Fr. Eurel's homily

Today at morning Mass, Fr. Eurel celebrated the memorial feast of St. Hyppolytus and companions.  Apparently, St. Hyppolytus was an anti-pope who had himself elected Pope because he disagreed with the teachings of the true Pope, St. Callistus I.   However, he was reconciled to the Church before his martyrdom....read more.

With reference to the Gospel, Fr. Eurel spoke about the Temple Tax.  As he explained, Jesus, being the Son of God, is exempt from the tax.  However, in order not to offend the Jews, He went ahead and paid the tax which was only due of the subjects.

As I remarked in my explanation of the daily readings for today.  I find it remarkable that Jesus paid for both He and St. Peter.  To me, this is clear proof that Jesus appointed St. Peter to be His representative. Therefore, He paid for both, because both He and St. Peter were exempt from the tax.

Fr. Eurel is a priest at Prince of Peace Catholic Community.

Sincerely,

De Maria

Fr. Eurel's homily

Today is the feast day of St. Lawrence.  Fr. Eurel told us that the Church reserves feast days for Mary and the Apostles.  But St. Lawrence is one of the few deacons for whom the Church has reserved a feast day to celebrate his memorial.

Fr. Eurel has been a devotee of St. Lawrence from his childhood and knows all about him.  He recounted the story of St. Lawrence bringing to poor before the Roman King who wanted to take the treasures of the Church and saying, "This is the treasure of the Church", pointing at the poor.

And then how St. Lawrence said, "Turn me over, this side is done!"  when he was being roasted to death on the grille.

Fr. Eurel described St. Lawrence as the first Super Hero he ever admited.  As a child, he followed the fictional stories of the X-men and the other Marvel comic book stories.  But before all of that and to this day, St. Lawrence is his Super Hero of choice.  A real man who faced down death with the knowledge that he would see the face of God when it was over.

Amen!

Fr. Eurel is a priest at Prince of Peace Catholic Community.

Sincerely,

De Maria