Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Matthew 22: 34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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When preparing couples for marriage, I always ask them: “What is love?”

It’s beautiful to see how unique each response – and relationship – can be.

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If a couple struggles to formulate an answer, I offer one of my favorite definitions of love, coming from Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet.

You may remember the balcony scene when a young Juliet gazes down upon Romeo and says, “Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”

That’s the strange, scary, exhilarating truth about love: the more we give, the more we have.

I call it the law of self-donation, which has been written into all of creation.

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If you walk outside and look up, for example, what will you see? The sun does not shine on itself; it gives its light away, warming and brightening the earth.

Trees do not eat their own fruit; they offer it for the nourishment of others. Meanwhile, their branches reach for the heavens, growing leaves, offering others shade from the noonday heat.

Rivers do not drink their own water. Flowers release their fragrance.

Living for others – giving oneself away – is a law of nature written into all of creation, including every human heart.

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In what ways do I give myself away? How do I live like the sun and the stars?

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“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” Jesus says, “and your neighbor as yourself.” These are the greatest of the commandments.

May we embrace this law of self-donation, living like all of creation.

The more we give, the more we seem to have.

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Image credits: (1) Amazon.com (2) Water Education Foundation (3) PicFair

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Gospel: Matthew 20: 1-16

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o’clock,
he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.’
So they went off. 
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o’clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o’clock,
he found others standing around, and said to them,
‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.’
When those who had started about five o’clock came,
each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
‘These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
He said to one of them in reply,
‘My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?’
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In 2022, the Houston Astros won the World Series. If you asked any Astros fan who their favorite player was, they might’ve responded: José Altuve, Kyle Tucker, or Yordan Alvarez – three of the best players on the team.

Few, if any, fans would’ve said Hunter Brown.

Hunter Brown only pitched in the Major Leagues for 18 innings; the rest of his season was spent in the developmental Minor Leagues.

Yet Brown won a World Series ring like everyone else on the team, because he played the minimum requirement of at least three games that season. Others played over 160!

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives a parable about people hired to work in a vineyard.

Some of them work all day – all season – long.

Meanwhile, others like Hunter Brown, are called up last minute.

At the end of the day, everyone receives an equal wage.

It may seem unfair in our eyes, but that’s the generosity of God. 

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So, what does this mean for us?

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Instead of focusing on the “Hunter Browns” of the world – those who come to faith last minute and still receive a coveted place in God’s kingdom – perhaps our focus today can be gratitude.

No matter how long we’ve served the Lord or how much faith we have, none of us is deserving of heaven. Yet, when the sun sets, that’s exactly where we’ll be.

Everything is a gift from God. To Him be the glory.

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Image credits: (1) SN, Sporting News (2) Houston Chronicle (3) The Kingdom of God – Grace Center

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Gospel: Matthew 19: 23-30

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich
to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Again I say to you,
it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said,
“Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For men this is impossible,
but for God all things are possible.”
Then Peter said to him in reply,
“We have given up everything and followed you.
What will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you
that you who have followed me, in the new age,
when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory,
will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or lands
for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more,
and will inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Jesus has changed my life.

Because of Jesus, I am Catholic. Because of Jesus, I am a priest. Because of Jesus I am the pastor of this parish. Because of Jesus, my world and my priorities have been turned upside down, right-side up.

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Today we celebrate the Queenship of Mary, our belief that she has not only been assumed body and soul into heaven, but also that she reigns as Queen – as intercessor for us – until the end of time.

Mary’s entire life changed – as mine and yours may have – because of Jesus.

Before the angel Gabriel appeared to her, Mary lived an ordinary life. She was a poor Jewish teenager living on the edge of the Roman Empire. None of us would’ve ever known she existed … until God acted in her life.

Suddenly, she became the Mother of God. The future she envisioned with Joseph was now different; he was to become a foster father, having no children with Mary of his own. 

A short-time thereafter, Mary and Joseph became refugees, fleeing into Egypt because King Herod wanted to kill the Christ-child. 

Thirty-years later, Mary stood at the foot of the Cross, as the fruit of her womb began breathing his last, being treated as the Psalmist says, “like a worm and no man.” 

Miraculously, three days later, Jesus was raised from the dead and some time thereafter, he brought his mother body and soul into heaven.

Mary’s entire life changed – even into eternity – because of Jesus.

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How has my own life changed because of Jesus?

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May Mary, Queen of Heaven, intercede for us, that whatever God has given us to do today, we would accept with the same openness – the same “yes” – that she did.

Doing so might change our lives, even into eternity.

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Image credits: (1) Jesus Changed My Life Archives, Providence Church (2) Queenship of Mary, University of Dayton (3) When Mercy Found Me