Monday, July 1, 2024 - Homily

 

Monday, July 1, 2024 - What excuses have you been giving to the call to follow Jesus? What will you do about them today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Amos 2:6-10,13-16; Mt 8:18-22

Today’s text follows immediately after the first three miracles of Matthew’s Miracle Cycle. In the first three miracles, the disciples are not mentioned at all and the focus is solely on the authority of Jesus. The text of today and the miracles that follow emphasise discipleship. The scribe who addresses Jesus in the text of today is clearly not a disciple because of the term he uses to address Jesus, namely “Teacher”. In Matthew, only disciples address Jesus as Lord. The scribe is informed through Jesus’ response that firstly Jesus is the one who will take the initiative to call and secondly that his priorities need to be changed. The life to which Jesus calls will need a reversal of priorities. To the second disciple, Jesus’ response seems hard and brusque. Some interpret this to mean that the spiritually dead must be left to bury the physically dead. However, the point is that absolutely nothing can come in the way of Jesus’ call.

Following Jesus on Mission means become an “other-centred” person from being self-centred. It will mean giving up the Ego and placing the other’s need before my own. It may mean giving up what one holds dear and near. It is an unconditional following.

Sunday, June 30, 2024 - Homily

 

Sunday, June 30, 2024- Persevering Faith

To read the texts click on the texts: Wis1:13-15;2:23-24; 2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15; Mk 5:21-43

“Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die”. This statement of a wit brings out the fear that many have of death. However, the readings of today though they speak about death, regard death as something that is not to be feared if one believes in a God who is the giver and sustainer of life.

The first reading from the Book of Wisdom makes this point emphatically when it states that death cannot be part of God’s plan because God does not act only to see his work end in corruption. The purpose of creation is not death but life and the natural orientation of all created things is life. This is true especially of humans who alone are created in the image and likeness of God. Death thus is not natural and comes about when one stifles the life that God gives.

That God gives life and sustains it is brought out even more powerfully in the Gospel text of today. Mark uses here what is known as the “sandwich construction”. He introduces the incident about Jairus’ daughter being ill and even at the point of dearth but interrupts it with the cure of the woman with the flow of blood. He then continues the incident of Jairus’ daughter who is now dead, but whom Jesus raises. The reason for the sandwich construction here seems to be to heighten the suspense for the reader. Since Jairus’ daughter is at the “point of death”, Jesus must not tarry but hurry if she is to be saved. Yet, Jesus tarries because he knows that the basic orientation of the human is not death but life and that God’s power over death will prevail. Jesus tarries, confident in the knowledge that he can indeed raise even the dead. Jesus tarries because he knows that he is the giver of life. This gift of life is given not only to Jairus’ daughter but also to the woman with the flow of blood, who though not dead, had reached a stage when she was tempted to give up on life. She had reached the end of her tether and her last hope was the Lord. She was not disappointed. She received healing, she received life.

The Psalmist sings the words that the woman, Jairus and his daughter would have wanted to sing. They have indeed been rescued by the Lord. He has liberated them from all bondage. He has saved them from death.

What is responsible for this turn of events? Is it the power of God alone? Is it God acting of his own accord and solely according to his will? The answer is an emphatic “NO”. It is evident in both the first reading and Gospel that it is faith in God’s life giving and sustaining power and the action of God that is responsible. This is made even clearer in the Gospel when Jesus attributes the healing of the woman to her faith and exhorts Jairus not to fear but to believe.

The force of faith and the power of God become manifest in the life of Christians are narrated by the second reading of today. Indeed, thanks to the power of faith they were able to overcome ethnic and cultural barriers, and express their fraternal charity to others by the concrete action of reaching out to their material needs in imitation of Jesus. It is a faith that manifested itself not only in words but also in action.

