25TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 4 / (Green/Red)
Sts. Cosmas & Damian, martyrs
Ps 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5
Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
1st Reading: Ezra 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20
Let the governor of the Jews together with their leaders build the house of God on its former site.
This is the command I give as to what you should do to help those Jewish leaders rebuild the house of God: pay the expenses in full and without delay, with the income from taxes of the province at the other side of the River which is allotted to the king.
And may the God who makes his Name dwell there crush every rebel, king or people, who goes against this and tries to destroy the house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, give this command. Let it be carried out at once.“
And the leaders of the Jews continued to make progress in building, encouraged by what Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo, had said; and they finished the work according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus and Darius. The house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of Darius.
The children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of those who had returned from exile celebrated the consecration of this house of God with rejoicing, offering on this solemnity one hundred young bulls, two hundred rams and four hundred lambs; and twelve he-goats as a sin-offering for all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
Then they installed the priests according to their ranks, and the Levites according to their classes, for the service of the house of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.
Those who had returned from exile celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, for the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together, and all of them were clean. So, they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all who had returned from exile, for their fellow-priests and for themselves.
Gospel: Lk 8:19-21
Then his mother and his relatives came to him; but they could not get to him because of the crowd. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and wish to meet you.“ Then Jesus answered, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.“
REFLECTION:
A story goes thus: A parish community renovated its church and dedicated it to the Mother of God. It was a billion-dollar architectural marvel. One day, an old lady, a faithful parishioner, was praying before the statue of Mother Mary inside the church. Suddenly, Mother Mary appeared to her and said, “Please ask your pastor to build a church in my honor.“ “Where, Mother?“ the lady asked in fear and trembling. “Right here,“ the Mother said, and disappeared.
The Book of Ezra describes how the Temple of the Lord was re-built and consecrated. But such an external structure is not the primary temple of God. Paul asks rhetorically: “Don‘t you know that you yourselves are God‘s temple?“ (1 Cor 3:16). Jesus teaches the Samaritan woman: “Time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks“ (Jn 4:23). Thus, the true temple of God is a community of believers who hear the word of God and keep it. They become God‘s temple and therefore, the family of Jesus.
Daily Reflection
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
Readings and Reflections
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