DAILY- HOMILY

DAILY-HOMILY

MARCH 27, 2006
MONDAY 4TH WEEK OF LENT – YEAR II

ISAIAH 65:17-21
Thus says the LORD: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new
earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to
mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what
I create; For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a
delight; I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. No
longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of
crying; No longer shal l there be in it an infant who lives but a few
days, or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime; He
dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years, and he who fails
of a hundred shall be thought accursed. They shall live in the
houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.

JOHN 4:43-54
At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee. For Jesus himself
testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place. When he
came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen
all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had
gone to the feast. Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he
had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son
was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in
Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and
heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, &q uot;Unless you
people see signs and wonders, you will not believe." The royal
official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus
said to him, "You may go; your son will live." The man believed what
Jesus said to him and left. While the man was on his way back, his
slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. He asked them
when he began to recover. They told him, "The fever left him
yesterday, about one in the afternoon." The father realized that
just at that time Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live," and
he and his whole household came to believe. Now this was the second
sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea.

REFLECTION
Do we not sometimes wish that the promises of the first reading can
also be fulfilled in our present time? The world is besieged with
problems — war, famine and sickness.&nbs p; Don't we wish sometimes, that
God can recreate this world, and make it instead full of joy and
delight, so that people can live a long, fruitful and peaceful lives?

In the Gospel, a royal official asks Jesus to go to his house and
heal his son. Instead of going to his son, Jesus told the man: "You
may go. Your son will live." The official took Jesus at his word
and departed, believing in the healing power of Jesus. This is the
second miracle of Cana – that Jesus does not have to be physically
present to heal.

In our own lives, perhaps we too have experienced times when we
needed the healing power of Jesus. Perhaps we had a sick relative,
or colleague, or perhaps we had a problem, which we could not find a
solution. We naturally tend to pray for complete healing and
alleviation of our problems. But when we lose patience, or it is
not sol ved the way we expected it to be, do we often end up
disappointed and angry?

During these times, it is difficult to acknowledge that God's will
is being done, but perhaps we need to look deeper. Maybe the sick
friend, colleague or relative's suffering was minimized after we
offered prayers. Maybe we found an alternative solution that
minimized the problem. We must always remember that even through
difficult times, God has done something for us.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
- for the personal intentions of Mian Atencio.
- for the special intentions of Mike Torres.
- for the personal intentions of Charles and Cheryl C
- 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 o ur
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

# posted by F O O D F O R T H O U G H T @ 3:09 AM