Thursday, March 19, 2026

 

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(II Samuel 7:4a-5.12-14a.16; Romans 4:13.16-18.22; Matthew 1:18.18-21.24a)

In today’s gospel Joseph has a dilemma on his hands.  According to the Law, Mary should be put to death for seemingly having relations with another man while betrothed to Joseph.  But Joseph is “a righteous man”, who pursues the purpose of the Law.  As Jesus will tell the Pharisees later in the Gospel, that purpose is to exhibit “justice, mercy, and faithfulness.” Although the text does not say so directly, Joseph resolves his dilemma with prayer.  As righteous, Joseph constantly prays.  Moreover, he is obviously in touch with the Lord when the angel intermediary tells him to take Mary into his home. 

For the last three decades a dilemma has been building in the United States.  Millions of immigrants live here illegally.  Righteous Americans know that just laws must be obeyed.  They also realize that many of the undocumented have contributed significantly to the common good and have little to return to in their native countries.  Lawmakers should seek God’s help in forging a just resolution to the crisis.

All of us face similar situations from time to time.  We need to do what is right and to show love for neighbor.  Prudence will move us to ask the Lord for guidance.  Under the Spirit’s direction we will make decisions that result in the good of all involved.   

Thursday, March 2, 2023

 Thursday of the First Week of Lent

(Esther c:12.14-16.23-25; Matthew 7:7-12)

Thomas Aquinas was as intellectually gifted as any saint in Butler’s Lives.  Yet he did not rely on his own acuity.  Always before studying, teaching,  debating, or writing, he prayed intensely.  He withdrew into a private space, often before a crucifix. Then, pouring out tears, he asked for understanding of the divine mysteries.  No doubt, Thomas was quite aware that he was fulfilling the Lord’s instruction in today’s gospel.

Even people who pray regularly often delay their prayer until other means of resolving an issue fail.  The Book of Esther is famous for not mentioning God.  Yet, with nowhere else to turn except to heaven, the queen prostrates herself in prayer.  There is nothing wrong with praying in desperation.  However, Scripture recommends constant prayer, and the wise do not fail to take the advice. 

Like Thomas Aquinas, we can begin every endeavor with a sincere prayer for help.  God does not fail us when we show such faith.  Even if He does not fulfill our need as we imagine, we should notice a more agreeable disposition coming over us. God provides what we need like a father who wants the best for his children.

Sunday, July 24, 2022

 SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, July 24, 2022

(Genesis 18:20-32; Colossians 2:12-14; Luke 11:1-13)

If a student were to ask a teacher to give lessons on public speaking, how would she respond?  Perhaps she would be so stunned as to become speechless.  But once she regained composure, she probably would form a lesson plan in her head.  Today’s gospel can be taken as Jesus’ lesson plan in teaching his disciples how to pray.

The plan has three parts.  First, it indicates to whom the prayer is addressed.  Second, it makes a list of things to petition.  And third, it develops an effective way to express one’s needs.  The best of teachers, Jesus does not lack a sound methodology.

Of course, Jesus wants his disciples to pray to God.  He tells them to call God “Father.”  What is fascinating here is not so much that we are to call God “Father.”  Even the Old Testament in various placers describes God as a father.  What is surprising is that Jesus does not insist that we say “Our Father” as he does in Matthew’s gospel.  In Matthew only Jesus calls God simply, “Father.”  But here in in Luke Jesus permits us to call God with the same intimacy as he enjoys.

Jesus wants us to ask first for peace and welfare for the world.  This is what “your kingdom come” means.  Certainly, the coming of the kingdom will mean the end of violence on our city streets as well as the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Ukraine.  But it does not leave out our own desires for a more worthy life.  Perhaps we are worried that there may not be enough money to pay the rent.  Or we may really need a few days’ rest.  Asking for the reign of God includes these types of requests. 

