Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Gospel: Luke 12:32-48
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, and an inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Be ready, dressed for service, and keep your lamps lit, like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding. As soon as he comes and knocks, they will open the door to him. Happy are those servants whom the master finds wide­ awake when he comes. Truly, I tell you, he will put on an apron, and have them sit at table, and he will wait on them. Happy are those servants, if he finds them awake when he comes at midnight or daybreak!
Pay attention to this: If the master of the house had known at what time the thief would come, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.”
Peter said, “Lord, did you tell this parable only for us, or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Imagine, then, the wise and faithful steward, whom the master sets over his other servants, to give them wheat at the proper time. Fortunate is this servant if his master, on coming home, finds him doing his work. Truly, I say to you, the master will put him in charge of all his property.
But it may be that the steward thinks, ‘My Lord delays in coming,’ and he begins to abuse the male servants and the servant girls, eating and drinking and getting drunk. Then the master will come on a day he does not expect, and at an hour he doesn’t know. He will cut him off, and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful. The servant who knew his master’s will, but did not prepare and do what his master wanted, will be soundly beaten; but the one who does unconsciously what deserves punishment, shall receive fewer blows. Much will be required of the one who has been given much, and more will be asked of the one who has been entrusted with more.

Lectio Divina
READ: Here, the Book of Wisdom tells of the ancestors who trusted and awaited the promise of sal­vation. The author of the Letter to the Hebrew describes faith and cites Abraham and Sarah as having acted by faith. The gospel reading, meanwhile, speaks of being ready, or being prepared, when the master returns.
REFLECT: What we have in the readings today are the core elements in the success of any worthwhile undertaking, namely: faith and action. In the Christian context, when combined, they form the synergy that effects the salvation of all creation. Having believed in Jesus and followed him, Jesus instructed them of the necessity to be always ready while they await his return. Being ready means, in our day, that our faith in God needs to be accompanied by good deeds that advance His reign of justice, love and mercy. Our faith in a loving and merciful God is made concrete in our works for the needy and the marginalized. It is also made visible in our defence of the rights and dignity of our fellow humans, and in our protection of other forms of life on Earth. Possessing a steadfast faith will move us to become “keepers” and carers of all that God has created, humans and other­ than ­human beings alike.
PRAY: Lord, grant us the grace to translate our love and faith in you into concrete actions for others.
ACT: Be involve in church and civic actions that promote justice, peace, and care and protection of the natural world.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: John 12:24-26
Truly, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Those who love their life destroy it, and those who despise their life in this world save it even to everlasting life.
Whoever wants to serve me, let him follow me; and wherever I am, there shall my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Reflections
“Those who despise their life in this world save it.”
Andrew Lincoln has beauti­fully commented on the “loving”­ and ­“hating”­ one’s­ life aspect of the gospel passage. He wrote: “to save, find or gain one’s life is to at­tempt to live one’s life as though one owned it and it is an enter­prise doomed to failure because life is a gift from God, who can also take it away. On the other hand, to lose one’s life is to renounce the attempt to secure life for oneself and, instead, to spend it in the ser­vice of God and others.”
God would always lead us to the purpose he has for each of us, and this purpose presents itself in the form of service to God and his beautiful creation. Our purpose in life is intrinsically connected to this triadic element of God, crea­tion, and service. Just like the rain that falls to the ground, which must perform a specific role, we too, brought to life on Earth, must accomplish that for which we are created. This is spending our life in service, instead of se­ curing it for own.
That is why it is important to identify those things that lead us to direct our energy, time, and skill just for ourselves; and that take us away from serving God and his creation.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Matthew 16:24-28
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If you want to follow me, deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. For whoever chooses to save his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life, for my sake, will find it. What will one gain by winning the whole world, if he destroys his soul? Or what can a person give, in exchange for his life?
Know, that the Son of Man will come, in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, and he will reward each one according to his deeds. Truly, I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death, before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Reflections
“If you want to follow me, deny yourself.”
In the gospel reading, Jesus invites us to deny our self, take up our cross, and follow him. This is the threefold character of dis­cipleship. Discipleship in action is both rewarding and costly. It comprises of joy brought about by sharing in the life of Christ, but it also bears a measure or degree of suffering encountered along the way. In both joy and suffering one denies the self of personal gratifications and ambitions brought about by “a purely competitive view of life” (Brendan Byrne). The satisfaction of desires and the determination to achieve something present themselves attractively. They exert some power over the indi­vidual to pursue them. Denying the self of them, resisting their pull, and fully embracing the consequent joy and suffering of following Jesus open up an op­portunity to live life in its fullest and allow for the experience of the deepest human hope of living in communion with the loving God.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-23
After that, Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi. He asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They said, “For some of them, you are John the Baptist; for others Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
Jesus asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “It is well for you, Simon Barjona, for it is not flesh or blood that has revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.
And now I say to you: You are Peter; and on this Rock I will build my Church; and never will the powers of death overcome it.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you unbind on earth shall be unbound in heaven.”
Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
From that day, Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem; that he would suffer many things from the Jewish authorities, the chief priests and the teachers of the law; and that he would be killed and be raised on the third day.
Then Peter took him aside and began to reproach him, “Never, Lord! No, this must never happen to you!”
But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path. You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”

Reflections
“On this rock I will build my Church.”
We know that foundations are what make something stand firm. Strong foundation, solid ground makes for stable structure. In Je­sus, the Church, the Body of Christ, stands on solid ground. He is the life, the truth, and the guide of the People of God. In him we find fulfillment, meaning, and direc­tion. Our faith has its basis on the resurrection of Jesus. Our hope is well founded on the words and promise of Jesus. And our love is grounded on the love of God for all his “very good” creation.
We have a choice where to ground our actions: we can ground them with the truth, the good, and genuine values; or we can base them from mere satis­factions. Those that are genuinely valuable are connected and ori­ented to the truth and the good. Genuine values promote well­ being and flourishing of the whole creation, humans and nonhumans alike. On the other hand, mere satisfactions, if they were to guide our actions, are unstable and can­ not be relied on. They tend to cor­rupt, and will destroy both human lives and the natural world. When actions are led by mere satisfac­tions, life in the end becomes disorderly and miserable.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019