September 26, 2008 (Friday)

GOD’S PERFECT TIME

“There is an appointed time for everything.”– Ecclesiastes 3:1

He wanted to buy a car. But he could only afford a second-hand. On his first attempt to search for a used vehicle, he received news from a friend. “Have you heard that the car of one of the residents living a few blocks from your home was stolen?”

“Is the Lord telling me something?” he wondered. So he postponed his search. After sometime, he looked again for a car. Just then, he heard that another vehicle was stolen near his area.
After a few months, he resumed his search. And for the third time, another vehicle was stolen … and it was his neighbor’s.

He gave up the idea of buying a car. Instead, he decided to wait for the Lord’s signal.
One day, he dropped by the office of a colleague. He was handed an envelope. It was his Christmas and birthday gift rolled into one. When he opened it, it was a check, the amount of which is good enough for a down payment for a brand new car.
It pays well to wait on the Lord. God’s timing is always perfect. We just need to be patient and trust His heart.Judith Concepcion

REFLECTION:

God is neither too late nor too early. He makes all things beautiful in His time.

I choose to wait on You Lord no matter how long it takes for I know You have prepared only the best for me.

COMPANION

1st READING

There is a time for everything under heaven. This seems redundant as it does not add anything to what we already know, but it is amazing how often we need to be reaffirmed in truths that we would claim to know already. How often has someone told you that God loves you? It is not likely we will tire of hearing this truth. It is important that we realize that there is a time for all things; the difficulty is learning to discern when and where. There is a time for war – to fight for truth and right. How we should do this is another matter.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

1 There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build. 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. 5 A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. 6 A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 9 What advantage has the worker from his toil? 10 I have considered the task which God has appointed for men to be busied about. 11 He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men’s ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

P S A L M

Psalm 144:1b and 2abc, 3-4
R: Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
1 Blessed be the LORD, my rock, 2 my mercy and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I trust. (R) 3 LORD, what is man, that you notice him; the son of man, that you take thought of him? 4 Man is like a breath; his days, like a passing shadow. (R)

G O S P E L

In the direct prophecies of the Messiah in the Old Testament, few if any, speak of the Messiah having to suffer. Yes, it is there in the Servant Songs of Yhwh but scholars would not say that these are directly messianic prophecies. We interpret them to speak of Jesus today through the benefit of hindsight. Be that as it may, Jesus prepares His disciples for the worst with today’s prophecy of His suffering and death. It is a prophecythat in some ways we can apply to our own lives in that we, too, will be called to suffer and die to ourselves as we serve in His Kingdom.

Luke 9:18-22

18 Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 They saidin reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ ” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Messiah of God.” 21 He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. 22 He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

my reflections

think:We, too, will be called to suffer and die to ourselves as we serve in His Kingdom.

_______________________________________________________

God’s special verse/thought for me today________________
_________________________________________________________

T O D A Y ’ S BLESSING LIST
Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________
_______________________________________________________
READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Proverbs 24-27

SABBATH

A Decisive Question From Jesus To Us

Our Gospel passage today from Luke has a parallel version by Matthew, but there is a noticeable difference in the Lucan version: the opening verse tells us that Jesus “was praying in solitude.” Truly, it was in such a context of prayer that Jesus put forth to His disciples the decisive question of His identity. It was always like that in the Gospel according to Luke, in fact, that in all the important decisions Jesus had to take in His life (see also Luke 6:12), they were always in the atmosphere of prayer.

After all, it was a crucial question indeed. Jesus had somehow to correct certain wrong notions about His identity as the Messiah. In the mind of typical Jews, the Messiah was a political leader, one whom they hoped would make Israel the number one nation in the world and who would catapult them into a position of power and prestige. Jesus had to re-educate the people about the true nature of the Messiah. Until He did, He could not reveal Himself as the Messiah.

For Jesus, it couldn’t be anything but a spiritual kingdom as against a material or political one. His crown was one not of gold, but of thorns. On our part, do we try to remake Jesus into our own image and likeness?

If Jesus were to pose the question right now to us, “Who do you say that I am?”, what would we answer? Perhaps we ourselves ought to arrive at our answer in the proper atmosphere of prayer, where we can truly attune ourselves to Jesus’ identity, familiarize ourselves with Him, and accept Him for who is really is and not just according to what the crowds say. It is a most personal question which He shoots to us time and again in our lives. And it is only from the innermost recesses of our hearts that our response should come, for it is there that we encounter Him in the first place: Jesus the Messiah — Him, and only Him, nobody else but Him — not John the Baptizer, not Elijah, not one of the prophets of old. Fr. Martin Macasaet

Reflection Question:

If Jesus were to pose the question right now to us, “Who do you say that I am?,” what would you answer?



You are many things to many people. Dear Lord, may my declarations of You be real in my life.



