Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Scholars have tried to calculate just how much debt these two characters owed. In dollars and cents, you might say one owed millions while the other owed a few pennies.

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The parable begins with the multi-million-dollar debt being forgiven by the king. Relieved, the man returns home, only to begin strangling his servant who owes him a few pennies.

How can someone who’s just received forgiveness for such a massive debt be so petty? Certainly, he’s lost his perspective.

Are we ever like him?

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Asking God to forgive us our trespasses is like asking to have a debt we cannot repay be forgiven. Yet the Lord forgives us every single time.

With such an incredible gift freely given, how could we be petty with our neighbor?

A colleague gets underneath our skin; a person cuts us off on the road; we don’t get our way; a family member does something that leaves us nursing a grudge for days, or longer.

The petty things begin to fester…

Yet, “If your heavenly Father forgives you, then you also should forgive one another,” the Lord says.

“How many times?” Peter wonders. “As many as seven times?”

“No, seventy-seven times.”

Meaning, without limit.

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May we set the “pennies” aside and learn to love one another like Christ, who has loved us and given himself for us.

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Image credits: (1) Ministry to Youth (2) The Manila Times (3) Bible.com

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2 Kings 5: 1-15

Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram,
was highly esteemed and respected by his master,
for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram.
But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.
Now the Arameans had captured in a raid on the land of Israel
a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman’s wife.
“If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,”
she said to her mistress, “he would cure him of his leprosy.”
Naaman went and told his lord
just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said.
“Go,” said the king of Aram.
“I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents,
six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.
To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read:
“With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

When he read the letter,
the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed:
“Am I a god with power over life and death,
that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy?
Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!”
When Elisha, the man of God,
heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments,
he sent word to the king:
“Why have you torn your garments?
Let him come to me and find out
that there is a prophet in Israel.”

Naaman came with his horses and chariots
and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.
The prophet sent him the message:
“Go and wash seven times in the Jordan,
and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.”
But Naaman went away angry, saying,
“I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.
Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar,
better than all the waters of Israel? 
Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?”
With this, he turned about in anger and left.

But his servants came up and reasoned with him.
“My father,” they said,
“if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.”
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before him and said,
“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel.”

The Word of the Lord.

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In our first reading, Israel is being attacked by the Syrian army, led by one of its most respected commanders, Namaan. Though victorious in battle, Namaan has contracted leprosy – not only a threat to his status, but also to his life.

Desperate for a cure, he’s told by a captured Jewish girl that her God is the one true God and that the prophet, Elisha, can cure him.

Somewhat surprisingly, Namaan listens.

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So, he gathers a cadre of horses and chariots, six thousand pieces of gold, and elaborately weaved garments as gifts.

When he arrives at Elisha’s tent, however, the prophet will not let him in; Elisha doesn’t want all of Namaan’s “stuff.” He simply instructs him to wash seven times in the Jordan.

At first, Namaan struggles to accept such a simple task; he believes that he has to do something extraordinary to “earn” his cure. 

But all God is asking for is faith.

Humbled, Namaan bathes seven times in the Jordan and is healed. “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel,” he says.

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What might this story say to us?

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Sometimes when we want something from the Lord like Namaan, we complicate our ask with all kinds of “stuff,” as if we can earn God’s favor.

Maybe we make a laundry list of promises, recite a bundle of prayers, or fast until we feel a twinge in our stomach.

While the Lord might appreciate the effort, all God asks for is: faith.

As it’s written in the Book of Proverbs: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, be mindful of him, and he will make straight your path.”

Turn to God with childlike faith, then he will listen.

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Image credits: (1) Word For Life Says (2) JW.org (3) Redbubble

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Gospel: John 2: 13-25

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, 
as well as the money changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, 
and spilled the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables, 
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here, 
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, 
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them, 
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said, 
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, 
and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, 
his disciples remembered that he had said this, 
and they came to believe the Scripture 
and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, 
many began to believe in his name 
when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, 
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Nearly five years ago to the day, the impossible happened.

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The Cathedral of Notre Dame, located in the very heart of Paris, was engulfed in flames. In less than an hour, 800 years’ worth of culture, history, and religious art was reduced to ash and rubble; the interior of the cathedral nearly destroyed.

No one ever thought this architectural masterpiece, this fruit of Catholic devotion, would ever resemble a tomb – dark, dusty, emptied of its precious contents.

But there it was.

Images of the charred Cathedral went viral as passion for reconstruction consumed the city.

In fact, donors from around the world have contributed to the church’s restoration project, which the government says will be completed by Christmas.

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But as beautiful as Notre Dame was – and will be – the Church is not Notre Dame; the Church is not a physical building. Saint Paul reminds us, “We are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.”

We, the baptized, are Christ’s presence – his Body – on earth because his Spirit dwells within us.

Yet the condition of that French cathedral may be an appropriate metaphor for the state of the universal Church today; we have the opportunity to rebuild, even here.

It seems something has happened over the last several decades whereby younger generations aren’t coming to faith as quickly or as easily as they used to, which sparks the question:

How do we evangelize – how do we pass on our Catholic faith – to the next generation?

It isn’t a matter of stacking stones or replacing roofs.

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Zeal for Christ must consume us.

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus causes quite the stir. 

Imagine tables being overturned; coins bouncing across the floor; turtledoves flapping their wings, rattling their cages; nervous bystanders staring with their jaws dropped; tempers flaring; and Jesus in the center of it all, chasing moneychangers out with a whip!

As the prophets foretold, “Zeal for your house will consume me!”

Jesus knew his actions would provoke a response. Seeds for plotting his death were planted.

The religious leaders angrily question his authority as he proclaims the house of God will be destroyed and rebuilt in three days. A brazen, impossible promise in their eyes.

But the disciples will later understand that Jesus isn’t speaking about a physical structure; rather, the temple of his body. 

After the resurrection, God’s presence will no longer be confined to the Holy of Holies, that innermost room within the Temple; his Spirit will fill the heart of every baptized person, stretching his reign across the earth. 

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John places the cleansing of the Temple at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, reminding us that this is one of the very first things a “zealous” disciple should do: 

Clean house; turn tables; remove things that prevent us from worshiping God with all of our heart, mind, and soul until we can say with Saint Paul:

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me.”

Is there a table or two – an attitude, a habit, a sin – that needs to be overturned within me?

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The more room we make within ourselves for Christ, the more effective we will become in sharing our faith with others.

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It was this type of zealous faith that drove generations of architects, sculptors, artists, and artisans to build the masterpiece of Notre Dame. 

Amazingly, many people dedicated their entire lives to working on a project whose completion they’d never see. But they understood they were part of something much bigger than themselves. 

When they could no longer lift another stone or brush, they handed on their work to the next generation – as we all must do – trusting that they would labor just as hard with the very same passion.

They also understood, that which is truly irreplaceable is not some architectural masterpiece.

But the faith that built it.

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May that same zeal for Christ consume our parish, for we are the living stones – the Church, the Body of Christ on earth.

Not only now, but also in every generation to come.

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Image credits: (1) Andrey Mironov, Jesus in the Temple (2) Notre Dame, Archeology Magazine (3) The Skit Guys