May 18 Monday: St. John I, Pope and Martyr: John 16: 29-33:
Context: Jesus is speaking to his apostles
after the Last Supper.
Scripture lessons: In this Last Supper
discourse, Jesus explains his Divine origin and his relationship to God his
Father in clear terms without using any metaphors. The apostles acknowledge
that they understand the Divinity of Jesus. But Jesus prophesies that they will
soon desert him and seek their own safety, while he will be arrested, brought
to trial and crucified. Our Faith is tested every day when we live in a world
filled with agnostics, atheists, and pleasure-seekers who see true believers as
superstitious people and hate them. That is why Jesus gave his apostles and all
his future disciples the assurance of the anointing of the Holy Spirit Who
would strengthen them and guide them. The Second Vatican Council teaches in
connection with this passage: “The Lord Jesus who said `Be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33), did not by these words promise
complete victory to his Church in this world. This sacred Council rejoices that
the earth which has been sown with the seed of the Gospel is now bringing forth
fruit in many places under the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord, who is
filling the world” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 22).
Life messages: 1) Our Faith is firmly rooted
in the Divinity of Jesus demonstrated by his Messianic miracles, most of which
were foretold by the prophets. The Resurrection of Jesus is the Miracle of
miracles proving Jesus’ Divinity beyond doubt. 2) We need to get our daily
infusion of spiritual strength by recognizing the presence of God – the Father,
the Son Incarnate, and the Holy Spirit — living within us wherever we are, and
by communicating with our indwelling God in prayer. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
May 19 Tuesday: Jn 17:1-11a
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is
taken from the “High Priestly Prayer” which Jesus offered to the Father
for himself, the apostles, and all future believers at the end of his long Last
Supper discourse. It is called the High Priestly Prayer because
it is as the High Priest of the New Covenant that Jesus offers to God, his
Father, the imminent sacrifice of his passion and death, to his apostles and
their mission, and to all future believers.
Glory in crucifixion: In the first part of the prayer,
Jesus asks for the glorification of his human nature and the acceptance of his
sacrifice on the cross by his Father. Jesus considered his crucifixion
as his glorification — just as the martyrs would later do.
The cross was the glory of Jesus because it was the completion of his
double work of saving mankind and of demonstrating to us how much God loves us.
Further, it was his death on the cross that led to his Resurrection in glory.
Jesus glorified God
1) by accepting death
on the cross in perfect obedience to God, to complete His eternal plan of
salvation;
2) by revealing God
to men as a loving, forgiving and saving Father; and
3) by giving believers
Eternal Life in making them his disciples and teaching them to obey his new
commandment of love.
The essence of Eternal Life: According to the New Testament,
Eternal Life is: “to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom
You have sent” (John 17:3). To “know” God in the Gospel
sense is to have a deep, personal experience of God Who is
working in one’s life. It involves a close, intimate relationship which
matures eventually into mutual love and trust. Christian Faith is
essentially a “believing in”- a total surrender. It is the
way we come to “know” Christ closely, to experience Him
intimately, and to love Him personally.
Life messages: 1) Let us center our
Christian life on prayer and the glorification of God.
Prayer means getting into contact with God — listening to Him and talking
to Him. If we are convinced of the presence of God within us, we can talk
to Him even while we are driving, waiting in a queue, or doing routine
work in the kitchen or yard. Our talk with God can include adoration,
praise, thanksgiving, pleas for forgiveness for ourselves and
for those who injure us and/or others, and prayer for the needs of
others and of ourselves. A few minutes spent in reading the Bible is
the best way of listening to God. We glorify God by obeying His commandments,
especially the commandment of love given by Jesus.
Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
May 20 Wednesday: St. Bernadine of
Sienna, Priest: Jn
17:11b-19:
In today’s Gospel passage,
taken from Jesus’ High-Priestly prayer, Jesus prays in
particular, for those disciples who are sharing the meal with him. The
substance of that Prayer is a request for the victory, unity,
protection, and consecration of his disciples. (1) Jesus
prayed that they might find victory by living
out their Christianity in the rough-and-tumble of life. The
disciples were to win the world for Christ by living out their
Christianity within the world. They must bear witness to Christ
through their transparent Christian lives, reflecting Christ’s love, mercy,
forgiveness, and spirit of humble service. (2) Jesus
prayed for the unity of his disciples. The world
cannot be evangelized by competing Churches, and that is why Jesus prayed that
his disciples might be as fully one as He and
the Father are One. Christian unity is determined by whether and how
well we love one another, and whether we reflect the love of God in Christ
for the world. (Eph 4:4–6: … one body and one Spirit, just as you
were called to the one hope that belongs to your call; 5 one Lord,
one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of us all, Who is above all and
through all and in all). (3) Jesus prayed
for His Father’s protection for his disciples from the attacks
of the Evil One. If the disciples of Christ fall, it is because they try
to meet life with their own strength alone, and fail to recall
consiciously the presence of their protecting God and, so, to
seek His help. (4) Jesus prayed that his
disciples might be consecrated in the Truth.
(a) GOD alone IS TRUTH, and to “Consecrate” means
to set apart for a special task (Jer 1:5; Ex 28:41), namely to live out and to
bear witness to His TRUTH in our lives; (b)
to “Consecrate” also means to equip a man with the qualities
of mind, heart, and character which are necessary for that task. God has
chosen us and dedicated us for His special service of loving and obeying Him
ourselves and of bringing others to do the same. c) He
has not left us to carry out that great task with only our own strength, but by
His grace He fits us for our task, if we place our lives in His hands.
Life messages: 1): We need to
understand, appreciate, cooperate with, and pray with and for each other:
The denominations are a reality. There is no use in
our blaming each other for the historical events which caused these
divisions in Christ’s Body. What we can do is to learn sympathetically
about the doctrinal similarities and differences among the members of
our Christian community, and to learn to love each other, cooperating with the
members of all denominations in all ways possible. 2) Let us pray
fervently that God may show us how to proceed in building true and
lasting Christian unity without sacrificing TRUTH, the basic
Christian principles, and the teachings. Fr. Tony
May 21 Thursday: St. Christopher
Magallanes, Priest & companion-martyrs:
Jn 17:20-26:
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is the
concluding part of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” in his Last Supper
discourse. Here, Jesus prays for true unity among his followers who accept him
as their Lord and Savior.
Divisions in Christianity: The first major division in
Christianity, which took place in the fifth century, was the
schism caused when the Eastern Orthodox Churches under the
patriarchs who separated themselves from the Western Church under the
Pope. Next, the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century separated
its followers from unity with the Church centered in Rome and freed them from
her Authority. During the following five centuries, this separation resulted in
the formation of more than 30,000 Protestant denominations. According
to Pope St. Paul VI [canonized October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis] “the
Church founded by Jesus Christ and for which he prayed is indefectibly one in
Faith, in worship and in the bond of hierarchical communion” (Creed of the
People of God, 21).
Jesus’ prayer for unity: In his prayer for unity
among his disciples, Jesus mentions that the basis and criterion of
unity must be the Unity of God in His Three Divine Persons among Whom
there is eternal, mutual love and Self-giving/receiving. The unity of
Jesus and his Father is, essentially, a unity of love and obedience and a unity
of personal relationship. Another reason for Christian unity is the union
of the faithful with Jesus Christ in His Mystical Body by Baptism, and
through Him with the Father (verse 23). This means that the fullness of Unity
is attained through Sanctifying grace, the Life of God, which comes to us
from the Father through Christ (cf. Jn 15:5). Jesus declares that unity among
the believers is essential if the world is to acknowledge Him as
Lord and Savior, because the disunity among Christians acts as the biggest
block for evangelization, for it offers living, constant counter-witness to the
Good News of Redemption.
