8th Week and Lent: March 3-8:
March 3 Monday: Mk 10:17-27:
The context: A rich young man comes to Jesus in search of eternal life and expresses his genuine desire to be accepted by Jesus as a disciple. Jesus’ shocking challenge refused: Jesus reminds the rich man of the commandments that deal with his relationships with other people and challenges him to sell what he has and give to the poor. The young man fails to realize that his riches have really built a wall between himself and God. His possessions “possess him.” Jesus’ challenge exposes what is missing in the young man’s life, (a sense of compassion for the poor), and what blocks him from the goodness he seeks (his unwillingness to share his blessings with the needy). Jesus thus makes it clear that a true follower of His who wants to possess eternal life must not only be a respectable person who hurts nobody, but also someone who shares his riches, talents and other blessings with the less fortunate. Unfortunately, the rich man is unwilling to accept Jesus’ idea that wealth is something to be shared with others and not just something to be owned. So, Jesus uses a vivid hyperbole or “word cartoon” to show how riches bar people from Heaven by presenting a big camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle. The disciples are shocked when Jesus challenges the Jewish belief that material wealth and prosperity are signs of God’s blessings by declaring that true religion consists in sharing our blessings with others without getting inordinately attached to them.
Life messages: 1)Jesus uses the premature farewell of the rich young man to teach the lesson that we do not possess in our life anything which we refuse to surrender to the Lord. Instead, that thing often possesses us, and we become the prisoners of our possessions, thereby violating the First Commandment, which demands that we give unconditional priority to God.
2) Our following of Jesus has to be totally and absolutely unconditional. Our attachment may not be to money, but to material goods, to another person, a job, health, or reputation. We must be ready to cut off any such attachment in order to become true Christian disciples, sharing our blessings with others. St. Teresa of Calcutta, (Mother Teresa), gives the message of today’s Gospel thus: “Do something Beautiful for God.” Do it with your life. Do it every day. Do it in your own way. But do it!” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
March 4 Tuesday: Mk 10:28-31:
The context: A rich young man approached Jesus asking how to gain eternal life. Jesus asked him to sell his possessions share the money with the poor and then become his disciple. But the rich man went away sad, unable to accept Jesus’ terms and conditions. Watching this scene, Peter declares that he and his fellow Apostles, all Jesus’ followers, have left everything and followed Jesus, and he asks what their reward will be.
Jesus’ warning and promise: Jesus wants every Christian to embrace the virtue of poverty of spirit by practicing real and effective austerity in the possession and use of material things. But those who are specially called to Christian ministry, particularly the Apostles and their successors in priestly and religious ministry, should practice absolute detachment from property, time, family, etc. so that they can be fully available to everyone, imitating Jesus himself. Such detachment gives them lordship over all things. They are no longer the slaves of things and the burden things involve. They will be able to share St. Paul’s attitude and live, “As having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (2 Cor 6:10). Jesus also considers persecutions and troubles as rewards because they help us to give powerful witness to the Good News and offer us opportunities to grow in maturity and responsibility. Jesus assures Peter and the Apostles (and us), that anyone who has generously left behind his possessions will be rewarded a hundred times over in this life and will have eternal bliss in the next life. By shedding their selfishness in this way, they will acquire charity, and, having charity, they will gain everything. In place of material wealth, Jesus promises all his disciples the blessing and joy of rich fellowship with the community of believers. These words of our Lord particularly apply to those who by Divine vocation embrace celibacy, giving up their right to form a family. They will become members of every family, and they will have many brothers, sisters and spiritual children.
Life message: 1) Let us try to become true disciples of Jesus by sacrificially sharing our blessings with those around us, thereby inheriting additional blessings from a generous God. Let us not refuse anything to him or hold back anything from him.
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
ASH WEDNESDAY (3/5/2025)
Introduction: Ash Wednesday (dies cinerum), is the Church’s Yom Kippur or the “Day of Atonement.” The very name of the day comes from the Jewish practice of doing penance wearing “sackcloth and ashes.” The Old Testament tells us how the people of Nineveh, King Ben Hadad of Syria, and Queen Esther fasted, wearing sackcloth and ashes.In the early Church, Christians who had committed serious sins were instructed to do public penance wearing sackcloth and ashes. The Church instructs us to observe Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as days of full fast and abstinence. Fasting is prescribed to reinforce our penitential prayer during the Lenten season.
Scripture lessons summarized:
In the first reading, the prophet Joel, insists that we should experience a complete conversion of heart and not simply regret for our sins. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 51) for today, provides us with an excellent prayer of repentance and plea for forgiveness. Saint Paul, in the second reading, advises us “to become reconciled to God.” Today’s Gospel instructs us to assimilate the true spirit of fasting and prayer, not just settle for just the legal externals.
