Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Wednesday 19th Week in Ordinary Time
August 16, 2006
Memorial, St. Rock, healer
Wednesday 19th Week in Ordinary Time - Yr II
EZEKIEL 9:1-7; 10:18-22
The Lord cried loud for me to hear: Come, you scourges of the city!
With that I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate
which faces the north, each with a destroying weapon in his hand. In
their midst was a man dressed in linen, with a writer's case at his
waist. They entered and stood beside the bronze altar. Then he called
to the man dressed in linen with the writer's case at his waist, saying
to him: Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and mark a "Thau" on
the foreheads of those who moan and groan over all the abominations
that are practiced within it. To the others I heard the Lord say: Pass
through the city after him and strike! Do not look on them with pity
nor show any mercy! Old men, youths and maidens, women and
children-wipe them out! But do not touch any marked with the "Thau";
begin at my sanctuary. So they began with the men, the elders, who were
in front of the temple.Defile the temple, he said to them, and fill the
courts with the slain; then go out and strike in the city. Then the
glory of the Lord left the threshold of the temple and rested upon the
cherubim. These lifted their wings, and I saw them rise from the earth,
the wheels rising along with them. They stood at the entrance of the
eastern gate of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel
was up above them. Then the cherubim lifted their wings, and the wheels
went along with them, while up above them was the glory of the God of
Israel.
MATTHEW 18:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples: "If your brother sins against you, go and
tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you
have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two
others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the
testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them,
tell the Church. If he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat
him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if
two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it
shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
REFLECTION
Toward the end of today's Gospel, Jesus makes a statement that is true,
even if we felt through our own experience that it may be false. Jesus
says that when two people pray together for anything at all, their
prayers will be answered.
William Barclay suggests that simply because we are human, our prayers
are most often "prayers of escape." Perhaps we pray to escape our
problems, sorrows and disappointments. However, according to Barclay,
God does not necessarily give us escape from the human situation.
Instead, he gives us the grace to understand and endure the dread
circumstances we were intent on escaping from.
Barclay then cites Jesus' behavior in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus
prayed to be released from the horror that sinful men were about to
impose on him. It was a "prayer of escape." God's answer to Jesus'
prayer did not to enable him to avoid the trial but gave him the grace
to "meet the trial, to endure it and to conquer it." Jesus recognized
this even while he was making his prayer. This is why he paused and
added the words to his prayer of escape, "Nevertheless, not my will,
but yours be done."
Surely, if this is the way Jesus prayed, it should describe our prayer
also: "Save me, Lord, from this illness; Lord, do not let me lose my
job. Let me, Lord, eliminate the tensions that are destroying this most
important relationship in my life." The Christian's prayer, however, is
to add to his prayer of escape in imitation of Christ: "Let not my
will, but yours be done."
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
-for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
-for the full recovery of Cynthia B. Repas
-for thanksgiving of Lydia & Jennette
-for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary
-Birthday: Denise Marie Kamille P. Chua
-In Memoriam (+): Rufina Ouano Gotao
-In Memoriam (+): Potenciana Tee
-Ordination Day: Fr. George-Etienne Beauregard, S.J.
-Prayer Intention: Nañagas Family
-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.
Have a good day!
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