Thursday, October 30, 2025

 

Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:31b-39; Luke 13:31-35)

Today’s gospel, the proximity to All Souls Day, and, for those living in the Northern Hemisphere, the season of autumn suggest a reflection on death.  In the reading Jesus indicates that he has reflected seriously on his death.  He does not flinch in fear when the Pharisees tell him that Herod wants to kill him. Rather, he proceeds to Jerusalem to meet the death of his destiny.

Death is the last act of human life.  To make it advantageous requires a realization, a decision, and a choice.  We must realize that its inevitability is not centuries in the future but relatively soon.  Even youth should realize the need to prepare now for death’s arrival.  Now is the time to decide what we want to live for. Do we want to limit the meaning of our lives to ourselves?  Or do we want our lives to impact others?  Jesus, of course, was aware that he would die for the sake of all humanity.  Finally, we need to choose how we are to live in accordance with our decision.  The choice is multi-faceted.  It includes the work we do, the kind of family we have (traditional family, religious community, or possibly a school or other type of institution), who will be our intimate friends, etcetera.  If we have decided to live for ourselves, these choices are not difficult.  We will strive to maximize pleasure, power, and prestige.  But if we have decided to live for others, we will deliberate on the choices carefully.

If we have chosen to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, we too will suffer martyrdom.  It will be difficult but not likely gruesome or lonely.  We will find ourselves among good people whose friendship will give us comfort and hope.  Most importantly, in the end our spirits will be opened to the reception of eternal life.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

 

Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:26-30; Luke 13:22-30)

It was Sunday evening when a young woman was waiting tables.  She was singing to herself but was not timid about sharing her heart with clientele.  She said that she had been to church that morning where evidently her pastor referred to the Book of Revelation.  The woman said that she wanted to be among the 144,000 people whom Revelation says are sealed for salvation.

Although Revelation also mentions an uncountable multitude standing before the heavenly throne, some still believe that in all history only a relatively few number of people reach salvation. In today’s gospel Jesus does not abuse the crowds of this idea. He explicates that people who “ate and drank” with him – we can think of Catholics who come to Mass and Communion here – are not necessarily heaven-bound.  He adds that inheritors of the Kingdom include those from faraway places.

In the gospels Jesus continually says that we must practice charity to the needy if we are to be saved.  We have to wash one another’s feet, feed the hungry, show compassion on the poor if we hope to have a seat in the banquet hall of the saved.

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

 

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

(Ephesians 2:19-22; Luke 6:12-16)

In today’s reading from Ephesians, St. Paul (or his disciple) tells the people that they are no longer “sojourners.”  This description contrasts with the first Letter of Peter which calls Christians “aliens and sojourners.”  The difference should not be taken as a contradiction.  Rather it represents different ways biblical authors view the Christian life.

In one sense followers of Christ are sojourners living like pilgrims in route to heaven.  They love God and neighbor in accordance with the Savior’s command.  When they gather for prayer, they find themselves in the company of others with a similar goal and similar ways of living.  In another sense, however, Christians live among unbelievers in the world with whom they share a minimum of values.  They must take care not to be influenced by the vices of these neighbors.

Certainly, Saints Simon and Jude were fellow travelers.  The celebration of their feasts seems to be placed toward the end of the liturgical year because like so many faithful Christians little is known of their lives.  Jude may be the most popular of the apostles, but it is not certain what he accomplished and where he died.  Simon’s life is also obscure.  He was called a “zealot”, but no one knows exactly why.  They too gathered with believers in prayer and found themselves among hostile people at whose hands they were martyred.

Monday, October 27, 2025

 

Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:12-17; Luke 13:10-17)

It’s a sin against the first commandment to put one’s trust in another god, but does this mean that I cannot keep a tiger tooth for good luck?  It’s a sin against the second commandment to take the Lord’s name in vain, but does this mean that I sin by saying “Oh God” when I see something awesome?  It’s a sin not to honor one’s father and mother, but what am I to do when they tell me that they do not want to hear from me again?  These questionable situations are similar to what Jesus faces in today’s gospel.

