Padre Pio Parish Glenmore Park

Nov 17 Monday: Luke 18:35-43: 35

As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging; 36 and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this meant. 37 They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." 38 And he cried, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 39 And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 40 And Jesus stopped, and commanded him to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, 41 "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me receive my sight." 42 And Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."

43 And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. The context: Jesus was going to Jerusalem to participate in the feast of Passover. When he reached Jericho there was a big crowd of pilgrims walking along with him and listening to his teaching. Beggars used to sit on both sides of the road as the pilgrims were very generous and the people used to line up on roadside to greet the pilgrims. A blind beggar on the roadside was told by his friends that Jesus of Nazareth the miracle worker was passing by. So the blind man repeatedly cried out at the top of his voice, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The pilgrims listening to Jesus’ teaching tried to stop the beggar’s loud cry in vain. Jesus stopped and asked him his need and gave him eyesight by a single command, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well" as a reward for his trusting faith in the healing power and compassionate heart of the messiah.

Life messages: 1) We too need healing from our spiritual blindness which makes us incapable of seeing and appreciating the living presence of God within us and others. But we too require for healing the same trusting faith of the blind man in the healing power and mercy of Jesus and the same persevering persistence in our prayers. We should pray with conviction, urgency and constancy. 2) We need to repeat the prayer of the blind man, "Lord, let me receive my sight” when our faith is feeble, when we cannot understand the reason behind God’s plans and when our commitments become shaky.

Nov 18 Tuesday: Luke 19:1-10 1

He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today." 6 So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it they all murmured, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold." 9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost."

The context: The theme of today’s gospel is the benevolent and forgiving mercy of God for sinners and the response of repentance and conversion expected from us. It presents the beautiful story of the instantaneous conversion of the tax-collector Zacchaeus. As the chief tax-collector in Jericho, Zacchaeus was probably a man of much wealth and few friends. Since he worked for Romans and extracted more tax money than required by the law he was hated by the Jews who considered all tax-collectors as public sinners. The account describes how Jesus recognized Zacchaeus for exactly what he was, a lost sinner in need of a Savior, and how God’s grace worked in Zacchaeus to lead him from idle curiosity to repentance, conversion and restitution. The episode emphasizes the fact that such a conversion can only result from a person’s fully receiving the love, acceptance and grace of a merciful Lord. The story of Zacchaeus reinforces the lessons of the fifteenth chapter of Luke in which a lost sheep and a lost coin are found, and a lost son embraced. It also demonstrates the fact that nobody is beyond the possibility of conversion.

Life messages: 1) Accepting the divine invitation for repentance. We are all sinners to a greater or lesser degree. Jesus is inviting each one of us to total conversion today by means of this gospel lesson. Jesus is our loving brother who died that we might live. He is the Son of God, a God of infinite love. Hence let us confess to him all our weaknesses and sins. Let us remember that Jesus loves us in spite of our ugly thoughts, broken promises and sullied ideals, our lack of prayer and faith, our resentments and lusts. 2) Loving others as Jesus loves us in spite of our sins. Jesus loved Zacchaeus—a great sinner -- and by that love, Zacchaeus was transformed. As parents or teachers, can we lovingly accept children without first setting up for them standards of behavior as conditions for being loved? Just as Jesus loved Zacchaeus even though he was a public sinner, so we must love others in spite of their sin. Jesus expects this of us. 3) Being freed for generosity: Zacchaeus was changed from being greedy to being generous, from selfishness to selflessness. When we feel the warmth of God’s presence within us, that warmth will in itself melt our coldness and selfishness and lead us to repentance and generosity.

Nov 19 Wednesday: Luke 19:11-28: 11

As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. 12 He said therefore, "A nobleman went into a far country to receive a kingdom and then return. 13 Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten pounds, and said to them, `Trade with these till I come.' 14 But his citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him, saying, `We do not want this man to reign over us.' 15 When he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading. 16 The first came before him, saying, `Lord, your pound has made ten pounds more.' 17 And he said to him, `Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.' 18 And the second came, saying, `Lord, your pound has made five pounds.' 19 And he said to him, `And you are to be over five cities.' 20 Then another came, saying, `Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin; 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.' 22 He said to him, `I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then did you not put my money into the bank, and at my coming I should have collected it with interest?' 24 And he said to those who stood by, `Take the pound from him, and give it to him who has the ten pounds.' 25 (And they said to him, `Lord, he has ten pounds!') 26 `I tell you, that to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.'" 28 And when he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

The context: The central theme of today’s gospel is an invitation to live in such a way that we make the best use of the talents God has given us, so that at the hour of our death Our Lord will say: “Well done, my good and faithful servant! Come and share the joy of your master.” The parable of the talents challenges us to do something positive, constructive and life-affirming with our talents here and now. The parable: A very rich person, about to set off on a journey, entrusted very large sums of money (talents) to three of his slaves, each according to his personal ability: five, two, and one. He wanted them to do business with the money in his absence. Through skillful trading and investing, the slave with the five talents and two talents managed to double their master’s money. But the slave with one talent buried his talent in the ground for fear of loss in business. On the day of accounting, the master rewarded the two clever slaves and punished the third slave whom he called "wicked and slothful." He took the third slave's talent and gave it to the first slave. Life messages: 1) We need to trust God enough to make use of the gifts and abilities we have been given. We should ask ourselves how we are using our particular gifts in the service of our families, our Christian community and the wider society. 2) We need to make use of our talents in our parish. This means that we should be always willing to share our abilities in creative worship in the church and innovative educational events in the Sunday school. We can fulfill needs we will find right in our parish: feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and welcoming strangers in our midst 3) We need to work with our talent of Christian faith: We need to offer it to the men and women of our times. We need to promote and add value to faith by living it out. The way to preserve the faith, or any other talent that God has given us, is to put it to work and make it bear fruit.

