DAILY- HOMILY

SEPTEMBER 14, 2007
FRIDAY 23RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR I

NUMBERS 21:4B-9
With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained
against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die
in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted
with this wretched food!" In punishment the LORD sent among the
people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them
died. Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in
complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the
serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said
to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have
been bitten look at it, they will live." Moses accordingly made a
bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had
been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

PHILIPPIANS 2:6-11
Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he
emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human
likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming
obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God
greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

JOHN 3:13-17
Jesus said to Nicodemus: "No one has gone up to heaven except the one
who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." For
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone
who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world might be saved through him.

REFLECTION
Why do good people suffer? God does not give any satisfactory
answer. But this much we know. A God who loved me enough to take up
a human body to share my life, to die shamefully and willingly for me
on a cross - this God does not take pleasure in earthquakes, and war,
in floods and volcanic eruption, in cancer and massacres. We cannot
unravel the mystery; why our near and dear ones, why good people
die. Why all the suffering people in our hospitals. What we can do
is to keep our suffering from becoming sheer waste.

How? By transforming suffering into sacrifice. There is a
difference. Sacrifice is suffering with a purpose. Our world has
long since learned a painful lesson: Perfect oneness with someone or
something beloved - man, woman, or child, music or medicine,
knowledge or art - can be achieved only in terms of self-giving, only
in terms of love.

In the Christian mystery the self-giving love was summed up by Jesus
in today's Gospel: "If you want to come after me, deny yourself,
take up your cross, and follow in my steps." A big if: If you want
to come after him, if you want to be his disciple, if you love him
enough to suffer for him as willingly as he was crucified for you.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
... for the strength, healing and speedy recovery of:
- Carmen Gonzales
- Damaso Guevara
- Jose Lim
... for the personal intentions of:
- Guevara family
- San Juan de Dios Hospital
- Najla
... for the eternal repose of the souls of
- Bobby Pilar
- Macario C. Yu
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: Alice Young Ty
- Birthday: Leticia Aranilla
- Birthday: Marietta Dano Burke
- Birthday: Vanessa Nañagas
- Wedding Anniversary: Eric & Eunice Yu Ampil
- Wedding Anniversary: Estella & David Soon Eng Sin
- In Memoriam (+): Edison Co Yu (1952 - 1993)
... 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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