4 July 2025 – Friday of the 13th week of Ordinary Time

Genesis 23:1-4, 19; 24:1-8, 62-67; Matthew 9:9-13

Homily

          In his response to the Pharisees who are scandalized by his eating with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus explicitly and literally quotes a saying that the prophet Hosea put into God's mouth: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings’ (Hosea 6:6).

          Reducing the Covenant with God to a moralizing bilateral contract had been one of the strongest temptations of the people of Israel. The relationship with God was easily reduced to a series of ritual gestures by which one bought God's favour, and religion had little to do with the practice of justice and even less with love and mercy. Although the prophets, and Hosea in particular, had spoken out against this attitude, it was exactly that of the Pharisees who watched Jesus eating with Matthew and the other tax collectors.

          The Christian community has always been subject to the same temptation. Perhaps it is a particular temptation for those who consider themselves and call themselves ‘religious.’ We easily assume that once we have been faithful to all the ceremonies and observances prescribed by the law of the Church or our own rules, we have acquired a certain right to salvation. Once again, Jesus reminds us that all these practices have no other purpose than to express our love for God—a love that cannot exist unless it is embodied in love for our neighbor; and that if this love does not exist, all our observances and rites are vain and meaningless. The Lord does not want them.

          The discovery of God's gratuitous love is always a call to conversion. The description of Matthew's call and conversion in the brief account we have just read is magnificently simple. Matthew is sitting down. He is, in fact, a man who is well established. He has a profession that brings him wealth, material well-being and power, even if it makes him considered a sinner by the Pharisees. Jesus does not give him a long speech or lengthy explanations. He simply says to him in passing, ‘Follow me.’ And the extraordinary thing is that this man, who is “sitting” and well established, ‘gets up’ and follows him, certainly without knowing where he is going or where it will lead him.

          A little later, ‘as Jesus was at table in the house,’ many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. In the Gospel of Matthew (e.g., 9:28; 13:1, 36; 17:25), the expression ‘in the house’ generally means the house of Jesus and his disciples. (In a parallel account in Luke, where the tax collector is called Levi, it is Levi who gives a feast; but it is not certain that Levi and Matthew are the same person). Furthermore, it is not stated or even implied that all these tax collectors and sinners were converted, like Matthew, and became disciples of Jesus. No, they are simply there, and Jesus has no problem sharing a meal with them. Jesus thus shows that he breaks down all the barriers that men have erected between themselves. And to emphasise the fact that all these barriers are man-made and not God-made, he sends the Pharisees back to school: ‘Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”.’

   We still need to hear this lesson from Jesus, both individually and collectively. For we are always tempted to establish a safety cordon around ourselves to separate us from all those we consider inferior or ‘less good’ because of their ideas, their religion, their culture or simply their profession.  

Let us be careful not to dissociate ourselves from those whom Jesus came to call.

Armand VEILLEUX

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3 juillet 2025 – Fête de saint Thomas

Ep 2, 19-22 ; Jn 20, 24-29

Homélie

          Chacun des Évangélistes nous a rapporté à sa façon les événements qui ont suivi la Résurrection du Christ. Il ne faut surtout pas essayer de réconcilier leur chronologie des événements. En réalité ils ne sont pas intéressés par la chronologie et n'essayent pas de nous donner une description exacte des faits. Ils veulent plutôt nous transmettre une vision théologique. Luc, qui organise son Évangile autour de Jérusalem et du Temple, répartit les événements d'après la résurrection sur une période de cinquante jours, correspondant à la liturgie juive. Jean, le théologien mystique au regard perçant, ramasse presque tous ces événements en un seul jour, le jour même de la résurrection.

3 July 2025 - Feast of Saint Thomas

Eph 2:19-22; Jn 20:24-29

Homily

Each of the Evangelists has told us in his own way about the events that followed Christ's Resurrection. Above all, we must not try to reconcile their chronology of events. In reality, they are not interested in chronology and are not trying to give us an exact description of the events. Rather, they want to give us a theological vision. Luke, who organises his Gospel around Jerusalem and the Temple, spreads the events after the Resurrection over a period of fifty days, corresponding to the Jewish liturgy. John, the mystical theologian with the piercing gaze, brings together almost all these events in a single day, the day of the Resurrection itself.

1 juillet 2025 – Mardi de la 13ème semaine ordinaire

Gen 19, 15-29 ; Mt 8, 23-27 

Homélie

          Les disciples – au moins certains d’entre eux, étaient des marins de métier. Leur erreur, dans l’Évangile d’aujourd’hui, fut de ne pas vouloir assumer leur responsabilité, qui était de contrôler leur bateau dans la tempête. Ils n’avaient aucun contrôle sur les forces de la nature ; mais ils avaient le contrôle de leur bateau. Jésus dormait, après une journée épuisante de prédication, car il avait confiance en ses disciples qui étaient des pêcheurs d’expérience qui n’en étaient pas à leur première tempête sur le capricieux lac de Galilée. Il les laissa faire leur travail. Après tout, lui, il était menuisier et non pas marin. Les disciples savaient mieux que lui quoi faire en de telles circonstances. Jésus savait aussi que, pendant qu’eux s’occupaient de leur bateau, quelqu’un d’autre s’occupait des vents et de la mer. Ce quelqu’un d’autre était son Père. Et c’est en son nom qu’après avoir été éveillé par les disciples, il cria aux vents et à la mer de se calmer.

1 July 2025 – Tuesday of the 13th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 19:15-29; Mt 8:23-27

Homily

               The disciples – at least some of them – were professional sailors. Their mistake, in today's Gospel, was not wanting to take responsibility for controlling their boat in the storm. They had no control over the forces of nature, but they did have control over their boat. Jesus was sleeping after an exhausting day of preaching because he trusted his disciples, who were experienced fishermen and had weathered many storms on the unpredictable Sea of Galilee. He let them do their job. After all, he was a carpenter, not a sailor. The disciples knew better than he did what to do in such circumstances. Jesus also knew that while they were taking care of their boat, someone else was taking care of the winds and the sea. That someone else was His Father. And it was in His name that, after being awakened by the disciples, He cried out to the winds and the sea to calm down.

30 juin 2025 – lundi de la 13^ème semaine du Temps Ordinaire

Gen 18, 16-33; Mt 8, 18-22 

H O M É L I E

          Cette rencontre de Jésus avec deux personnes qui veulent le suivre est placée par Matthieu au cœur d’une longue série de guérisons et d’autres événements dont le contexte n’est pas précisé, mais qui semblent se situer au début de sa vie publique. L’Évangile de Luc place la même rencontre au cours de la montée finale de Jésus vers Jérusalem, où il sera mis à mort. L’appel de Jésus : « Suis-moi », prend alors un tout autre sens.