Also, we are to ask for “our daily bread.”  There are two meanings at play here.  First, “daily bread” means sufficient food that we maintain good health.  Also, the phrase suggests the Eucharistic bread that nurtures us for eternal life.  Because we live on the earth so that we may have everlasting life with God, we should not want the one kind of bread without the other.

It may be difficult for us to ask for forgiveness of our sins.  Particularly in our narcissistic society, many prefer not to think about their sinning. But the truth is that we sin, sometimes seriously.  We lie; we want inordinate pleasure; we consider ourselves better than others.  If we are going to be included in God’s family, we must seek forgiveness from these and other sins.

Finally, we are to ask that we may “not be subject to the final test.” Jesus has in mind the great trials that can undermine our confidence in God.  By this request we are imploring God that he doesn’t take the life of one of our children or that we suffer terribly before death.  It is said that Pope Francis has difficulty with this petition because God would never lead us into sin.  He may be right, but still it is not unheard of that good people suffer tremendously.

And how are we to pray?  According to Jesus in this gospel, we must pray with persistence.  In the reading from Genesis today, Abraham shows how to pray in this way.  He does not cease asking the Lord reduction of the requisite number of good people to save Sodom until the quota can be easily met.  True prayer never gives up because the one praying knows that God always wants to bring us closer to Himself.

Jesus, our teacher, is beyond compare, and his plan has been proven through twenty centuries.  Nevertheless, if it is not put into practice, it will be as useless as a snow sled in the summer.

Thursday, March 10, 2022

 Thursday of the First Week of Lent

(Esther C:12.14-16.23-25; Matthew 7:7-12)

Of the three Lenten disciplinary practices prayer would seem to an atheist the most absurd.  Fasting would make sense because most everybody needs to lose weight.  Charity also has some palpable benefits.  It helps the receiver and leaves the giver with a feeling of worthiness.  But prayer for an atheist must seem as useless as squeezing a stone for water.

Believers know better.  Prayer not only relieves tension in the one who prays.  It also moves God to effect helpful change.  Jesus obviously things so in today’s gospel.  He exhorts his disciples to have no less reservation asking God for help than a child would in asking his mother for a sandwich.  Queen Esther in today’s reading asks God’s help in her desperate situation.  She will not be disappointed.

We may not pray or pray as an afterthought because of our belief that focused action is more likely to get us what we need.  It is true that often our needs are provided through our own efforts.  Still it is God who provides.  Equally certain, God more often helps us through others – our parents, teachers, or friends.  God also provides in unexpected ways – what we might call “luck.”  We should go to God as our needs arise, as they become acute, and after we have done what we can to meet them.

Thursday, October 7, 2021

 Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary

(Malachi 3:13-20b; Luke 11:5-13)

The old lady was not Catholic, but she enjoyed praying the rosary.  She had prayed it as a girl when she attended a “convent school.”  She seemed to find the prayers a request for access to the Lord that would be surely granted.  In today’s gospel Jesus assures similar efficacy for all prayers made with persistence.

Jesus helps his disciples appreciate the need of prayer by comparing God to humans.  He says that God answers prayer to stop being badgered.  He adds that God is like a father who would not want anything evil to happy for his child.  As ridiculous it is to think of God as being badgered and as customary it is to think of God as father, God’s benevolence goes beyond these analogies.  God wants us to be like Himself – trusting and merciful.

God trusts us with freedom to choose what is true and good.  He wants us also to be kind to others – ready to forgive their sins and help them improve.  When we pray, whether it be the rosary or suppliant intercessions, we draw closer to God, our goal in life.

Friday, September 24, 2021

 Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(Haggai 2:1-9; Luke 9:18-22)

The fact that Jesus is praying before he asks the identity question signifies something.  It tips off the reader that he is about to do something consequential.  In Luke’s gospel Jesus prays before choosing his apostles, teaching the “Our Father,” and being baptized and being transfigured.