The blessing of the ashes and the significance of the day:
The priest, dipping his thumb into ashes (collected from burnt palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday), marks the forehead of each with the sign of the cross, saying the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” By marking the sign of the cross with ashes on the foreheads of her children, the Church gives us: 1- a firm conviction that a) we are mortal beings, b) our bodies will become dust when buried and ashes if cremated, and c) our life-span is very brief and unpredictable; 2- a strong warning that we will suffer eternal misery if we do not repent of our sins, become reconciled with God, asking His pardon and forgiveness, and do penance; and 3- a loving invitation to realize and acknowledge our sinful condition and return to our loving and forgiving God with true repentance and a renewal of our life as the prodigal son did.
Ash Wednesday messages: # 1: We need to purify and renew our lives during the period of Lent by repentance, which means expressing sorrow for sins by turning away from occasions of sins and making a right turn to God. We need to express our repentance by becoming reconciled with God daily, by asking for forgiveness from those whom we have offended and by giving unconditional forgiveness to those who have offended us.
# 2: We need to do prayerful fasting and acts of penance for our sins,following the example of Jesus before his public ministry. Fasting reduces our “spiritual obesity” or the excessive accumulation of “fat” in our soul in the form of evil tendencies, evil habits, and evil addictions. It also gives us additional moral and spiritual strength and encourages us to share our blessings with the needy. It offers us more time to be with God in prayer. It encourages us to share our food and goods with the needy. Fasting also makes our minds clearer and more receptive to receiving the sacred nourishment of God’s Word in Scripture and in Holy Eucharist. (Thomas Merton). L/25
March 6 Thursday: Lk 9:22-25:
The context: After Peter had made his famous declaration of Faith in Jesus as God and the Messiah, Jesus plainly warned his disciples about his suffering death and Resurrection. But the Apostles were unwilling to accept such a fate for their master. Hence, Jesus declared the three conditions of discipleship which he expected from his followers, as given in today’s Gospel.
The Three Conditions: 1) Deny yourself. 2) Take up your cross. 3) Follow Me. 1) Denying oneself involves a) cleansing of the heart by the eviction of self and the removal of all evil tendencies and addictions from the heart with the help of the Holy Spirit, b) the enthronement of God in the heart and the dedication of oneself to Him, and c) the surrendering of one’s life to the enthroned God through loving, selfless service of others for God’s glory. 2) Taking up one’s cross means, not only accepting gracefully from God our pains and suffering, but also accepting the pain involved in serving others, in sharing our blessings with them, and in controlling our evil tendencies. Carrying one’s cross becomes easier when we compare our light crosses with the heavier ones given to terminally-ill patients and to exploited people living under subhuman conditions. The realization that Jesus carries with us the heavier part of our cross also makes our cross-bearing easier and more salvific. 3) Follow Me means one is to follow Jesus by obeying the word of God and adjusting one’s life accordingly. One living as Jesus’ disciple should be ever ready to obey as Jesus directs one — through His words in the Bible and through the teaching authority He has instituted in the Church.
The paradox of saving/losing and losing/saving life: According to Bible commentators, the word “life” is here used, clearly, in a double sense: the earthly life of man in flesh and time and his eternal Life of happiness in Heaven. Hence, what Jesus means is that whoever wishes to save his (earthly), life will lose his (eternal), Life. But whoever loses his (earthly), life by spending it for Jesus and the Gospel, will save his (eternal), Life.
Life message: We need to love the cross, wear the cross, carry the crosses we are given, and transform these God-given crosses of our life into the instruments of our salvation by working with the Holy Spirit. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
March 7 Friday: Mt 9:14-15: Saints Perpetua and Felicity: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 the 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 responded 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 (Mk 2:18-20; Lk 5:33-35). In today’s Gospel passage, taken from Matthew, Jesus compares his disciples with the children of the bridal chamber. These people were selected friends of the bridegroom who feasted in the company of the bride and groom during their week of honeymoon. Nobody expected them to fast. Jesus declares that his disciples will fast when he, the Bridegroom, is taken away from them. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy, and it is mentioned next after love in St Paul’s list, “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22). Hence, we are to welcome the joys of Christian life as well as the crosses it offers us. The Fathers of the Church interpret the image of the bridegroom and bride as referring to Christ and his Church. Some explain it topologically: as long as the Spouse is with us, we are not able to mourn; but when by our sin we turn from Jesus, then is the time for tears and fasting. Yet others apply the words of Christ to the Holy Eucharist. The parable does not condemn the strictness of John nor does it condemn fasting. The disciples of Christ kept the fasts prescribed by the Law, but they did ignore those imposed by the Pharisees.
Life messages: 1) Fasting reduces our soul’s excessive accumulation of fat in the form of evil tendencies and evil habits (= spiritual obesity). In addition, fasting gives us additional moral and spiritual strength: it offers us more time to be with God in prayer and encourages us to share our food and goods with the needy. We fast so as to share in the sufferings of the Body of Christ (Col 1:24). 2) We need to be adjustable Christians with open and elastic minds and hearts: The Holy Spirit, working actively in the Church and guiding the Magisterium
