Friday, August 7, 2026

 

Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Nahum 2:1.3.3:1-3.6-7; Matthew 16:24-28)

To appreciate the drama in today’s gospel, one must remember that Peter has just recognized Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  Jesus approved of the title but warned that it will not bring him the glory Peter imagines when they arrive in Jerusalem. Because Peter could not tolerate defeatist talk, he argued with Jesus.  The Lord had to reproach him.

Now Jesus tells of the costs of following him.  As he will be crucified so his disciples must bear their crosses.  This is only another way of saying that the hardship and suffering they will inevitably face as they carry out his will must not be shunned but accepted and even embraced.

Tomorrow we will celebrate one of Jesus’ true disciples.  St. Dominic did not flinch from suffering for Jesus’ sake.  Fra Angelico pictures him embracing Jesus’ cross. As a boy, Dominic sold his books to provide for the poor in midst of famine.  As a friar, he gave himself day and night to preaching the gospel.  By day whether by word or action he proclaimed God’s love in Jesus Christ.  By night he sacrificed sleep as he prayed that Jesus’ mission in the world might be extended by his brothers and sisters.

Friday, August 8, 2025

 

Memorial of Saint Dominic, priest

(Deuteronomy 4:32-40; Matthew 16:24-28)

St. Dominic was a twenty-year-old theology student when his region of Spain underwent a severe famine.  Dominic heard of people starving and decided to do something.  After giving away his allowance, he sold all his belongings, including his precious theological manuscripts.  The latter were by no means a luxury.  They represented Dominic’s passionate interest and future ministry.  Rather than second guess himself about parting with his parchments, Dominic told friends, “I will not study on dead skins when men are dying of hunger.”

Of course, Dominic was not sealing his fate to oblivion but insuring it for eternal life.  In today’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples, “’… whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.’”  Only by dying to oneself -- sacrificing one’s possessions and opportunities for the sake of Christ -- can one hope to live with him forever.

Dominic’s selflessness and compassion drew many men to the Order of Preachers which he founded. His vision of learned preaching and robust community still attracts men and women to the Order.  We should realize as he did that humanness and godliness are not mutually exclusive.  Rather both must be joined to thrive in the present age and to flourish for all eternity.

Friday, August 9, 2024

Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, virgin and martyr

(Nahum 2:1.3,3:1-3.6-7; Matthew 16:24-28)

Today’s memorial is optional, but its saint so closely fulfilled the gospel mandate that it deserves attention.  St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was born and raised a Jew.  A student of philosophy, she became a leading proponent of phenomenology, which might be called a “hands-on approach to reality.” Reading the works of St. Teresa of Avila, she converted to Catholicism and then, like St. Teresa, a Carmelite nun.  Nevertheless, because of her Jewish heritage she could not escape the long reach of the Nazis. She died in Auschwitz in 1942.  Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1999.

St. Teresa took up her cross, that is, her Jewish heritage.  She delivered herself to the Nazis telling her sister who accompanied her, “Come, Rosa, we are going for our people.”  She meant that she would die, as Christ did, giving testimony to God’s love first for Jews and then for all.

Each of us has a cross but, fortunately, not as onerous as that of St. Teresa Benedicta.  Perhaps it is an aged parent to care for or an excessively demanding boss.  Taking it up our cross with patience, we, like St. Teresa Benedicta, will find ourselves in eternal life.

Friday, August 11, 2023

Memorial of Saint Clare, virgin

(Deuteronomy 4:32-40; Matthew 16:24-28)

The famous quote in this morning’s newspaper read: “Everyone says that they want to live to old age, but no one wants to say that they are old.”  People not only want to live a long time but also to enjoy the sweet things of life.  However, according to Jesus, they can go about it in the wrong way.

In today’s gospel Jesus states clearly, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.” By “saving his life” he means living for oneself.  Jesus recognizes that a good life requires one to make sacrifices of love for others.  He describes this kind of love with the prism of his own experience.  One must take up his or her cross as he will do shortly. 