The challenge of the readings of today may be summed up in the words “persevering faith”. This means that there may be numerous times when we are faced with death like situations. These are situations when like the woman in the gospel story we have done all that is required of us and there seems to be nothing more that we can do. These are situations when like Jairus we have nowhere to turn. It is at times like these when we may tend to give up and give in. However, like the woman and like Jairus we are called never to do this to ourselves because the God we believe in is a God of everything that is positive, a God who never gives up on us and a God of life. Since he is also a God who gives and does not hold anything back, we who are created in his image and likeness cannot live selfish self-centred lives, but like Paul invites the Corinthians, we too are invited to live faith filled lives, faith which is shown in action.

Saturday, June 29, 2024 - Sts. Peter and Paul - Homily

 

Saturday, June 29, 2024- Saints Peter and Paul - Will you witness to Jesus like Peter and Paul did? How?

To read the texts click on the texts: Acts12:1-11; 2Tm 4:6-8, 17-18; Mt 16:13-19

There is an old story about the death of St. Peter in Rome during the persecution of Nero. Peter heard about Nero's plan to burn the city and blame the Christians. He figured as the one who presided over the church in the city he would be arrested and put to death. So he did the sensible thing - Peter was always a sensible man - he got out of town, and at night. The Appian Way was dark for a while as Peter snuck down it. However, as the night wore on the sky was illuminated by the flames rising from the city. Peter hurried on and eventually was far enough away from the city that it was dark again. Then he saw someone coming in the opposite direction, someone who even at night seemed familiar. It was the Lord himself. What was he doing out at night and walking towards Rome? “Where are you going, Lord?” Peter asked him. “To Rome”, Jesus replied, “to be crucified again in your place”. Peter turned around and returned to Rome and according to tradition was crucified there.

Though this story does not agree with what is narrated in the first reading of today from the Acts of the Apostles, in which we are told that Peter was imprisoned, it does agree with what the Gospels narrate about Peter’s denials, and brings out an important facet of the meaning of the feast: Jesus did not choose strong, brave and courageous individuals to continue the work that he had begun. He chose weak, frail and cowardly humans. He chose individuals who would falter and fail. This is the Peter who confessed Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” and to whom the Jesus handed over the “keys” of the Church, knowing full well that there would be times when the lofty confession would turn into a base denial.

Paul’s conversion story is narrated twice in the Acts of the Apostles and Paul himself speaks of it in some of his letters. His commission as an apostle of Christ began with a divine revelation of the identity of the Lord Jesus. He reports the events surrounding his recognition of Jesus as the Lord of glory and his appointment as apostle to the gentiles. Felled to the ground by a brilliant light from heaven and hearing a reproachful voice addressing him by name his first need was to know who it was who broke into his life with such awe-inspiring power. Just as Jesus told Peter that he would assign to him the charge of leading his Church once the Peter recognized his master's true identity, so also Paul's task was given to him only after Jesus revealed himself as the glorified Lord.

The apostles' mission thus grew out of their loving knowledge of the person of Jesus, the Son of the living God. Their work, indeed their whole life, was to follow from this surpassing knowledge of Christ which became the basis of all their dealing with others. They were given to the whole Church to teach us not only what Christ revealed and taught but also how to live as he himself had put into practice the things willed by the Father.

Today we marvel at the transformation of these previously weak human leaders. Peter’s newfound passionate commitment to his Lord and to the fledgling church resulted in his imprisonment. Paul too was jailed. He did not see this as failure, but as the destiny that was his in consequence of his commitment to the Gospel. He had fought the good fight, he had run the race, and he had kept the faith. He faced death, and he knew it. That was the price they had to pay for their commitment and fidelity to the Lord.

Their personalities were very different, their approaches to spreading the Faith were very different, and their relationships with Christ were very different. Although the two were both Apostles, there were moments of disagreement and conflict between them. And yet, they are bound together on this single feast, as they were bound together by the one Faith, confessing the one Lord, shedding their blood for him and his mission of peace, justice and love.