Life messages: 1) Since Jesus Christ himself
left us his final wish for unity through his prayer to the Father: “that
they may all be one; even as You, Father are in Me, and I in You, that they
also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me” (Jn
17:21), it is our duty to pray and work for
meaningful unity among Christians. 2) Let us learn to appreciate each
other’s common beliefs and enter into genuine dialogue and cooperation
with members of other Christian denominations, instead of accusing each other
of heresy. 3) We need to remember that the present non-Catholic Christians are
not responsible for the historical events and actions from which the various
denominations originated in the past. (Fr.
Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
May 22 Friday: St. Rita of Cascia,
religious: (Jn:21:15-19);
The context: This is a post-Resurrection
apparition scene. After miraculously providing breakfast for his apostles who
had been fishing all night, Jesus conferred on Peter the Primacy in his Church,
which Jesus had previously promised as a reward for Peter’s profession of Faith
(Mt 16:16-19).
The triple question: As if to give him a triple chance
to atone for his triple denial, Jesus asks Peter, three times, “Simon,
son of John, do you love me (agápe love) more than these?” Jesus
asks Peter if he loves Jesus more than he loves his boat and fishing equipment,
occupation, family, and friends. Jesus is also asking whether Peter loves him
more than the other Apostles do. Instead of boasting of his own fidelity,
strength, and greater love, as he had done before his triple denial of the
Master, Peter humbly puts everything in Christ’s hands. “Lord, You
know well that I love (philia love=love of a friend) You.” The
dual reward: 1) Primacy of jurisdiction over the
Church was formally defined by the First Vatican Council (Vatican I) in the
First Dogmatic Constitution “On the Church of Christ,” (Pastor
Aeternus, Chapter 1) declaring, “We therefore teach and
declare that, according to the testimony of the Gospel, the primacy of
jurisdiction over the universal Church of God was immediately and directly
promised and given to Blessed Peter the Apostle by Christ our Lord. […]
And it was upon Simon Peter alone, that Jesus, after his Resurrection, bestowed
the jurisdiction of chief pastor and ruler over all his fold in the words:
‘Feed My lambs; feed My sheep (Jn 21:15-17).’” 2) Peter was also given
the promise of a martyr’s death because real love involves
responsibility as well as sacrifice. According to Tradition, St. Peter followed
his Master to the point of dying by crucifixion — head downwards, because he
felt unworthy to die as Jesus had done. This happened during Nero’s persecution
of the Christians, which took place between the years 64 and 68 in Rome.
Life messages: 1) We need to pray for the
Pope, the successor of Peter, and for the bishops, the successors of the
Apostles, and to support them in their ministry. 2) Jesus is a God of second
chances Who gives chance after chance to sinners to return to his love, as is
made clear by Jesus’ conferring primacy in his Church on the repentant
Peter.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
May 23 Saturday: Jn
21:20-25:
Context: Today’s Gospel passage
describes the role of Peter as the chief shepherd of Christ’s people and of
John as a long-lived witness to Christ in the early Church. The last part of
the passage was intended to correct the false notion in the early Church that John
would not die until the much-expected, imminent “second coming” of
Jesus.
Jesus’ reply: Jesus’ response implies that what
is important is not to be curious about what the future will bring one but to
serve the Lord faithfully each day, keeping to the way He has marked out for
one.
John’s testimony about his
Gospel: The
passage concludes with John’s testimony about the truth of the content of his
Gospel. It also explains the purpose of John’s Gospel: to strengthen our Faith
in what Jesus did and taught. In addition, it tells us that the written Gospels
contain only a fraction of what Jesus taught and did, implying that we have to
depend upon the Sacred Tradition of the early Church handed down to us by the
early Fathers of the Church to complete the truth of the written
testimony.
Life message: 1) Just as Peter and John each had his unique role in Christ’s Church, so each believer, as a member of this Mystical Body of Christ, each one of us with our differing talents, strengths, weaknesses, and limits, has one’s own particular work to do in completing the task of the Mystical Body of Christ (The Church) – bringing the world to Christ and Christ to the world. Hence, it is our duty to bear witness to Christ by surrendering our lives to Christ on the altar of service for the people of God and by offering ourselves as humble instruments in the hands of Christ. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
