Thursday, August 31, 2006
FRIDAY 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SEPTEMBER 1, 2006
FRIDAY 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR II
1 CORINTHIANS 1:17-25
Brothers and sisters: Christ did not send me to baptize but to
preach the Gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so
that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning. The
message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but
to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is
written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of
the learned I will set aside. Where is the wise one? Where is the
scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the
wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the
world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of
God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who
have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we
proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness
to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness
of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is
stronger than human strength.
MATTHEW 25:1-13
Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The Kingdom of heaven will
be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the
bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The
foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but
the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the
bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight, there was a cry, `Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to
meet him!' Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise, `Give us some of your oil, for
our lamps are going out.' But the wise ones replied, `No, for there
may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and
buy some for yourselves.' While they went off to buy it, the
bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast
with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins
came and said, `Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in
reply, `Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay
awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
REFLECTION
The message of today's gospel is simply to stay awake and be
prepared for His Second Coming.
But in what manner do we prepare? Do we making sure we attend
Sunday Mass regularly? Do we go to confession at least twice a
year? Or do we help the poor or our less fortunate brothers through
donations of money or in kind?
St. Paul tells us that the wisdom of the world will not be helpful
in bringing ourselves to God. In other words, it is God who sets
the standards for our salvation. Just because we attend Mass more
frequently than others or that we confess our sins once a month, we
are much better prepared to enter heaven than our neighbor.
Preparation, by Jesus' definition, is not only in how well we
visibly participate in our church, but also how much we have
internalized our beliefs and faith in our hearts. For as the world
measures a person's esteem via his or her credentials and
achievements, Jesus will measure us via how much we have surrendered
ourselves to his teachings and love.
The bridesmaids who could not join the wedding feast apparently did
not take their roles seriously enough to ensure that their lamps had
enough oil. How seriously do we take our roles as Christians in our
Church?
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- Birthday of Melanie B. Clemente (Sept. 1)
- for special intentions of Balingit's family
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- In Memoriam (+): Benson Dy Chua (Dec 15, 1945 - Sept 1, 2000)
- In Memoriam (+): Elpidio Y. Dizon, M.D.
- In Memoriam (+): Tan Ching Pay
- In Memoriam (+): Ellen Young Dy (1928-1998)
- In Memoriam (+): Marie Louise Cheng Fainsan
- 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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� 2006 Daily-Homily
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