More importantly, the context of prayer heightens the significance of the question itself.  Jesus is obviously discerning his mission in the world.  He is asking in prayer clarification on what he must do to fulfill His Father’s will.  He expresses the answer to his disciples when he says that he must suffer greatly, be rejected, and be killed.  Not long after he asks the question, the text says that he is “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.”

We too should implore God in prayer to make His will clear to us.  Of course, young people need to pray for help in choosing a career or their life’s mate.  Older people as well should discern in prayer questions like retirement, a church ministry, and how to proceed in challenging situations.  The answers that come that might be discussed with prudent people.  We will like find that resolutions made in this way will be both efficacious and satisfying.

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

 

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

 (Colossians 2:6-15; Luke 6:12-19)

 It has been said that in Luke’s gospel Jesus prays before every significant event.  In today’s passage he prays before choosing the twelve apostles.  One wonders of the efficacy of his prayer, however.  How could he have made the mistake of choosing a man like Judas?

God listens to prayers.  He takes care of those who confide in him.  He will bring them to a good end.  Yes, Judas will betray Jesus.  His treachery will lead to Jesus’ death on the cross.  But this in not the end of Jesus.  God the Father breaks the bonds of death so that Jesus rises from the dead.  Just as marvelously, God saves us.  By Jesus’ crucifixion and death our sins are forgiven, and we too are set on the path to eternal life.

Let us not be timid about naming our fears and frustrations when we pray.  God will turn them into benefits for us and others.  The effects of prayer are not usually seen instantaneously. We often have to stand there with bleeding knuckles as we knock at God’s door with prayer.

Thursday, February 25, 2021

 Thursday of the First Week of Lent

(Esther C:12.14-16.23-25; Matthew 7:7-12)

Michael “Mickey” Schachle was born six years ago to a couple in central Tennessee.  He has Down Syndrome, but it is remarkable that he is alive at all.  During his mother’s pregnancy, medical personnel discovered that Mickey had fetal hydrops, a life-threatening condition.  Coupled with his chromosomal abnormality, his doctor gave Mickey no chance of survival.  His parents then prayed for a miracle to Fr. Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus.  Afterwards, the fatal condition was no longer present. Through the intercession of his parents and Fr. McGivney, God has granted Mickey life, happiness, and love today.

Equally so Queen Esther’s prayers in today’s first reading are answered.  She is appealing to the Lord for her Jewish people in Persia who are being threatened with genocide.  The plot, which the king’s minister has woven, to kill the Jews is foiled when the minister’s treachery is revealed.  In the gospel Jesus tells his disciples to pray like Esther – sincerely, determinedly, and beseechingly.

We sometimes become discouraged when our prayers are not answered as we imagined they would be. That should be no reason to stop praying but to pray even harder.  God, who loves us more than we could appreciate or even know, heeds our requests.  He will help us according to his all-beneficent will.  We should never stop praying.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

 

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent

(Isaiah 55:10-11; Matthew 6:7-15)

It is said that words make people human.  Other animals can think although not with much sophistication.  They even communicate in different ways.  But they do not seem to be able to form meaningful words.  Words not only have power to move others.  They have some sway with God as well.  At least, Jesus in today’s gospel prescribes certain words to solicit the Father’s attention.

The Our Father is the preeminent prayer of Christians because it was taught by Jesus himself.  It must be efficacious because in the first reading God declares that His word will not return to Him void.  When we own it by living it, we will receive the Father’s care.

