Daily Gospel

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35 KJV)

What I've learned about this verse is that, no matter what you do as long as you put Jesus our God in it you will never be abandoned by God. He will always be there for you, to guide you to make the things run smoothly.

I remembered when I have been working hard and because I was so busy that I forgot about God. Yes I have been receiving a good pay but I completely forgotten God. Then I realized that with my work I always feel tired, I cannot concentrate on every day that I am doing my job. My salary went to nothing because I spent them with nothing. Nothing in the sense that it never satisfies me.

You may think that I was enjoying every stuff I bought with the pay I received, you may think that I am satisfied with the food I ate at the fancy restaurant then pretend that I didn't see those street children on the road without something to eat.

I was wrong to forgot God in my life everyday, I was so selfish to not remember Him during my abundant days and then only calls Him during my down moment.

Now, I just realized that we need to put God always in our everyday lives. With Him everyday will seem to be very light, so happy, so content I am. By having God everyday will make you safe in what you do. Having God will teach you and guide you to do good. Having God will make everything perfect.

So, just call on Him and live a life with Jesus and he will guide you. There is nothing impossible with the Lord. Call upon Him and you will never get hungry or thirsty. Always live your life with our Lord God and you will realize that life is not so complicated at all.

In open fields of wild flowers,
she breathes the air and flies away
She thanks her Jesus for the daises and the roses
in no simple language
Someday she'll understand the meaning of it all
He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on her lips
Someday she'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call her and she will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and she'll pray,

"I want to fall in love with You"

Sitting silent wearing Sunday best
The sermon echoes through the walls
A great salvation through it calls to the people
who stare into nowhere, and can't feel the chains on their souls

He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on our lips
Someday we'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call us and we will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and we'll pray,

"I want to fall in love with You"

It seems too easy to call you "Savior",
Not close enough to call you "God"
So as I sit and think of words I can mention
to show my devotion

"I want to fall in love with You"

"my heart beats for You

Night and day I seek Your Face
Long for You in the secret place
All I want in this life
Is to truly know You more

As the waters cover the sea
So Your love covers me
Guiding me on roads unkown
I trust in You alone

CHORUS:
My Saving Grace
My endless love
Deeper and deeper I'm falling in love with You
My one desire
My only truth
Deeper and deeper I'm falling in love with You

And I will rise on wings of eagles
Soaring high above all my fears
I rest in Your open Arms of Love

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the bright and morning star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

CHORUS:
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who am I, that The Eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again
Who am I, that The Voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me

[Wisdom] ... sees everything. Wisdom 7:23

We've seen this movies a hundred times. I warn myself that a tear-jerking scene is coming up hoping to preempt the inevitable weeping. The scene comes and I fail, sobbing with resignation into my pillow.

I like watching movies like these over and over again. I hear lines that I didn't catch the first time or I see subtleties in the acting or cinematography that make me appreciate the movie more. Strangely, however, the biggest reason why I like re-watching movies is I find it comforting to watch a story unfold when I

already know how it ends. I don't get chest pains from extreme anticipation; I don't shield my eyes or cringe during uncomfortable scenes because I already know what to expect.

Having the gift of wisdom is like knowing how the movie ends. Just like everyone else, you go through the giddy and heartbreaking moments of life, but unlike the unwise, you are deeply calm because you know that God is in charge. And when He is in control, there can be only one kind of ending: A happy one. Anne dG.

REFLECTION:

Are you looking forward to heaven?

Lord, grant me the wisdom to know that You are in control

Exodus 33:7-11; 34:5-9, 28

Moses is one of the very few people in Scriptures to experience speaking to God face to face. This tells us a lot about his holiness and standing in the eyes of God. And yet he is a sinner like us too“ he was denied entrance to the Promised Land due to a matter of disobedience concerning the number of times he struck a rock to bring forth water for the people. He is human like us. He needs salvation just like each one of us.

7 The tent, which was called the meeting tent, Moses used to pitch at some distance away, outside the camp. Anyone who wished to consult the LORD would go to this meeting tent outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, the people would all rise and stand at the entrance of their own tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9 As Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down and stand at its entrance while the LORD spoke with Moses. 10 On seeing the column of cloud stand at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and worship at the entrance of their own tents. 11 The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another. Moses would then return to the camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, would not move out of the tent. 34: 5 Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with him there and proclaimed his name, LORD. 6 Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, 7 continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for their fathers wickedness!8 Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. 9 Then he said, If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own.28 So Moses stayed there with the LORD for forty days and forty nights, without eating any food or drinking any water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

