Aug 10 Monday: St. Lawrence, Deacon, Jn 12:
24-26:
The context: Jesus tells us a short parable followed
by two amazing paradoxes. The parable is that of a grain of wheat sown into the
muddy field, growing up and yielding a good crop. The parable followed by the
paradoxes teaches us three lessons for Christian life. The first lesson is that
life comes only through death. Only when the grain of wheat dies in the muddy
soil of the field does it become a seedling. In the same way, the Church would
grow up and flourish in the death of its martyrs: “The blood of the
martyrs is the seed of the Church.”When we die to our personal ambitions
and desires, we are born as useful instruments in the hands of God. The second
lesson is that only by spending life we can retain it. The world owes a lot to
saintly people like St. Don Bosco, St. Vincent De Paul, St. Teresa of Calcutta
(Mother Teresa), St. Jeanne Jugan, and St. Damien of Molokai, among others, who
spent their energy in service of the poor and the down-trodden and gave
themselves to God. The third lesson is that greatness comes through selfless
and committed service. This explains why the world still honors and cherishes
the memory of great souls mentioned above.
Life message: Let us surrender our lives to God
in the service of others with agápe love in all humility,
seeing the face of Jesus in each of them. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 11 Tuesday: St. Clare, Virgin: Matthew
18:1-5, 10,12,141 The context: Chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel
is a “discourse on the Church,” giving leaders of the Church instructions for
administration. Jesus’ apostles shared the Jewish hope that the Messiah would
be a political ruler; they hoped that they would hold important portfolios in
the Messianic kingdom. Hence, in today’s passage (vv. 1-5), Jesus warned his
apostles and the future hierarchy of his Church against the natural human
tendencies to pride and ambition. He exhorted the spiritual leaders, as well as
all believers in responsible positions, to be humble, trusting, and innocent –
that is, to be like children. The additional parable of the shepherd rejoicing
at the recovery of his lost sheep tells us that our Heavenly Father is very
particular that His little ones should not perish due to our negligence.
Child-like qualities: Children are basically innocent and
honest. They are naturally humble because they depend on their parents for
everything. They trust and obey their parents because they know their parents
love them. Hence, Jesus advises his disciples to forget their selfish ambitions
and, with trusting Faith in a loving and providing God, to spend their lives
serving others in all humility. Then they will be great in the Kingdom of
Heaven.
Life Messages: 1) We need to practice humility in
thoughts, words and actions. “Learn from me for I am meek and humble of
heart.”“What is the essential thing in the religion and discipline of
Jesus Christ?” St. Augustine asks, and then responds, “I shall
reply: first humility, second humility and third humility.”
2) We should not seek recognition and recompense for the
service we do for Christ and the Church as parents, teachers, pastors, etc.
3) Trusting Faith resulting from true humility is essential
for all corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Since children reflect the
innocence, purity, simplicity, and tenderness of our Lord, and since they are
given the protection of a guardian angel, we are to love them, train them and
take care not to give scandal to them. We need to try to treat everyone with
love and respect because, “Beside each believer stands an angel as
protector and shepherd leading him to life,” (St. Basil) CCC # 336.
Aug 12 Wednesday: St. Jane Francis de Chantal,
Virgin:
Mt 18: 15-20: The context: The first part
of today’s portion of Matthew’s Gospel is one of the passages many have found
difficult to interpret. Many Bible commentators think that Jesus never said
these things, that probably they were a later addition by the Church because 1)
there was no organized Church at that time, 2) Jesus never considered a sinner
as a hopeless case, and 3) Jesus loved Gentiles and tax collectors.
The real meaning: What Jesus actually meant was, “Do
whatever you can to make the guilty person realize and confess his fault, thus
helping him to repair the damage he or she has done to his or her personal and
communal relationships.” Jesus seems to suggest the following steps to
repair a broken personal relationship: 1) One-on-one encounter: First ask God
for forgiveness for your part in the misunderstanding, then, go to him,
apologize for your part in the incident, and, only then, tell him calmly,
gently, and politely that he has hurt you. 2) The group encounter: If the first
step does not work, meet him again in the company of two or three wise and
honorable persons and try to help the culprit realize what he has done wrong.
3) Parish encounter: If steps one and two do not work, bring his case to the
pastor or to the parish council or the Christian fellowship. 4) Leave him to
Lord’s mercy: If the culprit remains stubborn, like a Gentile or proud tax
collector, ask God to help you to desire to forgive him, then forgiving him in
your heart, continue to pray for him and leave him to God’s mercy.
Life messages: 1) Let us have the good will and
generosity to accept our mistakes and ask pardon and forgiveness from the
offended victim. 2) Let us also learn to forgive and forget the offenses done
against us (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 13 Thursday: Saints Pontian, Pope and
Hippolytus, Priest, Martyrs: Mt 18:21–19:1
The lessons taught by the parable: (1) We must
forgive so that we may be forgiven. Jesus explains this truth after teaching
the prayer, “Our Father.” He warns us, “For if you forgive
men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do
not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses” (Mt 6:14-15). As James states it later, “For judgment
is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy” (Jas 2:13). Clearly,
Divine and human forgiveness work together.
