God is always faithful to us, and Christ is always faithful to the Church. A couple's love and fidelity to each other until death symbolizes this faithfulness, and is a way in which we can help to understand why marriage is considered a sacrament in the Catholic church.
All sacraments have lasting value, including the sacrament of marriage. A couple's promise to remain faithful to each other is until death, which is why Jesus rules out divorce in today's gospel from Mark 10:2-16. Jesus said divorce was not in God's plan and was introduced by humans, because they lowered their vision of marriage and drifted away from God's plan for marriage.
God is always faithful to us, and Christ is always faithful to the Church. A couple's love and fidelity to each other until death symbolizes this faithfulness, and is a way in which we can help to understand why marriage is considered a sacrament in the Catholic church. Faith. What is it? What do we merit in order to possess it? Nothing! It is a free gift. God in His abundant, endless, mercy has gifted us the gift of faith. We didn't do anything nor can we do anything in order to possess it. God gives it.
If you have faith in God, it will show in your actions. On this 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, let us be more open to God's ocean of mercy, so that the faith He has given us may continue to grow each day and bear fruit in our lives. Our Lord asked his disciples, "who do people say I am?" They responded that many thought him to be John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets. But Peter's voice silenced them all, "you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God".
Today, this same question is asked of each of us - "who do you say that I am?" What will you answer? In this Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, let us profess our faith in Jesus. He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God! May we look upon the example of Mary, the true disciple of Jesus, in her commitment to faith and obedience to the will of God. In one way or another, today's deaf man in the gospel represents each one of us. Our modern society has become accustomed to the noises of the world, which make us deaf to the words of Jesus. A spiritual deafness is plaguing many of us today, including in our churches and faith communities. The deaf man in the gospel was healed by Jesus, and so too can we.
Let us answer the call of Jesus. May our ears become unsealed to Jesus' good news, so that we may continue to hear the words of the Father through Jesus, which are proclaimed to us in the gospels. The central theme of today's reading is the observance of God's law, the source of wisdom. To observe God's law is to have knowledge of the law and acting upon it. It is not enough that we know God's law, it must also be lived. The best way to observe God's law is to live it with love and not with fear of punishment.
When we live God's law, we live our human life with dignity. We use our free will to follow God's commandments and respond to His invitation with freedom and out of love. On this Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, let us deepen our foundation of God's law, and also reflect on the laws the Church has summoned us to observe. May we strengthen our resolve to follow God's law with love, which is what really matters - love God and love our neighbor. The situation in the gospel today is not new to us. In fact, all of us can relate in one way or another to what happened in the gospel story. For the past few Sundays, we have focused our reflection based on the gospel of St. John's theme of the 'bread of life', being Jesus as the bread that came down from heaven and gives life. Today's gospel tells us that many people, including disciples, who had heard Jesus preach that he was the 'bread of life', questioned that statement and left Jesus' fold. When asked by Jesus if they too would abandon him, Peter made a bold statement, "To whom shall we go?"
This Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time is an important time to ask ourselves - are we Peter or one of the disciples who left Jesus, because the teaching on the Eucharist is hard to accept? Today, we have the greatest opportunity to affirm our faith in Christ at our Eucharistic celebration where Jesus is present. Yes, we believe! Yes, to Him shall we go, because He has the words of eternal life! The revelation that has been narrated in the gospel today has shocked the listeners of that time. Jesus pointed out that it was not Moses who fed the Israelites with the bread from heaven, but God. When Jesus told his listeners that God is also giving them bread from heaven, they started asking, 'where is this bread that God is sending?' Jesus tells them: "I am!"
We Catholics have been blessed with the faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist - "the bread that comes down from heaven." We have this amazing gift each week. This bread that gives life. In this Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, let us be thankful for the gift of Christ's Body that we receive in the form of bread. May we be constantly aware of the necessity of preparing ourselves in receiving worthily this bread that gives everlasting life. Today, the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the gospel presented Jesus as the sharer. We know that He, in fact, is the ultimate and perfect sharer. It is the very reason why He came into the world - to share his complete self. All throughout the gospel narratives, we see Jesus as someone who shares.
The gospel today is a continuation of last week's gospel. After preaching to the people, Jesus wanted to feed them, but this task was seen as unrealistic by the apostles, especially by Philip. Oftentimes we are like Philip when faced with difficult situations in life - we say it is not possible and only see what our human capacity can do. We see fear rather than faith. But just like in the gospel, Jesus knows exactly what to do. In our lives, God knows what to do. Let us hold onto our faith and see what God can do in our lives, especially in challenging situations. May we become sharers as well, especially of our faith in our God who provides. Today's gospel is a continuation of last Sunday's story where the apostles were sent out by Jesus, and were returning from their mission of preaching repentance, casting out demons and healing the sick. Jesus invited them to come and be alone with him so that they could be renewed. We know though this didn't happen right away, because the people went ahead of them where they were going to rest.
The twelve in this gospel are called the apostles, which means 'one who is sent'. By the virtue of our baptism, we are all called to become disciples of Jesus to be sent out as apostles with the mission to preach the love of God. In the gospel, Jesus affirms the importance of resting and renewal so that we can do our mission with passion and dedication. Jesus wants us to come away and spend time alone with him. This, my brothers and sisters, is what we seek and will find in our prayer life, and especially in our celebration of the Eucharist. In this Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, let us come away with Jesus in a very special way - in the altar of His sacrifice. Renewed by His own Body and Blood, may we go out into the world preaching the great love of God, and His mercy and compassion to all those we encounter. Today, the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, we see the continuation from last week's gospel. These gospel narratives set the foundation for how the ministry of Jesus is laid down - Jesus teaches, then He heals. He taught and performed miracles in many towns and cities near Nazareth because people believed in Him. In His own town though, the people's lack of faith hampered Him from performing miracles.
The lesson for us is that most of the time we do not recognize the power of Jesus working in our lives, because of our lack of faith. Yes, we pray and we come to Mass, but we are easily distracted by the world and lose our focus on our spiritual growth. Let us continue to pray that we may set aside every hindrance to deepen our faith in Jesus, so that we may always see even the smallest miracles that God is performing in our lives. |
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