Nov 20 Thursday: Luke 19:41-44: 41

And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, 42 saying, "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you, and hem you in on every side, 44 and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you; because you did not know the time of your visitation." Context: It was when two-and-a-half million people were present in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast of Passover that Jesus’ followers paraded with him for a distance of two miles from the Mount of Olives to the city of Jerusalem. But when the procession reached the spot from where there was a magnificent view of the city of Jerusalem Jesus started weeping. After a while he explained why he did that. Jesus loved the city because it was the center of Judaism and Yahweh’s promised place of terrestrial residence and the culminating point of Jesus’ public ministry. So he could not foresee without tears its destruction in A.D. 70 by Titus who totally demolished the temple and the city after massacring most of its residents. Jesus explained the destruction of the city as a punishment from God because its inhabitants had failed to recognize the time of its visitation. In other words, Jerusalem closed its doors and her inhabitants closed their hearts to the salvific coming and message of the Redeemer. In spite of Jesus’ preaching and healing ministry among the Chosen people, they rejected him and their leaders were planning to crucify him.

Life messages: 1) Jesus visits each one of us as our Lord and savior. He teaches us through the preaching of his Church. We hear his voice when we read Holy Scripture. He offers us forgiveness of sins and grace through the sacraments. So we should not reject him or his message as the Jews did nor remain indifferent. Instead, we have to listen to God’s warning for repentance and renewal of life and walk in God’s ways of peace and holiness. 2) We are the temples of the Holy Spirit and we have no right to desecrate God’s temple by harboring injustice and impurity in our hearts.

Nov 21 Friday: : Luke 19:45-48: 45

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, "It is written, `My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers." 47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him; 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words.

The context: Today’s gospel gives us the dramatic account of Jesus' cleansing the Temple of Jerusalem. He drove out its merchants and money-changers with moral indignation at the unjust commercialization of a house of prayer and the exploitation of the poor pilgrims in the name of religion. The merchants charged exorbitant prices for animals for sacrifices and the money-changers charged unjust commissions for the required exchange of pagan coins for temple coins. The Temple Jesus cleansed was the Temple of Jerusalem originally built by Solomon in 966 BC, rebuilt by Zerubbabel in 515 BC after the Babylonians had destroyed it and finally renovated by King Herod the Great in BC 20. The abuses which infuriated Jesus were 1) the conversion of a place of prayer to a noisy market place and 2) the unjust business practices of animal merchants and money-changers encouraged by the Temple authorities. Hence Jesus made a whip of cords and drove away the animals and the money changers quoting Zechariah the prophet, “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace."

Life messages: 1) The first message of the day is that we need to avoid the business mentality of loss and profit in divine worship. Our relationship with God must be that of a child to his parent, with no thought of loss or gain, but only mutual love, respect and the common good. 2) Secondly, we need to remember that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Hence we have no right to desecrate God’s temple by impurity, injustice, pride, hatred or jealousy. 3) Thirdly, we need to love our parish church and use it. Our church is the place where we come together as a community to praise and worship God, to thank Him for His blessings, to ask pardon and forgiveness for our sins and to offer our lives and petitions on the altar. Let us make our church an even more holy place by adding our prayers and songs to community worship and by offering our time and talents in the various ministries of our parish.

Nov 22 Saturday: Luke 20:27-40: 27

There came to him some Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children; 30 and the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife." 34 And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him." 39 And some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well." 40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question.

The context: Jesus had reached Jerusalem for his final Passover feast. As part of a well-planned plot to trap Jesus, the chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees approached him with two controversial questions. According to Levirate Law of marriage given by Moses, if a man died childless, his brother must marry the widow and beget children to carry on the line. In their hypothetical question, they asked Jesus who, in heaven, would be the husband of the woman who had been married in succession to seven of her brothers–in-law (levires), and had died childless. Today’s gospel shows us how Jesus ingeniously escaped from the doctrinal trap set for him and explained to them the doctrine about the resurrection of the dead supported by the Pharisees and denied by the Sadducees. Jesus also explained that heavenly life with God in glory would be totally different from earthly life and that there would be no marriage in heaven in the earthly sense.

Life messages: 1) Living the lives of resurrection people: This means that we are not to lie buried in the tomb of our sins and evil habits. Instead, we are to live joyful and peaceful lives, constantly experiencing the real presence of the resurrected Lord who gives us the assurance that our bodies also will be raised. The salutary thought of our own resurrection and eternal glory should also inspire us to honor our bodies, keeping them holy, pure and free from evil habits and to respect those with whom we come in contact, rendering them loving and humble service. 2) Offering lively worship to a living God. If God is the God of the living, the worship of this God also has to be living -- “lively.” So our participation in prayers and songs during the Holy Mass should be active and our behavior in the church both fully aware and reverent.