(2) We represent the greater debtor in the parable; that is,
we owe God the ten thousand talents of the parable. We commit sins every day
and, hence, we need God’s forgiveness every day. The sum total of all the
offenses which our brothers and sisters commit against us is equivalent to the
small debt of the second debtor in the parable, namely 100 denarii. Yet,
shockingly and sadly, we are merciless towards our fellow human beings. The
moral of Jesus’ story is that, as members of a community, we must treat one
another as God has treated each of us. Here is a Divine call to throw away the
calculator when it comes to forgiveness. We must choose the more honorable path
and forgive one another “from the heart.” We have been
forgiven a debt beyond all human paying – the sin of man which God forgave
through the willing, sacrificial death of His own Son, Incarnate in human
flesh. Since that is so, we must forgive others as God has forgiven us.
Otherwise, we cannot hope to receive any mercy ourselves.
Life messages: 1) We need to forgive: Having
experienced forgiveness at the hands of God and God’s people, we are then
called to make it possible for others to experience the same forgiveness. Let
us forgive the person who has wronged us before hatred eats away at our ability
to forgive.
2) Forgiveness will not be easy, but God is there to help
us. We can call on God’s help by offering that individual to God, not by
sitting in judgment, but simply by saying, “Help so-and-so and mend our
relationship.” We may never forget the hurt we have experienced, but
we can choose to forgive. 3) We need to remind ourselves that with God’s grace
we have already forgiven the one that hurt us. As life goes on, we may remember
the incident or occasion that was hurtful. Then let us offer the offender to
God’s mercy and pray for God’s blessings on him or her.
(https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 14 Friday: St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest,
Martyr: Mt 19:3-12: Jesus’ explanation of a Mosaic
sanction: Jesus explains that Moses’ permission for divorce was only a
temporary concession which was meant to control the growing rate of divorce in
Moses’ own time by introducing a law governing divorce. Jesus adds that it was
because of the hard-heartedness of the Jewish men that Moses allowed such a
concession. By denying the man’s right to divorce, Jesus places the husband and
wife on an equal footing in marriage and teaches that no Mosaic regulation
dealing with a temporary situation can alter the permanence and unity of
marriage.
Jesus’ clear teaching on divorce: Jesus reminds
us that His doctrine goes back to the original intention of God. Citing the
book of Genesis, Jesus says that God made us male and female
and commanded that “the two shall become one flesh.” He then draws
the conclusion that “they are no longer two, but one body” – partners
with equal rights – and he declares that no man is allowed to
separate what God has joined together (Mt 19:6).
Catholic teaching: 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” (CCC #2384,
#2385).
Life messages:1) Let us keep all the families of our
parish in our daily prayers, that the spouses may have a mutual understanding
and appreciation of each other, the willingness to ask pardon and give pardon,
the generosity to forgive and forget, and the good will to serve each other,
because all these virtues help to make a marriage permanent. 2) Let us also
pray for all the divorced in the parish and welcome them as active members of
the parish, both those who have remained single and those who have remarried
without annulment. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Aug 15 Saturday: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Lk 1:39-56:
Three Questions answered: Q 1: Do Catholics worship Mary?
Fact 1: Catholics don’t worship or adore Mary because we worship only
God, and Mary is not God.
Fact 2: We venerate her, honor her, and love her
as Jesus’ mother and our Heavenly Mother.
Q 2: Why do Catholics venerate Mary? Mary
herself gives the reason in her “Magnificat” recorded in Luke
(1:48-49): 48: “For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold,
from now on will all ages call me blessed. 49: The Mighty One has done great
things for me, and Holy is his Name.”
1) God has honored Mary in four ways, and we honor her
because God honored her:
a) He chose her as the mother of His Son, Jesus Christ the
Messiah.
b) In preparation for this role, God made her “Full
of grace” by her Immaculate Conception.
c) He anointed her twice with His Holy Spirit: at the
Annunciation and at Pentecost, making her the most Spirit-filled of all women.
d) God allowed her to participate actively in Christ’s
suffering and death, suffering in soul all Jesus suffered in body.
2) Mary is our Heavenly Mother, given to us by Jesus from
the cross.
3) Mary is our role model for all virtues, particularly,
love, fidelity, humility, obedience, surrender to the will of God, and
patience.
Q 3: Why do we believe that Mary was taken to Heaven
after her death and burial? (“Assumption” means that after
her death, Mary was taken into Heaven, both body and soul. The word Assumption
comes from the Latin verb “assumere,” meaning “to take to oneself.”
Our Lord, Jesus Christ took Mary home to himself where he is. It was on
November 1, 1950, that, through the Apostolic Constitution Munificentimus
Deus, Pope Pius XII officially declared the Assumption as a Dogma of
Catholic Faith, giving the following reasons:
1) Uninterrupted tradition in the Catholic Church starting
from the first century AD. (The first trace of belief in the Virgin’s
Assumption can be found in the apocryphal second-to-third century AD accounts
entitled Transitus Mariae [Latin:
for “The Crossing Over of Mary”].
2) The feast is found in all the ancient liturgies
3) The belief in the assumption of Mary is taught by all
early Fathers of the Church, e.g., Origen (died AD 253), St.
Jerome (died AD 419) and St. Augustine (died AD 430).
4) Negative evidence: Mary’s tomb was never reported or
venerated.
5) Old Testament evidence of corporal assumption of Enoch
(Gn 5: 24) and Elijah (2 Kgs 2:1).
6) Theological reasons: her Immaculate Conception and
sinless life.
Life messages: 1) We are challenged to keep ourselves pure and holy children of a Holy Mother. 2) We are challenged to accept total liberation from all our bondages. 3) We are assured of our resurrection and given the inspiration to face pain, suffering, despair, disappointment and temptations as Mary did.
