DAILY- HOMILY

October 10, 2007
Wednesday 27th Week in Ordinary Time - Year I

JONAH 4:1-11
Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry that God did not carry
out the evil he threatened against Nineveh. He prayed, "I beseech you,
LORD, is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?
This is why I fled at first to Tarshish. I knew that you are a
gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to
punish. And now, LORD, please take my life from me; for it is better
for me to die than to live." But the LORD asked, "Have you reason to
be angry?" Jonah then left the city for a place to the east of it,
where he built himself a hut and waited under it in the shade, to see
what would happen to the city. And when the LORD God provided a gourd
plant that grew up over Jonah's head, giving shade that relieved him
of any discomfort, Jonah was very happy over the plant. But the next
morning at dawn God sent a worm that attacked the plant, so that it
withered. And when the sun arose, God sent a burning east wind; and
the sun beat upon Jonah's head till he became faint. Then Jonah asked
for death, saying, "I would be better off dead than alive." But God
said to Jonah, "Have you reason to be angry over the plant?" "I have
reason to be angry," Jonah answered, "angry enough to die." Then the
LORD said, "You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor
and which you did not raise; it came up in one night and in one night
it perished. And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great
city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand
persons who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, not
to mention the many cattle?"

LUKE 11:1-4
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of
his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught
his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed
be your name, your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and
forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test."

REFLECTION
In today's Gospel we are given the great prayer of Jesus - the "Our
Father." It is a prayer for all times and for every occasion. It
embraces in its short and simple phrases every relation between us and
our Heavenly Father. It is most simple of prayers and the most
profound. If we live it, by putting each of its phrases into practice
in daily life, then we would indeed be perfect as our heavenly Father
dearly wishes us to be.

The "Our Father" is the beginning and end of all prayers. An
interesting thing to note about it is that everything is in the
plural. Now even the "Our Father" can become a prayer that we say
simply by memory, only with our lips but not from the heart. Real
prayer is when we place ourselves in the presence of God. Then even
our thoughts become prayers, so that words become superfluous.

If our prayer is to be meaningful, then we should put ourselves in the
climate of prayer. This climate is one of love and trust. We are
praying to our heavenly Father who loves us and cares about us. He
alone knows what is truly good for us. In a nutshell: we are invited
to pray that we may do God's will rather than our own will. We should
ask, seek and knock so that we may discover what God's will is for us,
and then ask for the courage and the strength to do it.

OCTOBER 9, 2007
TUESDAY 27TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR I

JONAH 3:1-10
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the
great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was
a very important city--a visit required three days. On the first day,
Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and
Nineveh will be overturned." The Ninevites believed God. They declared
a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on
sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his
throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and
sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By
the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast,
herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let
man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on
God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows?
God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so
that we will not perish." When God saw what they did and how they
turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon
them the destruction he had threatened.

LUKE 10:38-42
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village
where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister
called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But
Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She
came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left
me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha,"
the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but
only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will
not be taken away from her."

REFLECTION
Mary lives by the spirit, and Jesus declares this to be of first
importance. He is not, however, condemning Martha's hospitality.
Jesus knows Martha's faith. But there is a greater kind of
hospitality, and Mary has found it. It is in listening to the Lord,
opening not only our house but also our mind and heart to Jesus.

Most of us are, or have been, the Martha type. We rush around and
work long hours, perhaps for motives that are far less noble than
Martha's. Martha was working overtime to please Jesus, to take care
of his needs, to honor him. But what of our own motives? When we
work long hours, is it because we aim to increase our income so that
we can maintain a fine house and every comfort? We often forget that
we can't take our wealth with us beyond the grave.

In today's Gospel we see that perhaps Martha forgot that not only had
she invited Jesus but that Jesus had invited her. What kind of
hospitality do we give our guest if we leave them alone while we are
too busy to spend time with them?

If we want to get close to the Lord, we need to take the time to go
with Jesus, sit at his feet and listen to him. This is what Jesus
expects of each and every one of us.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
... for the strength, healing and speedy recovery of:
- Damaso Guevara
- Eligia G. Fernando
- Bro. Romualdo Talavera
- Lisa Lo
- Hermelito Bancaso
... for the personal intentions of:
- Guevara family
- San Juan de Dios Hospital
- Linda B.
... In Thanksgiving: successful operation of Catalina de Leon
... Birthday: Bernadette Ching Pamute
... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Cora Chiong
- Birthday: Ellery S. Lim
- Birthday: Kelly Lim Bate
- In Memoriam (+): Jose John Cruz Payawal
... 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!

© 2007 Daily-Homily
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---