Daily Reflection

March 12, 2018 Monday

4TH WEEK OF LENT
Psalter: Week 4 / (Violet)

Ps 30:2 & 4, 5-6, 11-12a & 13b
I will praise you, Lord,
for you have rescued me.

1^st Reading: Is 65:17-21

I now create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind again. Be glad forever and rejoice in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people. The sound of distress and the voice of weeping will not be heard in it any more.

You will no longer know of dead children or of adults who do not live out a lifetime. One who reaches a hundred years will have died a mere youth, but one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant crops and eat their fruit.

Gospel: Jn 4:43-54

When the two days were over, Jesus left for Galilee. Jesus himself said that no prophet is recognized in his own country. Yet the Galileans welcomed him when he arrived, because of all the things which he had done in Jerusalem during the Festival, and which they had seen. For they, too, had gone to the feast.

Jesus went back to Cana of Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. At Capernaum there was an official, whose son was ill, and when he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked him to come and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

Jesus said, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe!” The official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” And Jesus replied, “Go, your son lives!”

The man had faith in the word that Jesus spoke to him, and went his way. As he was approaching his house, his servants met him, and gave him the good news, “Your son has recovered!” So he asked them at what hour the child began to recover, and they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday, at about one o’clock in the afternoon.” And the father realized that that was the time when Jesus had told him, “Your son lives!” And he became a believer, he and all his family.

Jesus performed this second miraculous sign when he returned from Judea to Galilee.

Reflections

UNLESS YOU SEE SIGNS
AND WONDERS
YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE

We all long for certainty. When we pray we wish God would show us a sign about what we have prayed for or a sign to confirm a decision we have made. But the Scriptures have shown that in spite of signs and wonders, people still didn’t believe. In the Old Testament, when the rich man asked Lazarus to give a sign to warn people, he said there is no use because people will still not believe. Jesus did a lot of miracles in his time and also his apostles, but there were those who still did not believe. Thomas the apostle did not believe that Jesus had risen until the resurrected Christ put his hand on his wound. What we most need is faith and not signs and wonders. Because if we have faith we will see the confirmation of our prayers through people, through ordinary occurrences in our lives, through our own inner certainty.

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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March 11, 2018 Sunday

4TH SUNDAY OF LENT
Psalter: Week 4 / (Violet/Rose)

Ps 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

1^st Reading: 2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23

Furthermore, all the heads of the priesthood, and the people, too, were exceedingly unfaithful, following the disgusting example of the nations around them, and so they defiled the house which Yahweh himself had made holy. Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, continued to send prophets to warn his people, since he had compassion on them and on his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, ignored his words, and laughed at his prophets, until at last the anger of Yahweh rose so high against his people that there was no further remedy.

They burned down the house of God, broke down the walls of Jerusalem, set fire to all its palaces, and destroyed everything of value in it. The survivors were deported by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon; they were to serve him and his descendants as slaves until the kingdom of Persia came to power. This is how the work of Yahweh was fulfilled that he spoke through Jeremiah, “The land will lie desolate for seventy years, to make up for its Sabbath rests that have not been observed.”

And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill what he had said through the prophet Jeremiah, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue the following command and send it out in writing to be read aloud everywhere in his kingdom: “Thus speaks Cyrus king of Persia: Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has ordered me to build him a house in Jerusalem, in Judah. Now, all of you who belong to his people, go there; and may Yahweh your God be with you.”

2^nd Reading: Eph 2:4-10

But God, who is rich in mercy, revealed his immense love. As we were dead through our sins, he gave us life, with Christ. By grace, you have been saved! And he raised us to life, with Christ, giving us a place with him in heaven.

In showing us such kindness, in Christ Jesus, God willed to reveal and unfold in the coming ages the extraordinary riches of his grace. By the grace of God, you have been saved, through faith. This has not come from you: it is God’s gift. This was not the result of your works, so you are not to feel proud. What we are, is God’s work. He has created us, in Christ Jesus, for the good works he has prepared, that we should devote ourselves to them.

Gospel: Jn 3:14-21

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through him the world is to be saved. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned. He who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

This is how Judgment is made: Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For whoever does wrong hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, for fear that his deeds will be seen as evil. But whoever lives according to the truth comes into the light, so that it can be clearly seen that his works have been done in God.”

Lectio Divina

Read: God’s persistent and unrelenting efforts to redeem people are met with total ignorance and unwillingness by the latter. The world prefers to love darkness and reject God’s light. If we are saved, it is only due to the extraordinary riches of his grace and mercy.

Reflect: What is the shape of God’s love? Perhaps it’s shape is its shapelessness. For His love is beyond boundaries and we simply cannot get our hands around it. We cannot hold it in our hearts or hands; rather, we must simply let ourselves be held by this boundless love that redeems us despite ourselves. To follow the reflection of theologian James Allison, our faith is not about doing good, it is not even about being good; it is all about being loved. The day we grasp the truth of this is the day we will know God and know ourselves.

