The Good Word

Miércoles de la XVI semana del Tiempo ordinario

Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time. Our reading is from the holy gospel according to Matthew While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” The gospel of the Lord. Homily In the gospel Jesus speaks about family and includes all of us as members of his family by saying: “whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Some may question whether Jesus is slighting his mother Mary, but a little bit of reflection will tell us that this is not the case. When the angel announced to Mary that she was to be the mother of the savior, her response was: “Be it done to me according to your word.” Luke gives us Mary’s hymn of praise to God; and tells us that everything that happened with and about Jesus she pondered in her heart. And in John’s gospel, Mary follows Jesus all the way to Calvary and stands beneath the cross where she receives the disciples into her care. She is the purest and most perfect disciple of Jesus. The glory of Mary is that she is the mother of the Redeemer, and not just because she gave birth to Jesus. When a woman called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed,” he replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” Mary’s greatest glory is the way in which she totally united herself to the mission of Jesus in fulfilling God’s will for our salvation. She was his mother, not just in a physical, human sense, but also in a spiritual, almost divine sense. Jesus learned obedience to God his Father, not just from his own personal union with the Father, but also from the example of Mary, his mother. Our glory is to be united to Jesus and Mary. Jesus invites us to become members of his family by obeying the will of his heavenly Father, as he and Mary did. That seems like a very tall order. Disobedience and sinfulness seem to be part of human nature; but St. Paul assures us that God’s grace is greater than our sinfulness. Those who believe and give themselves to Christ receive the gift of the Spirit who conforms them to Christ in spite of past sinfulness. And the prophet Isaiah in today first reading marvels at the nature of our God who “removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;” who delights in clemency, and “will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins.” God’s gift of forgiveness is immediate, but our conformity to Christ is a process that starts by imitating Mary, listening to and reflecting on God’s word, especially in the Gospels. We don’t just cheer Jesus’ criticism of the attitudes of the scribes and Pharisees, but we examine our own. We pass from admiring Jesus’ actions and attitudes to imitating them, creating the same habits of welcoming, forgiving and attending the needs of others. Growth will not be continuous, and we will have to confront our own failures; but confidence in God’s mercy gives us the strength to go on. There will be moments of conflict and even cases where we may have to choose the will of God over the will of one’s family; but in the end, we know that we will be received into the Kingdom of God, because we are heirs, brothers and sister of the Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you. Fr. Karl E. Esker CSsR Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help Brooklyn, NY

Martes de la XVI semana del Tiempo ordinario

Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lunes de la XVI semana del Tiempo ordinario

XVI Domingo Ordinario

Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sábado de la XV semana del Tiempo ordinario

Memoria de San Buenaventura, obispo y doctor de la Iglesia

Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Memoria de Santa Kateri Tekakwitha, virgen

Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin

Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Miércoles de la XV semana del Tiempo ordinario

Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Martes de la XV semana del Tiempo ordinario

Memoria de San Benito, abad

Memorial of Saint Benedict, Abbot

XV Domingo ordinario

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sabado de la XIV semana del Tiempo ordinario

Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Viernes de la XIV semana del Tiempo ordinario

Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jueves de la XIV semana del Tiempo ordinario

It has been said that the time of miracles ended with the apostles and the early followers of Christ. I disagree. The Kingdom of Heaven is still at hand. In fact, there are more miracles now than in the early days of the Church, mainly because there are more Christians now than in the early days of the Church. An example to back up this statement comes from our Redemptorist church in Boston. It is a basilica that is locally known as Mission Church. In the cupola of the church, one of our Redemptorist confreres, Fr. Ed McDonough, is painted into its artwork. Fr. McDonough was well known in the medical community around Boston because many patients of the doctors working in the nearby hospitals would attend his healing services. Every week people would return for an X-ray or a second opinion and find that the cause of their illness had been totally reversed. Cancers were cured, tumors disappeared, and relationships were mended. Fr. Ed’s gift from God proved that God’s Kingdom is still in our midst. Miracles are not relegated to the past but are an everyday occurrence. The Missionaries of Charity, the religious order formed by St. Teresa of Calcutta, have the words of Jesus from the cross, “I thirst,” next to the crucifix in all of their chapels. It is there to remind the sisters that their work in attending to the needs of Christ are not a thing of the past. After spending the first hour of every day in silent prayer in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, they go outside the doors of their chapels all around the world and encounter him again in every person they meet. The Kingdom of God is still at hand. Miracles are not relegated only to New Testament times. The Redemptorist world is blessed to have a contemplative women religious congregation called the Redemptoristines in our midst. The Redemptoristines were founded a year before the Redemptorists, in 1731, by Blessed Maria Celeste Crostarosa. Not only do we priests and brothers of the Redemptorists benefit from their prayers, but they lift up intentions that impact our world on a daily basis. They witness faithfully to Jesus’ words that “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” What about us? How are we advancing the work of the Kingdom in our circumstances of life? After all, our relationship with Jesus is the only thing that we will take with us when we die. Blessings, Fr. Kevin MacDonald, C.Ss.R.

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Miércoles de la XIV semana del Tiempo ordinario

Martes de la XIV semana del Tiempo ordinario

Lunes de la XIV semana del Tiempo ordinario

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

XIV Domingo Ordinario

Sábado de la XIII semana del Tiempo ordinario

Viernes de la XIII semana del Tiempo ordinario

Jueves de la XIII semana del Tiempo ordinario

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Solemnidad de san Pedro y san Pablo, Apóstoles Misa del día