious Faith and the Bible to their children; 4) a day to do works of charity in the neighborhood and in the parish and 5) a day for socializing with family members, neighbors and fellow-parishioners.