Apparently nothing in the Mosaic Law forbids healing on the Sabbath.  However, certain Pharisees at the time of Jesus interpreted such an act as violating Sabbath observance.   Following such an interpretation, the leader of the synagogue chastises the crowd for seeking cures from Jesus.  Knowing that the leader’s criticism is an unsubstantiated interpretation, Jesus corrects him.  He sees the Father’s activity among His people as essentially liberating.  He knows that God’s hand freed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and constantly liberates the people from ignorance with the Law.  So Jesus is only imitating his Father by freeing the woman from a particularly gruesome malady.

It would be unfair to say that Jesus is rationalizing his action.  Again, the Law does not expressly forbid Sabbath healing.  However, he is appealing to the people’s sense of justice and prudence in interpreting the Law.  Always, he indicates, we have to use our intelligence aided by the virtues to determine what the Lawgiver demands or prohibits with any given statute.

Sunday, October 26, 2025

 

XXX Sunday in Ordinary Time 
(Sirach 35:12–14, 16–18; 2 Timothy 4:6–8, 16–18; Luke 18:9–14)

The parables in the Gospel according to Luke are like ballads on the radio: they often convey wisdom in an engaging way. In today’s gospel, Jesus offers yet another fascinating parable. This time he teaches us how to pray through the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the Temple. Both men lived under very different circumstances from ours, yet when we see ourselves reflected in each of them, we can draw great benefit from the lesson.

Although the Pharisees often appear as villains in the gospels, they actually saved Judaism from extinction. After the fall of the Temple, the Pharisees reorganized the religion around the Law of Moses. To ensure its observance, they developed customs known as the oral law. Jesus opposed this new law because it was overly concerned with details. He said that in trying to fulfill it, the Pharisees would forget the primacy of compassion. He accused them of burdening the poor with unnecessary practices.

Jesus had some Pharisees as friends, but for the most part, he regarded them as arrogant and unmerciful. That is why in today’s gospel he presents a Pharisee as an example of how not to pray. He portrays him with the faults that often afflict reformers: thinking himself better than others, harboring prejudice, lacking humility before God, and being overly concerned with appearances.

Even though we dislike the attitude of the Pharisees, it is not unusual for us to act like them. Like them, we practice our religion regularly — and there is nothing wrong with that. Yet, also like them, we tend to justify our faults. We are also inclined to think of ourselves as better than most people, and almost as good as the truly holy. We are slow to acknowledge our faults but quick to notice the faults of others. We want to be recognized as intelligent, attractive, hardworking, and generous — even when we are not — and so we sometimes fake those qualities.

Tax collectors worked for the Roman Empire. While most were Romans, some Jews were given the position. For collaborating with the oppressors, Jewish tax collectors earned the people’s resentment. Their position also gave them the opportunity to extort money, which caused even more hostility.

Jesus spent considerable time with tax collectors in his mission to proclaim God’s mercy. He may have found them more open to repentance than others. At least Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, showed a sincere desire to repent when he met Jesus in the gospel we would have read next Sunday if it were not for All Souls Day.

Like the tax collectors, we too are inclined toward greed. We may even find ourselves participating in small deceptions for the sake of gain. Yet, like the tax collector in the parable, we strike our breast at Mass and ask the Lord’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

But asking for forgiveness is not enough to be justified. Sinners must reform their lives. In the case of the tax collector in this parable, reform is assumed. In the story of Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector promises to give half of his possessions to the poor before Jesus declares him saved.

On one Sunday this past summer we learned from Jesus that we are to serve others like the Good Samaritan. Then, the following Sunday, he taught us that it is better to listen to him like Mary than to serve like Martha. Jesus was not contradicting himself but inviting us to discern the proper times to listen and the proper times to act. In much the same way, the gospels of last Sunday and today are coordinated. We remember how he taught us last Sunday to pray persistently through the parable of the widow and the corrupt judge. Today he teaches us that constant prayer is not enough unless it is accompanied by humility before God.

Even though we are proud like the Pharisee and greedy like the tax collector, we are not lost. Through the humility of repentance and the prayer of a contrite heart, Jesus Christ will justify us. Without repentance, prayer becomes presumption; with repentance, prayer leads us to salvation.