Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Gospel: Luke 11:5-13
Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to his house in the middle of the night and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine who is traveling has just arrived, and I have nothing to offer him.’ Maybe your friend will answer from inside, ‘Don’t bother me now; the door is locked, and my children and I are in bed, so I can’t get up and give you anything.’ But I tell you, even though he will not get up and attend to you because you are a friend, yet he will get up because you are a bother to him, and he will give you all you need.
And so I say to you, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.
If your child asks for a fish, will you give him a snake instead? And if your child asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

Reflections
“Ask, and it will be given to you.”
We know quite well St. Augustine of Hippo who lived a rather naughty life. A story is told that his mother, St. Monica, re- quested a bishop to talk to him. But the bishop declined saying it is a futile move. However, recognizing her sincere prayer and her tears for the conversion of her son, the bishop said, “Go, continue to live so; it cannot be that the son of those tears will perish.” And we know how this story ends: answered prayers.
The gospel points to the certainty of God’s generosity in answering prayers. In other words, God ALWAYS answers prayers. But there is one important thing we ought to bear in mind: we need to allow God to answer our prayers in the man- ner that he knows best. It can happen that we will not know what to receive when we ask, or what to find when we seek, or which door will be opened when we knock, but for certain, not one person who approaches God in earnest supplication will go empty-handed.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 11:1-4
One day, Jesus was praying in a certain place; and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” And Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this: Father, may your name be held holy, may your kingdom come; give us, each day, the kind of bread we need, and forgive us our sins; for we also forgive all who do us wrong; and do not bring us to the test.”

Reflections
“Lord, teach us to pray.”
I sense a beautiful connection of the gospel text today to those of the past two days. Last Monday, the gospel recalls the incident where a teacher of the law inquired about inheriting eternal life (Lk. 10:25-37). Using a parable, Jesus pointed out that to inherit eternal life, knowing the commandments – loving God and neighbor – is not enough. One must put know- ledge into practice. In other words, Jesus emphasized action. Yesterday, we heard again of the story of Martha and Mary (Lk. 10:38-42). Recall that Martha complained doing all the work by herself while Mary simply sat at the feet of Jesus to listen to him. But instead of Jesus ta- king Martha’s side, he praised Mary for choosing “the better part”. Hence, instead of action, Jesus, at this point, emphasized contemplation and prayer. To- day, Jesus teaches us how to pray: pray from the heart. It is in those moments when we pray from the heart that our prayers become more honest and we become more authentic before our Father.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he entered a village, and a woman called Martha welcomed him to her house. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet to listen to his words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving, and finally she said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”
But the Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Reflections
“Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things.”
Martha and Mary are the customary images used to underline the active and the contemplative dimensions of life. Martha is the personification of action in the world and Mary is attention to the Lord. The evangelist Luke recounts this occasion of Jesus’visit to the sisters to impart an important lesson we all need to learn: it is necessary to cultivate a healthy balance between a time to move about with our busy schedules and a time to sit at the foot of Jesus. The Church does not discourage us from attending to the many concerns and worries of life. We need to work, and work over- time if we must, to earn for our needs and meet the demands of our families. But we too need to learn to stop and spend time with the Lord in prayer before we run out of time and realizing too late that we have failed to see “the better part”.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
Then a teacher of the law came and began putting Jesus to the test. And he said, “Master, what shall I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus re plied, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” The man answered, “It is written: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus replied, “What a good answer! Do this and you shall live.” The man wanted to justify his question, so he asked, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus then said, “There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him and went off, leaving him half- dead.
It happened that a priest was going along that road and saw the man, but passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite saw the man, and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan also was going that way; and when he came upon the man, he was moved with compassion. He went over to him, and cleaned his wounds with oil and wine, and wrapped them in bandages. Then he put him on his own mount, and brought him to an inn, where he took care of him.
The next day, he had to set off; but he gave two silver coins to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I return.’”
Jesus then asked, “Which of these three, do you think, made himself neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The teacher of the law answered, “The one who had mercy on him.” And Jesus said, “Then go and do the same.”

Reflections
“Then go and do the same.”
Jesus was born into a world with prevalent social groupings. Sacred Scriptures would point to such groups as the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Jews, the Romans, the Samaritans, the outcasts, etc. Naturally there was widespread division in society, and in many cases, bitter rivalries. Membership in one makes you an ally, but makes you an enemy of the opponent group. Hence one is regarded either as a friend or as a foe. Those who are considered neighbors and definitely only the friends. Jesus uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to redefine who is a neighbor.
We can have a very narrow understanding of who our neighbors are. At best we can easily point to those who live with us in the same territory or those who are our “ka-barrio”, “ka-purok”, or those who live within the vicinity of our residences. But the teaching of Jesus emphasizes a new under- standing of who our neighbor is. Our neighbor is everybody; we all belong to one family. Therefore, Christians as we are, followers of Jesus, the tall order of Loving the Neighbor means loving anyone and everyone without exception.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019