The Sicilian Leo II was the successor of Saint Agatho to the pontificate. Though he was elected for the position on January 10, 681, a few days after the pope s death, Leo II was consecrated only after a year and seven months. The possible reason for it was the continued discussion regarding the tax the new pope needed to pay to the imperial treasury on his consecration. This had been a custom for more than a century, but under Pope Agatho, negotiations between the pontificate and the Byzantine court of Emperor Constantine Pogonatus regarding its abolition or reduction had already taken place. In the short pontificate of Leo II (682-683), his greatest contribution to the Catholic Church was the confirmation of the acts of the Sixth Ecumenical Council. The council was in opposition to the heretical Monothelites. As a result, Leo II notified the rulers and bishops of the West about the decree and its implementation.This, however, led to the condemnation of Pope Honorius I. Honorius I was condemned not because of teaching heresy, but because he remained passive and inactive in fighting against it.

During this period, the archbishops of Ravenna wanted to be autocephalous, meaning they desired to be free from the direct jurisdiction of the pope. They were not able to get the consent of the popes. So instead, Leo II did the following for them — he obtained from the emperor the abolition of tax the archbishops must pay when they receive the pallium; since the elected archbishop did not want to stay long in Rome, he was still required to visit the city for his consecration but he was not obliged to stay longer than eight days; and, since they were bound to pay homage to the pope every year, the bishops may only send for a delegate instead on their behalf.

The good and just pope died of natural causes on June 28, 683 in Rome, Italy.

How do we follow Jesus? This is indeed an important question, especially in the face of today’s ideologies without direction and leaders without backbone.

Our Gospel episode today presents us two examples of “volunteers” who offer themselves to follow Jesus. All we know of them is that one was a scribe (eagerly presenting himself to Jesus), and the other was a disciple (grieving just after the death of his father). We do not even know if they indeed followed Jesus eventually.

Anyway, what certainly matters is the teaching of Jesus given on this occasion. He presents a triple demand: first, we must give up all security; second, we must subordinate everything (not just anytime but at once) to the duty of evangelizing; and lastly, we must forget the past and face the future.

Whew! We can almost just shudder and sigh in the face of this radical challenge. Such indeed is the high cost of discipleship.

For all we know, the two volunteers did follow Jesus after all. For all we know, they understood the full impact of Jesus’ words to them. For all we know, they were willing to pay the high price to follow Jesus. Surely their lives were never the same again. It was well worth the effort. We ourselves might be following Jesus for some time now, but, just how radically do we do so? Are we merely “eager beavers” who would easily back out at the slightest demand of Jesus? Or do issues of the past continue to bog us down and drag us in our journey?

We might not have exactly “volunteered” to follow Jesus (it was really perhaps He who called us, and we simply responded). But still, that doesn’t dispense us from the all-too-important element of volunteerism in the following of Jesus. That is, it proceeds from our own will, from our own choice or consent, aware of the demands and yet unconstrained by the difficulty, trusting completely in the one we are following: the Lord Jesus Himself. Fr. Martin M.

REFLECTION QUESTION: What kind of volunteer are you?

I submit my will to Yours, Lord.

“For the sake of those ten... ” – Genesis 18:32
8-6232. 8-6232. 87000. 887-8888. 911-1111.

If you’re Filipino you’ll know that all these are numbers of fast food companies that have delivery services.

And if you’ve ever called one of these, you would have experienced having to wait longer than you should have had to for your order. There was this one time when we waited a whole hour and 30 minutes for our food. I called at least eight times — the first two times to the call center that took the order and the last few times to the actual branch that was in charge of delivering the food. I had threatened murder at least thrice. Okay, maybe I didn’t. But I did say that I refused to pay for the meals when they came.

And then the messenger arrived. He was a scrawny little kid who probably needs the job to pay for his tuition fee. When he told me that the payment will come from his paycheck, I handed over the money without speaking and tried to enjoy the by-now cold food.

If I can be merciful, can you imagine how merciful God can be? He delivers more than food. He delivered us from the bondage of sin and death. Victoria L.

REFLECTION:

In what ways have you not shown mercy?

You sent Your Son, Lord, even if there were only ten people left who deserved Your mercy. Your mercy knows no bounds.

Saint Elizabeth, daughter of King Pedro III of Aragon and Constancia, was born in 1271. Since childhood, the princess exuded a life of piety, strict regularity and self-denial. She fasted, did penance and gave up amusement. At a young age of 12, Elizabeth was married to King Diniz of Portugal. The king was noted for being a good poet and a hard worker.

Unfortunately, his morals were extremely bad. For years, the queen tried to win her husband s affection through her gentleness and extraordinary forbearance. But it was only later in life when the king had a change in heart. Saint Elizabeth bore King Diniz two children, Constantia and Affonso. Affonso rebelled over the favors the king showed his illegitimate sons. Thus, in 1323 the son declared a war against his father. Elizabeth opposed the decision. She rode in between the two armies and made father and son reconcile. Two years later, King Diniz died.