Sts. Cosmos & Damian, martyrs, pray for us.




credits to kerygmafamily.com

for daily scriptures subscriptions go to: kerygmafamily.com

food for the soul: Bo Sanchez official site

September 25, 2008 (Thursday)

NOTHING PERMANENT

“One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays.” – Ecclesiastes 1:4

Nothing struck me more strongly about man’s transitory nature in this world than when we had just buried our mother.

It was the week following her burial. I went to her room, and what did I see? The housedress she wore the day before she got hospitalized; the rolled stockings neatly placed on the shoes she wore the Sunday before for Mass; her hair rollers; the book she didn’t finish reading.

All these reminders made me weep, surely, but what hit me was how death really comes like a thief in the night. It catches us unprepared. One minute we are in this world, then another minute we’re gone. We all die, sooner or later. A part of us stays on in the lives of the persons we leave behind, but eventually they move on, and the world continues without us.

Death is irreversible. How it comes to us is uncertain. There’s only one thing we have control of – how we prepare for it. Tess Atienza


REFLECTION:
If I just have one more year to live, how will I spend it?


Lord, help me to look constantly at my End. I don’t want to meet my death unprepared, because I want to be with You in Your Kingdom and not anywhere else.

COMPANION

1st READING

Vanity of vanities …. All is vanity! This is an interesting text to ponder and apply to our lives. I think there is a lesson here for personal grooming. I firmly believe there is a limit to the amount of money and time we should spend on such activities, especially when they are devoted to making us look younger. It is almost as if we are trying to live a lie. The fact is that everyone gets older and their appearance changes with time. The greater freedom and truth is to accept this as a given in life and use the money on something that is far more productive and important such as the Gospel or care of the poor.

Ecclesiastes 1:2-11

2 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! 3 What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun? 4 One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays. 5 The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises. 6 Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds. 7 All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going. 8 All speech is labored; there is nothing man can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. 10 Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!” has already existed in the ages that preceded us. 11 There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.

P S A L M

Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17bc
R: In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
3 You turn man back to dust, saying, “Return, O children of men.” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night. (R) 5 You make an end of them in their sleep; the next morning they are like the changing grass, 6 which at dawn springs up anew, but by evening wilts and fades. (R) 12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! (R) 14 Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. 17 Prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands! (R)

G O S P E L

Herod is a carnal man worried only about his own status in the eyes of the people and his own comfort and pleasure. He is not a model for Christian living. He shows no remorse of heart for having killed John the Baptist even though he was aware John was a good man. He is only interested in Jesus because Jesus is a charismatic and thus potentially troublesome figure for his rule. We see later that he does not lift a hand to save Jesus’ life either.

7 Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead”; 8 others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.” 9 But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.

my reflections

think:Vanity of vanities …. All is vanity! I think there is a lesson here for personal grooming.


_______________________________________________________

God’s special verse/thought for me today________________
_________________________________________________________

T O D A Y ’ S BLESSING LIST
Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________
_______________________________________________________
READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Proverbs 21-23

SABBATH

Meeting Jesus in a More personal Way

Herod the tetrarch is both perplexed and curious about Jesus. What triggered this was Herod’s hearing of various opinions and rumors from the grapevine concerning the person or identity of Jesus. He couldn’t believe the rumor saying that Jesus was John the Baptizer who has been raised from the dead — because Herod himself was the one who had John beheaded. And so the poor guy was asking, “Who then is this about whom I hear such things?”

Was it a combination of a guilty conscience and an intrigued curiosity which was keeping Herod awake through sleepless nights? If only he just went beyond hearsay, if only he just pacified his conscience with an honest confession of his crime, if only once and for all he approached Jesus squarely and sincerely. With all his power, he could have just easily sent for Jesus and talked with him and clarified everything. But Jesus, on the other hand, would not have time for such insincere and wicked people.

What about us? Oh, surely Jesus would want to invite us into a relationship with Him. But can we, too, be like Herod at times, whereby our relationship with Jesus remains merely on the superficial level? Making matters worse for us is the reality of our sinfulness, which prevents us from coming to Jesus in a more intimate way.
A humble and sincere admission to God of our faults and failures in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is all there is to it. If we do not avail of this sacrament of God’s mercy and forgiveness, we might just remain always perplexed about our spiritual life, never getting to know Jesus Christ in a more personal way. Or we will just remain merely “curious” to see Him.

We need not worry. It is not John the Baptizer who has been raised from the dead. Nor is it Elijah or one of the prophets of old who has appeared. It is Jesus Christ — and for all we know, it is He who is just there waiting for us, and is most eager to see us. Fr. Martin Macasaet

Reflection Question:
Have you really come to Jesus?

I have avoided really coming before You, Lord, so many times. Give me courage, Lord. Remind me of Your great mercy.

St. Finbar, bishop, pray for us.


credits to kerygmafamily.com

for daily scriptures subscriptions go to: kerygmafamily.com

food for the soul: Bo Sanchez official site