Monday, September 11, 2006
Tuesday 23rd Week in Ordinary Time
September 12, 2006
Tuesday 23rd Week in Ordinary Time - Yr II
1 CORINTHIANS 6:1-11
Brothers and sisters: How can any one of you with a case against
another dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment instead of to the
holy ones? Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world? If
the world is to be judged by you, are you unqualified for the lowest
law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? Then why not
everyday matters? If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters,
do you seat as judges people of no standing in the Church? I say this
to shame you. Can it be that there is not one among you wise enough to
be able to settle a case between brothers? But rather brother goes to
court against brother, and that before unbelievers? Now indeed then it
is, in any case, a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against
one another. Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather let
yourselves be cheated? Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and
this to brothers. Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the
Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters
nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the
greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the
Kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be; but now you have
had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
LUKE 6:12-19
Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in
prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and
from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: Simon, whom he
named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a
Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a
traitor. And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level
ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon
came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who
were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd
sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them
all.
REFLECTION
Are we be surprised to think that Jesus spends the whole night in
prayer with God and he chose Judas Iscariot to be one of the apostles?
At this point, he even knew that Judas was going to betray him. Didn't
God guide Jesus in his decision? In our eyes, this is incomprehensible.
We know that this person is going to betray Jesus and yet he is one of
the chosen.
When we think about it, isn't God's love and mercy really beyond our
understanding? God gives everybody the same opportunity. Judas is given
the same opportunity as the others. God takes us where we are at that
moment. During this time, Judas has not yet betrayed Jesus. He still
has a chance. The choice to sell Jesus or not is his. Like Judas, we
all have a choice.
Jesus' choice of Judas tells us that God loves us all equally, though
we might not see or feel it to be that equal. If God can take a person
who would sell his Son to be crucified and yet give him a chance,
wouldn't he give us a chance too? This shows his great desire for us to
be with him. He even wanted a traitor to be with him and to love him.
This is the magnanimity of his great love for us. God has fully
accepted Judas for who he is. If God knows everything, doesn't he
already know that Judas will sell his Son? This is one of the greatest
acts of love that Jesus shows us. Jesus is saying: "If I have accepted
and loved you as a traitor, why can't you love me? Or just even accept
me?" Does this go for us too?
So it is not that Jesus is not as wise as Judas, or that Jesus is
gullible, or that God did not protect his Son. It is precisely that God
is able to love so deeply beyond the love we can know even for
ourselves.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- for those who died on September 11, 2001, may they enjoy eternal
life.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Prayer Intention: Nañagas Family
- Wedding Anniversary:David & Lucy Lim
- In Memoriam (+): Virginia Tan
- 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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