A couple was praying for their daughter who had developed a blood disease.  They had lost one daughter to cancer many years before and feared losing another.  They prayed for their daughter and asked friends to pray as well.  A week or so ago, they received news that the bone marrow transplant their ailing daughter received was successful.  It may not be a saint-making miracle, but the couple is sure that God master-minded the healing, 

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 1: 1-8; Luke 4:38-44)

People speak of the “power of prayer” as if it can tumble mountains.  But prayer has never seemed to be explosive energy as much as an integrative force.   It brings order and peace to the person by acknowledging God as Father whose love overcomes all evil.  Jesus seems aware of this benefit of prayer in today’s gospel.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus is pictured as praying by himself only twice – once on the side of a mountain and then in Gethsemane.  In Luke’s gospel, which we will read almost daily from now until December, Jesus is continually going off to pray.  In the passage read today he gets up early to pray alone in a quiet place.  It is as if he daily renews his relationship with the Father by prayer.

Praying in the early morning behooves all of us.  At five or six in the morning we will not likely be distracted or interrupted.  We can use this time to order our day by asking the Spirit to guide us in fulfilling our various responsibilities.  And no matter whatever happens to us that day we know that we already done what is crucial – showing our love for God.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Thursday of the First Week of Lent

(Esther C12:14-16; 23-25; Matthew 7:7-12)

Why do people pray? The age-old question is probably made more by unbelievers than by believers. Still, the faithful need to ask themselves if they think that they might change God’s will by their efforts.  Is He not changeless?  If so, then why bother to seek His helpim??

Prayer is the most urgent of Christian actions.  Christians cannot help but pray because it is the Holy Spirit that is prompting them to do so.  Their prayers do not change God, but through their prayers God is changing them.  First, prayer enables them to see that God has at his disposition myriad ways of improving an undesirable situation beyond what they have considered.  Then in prayer they discover how God may want them to address the challenge at hand.  Finally and most importantly, prayer aligns them with the only true order of things: not theirs but God’s is to be done.  It has been wisely said that God’s posture toward those who pray does not change with their prayer; it always remains one of pure love.

In today’s gospel Jesus urges his disciples to pray for what they need.  The first reading pictures the Jewish Queen Esther doing that as she prepares to meet her husband, the king of Persia.  Her prayers will lead to the salvation of her people as God unmasks the maliciousness of their persecutor.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 1:1-8; Luke 4:38-44)

Reading today’s gospel, we get the impression that Jesus was a much busier man than he wanted to be.  He arises at daybreak to steal off and pray, but the crowds follow him.  He wants to intentionally preach God’s Kingdom in different places, but the people harass him to work exclusively among them.  Perhaps we too know well Jesus’ predicament.

Some of us, likewise inclined to retreat and pray, find this propensity compromised by urgent needs.  We have to respond to the demands and requests others make on us for the common good.  Our response, however, will be more efficacious when we do not abandon prayer.  Rather we should base our efforts on it.  In prayer we discern what is necessary for us to do and find God’s assistance in doing it.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Thursday of the First Week of Lent

(Esther C12:14-16; 23-25; Matthew 7:7-12)

Why do people pray? The age-old question is probably made more by unbelievers than by believers. Still, the faithful need to ask themselves if they think that they might change God’s will by their efforts.  Is He not changeless?  If so, then why bother to seek His helpim??

Yet prayer is the most urgent of Christian actions.  Christians cannot help but pray because it is the Holy Spirit that is prompting them to pray from within.  Their prayers do not change God, but through their prayers God is changing them.  First, He moves them to seek His help.  Then they discover resources within themselves to meet the demands they face.  Finally, they find possibilities outside them at every turn to help them.  It has been wisely said that God’s posture toward pray-ers does not change with their prayer.  It always remains one of pure love.

In today’s gospel Jesus urges his disciples to pray for what they need.  The first reading pictures the Jewish Queen Esther of Persia doing that as she prepares to meet with her husband, the king of Persia.  Her prayers lead to the salvation of her people as she unmasks the maliciousness of its persecutor.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Malachi 3:13-20b; Luke 11:5-13)

Why do some people have difficulty asking God for help? Perhaps they do not want to feel foolish should God not grant what they ask. Or maybe they like to consider themselves as not owing God any favors. Or perhaps they just don’t think God cares enough to help. In the gospel today Jesus provides two images to free people from these errant ideas about God.