Our increasingly secular society may not notice our making sacrifices of love.  Yet we must not deceive ourselves.  We cannot have a good life without them.  Certainly St. Clare recognized this truth as she pledged herself to prayer and poverty along with St. Francis of Assisi.  Living a life of sacrifice for others is a constant struggle.  Fortunately we have saints like Clare to emulate and to pray for us.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Nahum 2:1.3.3:1-3.6-7; Matthew 16:24-28)

There is a powerful scene in A Man for All Seasons where St. Thomas More cites today’s gospel. More has been accused of treason and is given his day in court.  A former assistant, Richard Rich, is called as a witness of the state to testify against him.  Rich is introduced as the solicitor of Wales, a position he gained by conspiring with the authorities.  Rich perjures himself saying that More did indeed express denial of the king’s supremacy over the Church of England.  As Rich leaves the scene, More says to him: “The Lord asks what profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his life? But you have done so for Wales, Richard?”

Even though Thomas More evidently did not consider Wales much of a prize, many people seem willing to forfeit eternal life for less.  It is not for us to judge who will be saved and who will be damned, but certainly people perform actions they know are seriously wrong.  Murder, adultery, and abortion are three which quickly come to mind, but there are others which would be in most cases difficult to excuse.  These crimes are perpetrated sometimes for relatively shallow reasons like momentary pleasure or avoidance of shame.

No life is easy.  All have their share of disappointment and misery.  Yet all carry the prospect of happiness.  We bear our particular cross, as Jesus admonishes today, without great complaint so that we might follow him to glory.  It is also likely that we will find our forbearance bringing a measure of happiness among the people with whom we associate.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Deuteronomy 4:32-40: Matthew 16:24-28)

Today’s optional memorial celebrates St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, more commonly known by her name at birth, Edith Stein.  Her death amply illustrates Jesus’ gospel message, “…whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Edith Stein was born a German Jew.  She earned a doctorate in philosophy studying with the eminent phenomenologist Edmund Husserl.  Converting to Catholicism around thirty years of age, she joined a Carmel in Germany about the time when the Nazis started their systematic persecution of Jews.  Sr. Teresa Benedicta transferred to a Carmel in Holland where the Nazi regime was more tolerant of Jewish-Catholic converts. But when the Dutch bishops spoke out against the Nazis, the authorities rounded up known Jewish-Catholics there and sent them to Auschwitz.  Sr. Teresa Benedicta died in a gas chamber in 1942.

St. Teresa Benedicta’s life and death illustrate that following Jesus can be costly.  Many today think of being Catholic as belonging to a distinguishable social group that goes to mass on Sundays and says the rosary at wakes.  St. Teresa Benedicta testifies that to live the implications of our faith, we must be ready not only to make the daily sacrifices that faith requires but also to suffer humiliation and even death if systematic persecution should begin again.  

Homilette for Friday, August 8, 2008

Memorial of St. Dominic, priest

(Matthew 16:24-28)

When William Jefferson Clinton was first inaugurated President of the United States, his wife Hillary was wearing a cross on a chain around her neck. Radio commentators asked whether the cross was an appropriate symbol on such a civic occasion. A more poignant question would have been whether Mrs. Clinton knew the significance of her jewelry.

In the gospel Jesus tells us that to be his disciples we must take up our cross and follow him. Wearing a cross signifies that we have accepted the terms. As his disciples, everyday we will encounter challenges because we are opting for self-denial which goes against our hard-wired fallen human nature. Sometimes – like when the cross demands that we give up the possibility of marriage to someone we are exceptionally fond of – it will seem too much to bear. But, of course, we can always count on Jesus himself to help us carry it.

It seems that St. Dominic never flinched in carrying his cross. His followers saw him as both austere and amiable. He would stay up all night praying on the floor of the Dominican basilica in Rome. However, such piety did not leave him too weary the next day to graciously encourage his brother friars. Several witnesses summed up Dominic’s virtue by testifying in his Acts of Canonization, “He spoke only of God or to God.”