Within the recent past, the church has been tossed to and fro in storms of controversy. Not one storm, but many storms, and not in one country, but in many countries. It has been the target of fierce persecution from without, and it has also allowed evil to corrupt it from within. Whether in circumstances of harassment or scandal, the lives of many have been diminished, their confidence undermined and their faith tested.

Without minimizing the suffering in our current situations, we should remember that dire trials are really not new to the church. From its very beginning it has faced opposition. The first reading for today’s feast describes one such situation.

Despite its trials, however, the church has survived and even flourished. This is not due to the strength and holiness of its members. Though Jesus told Peter that the church would be built upon him, the church’s real foundation was and continues to be Jesus Christ its Lord. He is the one who commissioned Peter; he is the one who assures the church of protection. He is the one who stood by Paul and gave him strength to bring the Gospel to the broader world. The church may have been built on Peter the former denier and spread by Paul the former persecutor, but it is the church of Jesus Christ, and it will endure because of his promise.

Today we celebrate the fidelity of Peter and Paul, sinners like us all. Initially, they were both found wanting. When they eventually repented, they were forgiven by God in Christ. Though they were victims of persecution, their commitment to Christ and to the church made them heroes. Their victory is evidence that the gates of hell shall not prevail. Their victory is evidence that we shall indeed overcome.

Friday, June 28, 2024 - Homily

 

Friday, June 28, 2024 - In your prayer do you express the confidence that the leper in the story expresses? If no, why not?

To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Kings 25:1-12; Mt 8:1-4

We begin reading today in the liturgy and will continue for the whole of next week from Chapters 8 and 9 of the Gospel of Matthew. These Chapters contain what is known as the “Miracle Cycle” of Matthew, because in them we find ten miracles in series of three miracles each. The fact that the Miracle Cycle follows immediately after the Sermon on the Mount and both are framed by a summary statement in 4,23 and 9, 35 is an indication that Matthew’s intention is to show through such a placement that Jesus is the Messiah in words (through the Sermon on the Mount) and deeds (through the Miracle Cycle).

The healing of a leper, which is our text for today, is also found in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, but where Mark narrates the emotional reactions of Jesus, Matthew and Luke omit them. The term leprosy was used for any kind of skin disease, and those with such kind of diseases were considered as unclean and not allowed to be part of society. They had to live on the outskirts of the city, and had to make their presence known whenever they entered the city, so that others could avoid any kind of contact with them and so not get contaminated.

The leper addresses Jesus as Lord, which is a title used only by believers in the Gospel of Matthew. In this miracle, Jesus not only heals the leper, but also reaches out and touches him. This probably means that Jesus cannot be contaminated or made unclean by anything from outside. It could also indicate Jesus’ wanting to reach out to the leper in a personal manner and treat him as a full human being.

The prayer of the leper is a lesson for each one of us on the meaning of prayer. In his prayer the leper both acknowledges his dependence on Jesus through the words, “If you will” and also has faith in the ability of Jesus to heal through the words, “you can make me clean”. Prayer means to acknowledge our dependence on God and also to have faith that God can do what to us may seem impossible.

Thursday, June 27, 2024 - Homily

 

Thursday, June 27, 2024 - Do your actions speak louder than your words?

To read the texts click on the texts:2Kings 24:8-17; Mt 7:21-29

While the Sermon on the Mount began with Jesus calling his disciples to him and sitting down like a Rabbi to begin to teach them (5,1-2), it ends with Jesus addressing the crowds as a prophet (7,29). The last part of the Sermon, which forms our text for today, is about action rather than words. Prophesying in the Lord’s name will be of no help if one is not willing TO DO the will of God. The examples of the one who built his/her house on rock and the one who built his/her house on sand reiterate this point. The Sermon calls everyone to action.

If the foundation of our lives is strong, then what we build on it will also be strong. If we have a strong sense of values and know what our priorities are in life, we can continue to be focussed on what we have to do.