Daily Reflection

February 12, 2018 Monday

6TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 2 / (Green)

Ps 119:67, 68, 71, 72, 75, 76
Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.

1^st Reading: Jas 1:1-11

James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends greetings to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.

Consider yourselves fortunate, my brothers and sisters, when you meet with every kind of trial, for you know, that the testing of your faith makes you steadfast. Let your steadfastness become perfect, with deeds, that you, yourselves, may be perfect and blameless, without any defect.

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all easily and unconditionally. But ask with faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave driven and tossed on the sea by the wind. Such a person should not expect anything from the Lord, since the doubter has two minds and his conduct will always be insecure.

Let the believer who is poor, boast, in being uplifted, and let the rich one boast, in being humbled, because he will pass away like the flower of the field. The sun rises and its heat dries the grass; the flower withers and its beauty vanishes. So, too, will the rich person fade away, even in the midst of his pursuits.

Gospel: Mk 8:11-13

The Pharisees came and started to argue with Jesus. Hoping to embarrass him, they asked for some heavenly sign. Then his spirit was moved. He gave a deep sigh and said, “Why do the people of this present time ask for a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this people.” Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side of the lake.

Reflections

WE WILL PASS AWAY LIKE THE FLOWERS OF THE FIELD

This scriptural passage reminds us once again about our mortality. We need constant reminding because we tend to lull ourselves in the delusion that it will not happen to us for a long time. We see our friends going before us, our loved ones, people younger than us, but somehow we cannot imagine it happening to ourselves. So we need constant reminders: MEMENTO MORI. But this should not make us morbid but, rather, it should make us value life more than ever. The flowers of the field are beautiful but they will pass away. But their existence has been worthwhile because of the passersby who had been given joy by admiring its beauty. Mao Tse Tung said: ”Death can be as heavy as a mountain and as light as a feather” What a mystical statement for an atheist. I don’t know if for him a heavy death is better than one as light as feather. One can make an argument for both. A heavy death can be positive if it meant that one’s life has been so worthwhile that one would be missed heavily by those who have benefitted from it. And a light death may be the consequence of light, meaningless life. In other words it means the difference between a significant life and a life without consequence. Reminding us of our mortality makes us want to live each moment significantly.

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 11, 2018 Sunday

6TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 2 / (Green)

Ps 32:1-2, 5, 11
I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble,
and you fill me with the joy of salvation.

1^st Reading: Lev 13:1-2, 44-46

Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “If someone has a boil, an inflammation or a sore on his skin which could develop into leprosy, he must be brought to Aaron, the priest, or to one of the priests, his descendants.

This means that the man is leprous: he is unclean. The priest shall declare him unclean; he is suffering from leprosy of the head. A person infected with leprosy must wear torn clothing and leave his hair uncombed; he must cover his upper lip and cry, “Unclean, unclean.” As long as the disease lasts he must be unclean; and therefore he must live away from others: he must live outside the camp.

2^nd Reading: 1 Cor 10:31–11:1

Then, whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Give no offense to the Jews, or to the Greeks, or to the Church of God; just as I try to please everyone in everything. I do not seek my own interest, but that of many, that they be saved. Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.

Gospel: Mk 1:40-45

A leper came to Jesus and begged him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to; be clean.” The leprosy left the man at once and he was made clean. As Jesus sent the man away, he sternly warned him, “Don’t tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest; and for the cleansing, bring the offering ordered by Moses; in this way, you will give to them your testimony.”

However, as soon as the man went out, he began spreading the news everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter any town. But even though he stayed in the rural areas, people came to him from everywhere.

Lectio Divina

Read: The first reading focuses on the priestly task of exclusion: declaring someone unclean and outside the community. In the gospel, Jesus reverses the process: he heals the man with leprosy and asks him to show himself to a priest who can declare him clean and admit him back to community. And Paul invites us to follow the example of Christ.

Reflect: What is “imitatio Christi” other than doing the act of inclusion? Our impulse is to discriminate, differentiate, isolate, exclude, and if possible, annihilate. Unfortunately, many religious people use their religious texts to justify such acts of exclusion. But Paul insists that our model – the only model worth following – is that of Christ who came into this world to become like us, to teach us to embrace God’s own impulse – an impulse that seeks to see the kinship we share with everything and thereby reach out, embrace, heal and include.

Pray: Pray for the gift of God’s impulse to feel kinship with everything that is.

Act: Reach out, embrace and include someone whom you have been keeping at arm’s length for long.

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 10, 2018 Saturday

5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Blessed Virgin Mary
St. Scholastica, virgin
Psalter: Week 1 / (White)

Ps 106:6-7ab, 19-20, 21-22
Remember us, O Lord,
as you favor your people.

