Wednesday, June 22, 2005
THURSDAY, 12TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
THURSDAY, 12TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - YR I
JUNE 23, 2005
GENESIS 16:6B-12, 15-16
Abram told Sarai: "Your maid is in your power. Do to her whatever you
please." Sarai then abused her so much that Hagar ran away from her.
The LORD's messenger found her by a spring in the wilderness, the
spring on the road to Shur, and he asked, "Hagar, maid of Sarai,
where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I
am running away from my mistress, Sarai." But the LORD's messenger
told her: "Go back to your mistress and submit to her abusive
treatment. I will make your descendants so numerous," added the
LORD's messenger, "that they will be too many to count. Besides," the
LORD's messenger said to her: "You are now pregnant and shall bear a
son; you shall name him Ishmael, For the LORD has heard you, God has
answered you. This one shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand
against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; In opposition to
all his kin shall he encamp." Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram
named the son whom Hagar bore him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years
old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
MATTHEW 7:21-29
Jesus said to his disciples: "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord,
Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does
the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that
day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive
out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?'
Then I will declare to them solemnly, `I never knew you. Depart from
me, you evildoers.' "Everyone who listens to these words of mine and
acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The
rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the
house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And
everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the
floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it
collapsed and was completely ruined." When Jesus finished these
words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them
as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
REFLECTION
Abram and Sarai, though in their old age, had no children, no heir.
The arrangement they adopted to provide them with a child-Abram would
sleep with Sarai's slave girl-was suggested by Sarai. To our way of
thinking today, the arrangement is, at the very least, rather
strange, if not highly improper. However in the patriarchal period
this was not an uncommon solution for a childless couple.
There is another strange aspect of this arrangement. It was suggested
not by Abram, but by Sarai. When a couple was childless, however, the
culture attributed responsibility to the woman. It was not the man
who was barren, but the woman. Furthermore, children were gifts sent
by God; the childless woman, therefore, lived under some sort of a
divine reproach. It's possible that Sarai found her "reproach" far
more painful to bear than the knowledge that the exclusivity of her
marital rights with her husband would be violated.
As for Abram, it was now ten or eleven years since God first
intervened in his life, promising him a child of his own body, an
heir to whom he could leave all that he owned. Though God had
reaffirmed recently his promise that Abram would sire a son and
through this son would become a great nation, nothing had happened.
He accepted Sarai's suggestion to have a son though her slave girl,
Hagar. Perhaps this was the way God would give him the son he had
promised.
God however said no. Hagar's son was not to receive the promises. It
was another thirteen or fourteen years, when Abram was one hundred
and his wife ninety that Sarai conceived and bore Isaac, the child of
the promise.
Abram behaved just as many of us do when we're anxious to get moving
on what we conceive to be God's will. Abram tried to arrange the
fulfillment of God's promise to him. In his own good time, however,
after having led Abram through a series of twists and turns and long
detours, God accomplished in him what he intended some twenty-five
years earlier. Another case of God writing straight with very crooked
lines.
PRAYER
"Lord, you are the only foundation that can hold us up when trials
and disaster threaten us. Give me the wisdom, foresight, and strength
of character I need to do what is right and good and to reject
whatever is false and contrary to your will May I be a doer of your
word and not a hearer only."
PRAYER REQUESTS
- We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
- for Pacita Lo, who is in coma and for the strength and comfort
needed by her husband, children and her entire family at this time.
- for better health and healing of Maribeth Malvar.
- For the special intentions of Jojo and Sheila.
- For peace and harmony for all families.
- For the food health of Papa Fabio, Papa Raul.
- For the speedy recovery of Mr. Fredo Olol.
- For the birthdays of: Clara Isabel Autor, Lilian Capuchino-Vergara,
Jorel Mateo, Annlyn Faustino.
- For the eternal repose of the souls of Remberto, Florence and
Danilo. May perpetual light shine upon them.
- Personal intentions of JP.
- Personal intentions of Lydia and family.
- Birthday blessings for Jasmin.
- For healing of Maria Alyssa Martina Balingit.
- For the eternal repose of the soul of Jaime Cardinal Sin, D.D.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
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2005 Daily-Homily (c)
