“To love both countries, that of earth below and that of heaven above, yet in such a mode that the love of our heavenly surpass the love of our earthly home, and that human laws be never set above the divine law, is the essential duty of Christians.”
Pope Leo XIII, Sapientiae Christianae (On Christians as Citizens)
Lord God, Almighty Father, creator of humankind and author of peace, as we are ever mindful of the cost paid for the liberty we possess, we ask you to bless the members of our armed forces. Give them courage, hope and strength. May they ever experience your firm support, gentle love and compassionate healing. Be their power and protector, leading them from darkness to light. To you be all glory, honor and praise, now and forever. Amen.
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” Today’s gospel image of the generous widow emphasizes the attitude of biblical stewardship that is not based on surplus but on sacrifice. Most of us live this kind of stewardship. We call our offertory collection a “sacrificial offering.” Biblical stewardship goes far beyond the material because something behind that spirit of giving comes from having values, namely the values of sharing, support, and trust. Sharing is not a programmatic gift. It comes from seeing our parents and grandparents sharing a home, their love, shelter, food, and themselves with us so we could grow into generous human beings. Jesus is not advocating financial irresponsibility; he is asking for the freedom to give out of love, not out of calculation.
The early Church put a great emphasis on the care of widows and orphans. It wasn’t a safety net that gave the widow in today’s gospel the strength to give, it was the church that she knew as a family that cared with compassion for those who were in the greatest need.
I remember when I was in Jamaica, West Indies, we had a group from a parish in Pennsylvania visiting. We went to see a woman in a very rural area. She told us that some of her crops from her small plot of vegetables were stolen. We spent an hour with her and as we were leaving, she handed us a bag of beans from her garden. The visiting pastor was speechless and immediately protested knowing her garden was depleted because of a theft. But she smiled, “Father, you cannot come to my home and not receive a gift to take back to your home.” He took the beans and was shocked but said, “I just met the widow from the gospel.” He witnessed the living gospel.
May our eyes be open to those generous hearts who renew our hope in the way God provides and never tires of giving himself to us in his Son whose sacrifice is the ultimate act of generosity.
Fr. James Price currently serves as pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Jamaica, NY.
For this week’s homily please watch the video below.
It’s good to be reminded in these days following our contentious election on Tuesday that “ our citizenship is in heaven.” Paul tells that to the Philippians in today’s reading, but we should hear it too.
But our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified Body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.
We ‘re citizens of heaven; we belong somewhere else. We’re temporary, not permanent residents here. In that place “ the Lord Jesus Christ will change our lowly bodies to conform to his glorified Body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.” (Philippians 3:17-4:1)
The responsorial psalm today tells us that even now we’re standing within the gates of a heavenly Jerusalem, the destiny of the tribes of the Lord. Our destiny.
St. Augustine wrote “The City of God” as barbarian armies sacked Rome and were invading North Africa. The world is coming to an end, some were saying, and they blamed Christianity for the critical times. But God is at work beyond human time and events, Augustine wrote.
Go rejoicing to the city of God and the house of the Lord, we hear today. There is something beyond the politics of today at work.
“Stand firm in the Lord, beloved. “
We are all familiar with the image of the Good Shepherd with the little lost lamb on his shoulders. This icon has always been an expression of Jesus’ care for sinners and of the mercy of God who never resigns himself to the loss of anyone. The parable is told by Jesus to make us understand that his closeness to sinners should not scandalize us, but on the contrary it should call us all to serious reflection on how we live our faith. The narrative sees, on the one hand, the sinners who approach Jesus in order to listen to him and, on the other, the suspicious doctors of the law and scribes who move away from him because of his behavior. They move away because Jesus approaches the sinners. These men were proud, arrogant, believed themselves to be just.
The lesson that Jesus wants us to learn is… that not a single one of us can be lost. God’s action is that of one who goes out seeking his lost children and then rejoices and celebrates with everyone at their recovery.
We are all warned: mercy to sinners is the style with which God acts and to this mercy he is absolutely faithful: nothing and no one can distract him from his saving will. God does not share our current throw-away culture… God throws no one away; God loves everyone, looks for everyone: one by one! He doesn’t know what “throwing people away” means, because he is entirely love, entirely mercy.
While he is looking for the lost sheep, he challenges the ninety-nine to participate in the reunification of the flock. Then, not only the lamb on his shoulders, but the whole flock will follow the shepherd to his home to celebrate with “friends and neighbors.”
We should reflect on this parable often, for in the Christian community there is always someone who is missing and if that person is gone, a place is left empty. Sometimes this is daunting and leads us to believe that a loss is inevitable, like an incurable disease.
In Jesus’ vision there are no sheep that are definitively lost, but only sheep that must be found again. We need to understand this well: to God no one is definitively lost. Never! To the last moment, God is searching for us. Think of the good thief; only in the eyes of Jesus no one is definitively lost. For his perspective is entirely dynamic, open, challenging and creative. It urges us to go forth in search of a path to brotherhood. No distance can keep the shepherd away; and no flock can renounce a brother. To find the one who is lost is the joy of the shepherd and of God, but it is also the joy of the flock as a whole! We are all sheep who have been retrieved and brought back by the mercy of the Lord, and we are called to gather the whole flock to the Lord!
Click here to read the full address by Pope Francis.
About 6 years ago, Pope Francis met with representatives of the American Bible Society at the Vatican. It was more than a courtesy visit. The American Bible Society had conducted a study on how Americans connect with the Bible, and American Catholics were part of the study.
The study’s results are on the American Bible Society website. Though it’s 6 years old, I don’t think the study’s results have changed much. Let me summarize two things it said about American Catholics. About 50 percent of American Catholics saw themselves engaged in the Bible which they hear at Mass or read privately or online. They saw the scriptures having an impact on their thinking and the way they lived.
Another 50 percent saw themselves not engaged at all in the scriptures; they had no impact on their thinking and the way they lived.
When you consider that the Second Vatican Council set the Catholic Church on a course of greater involvement in the scriptures, you see the catechetical challenge those statistics present. The council directed that the treasures of scripture have an increasing role in our liturgy, our Mass and our sacraments. They should be at the heart of our catechesis and have a more important place in our devotional life. “To be ignorant of the scriptures is to be ignorant of Christ”, the council document on revelation said, quoting St. Jerome.
How do we bring the scriptures to so many Catholics who don’t see them as important? How can we help them engage in the scriptures and see them influencing the way they think and the way they live?
The American Bible Society has promoted the bible and bible study for many years. in the ecumenical climate that developed after Vatican II its relationship to the Catholic Church has grown closer, and so the society now distributes bibles carrying church approval; its resources and catechetical tools try reach a Catholic audience. It recognizes, for example, a lectionary-based reading of the scriptures and liturgical feasts and seasons as one way to pray the Bible. ( cf. Reading Guide 2024)
What I like especially about the American Bible Society is its emphasis on helping people to use and pray the scriptures on their own. Though the society provides reflective material on the scriptures, it encourages each person to find in the scriptures what God is speaking to them. You don’t find that personal approach emphasized enough, in my opinion. We may wait too much for “experts” to tell us what the scriptures mean.
One encouraging note from the study of the American Bible Society: Catholics expressed an interest in the scriptures. The scriptures have become a promising meeting ground for the various Christian churches for whom Jesus prayed, “May they all be one.”
By Gloria M. Chang
On this Election Day, let us entrust the nation to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the patroness of the United States of America. On May 13, 1846, the Catholic bishops of the United States unanimously proclaimed the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of the “Immaculate Conception,” patroness of the United States. Pope Pius IX formally ratified this decision on February 7, 1847, seven years before he officially defined the Immaculate Conception as a formal dogma of the Church.
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of our country, Heavenly beauty and splendor of the Father, we consecrate ourselves to You, our nation, and our leaders, asking for Your guidance, protection, and intercession. Amen.
Our first reading at Mass this week is taken mostly from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. St. Luke describes Paul’s mission to Philippi, ” a leading city in the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony”, in the 16th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. “We spent some time in that city” , Luke says, indicating he’s describing something he knows firsthand. It was a dramatic and fruitful stay.
Paul encounters Lydia, “a dealer in purple” at the place along the river where women prayed. She listened to his message and asked for baptism for herself and her household. She also convinced Paul and his companion to stay at her house, which became a house church. Women play a major role in the spread of the gospel.
Paul also encountered persecution in Philippi when he was accused of causing businesses to fail because of a cure he worked. ” The magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake. ( Acts 16:22-24)
An earthquake broke the walls of the prison and the jailor, fearing the prisoners had escaped, was ready to kill himself. The earthquake led to his conversion along with his household – another house church in Philippi. It also led to Paul’s exoneration by the fearful magistrates of Philippi.
Commentators describe Paul’s warm relationship with the Philippians. It looks like a lot of important people there were on his side, or at least very respectful of his mission. They say he wrote this letter– to Lydia’s house and the jailor’s household– from prison, either in Rome, Ephesus or Caesaria.
Paul had his share of prisons during his ministry. That experience and others like it convinced him to see his life in the light of the suffering Christ. He told the Philippians they were granted “for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him. Yours is the same struggle as you saw in me and now hear about me.” (Philippians 1, 29-39)
Have the mind of Christ, Paul tells them– and us– in this important passage, probably from an early Christian hymn:
Have among yourselves the same attitude
that is also yours in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and, found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2, 6-10)
This passage occurs often in the church’s prayer tradition. On Palm Sunday, it’s read as Jesus enters Jerusalem to suffer and die on the cross. In the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church’s daily prayer, it’s read each Saturday evening. The passage even appears before Christmas, a reminder that from the beginning Jesus accepted the weakness of “human likeness.” Unlike Adam who grasped for equality with God, Jesus humbled himself.
We follow Jesus from birth to death and then to resurrection. It’s not a grim unhappy journey. Commentators on the Letter to the Philippians call it a “Letter of Joy.” Having the mind of Christ make life a journey to glory.
For this week’s homily please watch the video below.
The Victor's Place 