Pray: Pray for a keen awareness of being loved into being by God every moment of your life.

Act: Share God’s love in some concrete way with someone less fortunate than you.

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

March 10, 2018 Saturday

3RD WEEK OF LENT
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet)

Ps 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab
It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

1^st Reading: Hos 6:1-6

Come, let us return to Yahweh.
He who shattered us to pieces, will heal us as well; he has struck us down, but he will bind up our wounds.
Two days later he will bring us back to life; on the third day, he will raise us up, and we shall live in his presence.
Let us strive to know Yahweh.
His coming is as certain as the dawn.
His judgment will burst forth like the light.
He will come to us as showers come, like spring rain that waters the earth.
O Ephraim, what shall I do with you?
O Judah, how shall I deal with you?
This love of yours is like morning mist, like morning dew that quickly disappears.
This is why I smote you through the prophets, and have slain you by the words of my mouth.
For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice; it is knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.

Gospel: Lk 18:9-14

Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness, who looked down on others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and give a tenth of all my income to the temple.’

In the meantime the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’

I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”

Reflections

HUMILITY

One of the rarest qualities of people is genuine humility. It seems to be a part of our psychological survival to be proud or vain. One can appear to be humble but in reality one is just submissive and subservient. There is also the so-called humility with a hook in which we engage in self-deprecating statements hoping for someone to contradict us. The ego is so pervasive and is so wily that it insinuates itself into our actions and thoughts in disguised ways. Actually, one cannot be humble unless one has a healthy self-esteem. Someone puts it this way: One cannot be humble if one does not have something to be proud of. Actually a genuinely humble person has a healthy self-esteem that comes from an honest self-knowledge and self-acceptance. Humble people have an inner security which is immune to flattery and blame. Unlike people who are innerly insecure, they do not need to put up a front, a false façade to hide their insecurity. They do not have to flaunt their achievements and accomplishments. They are also not easily insulted or humiliated, because they know who they are and what people say does not make them grow or diminish even a single inch. HUMILITY IS TRUTH.

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

March 9, 2018 Friday

3RD WEEK OF LENT
St. Frances of Rome, religious
Day of abstinence from meat (age 14 and up)
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet)

Ps 81:6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 & 17
I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

1^st Reading: Hos 14:2-10*

Return to your God, Yahweh, O Israel! Your sins have caused your downfall.

Return to Yahweh with humble words. Say to him, “Oh, you who show compassion to the fatherless, forgive our debt, be appeased. (…)

Like a cedar, he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow and spread.

His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance, like a Lebanon cedar. They will dwell in my shade again, they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like a vine, and their fame will be like Lebanon wine.

What would Ephraim do with idols, when it is I who hear and make him prosper? I am like an evergreen cypress tree; all your fruitfulness comes from me.

Who is wise enough to grasp all this? Who is discerning and will understand? Straight are the ways of Yahweh: the just walk in them, but the sinners stumble.

Gospel: Mk 12:28-34

A teacher of the law had been listening to this discussion and admired how Jesus answered them. So he came up and asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus answered, “The first is: Hear, Israel! The Lord, our God, is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And after this comes a second commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these two.”

The teacher of the law said to him, “Well spoken, Master; you are right when you say that he is one, and there is no other besides him. To love him with all our heart, with all our understanding and with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.”

Jesus approved this answer and said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Reflections

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
AS YOURSELF

We are so used to quoting this phrase that we don’t realize how significant it is. It is saying that the gauge of our loving others is loving ourselves. Sometimes we are taught the wrong idea that we should not love ourselves — that doing so is selfishness. But that is not true. We cannot truly love others if we do not love ourselves. What does this mean?. It means first of all that we acknowledge that all of what we are is from God — gift of God. So the first act of loving ourselves is appreciating ourselves and thanking God that of all possible beings, we are the ones chosen to emerge from nothingness into being. Then we look at ourselves — our body — the most amazing and most spectacular mechanism on earth — our circulatory system, our digestive system, how our brain works, the coordination of our muscles, bones, limbs — amazing! — .Loving ourselves means taking care of ourselves, giving ourselves good nourishment, avoiding harmful foods, drinks, habits, etc. It means maintaining good mental health, getting enough rest, avoiding addictions, forming good physical and mental habits, etc. It also means accepting ourselves for what we are — our gifts and our weaknesses. We are able to forgive ourselves and begin anew. And this is our way also of loving others — being caring and compassionate, being understanding and forgiving, being nurturing and considerate. I LOVE MYSELF. I LOVE YOU AS I LOVE MYSELF.

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

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