DAILY- HOMILY

SEPTEMBER 12, 2007
WEDNESDAY 23RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR I

COLOSSIANS 3:1-11
Brothers and sisters: If you were raised with Christ, seek what is
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what
is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is
hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too
will appear with him in glory. Put to death, then, the parts of you
that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the
greed that is idolatry. Because of these the wrath of God is coming
upon the disobedient. By these you too once conducted yourselves, when
you lived in that way. But now you must put them all away: anger,
fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths. Stop
lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its
practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for
knowledge, in the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and
Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave,
free; but Christ is all and in all.

LUKE 6:20-26
Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: "Blessed are you
who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are
now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now
weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and
when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on
account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors
treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled
now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will
grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their
ancestors treated the false prophets in this way."

REFLECTION
In the first reading today, Saint Paul tells us that we have died and
that our life is hidden now with Christ in God. Since such is the
case, he says: "Therefore, set your eyes on heaven, not on earth; seek
what is above, not what is of the earth." Then he lays out for us the
things that are of earth, and he tells us that we have to get rid of
them. He says, "Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed which is
idolatry." Now, while we strive to get rid of these evils, we must be
careful not to replace them with something that is not from God.

Then Paul goes on talking about what we need to do. He says that we
need to put all of this away: anger, fury, malice, slander, and
obscene language out of your mouths, lying, and so on. We have to put
on a new self. Again, how often we try to justify ourselves,
suggesting that it is okay that we can be angry, suggesting that it is
okay that we can be saying things we should not say. We cannot. There
is no excuse. Certainly, there may be problems because of a habit that
has formed, but even that does not serve as an excuse to say, "It was
okay for me to do." What we need to be doing is working on these
things to get rid of them. Now, of course, if we are going to put off
the old self and put on the new self, to die to the things that are
earthly in order to live for the things that are heavenly, we know
exactly how people are going to react. But then again listen to what
Jesus says in today's gospel reading: "Blessed are you when people
hate you and when they exclude you and insult you and denounce your
name as evil on account of the Son of Man." On the other hand, He
says: "Woe to you when all speak well of you; their ancestors treated
the false prophets in exactly that way." If we are going to live
according to the ways of God, we cannot live according to the ways of
the world. And if we want to be accepted by the worldly, if we want to
fit in, if we want to be thought well of, if we want all the praise
that the world has to offer, then we are not living according to the
way of God. If that is the case, again, listen to the words of the
Lord: "Woe to you when all speak well of you." Then, again, if we are
going to live the way of Christ and be rejected and insulted with Him,
He pronounces us blessed.

This does not mean that we should go out and be obnoxious so that
people can hate us. That is not the idea. Just live the life. Live the
spiritual life, practice the charity that we are called to practice,
go out and live the life of Christ and you will be rejected simply for
doing what is right. But then we have to rise above the hatred and the
anger and the frustration that people have done that to us. What Jesus
is asking of us is not easy, and yet Saint Paul tells us that this is
what is necessary because we have already died with Christ and now we
are to live with Him, and that this is necessary because of who we
are, the very essence of our being as Christian people, to be able to
walk with Christ, to walk as He did, to live as He did, to be united
with Him. That is what we have to be about, putting aside everything
that is not of God and living according to the ways of God and to quit
giving ourselves excuses as to why we do not have to do it that way,
and to truly live a holy life with our hearts set not on the things of
earth but on the things of heaven where Christ is already seated at
the right hand of God.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
... for the strength, healing and speedy recovery of:
- Julie Manzon, Delly David, Charlie Castro, Linda Manzon, Romarie
- Macario C. Yu
- Carmen Gonzales
- Damaso Guevara
... for the personal intentions of:
- Raffy
- Glenn & Julie Manzon, Jerico Ureta, Mary Ann Castro, Ma Fe Castro,
Churchhill Barayoga, Buddy and Estillita Escamilla, Glenda, Joel Bisco
& family, Pat & Linda Manzon
- Guevara family
- San Juan de Dios Hospital
... In Thanksgiving: Julie Manzon, Manzon Family, Barayoga Family, Ureta
Family
... for the eternal repose of the souls of Domingo Barayoga Sr & Lourdes
Barayoga, Allan Escamilla, Janet Figurosa. Eternal rest grant unto
them and may perpetual light shine upon them. May they and all the
dearly departed rest in peace.
... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Donnie J. Salvador
- Birthday: Luz S. Lim
- Wedding Anniversary: Zoilito & Belinda Vergel
... 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!

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group "DAILY-HOMILY".

GROUP CONTACT
To subscribe email: dailyhomily@gmail.com
Or go to: http://homily.dailyfoodforthought.org/
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to:
daily_homily-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
To contact: dhmoderator@dailyfoodforthought.org

SUPPORT THE DAILY-HOMILY MINISTRY:
Daily-Homily is solely supported by its subscribers. Any donation that you would like to make to help offset the cost of this ministry would be greatly appreciated.
To donate to this ministry, go to: http://dhdonation.dailyfoodforthought.org/

Feel free to forward this to your friends, family and associates!

(c) 2007 Daily-Homily
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---