DAILY- HOMILY

MARCH 7, 2009
MEMORIAL, PERPETUA AND FELICITY, MARTYRS
SATURDAY 1ST WEEK OF LENT – YEAR I

DEUTERONOMY 26:16-19
Moses spoke to the people, saying: "This day the LORD, your God,
commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then,
to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you
are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you
are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and
decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making
this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as
he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will
then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other
nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your
God, as he promised."

MATTHEW 5:43-48
Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You
shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love
your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be
children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad
and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For
if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not
the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and
sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the
same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

REFLECTION
In today's Gospel Jesus says: "Love your enemies." Jesus, in his
teaching, often refers to it, he insists on it. For Jesus, there are
no longer strangers or enemies, since we have to love them.

Jesus is used to seeing things from God's viewpoint. The all-embracing
brotherhood which Jesus preaches is only the consequence of another
essential reality: the all-embracing Fatherhood.

To love without limits, without frontiers, which God lives Himself,
and demands of us. God loves everyone including those who do not love
him. And so Jesus tells us that when we do not love someone, we are
refusing to love someone whom God loves. Our enemy is loved by God.
Our enemy is a son or daughter of God. In all our thoughts and
actions, God should be our reference. Our mind must be in tune with
His.

Jesus was the first to love his enemies. He prayed for them. Even for
those who had just condemned and tortured him and nailed him to the
cross, he prayed: "Father forgive them, they do not know what they are
doing." Will our present age in which the cycle of violence seems to
increase every day, witness also the spectacle of Christians taking
the Gospel literally? We can never love enough. Love is absolute,
Godlike. Even though we burned with love to the extent of dying of it,
we would still not love enough. Love is everything for love is God
Himself. This approach to Lent becomes more exacting than any fasting
or sacrifice.

Let us ask the Lord today to come into our hearts, make us love those
whom we do not love, those who cause us harm, especially those whom we
find so difficult to love. As followers of Christ, this should be our
goal: to love all those whom Jesus loves, to love like Jesus, to be
like Jesus in everything.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the healing and strength of:
- Vijay K.
- Sister Teresa Mabasa, DC
- Marlyn Tadeo
… for the personal intentions of
- Mary Wong
- Dapo family
- Veronica Yap
… Birthday: Sharon Pesengco
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Thanksgiving: Janice L. Gotamco
… for the healing and peace of all families

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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