Sunday Homilies

Theme: As you forgive you will be forgiven

Like any good educator, Joshua ben Sira was a great motivator. Scholars believe that this second century 180 B.C sage had an academy in Jerusalem where he instructed young people from wealthy families. The book attributed to him called Sirach/Ecclesiasticus defies any attempt at an orderly outline because it is actually a compilation of class notes accumulated over years of teaching. Sirach’s topics vary from practical advice regarding table etiquette to more serious instructions concerning prayer, faith and caring for the poor. The basis of all of his teaching was a concern to preserve the traditions and heritage of Judaism against the influences of foreign cultures. His efforts became beneficial for his fellow Jews when his grandson translated his work into Greek 130 B.C in order to make its wisdom accessible to Greek- speaking Jews in the Diaspora.

Theme: To you Lord I surrender

God’s ways are not always our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts, yet what we can be sure of is that any human life lived in faith and spent in attending to the will of God, becomes meaningful since only God can provide true and durable life trends. Our concern today is the struggle of knowing and living God’s will even when such knowledge and the life-style entail suffering.

Theme: Only true love matters

Once in a while, the gloomy reporting of the world’s violence and hatred is pierced by an account of selfless courage and sacrifice. One such account featured the heroism of St. Maximilian Kolbe. He was a priest prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp between 1939 and 1945 when the Jews were being executed by Hitler. Fr. Kolbe surprised his executioners when he spontaneously offered himself to replace a randomly chosen prisoner who was to be killed in place of a prisoner who had escaped. This priest of courage, without hesitation, jumped into the line and asked to substitute one victim because he had family to take care of even if it meant a few days.

Theme: Who has the key?

Today’s readings put the notion of authority before us. We ought to keep in mind right from the start that authority is not an easy concept to define. Although it is perhaps most often associated with legitimate power, authority and power are not necessarily the same thing. For example, a mugger with a weapon has power over his/her victim, but no valid authority. On the other hand, authentic authority does have something to do with influencing the thinking and behavior of people. The Lord Jesus is inviting us to have the keys that can open for us the doors of true authority.