Friday, June 20, 2025

 

Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 11:18.21-30; Matthew 6:19-23)

As almost everyone knows, a parable is a comparison from everyday life that aids understanding of difficult concepts.  Jesus used parables effectively in speaking to the poor about the Kingdom of God. Today’s gospel pictures him preaching about the need to value justice over wealth.  The parable he uses, however easy it was for his hearers to understand, is difficult for people today.

He says, “The lamp of the body is the eye.” That is how the ancient world considered the eye – like a lamp that projects one’s light or understanding into an object so that it may be known.  (Think of yourselves as looking for a can of Coca-Cola which you know will have the shape of a cylinder and the color red.  Then you scan the pantry for red cylinders.)  If one’s eye is defective (if it is color-blind, for example), it will have a hard time finding what it is looking for.

What do we want in life?  What are our eyes looking for?  If it is wealth and comfort, Jesus predicts that we will end in ruin because wealth and comfort are not ultimately important.  However, if we are looking for justice and kindness, if our eyes see rightly, we will die content.  We will be destined to eternal life with Jesus.

Friday, June 21, 2024

 Memorial of Saint Aloysius, religious

(II Kings 11:4-9.9-18.20; Matthew 6:19-23)

It is said that if you give a child a choice between a worn dime and shiny penny, she will choose the penny. This may be true in general, but often enough there is a different result. Since they have difficulty making choices, children generally want both offerings.

A sign of maturity is the ability to decide on a goal and to marshal one’s resources to achieve it. In the gospel today Jesus is calling his disciples to maturity and beyond. He wants them not only to choose a heavenly treasure but to live righteous lives in order to get there. Wealth is a fleeting blessing, he would say, where divine love lasts forever. Saint Aloysius made the choice for the Lord rather than wealth.  He did not let the desire to be rich come before his call to serve Christ as a Jesuit.

All of us are faced with similar choices.  Having fun or following the Lord?  Being considered cool or striving after holiness?  The choices are not always mutually exclusive.  But let us never pass by what Christ calls us to do.

Friday, June 21, 2019

Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, religious

(II Corinthians 11:18.21-30; Matthew 6:19-23)

Aloysius Gonzaga was an Italian noble who joined the Society of Jesus at a tender age.  As a novice, he may have heard the warning of keeping “custody of the eyes.”  This term means to turn one’s gaze from compromising sights.  Its reference generally regards sexual allurement.  Aloysius would have heeded such advice.  He did not live long enough to be ordained a priest.  However, his short life was exemplary that in time he was named “patron of Catholic youth.”  Today’s gospel may be taken as an admonishment to Christians to similarly keep “custody of the eyes.”

Jesus calls the eyes the “lamp of the body.”  As such they allow images to settle in one’s mind.  Good eyes will screen healthy images from compromising ones.  Healthy images like nature in bloom lift the soul to give God glory.  Corrupt images like pornography create illicit desire.  Bad eyes do not make these distinctions.  They allow unhealthy images to wreak havoc in the mind.

It may sound fastidious to remind another of sexual desire.  Yet many people today – mostly men but, no doubt, women as well – are obsessed by sexual desire.  Counselling may be needed, but a friendly reminder not to fix one’s gaze on another’s sexual organs can resolve the difficulty.  We are sexual beings which is wonderful.  But sexual desire like all others must be tempered by virtue.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(II Kings 11:1-4.9-18.20; Matthew 6:19-23)

The medical profession has sounded the alarm on obesity.  It tells us that people in the United States are digging their grave with forks and knives.  When will it make a similar cry about “sexual obesity,” the pandemic of porn that has enveloped the country?  The facts are that young people who have looked at pornography are more likely to have multiple lifetime sexual partners, to have used alcohol and tobacco at their last sexual encounter, to engage in forced sex and to become sexual offenders.  This alarming report readily verifies what Jesus tells us in today’s gospel.

Jesus says that the eye is the lamp of the body.  He means that what the eye takes in will either bring light or darkness to the person.  Viewing pornography will darken the both body and spirit.  It will lead to corporal excess and deteriorate the possibility of positive relationships.

As neither government nor even the medical establishment seem much concerned about pornography, it is incumbent bring about us to curtail it.  We must be vigilant about it entering our own computers and mobile devices.  We also want to assist friends and those to whom we minister who have already been ensnarled in pornography’s web to climb out.  We should refer them to twelve step groups programs if not professional help when necessary.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(II Kings 11:4-9.9-18.20; Matthew 6:19-23)

It is said that if you give a child a choice between a worn dime and shiny penny, she will choose the penny. This may be true in general, but often enough there is a different result. Since they have difficulty making choices, children generally want both offerings. A sign of maturity is the ability to decide on a goal and to marshal one’s resources to achieve it.

In the gospel today Jesus is calling his disciples to maturity and beyond. He wants us not only to choose a heavenly treasure but to live implicitly righteous lives in order to achieve it. Wealth is a fleeting blessing, he would say, where divine love lasts forever. To achieve eternal life we are to share with others the love which the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts.

Homilette for Friday, June 20, 2008

Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Matthew 6:19-23)

Some say that if you give a child a choice between a worn dime and shiny penny, she will choose the penny. Perhaps this is true, but my experience of children indicates a different result. Since they have difficulty making choices, children generally want both offerings. A sign of maturity is the ability to choose a goal and to marshal one’s resources to achieve it.

In the gospel today Jesus is calling his disciples to maturity and beyond. He wants them not only to choose between an earthly and a heavenly treasure but to do the good necessary to achieve the latter. Wealth is a fleeting blessing, he would say, where divine love lasts forever. So we are to multiply the love that the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts.