Daily Reflection

February 20, 2018 Tuesday

1ST WEEK OF LENT
Psalter: Week 1 / (Violet)

Ps 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19
From all their distress
God rescues the just.

1st Reading: Is 55:10-11
As the rain and the snow come down
from the heavens and do not return
till they have watered the earth,
making it yield seed for the sower
and food for others to eat,
so is my word that goes forth out of my mouth:
it will not return to me idle,
but it shall accomplish my will,
the purpose for which it has been sent.

Gospel: Mt 6:7-15
When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask him.
This, then, is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven, holy be your name,
your kingdom, come, your will, be done
on earth, as in heaven.
Give us today, our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we forgive those who are in debt to us.
Do not bring us to the test,
but deliver us from the evil one.
If you forgive others their wrongdoings,
your Father in heaven will also forgive yours.
If you do not forgive
others, then your Father will not
forgive you.

Reflections

WHEN YOU PRAY DO NOT USE A LOT OF WORDS

One prayer that does not use any word is MEDITATION. In mediation, we do not ask God for this and that, we do not speak words of praise, or sorrow, or thanksgiving. But all these are present in us when we are just present to the PRESENCE. People who are in love do not have to talk to each other. They are in bliss just being in each other’s presence. So it is when one meditates. One does not think. In fact thoughts would be a distraction. One does not also frantically banish thoughts. One just takes note of them and they disappear. Do you know that when rain falls on a duck’s back, it does not penetrate its feathers? Yes, because there is oil in a duck‘s feathers, so the water just rolls off the duck‘s back to the ground. In meditation, our thoughts also can just roll off like that when we do not pay attention to them. Instead we focus on our breath — breathing in, breathing out (God’s ruah!) and we may have a mantra like “peace,” “love,” “Jesus,” etc. It is the only way we can go into the depths of our being and meet the God who dwells in us.

Daily Reflection 2018

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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th 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

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February 19, 2018 Monday

1ST WEEK OF LENT
Psalter: Week 1 / (Violet)

Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

1^st Reading: Lev 19:1-2, 11-18*

Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, “Speak to the entire assembly of the people of Israel and say to them: Be holy for I, Yahweh, your God, am holy.

Do not steal or lie or deceive one another. (…) Do not hate your brother in your heart; rebuke your neighbor frankly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or nurture a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.

Gospel: Mt 25:31-46

When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all his angels, he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be brought before him; and, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, so will he do with them, placing the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

The king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, blessed of my Father! Take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me into your home. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to see me.’

Then the righteous will ask him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and give you food; thirsty, and give you something to drink; or a stranger, and welcome you; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and go to see you?’ The king will answer, ‘Truly I say to you: just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Go, cursed people, out of my sight, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the evil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you did not give me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me into your house; I was naked, and you did not clothe me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.’

They, too, will ask, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, naked or a stranger, sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ The king will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you: just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’

And these will go into eternal punishment; but the just, to eternal life.”

Reflections

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

We have heard this injunction so many times before that we are no longer struck by its challenge. But if we begin to ponder on it anew we are struck by the fact that the measure of love for others that is demanded of us is our love for ourselves. We are often taught as children not to be selfish. So what is the difference between being selfish and loving ourselves? Loving ourselves means doing all that would make us healthier, saner, happier, holier human beings. So we take care of our bodies nourishing ourselves with healthy food, avoiding what will cause sickness to our bodies like smoking, drinking and all other forms of addiction. We develop good habits and strive to grow spiritually. And this is what we wish for others and we do what we can to help them attain this well being of body and spirit. Being selfish means to gratify all what our body craves even if it is harmful to it or to think solely of ourselves, indifferent to the needs of others or even to the extent of depriving others of what is due to them. Thus there is a healthy self-love which is our gauge in loving others.

Daily Reflection 2018

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th 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

February 18, 2018 Sunday

1ST SUNDAY OF LENT
Psalter: Week 1 / (Violet)

Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those
who keep your covenant.

1^st Reading: Gen 9:8-15

God spoke to Noah and his sons, “See I am making a Covenant with you and with your descendants after you; also with every living animal with you: birds, cattle, that is, with every living creature of the earth that came out of the ark. I establish my Covenant with you. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

God said, “This is the sign of the Covenant I make between me and you, and every animal living with you for all future generations. I set my bow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember the Covenant between me and you and every kind of living creature, so that never again will floodwaters destroy all flesh.

2^nd Reading: 1 P 3:18-22

Remember how Christ died once, and for all, for our sins. He, the just one, died for the unjust, in order to lead us to God. In the body, he was put to death, in the spirit, he was raised to life, and it was then, that he went to preach to the imprisoned spirits. They were the generation who did not believe, when God, in his great patience, delayed punishing the world, while Noah was building the ark, in which a small group of eight persons escaped, through water. That was a type of the baptism that now saves you; this baptism is not a matter of physical cleansing, but of asking God to reconcile us, through the resurrection of Christ Jesus. He has ascended to heaven, and is at the right hand of God, having subjected the angels, Dominions and Powers.

Gospel: Mk 1:12-15

Then the Spirit drove him into the desert. Jesus stayed in the desert forty days and was tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, but angels ministered to him. After John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee and began preaching the Good News of God.

He said, “The time has come; the kingdom of God is at hand. Change your ways and believe the Good News.”

Lectio Divina

Read: On this first Sunday of Lent, the Church reminds us of God’s post-flood Covenant to Noah that God would preserve life on earth. Peter reminds us of the great spiritual redemption Christ has brought into our lives. With a forty-day desert experience, Jesus begins his ministry of announcing the Good News of God’s love and life.

Reflect: Jesus’ message included the declaration that the Time of redemption – God’s Kingdom - has come and an invitation to mend one’s ways and believe in the Good News of the possibility of one’s redemption. Sometimes we are so steeped in the ways of the “world” and have walked so far away from the ways of the Kingdom that it is hard to believe in even the possibility of a return and new beginnings. Thus the first step required is simply to believe in the Good News of this possibility. We shall begin the Lent by simply trusting this Good News.

Pray: Lord, help me believe in the possibility of change within me and my people.

Act: Make a list of 2-3 things in your life that you would like to change around in this Lent.

Daily Reflection 2018

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th 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

February 17, 2018 Saturday

SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
The Seven Holy Founders
of the Servite Order
Psalter: Week 4 / (Violet)

Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth.

1^st Reading: Is 58:9b-14

Then you will call and Yahweh will answer, you will cry and he will say, I am here. If you remove from your midst the yoke, the clenched fist and the wicked word, If you share your food with the hungry and give relief to the oppressed, then your light will rise in the dark, your night will be like noon. Yahweh will guide you always and give you relief in desert places. He will strengthen your bones; he will make you as a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins will be rebuilt, the age-old foundations will be raised. You will be called the Breach-mender, and the Restorer of ruined houses. If you stop profaning the Sabbath and doing as you please on the holy day, if you call the Sabbath a day of delight and keep sacred Yahweh’s holy day, if you honor it by not going your own way, not doing as you please and not speaking with malice, then you will find happiness in Yahweh, over the heights you will ride triumphantly, and feast joyfully on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of Yahweh has spoken.

Gospel: Lk 5:27-32

After this, Jesus went out, and noticing a tax collector named Levi, sitting in the tax-office, he said to him, “Follow me!” So Levi, leaving everything, got up and followed Jesus.

Levi gave a great feast for Jesus, and many tax collectors came to his house, and took their places at the table with the other people. Then the Pharisees and their followers complained to Jesus’ disciples, “How is it, that you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” But Jesus spoke up, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do, I have not come to call the just, but sinners, to a change of heart.”

Reflections

HEALTHY PEOPLE DON’T NEED A DOCTOR, BUT SICK PEOPLE DO

One thing that self-righteous people in Jesus’ time could not understand was why Jesus seemed to be so comfortable with sinners and public offenders. This is also actually true today. I remember a co-Sister of mine who no longer wanted to talk to, or to be seen in the company of, a former friend, actually also a former Sister because now she is “living in sin” because she is with a man who is not yet her husband. I was puzzled because if you talk to her or be with her, does that necessarily mean you are condoning her action? Maybe at this point in her life, she needs friends more than ever. As Jesus said, healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I love reminding myself always what Pope Francis said the task of the Church is: TO HEAL WOUNDS AND WARM THE HEARTS OF PEOPLE. This is really what it means to be Christ-like or to be a follower of Christ – to do what he did – be with those who are shunned, judged and condemned by self-righteous people because they might need spiritual consolation or warm human companionship.

Daily Reflection 2018

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th 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

Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

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