Saint Elizabeth left the kingdom in the care of Affonso. She founded the convent of Poor Clares at Coimbra, where she retired as a Franciscan Tertiary. She continued her service to the poor and sick. In 1336, the former queen was made to go back. She settled a war between her son and his father-in-law, the King of Castille. She left the convent and made the two resolve in peace.

Not long after, Saint Elizabeth fell ill. She died of fever on July 4, 1336 at Estremoz. She was buried at Coimbra, Portugal where miracles were said to have taken place. Saint Elizabeth of Portugal was proclaimed a saint by Pope Urban VIII on June 24, 1625.

Jesus narrowly escapes from a thorny and controversial predicament by carrying out a miraculous cure, which is actually a proof anyway of His power over evil and sin. It’s a relief to arrive at the conclusion: “At the sight, a feeling of awe came over the crowd, and they praised God for giving such authority to men.”

Truly it is God who is the source of such authority and power. The scribes of the incident thought that they were exercising their authority as guardians of the Law by passing judgment on Jesus: “The man blasphemes.” According to them, Jesus had no right in the first place to forgive sins. In the end, authority which is not at the service of the person becomes twisted, subject to the whims and caprices of human judgement. Our Lord Himself knows our innermost thoughts, just as he was aware of what the scribes were thinking, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts?” He might be asking us also the same question now, with our tendency to cling to the comfort zones of our rigid categories.

Let us, instead, always seek God’s glory. Let us allow Him to intervene in our lives, even if He will go against our established ways of thinking and doing. He need not even prove to us His power and authority, for in the first place it is something we already acknowledge. Fr. Martin M.

REFLECTION QUESTION: Why do you harbor evil thoughts?

I seek Your Glory, Lord. I acknowledge Your sovereignty.

St. Zoe, martyr, pray for us.

“When they came to the place... he tied up his son Isaac...” – Genesis 22:9

Early in the Bible, we are given a story such as this.

It’s the story of a man to whom was promised a multitude of descendants, so many that they will be like the sands of the seashore and the stars in the heavens. All this in spite of the fact that he and his wife are past childbearing age.

The promise is fulfilled with the birth of a son. But then the Lord asks him to offer the boy as a holocaust!

What a twist, eh?

And we know what he did, right?

“Early the next morning, Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac... ”

He went “early the next morning.” No dillydallying regarding what the Lord commanded.

It was then that Isaac asked, “Father, here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?”

“Son, God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust,” replied Abraham.

Then they continued going forward.

What courage it took Abraham to take every step! What faith!

“Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.”

Then God intervened. Lallaine G.

REFLECTION:
If you were Abraham, who or what would your “Isaac” be? Let the Lord speak to your heart.

Lord, teach me about the sacrifice of Abraham. How boldly he went to follow You! May I do the same today.

“Lord, make me an instrument of peace.” We love to sing this song. Its lyrics, though attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, were actually written at the beginning of the 20th century by the American seminarian Francis Spellman, who later became archbishop and Cardinal of New York.

“Peace is an irrepressible yearning present in the heart of each person, regardless of his or her particular cultural identity” (Pope Benedict XVI). There are many kinds of peace. One is just absence of war or trouble. Another is the kind politicians talk about, escape from the real problems and from the effort to solve them. At times we might get the impression that there are certain signs of hope in the work of building peace; the number of armed conflicts has decreased a bit. But in his 2006 New Year Message, Pope Benedict warned us: “All this must not, however, lead to naive optimism. It must not be forgotten that, tragically, violent fratricidal conflicts and devastating wars still continue to sow tears and death in vast parts of the world. Situations exist where conflict, hidden like flame beneath ashes, can flare up anew and cause immense destruction.”

Jesus tells us that peace is a heavenly gift he gave to his disciples a divine grace, a peace quite different from what the world offers. The peace Christ gives is based on truth and love. There can be no peace where there is no truth. Lying is linked to the tragedy of sin and its horrible consequences, which have devastating effects on the lives of individuals and nations. How often is the peace in our families destroyed by lies!

Secondly, peace is built on the foundation of love. This is obvious. Where people love each other, there problems still occur, but those problems can be solved by listening to each other and by mutual understanding. Where people love each other, genuine dialogue is possible. Where people love each other, there God’s grace is present, uniting and moving forward the people involved. For peace in the world we cannot do much but we can and must pray. “I ask for an increase of prayers,” Pope Benedict wrote, “since peace is above all a gift of God, a gift to be implored incessantly.”