First, Jesus suggests that God may be considered a friend to whom we may go with little as well as big problems. That is, we might ask God for a loaf of bread just as well to heal mother’s cancer. But, Jesus indicates, God is better than a friend because He will assist us not just to avoid the embarrassment of denying someone He knows. No, God is like a father – the second image – who grants what we need because He deeply loves us. That is, God seeks only what is good for us. The difference between God’s friendship and every other friendship -- or, for that matter, God’s Fatherhood and any other fatherhood -- is that God can bestow the perfect gift, the Holy Spirit, who fills us with joy, love, and peace.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Esther C:12.14-16.23-25; Matthew 7:7-12)

The young man was late for a crowded event. Because parking was tight in the downtown area, he said a prayer that he would find a space quickly. Pleasantly surprised but not really astounded, the man hardly rode a block before he saw a car pull out of a parking place which he easily entered. God always seemed to answer his prayers when the man turned to Him in need.

Jesus teaches us the same lesson in the gospel. He does not hesitate to call God our “Father” as well as his. As any father, God loves us and provides what we need. “Do we have to ask Him?” we wonder. Not really, but recognizing our dependence on Him makes us more like His only-begotten son, Jesus.

The evangelist attaches to Jesus’ exhortation to pray the challenge that we care for one another. As in the “Our Father” where we ask God to forgive our offenses as we forgive others, we are to care for others as we ask God to care for us. This only reiterates what we just said: God’s true daughters and sons act like Jesus.

Homilette for Thursday, June 25, 2009

Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 16:1-12.15-16; Matthew 7:21-29)

Children like to fantasize about deathbed conversion. They ask their religion teachers about the possibility of living a life of leisure, then confessing their sins just before they check out, and finally experiencing even greater comforts in heaven. In this way they would defy their mothers’ chastisement, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” But today’s gospel shows mother’s wisdom to be on target after all.

When Jesus says that not everyone praying, “Lord, Lord,” will enter heaven, he has in mind those who think that they might reach salvation by only calling upon God. Rather, he adds, the sincere attempt to put into practice what he has just taught in the Sermon on the Mount is also required. We should emphasize that he is not denying the necessity of prayer as if we might meet the challenges of the Sermon by the force of our will. No, sooner or later, we realize that the tenets of Jesus’ Sermon are beyond even the best of us. We need God’s gracious hand in order to fulfill them, and we need his merciful arm to reach down for us when we fail to do so.

Homilette for Thursday, May 1, 2008

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter (St. Joseph the worker, memorial)

(Acts 18:1-8)

Being a tentmaker both benefits Paul and restricts him. It gives him an income which not only makes him monetarily independent but also removes doubts regarding the motive of his preaching. More importantly, working in a tent-making shop – like he does with Aquila in the reading – allows him to meet people. We can imagine Paul steering any conversation with customers to his favorite topic, the Lord Jesus. The downside of being a laborer is that the upper crust may frown on him and his ideas. “So what?” we might ask. The problem is that Paul needs a rich patron to provide ample quarters for the Sunday gathering of all the people he is converting. Fortunately, Paul always seems to make the right connection.

Work continues today as a benefit and a burden. It enables people to develop their capabilities and to socialize with others. Of course, it provides daily needs for self and family. Often overlooked is how work allows people to contribute to God’s creation. Martin Luther King, Jr., once exhorted the street cleaners of Memphis to sweep the streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; that is, with care and perfection.

But work is not always experienced as a good. One’s job may be tedious or one’s boss may be overbearing. People in these situations are often poorly compensated and otherwise exploited. We Christians should support them, especially in spiritual ways. We should suggest to workers that they express their grievances to the proper authorities and possibly to unionize. We too might speak up for the workers, at least to God. Finally, we should encourage disgruntled workers to pray and to practice prudence. Prayer opens us to God’s will; prudence insures that we follow it.