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The Well is the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures… and the Bucket is Prayer

  What is this water that the Lord is talking about, and in what sense does it satisfy all thirst? I would like to respond with the help of St. Thomas Aquinas, using his Commentary on the Gospel of John . Why St. Thomas? He is the greatest doctor of the Church. Pope John XXII, back in 1322 when Aquinas was canonized, said this about him: “By the use of his works a man could profit more in one year than if he studies the doctrine of others for his whole life. ” And maybe today, after hearing a little bit of his explanations, you will agree with the Pope. The woman said to Jesus, “Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his children and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but the one who drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty. ” 1. Aquinas says that the water Jesus is talking about is His doctrine. “[Jesus] shows that his doctrine is the best water because it has...
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Have You Lost Hope in the Church?

  The Lord said to Abraham: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” The Lord had promised it, and the Lord had power to do it. “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.” He left everything behind, because he had hope to obtain much more from the Lord. As we heard in the Psalm, “Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.” Let me reflect on hope. How is our hope? Do we need to purify our hope? 1. Despondent is defined as the person who is “ in low spirits from loss of hope or courage.” Some people have lost hope in the Church: they do not see the Church making a difference, they do not think the Church can make a difference, and things just seem to get worse. Now, losing hope, being defeated does not feel good, and so people tend ...
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Watch These Homilies in YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQXXQWallgq-FpO79GTqvX9tZri89JZ9S
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Three Temptations: The Three Misconceptions of Happiness

  The three temptations of Jesus are related to the three practices of Lent: penance, almsgiving and prayer. These practices help us to recover the true sense of our dignity. In other words, they help us to purify common misconceptions of what is good for us, misconceptions regarding what it is to be good, a good person. 1. The first misconception is that in order to be good, in order to be happy, I need to feel well. Feeling well, people think, is necessary for happiness, regardless of how moral or not it is in a certain situation. And so, people look for comfort or pleasures, sometimes without even giving a thought to the question about morality. This is because they cannot understand how they could feel good about themselves if they did not have these pleasures. They avoid pain as if it were hell, and search for comforts as if they were heaven, happiness. Some pleasures are necessary. This is why Jesus says, “man does not live by bread alone .” We need bread to live, our bod...
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Christian vs. Daily Life… or Christian Life?

  “This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age” (GS 43). Our faith cannot be severed from our daily lives. Our worship cannot be separated from our regular affairs. Today’s readings remind us of the intrinsic connection between our relationship with God and our relationship with our neighbour. 1. People may get accustomed to worship without thinking about the state of their soul. “Oh father, what happens outside the church remains outside the church. Here we come to worship, the world has nothing to do with church.” But the Lord says, “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift” ( Matthew 5:23-24). You may say, “My problem is with my brother, not with You, Lord!” He could respond, “And did...
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The Witness of Good Works: Salt of the Earth and Light of the World

  We are the salt of the earth, the light of the world (cf. Matthew 5:13-16). This means that we have a mission that goes beyond the limits of this church. What is that mission? 1. Salt does not restore to life something that has already gone bad. The only One who was able to restore to life our humanity rotten by sin was Jesus. But once Jesus rose our humanity from the dead, we can, with His grace, preserve humanity from corruption. [1] Our good works, our good example, our being Christians not only in name but also in words and in deeds, preserves human culture from complete corruption. However, does it not appear, sometimes, as if salt had lost its taste? When we do not give witness, we let everyone around us slide more and more down the hill of sin. Sometimes Christians do worse: not only they do not give witness but, even more, with their own sins they scandalize the non-Christians. In this case, instead of being agents of preservation we become agents of corruption. The ...
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The Path Towards Happiness

  “ Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many [ of you] were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (Cf. 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). According to St. Thomas, St. Paul is not saying that not many of the Corinthians were wise, but that not many of those who initially preached the Gospel and called them to the faith were wise. Matthew was a learned man, most probably, as St. Paul himself, but the rest were most likely fishermen. This is why St. Paul continues by saying that “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise,” that is, God chose for preaching His own truth mostly people who were foolish regarding worldly wisdom, and weak, and low, etc. so that it may be clear to all that human glory does not come from anything humanly possible but from God alone. St. Paul proceeds in three steps. 1. “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.” Human wisdom is confused by the foolishness of preaching. “Greeks l...
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