For peace in our communities, families and hearts we can do a lot. We can and should, as we said, cultivate truth and love wherever God places us. Fr. Rudy H.

REFLECTION QUESTION: Am I a peacemaker in the place and community God has placed me?

Lord, we call You Prince of Peace. Absence of peace means absence of your divine presence. Help me to work for peace and so make You more present in the place where You have placed me.

St. Wiro, bishop, pray for us.

The pilot of a plane was flawlessly scraping the blue sky with his fluid maneuvers and near perfect turns, when suddenly, he heard a weird noise coming from where the engine and its vital wires were. The gauges one by one started malfunctioning and he immediately engaged the autopilot to take a peek at what could be going wrong. His head doubled its size when he saw a rat gnawing on the wires and it was actually nearing the hydraulic tubes. He knew it would be the end of his flying days, and of his life, if the rodent got to the hydraulic tube.

He had an idea.

He pulled the plane up to maximum altitude. The big rodent then dropped dead. Because rodents can’t survive extremely high altitudes.

The peace of God to what used to be troubled hearts is something that the world can never know. We can, if we allow Him to take us “up” there. Jon E.

REFLECTION:
Are you troubled? Scared? Overwhelmed by life? Buckle up. Soar in the wings of prayer. God can blow out the rodents of worry, fear and guilt in your heart.

Lord, all the world offers are temporary and fleeting rat pleasures that its decaying nature recognizes. Bring me up to the “peace that surpasses all understanding.” Amen!

Today we read and listen to a beautiful prayer of Jesus. Jesus did not suggest that His followers leave the “evil world” and live a contemplative life in monasteries. That is only for a few who have a special calling (and even they are not free from the attacks of evil). The rest must live IN the world with the great task to transform the world, to “inject” the values of Christ into its cultures and societies. When Jesus prayed that we have to live in the world but not be of the world, He means that we are inspired by a completely different set of values than those proposed by the world. When the world lives out selfishness, we try to follow the example of Christ and live a life of service to others. When the world proposes violence and revenge, hatred and division, we are called to live out forgiveness and peace, love and unity. When the world stresses happiness found in wealth and power, we counteract this attitude with a simple lifestyle, with respect for life and human dignity, and sharing what God has given us. This is extremely difficult as all of us have experienced already. And so Jesus prays,“Consecrate them!” To consecrate means to separate his followers from anything evil. Of course, we have to cooperate with grace. We have to be prudent in what we read and watch, and with whom we live. We cannot be consecrated, as Jesus wants it, if we expose ourselves to anti-Christian, or anti-Catholic TV shows and pamphlets, or if we expose ourselves to immoral literature, movies and Internet websites. We cannot be consecrated, separated from anything evil, if we associate ourselves with people for whom dishonesty and corruption is their daily bread. Even the Word of God and the prayer of Christ cannot protect us if we are careless and throw ourselves in the hands of the Evil One. Evil rules for a while but not forever. Eventually it will be defeated and it is good to be on the side of the victor: Jesus Christ who has overcome Satan and death. Fr. Rudy H.

REFLECTION QUESTION: Am I afraid to be different from others around me? Do I have the courage to stand up for Christian values? Do I focus on the difficulty of this task or do I look beyond the present to a victory with Christ?

Lord, I am weak and a coward. I know what You expect me to do in my corrupt environment. Just help me to begin more courageously injecting Your values into the people around me.

St. Didier, bishop, pray for us.

I worked hard to provide for my family and send my younger sister Cherry to college. I wanted her to finish her studies like any normal students do. However, I expected Cherry to study at my pace and not her own. I overlooked one important fact – Cherry has a short-term memory deficiency, is slightly deaf and has speech problems. She was diagnosed to have dyslexia. I was angry with her for being so dependent. I berated and belittled her, which made her more insecure.
As I grew in my relationship with Jesus, I became more compassionate with Cherry. It is not through my efforts. I believe it is His grace that made me love and accept my sister’s weakness. When Cherry saw the changes in me, she became open with her feelings and freely expressed her anger or joy. I am witnessing now how my sister is gaining confidence.
St. Paul’s words struck me hard. I must not only work to provide material things for my family. I must work doubly hard to bring them to Jesus. In Him, we can bare our weaknesses and still be accepted. RosAnn J.

REFLECTION:
Do you need to encourage someone today?

Forgive me for trodding down on the weak instead of helping them become strong.

When you fast, you’re telling God that He’s more important than food. So instead of eating, you spend it in prayer, reading Scripture, writing your journal, meditating before the Blessed Sacrament, reading spiritual books…It declares that you’re dead serious about pursuing Him because you’re crazy enough to say no to something so basic as food.