1^st Reading: 1 K 12:26-32; 13:33-34

Jeroboam thought, “The kingdom could return to the house of David. Should these people go up to offer sacrifices in Yahweh’s house in Jerusalem, their heart would turn again to their master, Rehoboam king, of Judah. They would kill me and go back to him.” And so the king, sought advice and made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” He put one of these in Bethel, the other in Dan. This caused Israel to sin; the people went to Bethel and Dan to worship the calves. Jeroboam also built temples on high places, appointing priests who were not from the Levites. Jeroboam also appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in imitation of the feast in Judah, and he himself offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel; and sacrificed to the calves that he had made. There he placed priests for the high places he had made.

After this, however, Jeroboam did not abstain from doing evil. Instead he made priests for the high places from among the people. He consecrated anyone who wanted to be a priest for the high places. And this became the sin of the family of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth.

Gospel: Mk 8:1-10

Soon afterward, Jesus was in the midst of another large crowd, that obviously had nothing to eat. So he called his disciples and said to them, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat. If I send them to their homes hungry, they will faint on the way; some of them have come a long way.” His disciples replied, “Where, in a deserted place like this, could we get enough bread to feed these people?” He asked them, “How many loaves have you?” And they answered, “Seven.”

Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and giving thanks, he broke them, and handed them to his disciples to distribute. And they distributed them among the people. They also had some small fish. So Jesus said a blessing, and asked that these be shared as well.

The people ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand in number. Jesus sent them away, and immediately got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

Reflections

WHAT IS THE MIRACLE IN THE MULTIPLICATION OF LOAVES AND FISHES?

Believe it or not, we can sometimes experience spiritual enlightenment during a political event. I remember during Martial Law in the Philippines, many of us Sisters were attending a convention of about 500 workers in St. Joseph’s College on Labor Day. While we were there, Marcos was giving a talk in Luneta. All of a sudden we found ourselves — actually the whole campus of St. Joseph surrounded by the military because they thought we and the 500 workers might march to Luneta and heckle Marcos. We could not get out. As it turned into evening the Sisters of St. Joseph — worried about how to feed the workers. They cooked all the rice they had and opened all the canned goods they could find but of course these were too little for so many. And so we Sisters from other congregations called up our convents to send food to the workers. Soon cooked food from all parts of Manila found their way to St. Joseph. Like in the Gospel we asked the workers to sit by 50s in the auditorium and distributed the food. The next day we had more than 12 baskets of food left over which we then wrapped for the workers to take home. In our reflection, we came to the conclusion that in the Gospel story the miracle was not really the suspension of natural laws but the conversion of hearts. When the little boy offered his loaves and fishes, all those who actually brought their own food also offered theirs and it turned out to be not only sufficient but more than enough for everybody.

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 9, 2018 Friday

5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 1 / (Green)

Ps 81:10-11ab, 12-13, 14-15
I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.

1^st Reading: 1 K 11:29-32; 12:19

Once, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh found him on the road. The two of them were alone in the open country when Ahijah, who had a new garment on, clutched and tore it into twelve pieces. He then said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself for this is the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hands to give you ten tribes. Only one tribe shall be left to him for the sake of my servant David and Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to the present time.

Gospel: Mk 7:31-37

Again, Jesus set out: from the country of Tyre he passed through Sidon and, skirting the sea of Galilee, he came to the territory of Decapolis. There, a deaf man, who also had difficulty in speaking, was brought to him. They asked Jesus to lay his hand upon him. Jesus took him apart from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears, and touched his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, he said with a deep sigh, “Ephphata!” that is, “Be opened!”

And immediately, his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about it; but the more he insisted, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, “He has done all things well; he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”

Reflections

HIS EARS WERE OPENED

I am sure that even how much we try, we will never truly know how it feels to be deaf — to hear no sound, to live in absolute silence. Imagine not being able to listen to the voice of your loved ones, to listen to the sounds of nature — the chirping of birds, the tinkle of water, the rush of rivers, the sound of waves. Imagine not being able to listen to music — to Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, etc. or even to the singing of a children’s choir. We take these things for granted and yet what a great difference to our lives if we lose this hearing capacity. But there are other kinds of deafness besides the physical one. We can be deaf to God’s call to a certain vocation. We can turn a deaf ear to our conscience whispering to us to avoid evil and to do good. We can be deaf to our parents, teachers or guardians who try to guide us. We can be deaf to the cries of the poor, the needy, the abandoned, the persecuted, to the victims of violence. We close our ears to the groaning of nature raped by human greed and desecrated by pollution. When Jesus looked upon the deaf person in the Gospel, touched his ears and commanded it to be opened, the person must have fallen into ecstatic bliss when he began to hear again. We do not need a miracle to open the ears of our heart to listen to God’s voice speaking to us in the depth of our heart and in nature and people around us.

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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