DAILY- HOMILY

MARCH 12, 2010
FRIDAY 3RD WEEK OF LENT –- YEAR II

HOSEA 14:2-10
Israel, come back to Yahweh your God your guilt was the cause of your
downfall. Provide yourself with words and come back to Yahweh. Say to
him, 'Take all guilt away and give us what is good, instead of bulls
we will dedicate to you our lips. Assyria cannot save us, we will not
ride horses any more, or say, "Our God!" to our own handiwork, for you
are the one in whom orphans find compassion.' I shall cure them of
their disloyalty, I shall love them with all my heart, for my anger
has turned away from them. I shall fall like dew on Israel, he will
bloom like the lily and thrust out roots like the cedar of Lebanon; he
will put out new shoots, he will have the beauty of the olive tree and
the fragrance of Lebanon. They will come back to live in my shade;
they will grow wheat again, they will make the vine flourish, their
wine will be as famous as Lebanon's. What has Ephraim to do with idols
any more when I hear him and watch over him? I am like an evergreen
cypress, you owe your fruitfulness to me. Let the wise understand
these words, let the intelligent grasp their meaning, for Yahweh's
ways are straight and the upright will walk in them, but sinners will
stumble.

MARK 12:28-34
One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that
Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him,
'Which is the first of all the commandments?' Jesus replied, 'This is
the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, and
you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is
this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no
commandment greater than these.' The scribe said to him, 'Well spoken,
Master; what you have said is true, that he is one and there is no
other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding
and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more
important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.' Jesus, seeing how
wisely he had spoken, said, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.'
And after that no one dared to question him any more.

REFLECTION
Jesus summarized the commandments of God into two great commandments:
the first, to love God; and the second, to love our neighbor as
ourselves. The operative word for these commandments is LOVE. Jesus
showed us that God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to
redeem us, even to the extent of dying on the cross for us. Jesus,
God's Son tells us that God wishes us to love him too, with all our
heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. We know that
God deserves infinitely more than all the love we could give Him even
after we fully carry out the greatest commandment.

Regarding love of neighbor, it is interesting to note that the
yardstick which Jesus gave for how to love our neighbor is our love
for ourselves. We cannot properly love our neighbor unless we first
love ourselves. God gave us the instinct of self preservation in order
that we could love and take care of ourselves. This instinct of self
preservation applies not only to our material welfare but more so to
our spiritual goal. Jesus teaches us that our greatest good does not
lie in what this material world could offer, but rather in the
attainment of the heavenly home which God has reserved for us in
heaven. To truly love ourselves and our neighbors we must strive to
help ourselves and others to attain the heavenly goal.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Ely Lara
- Rita Cuerva
- Francis Torres
- Mon Torres
- Jessy
- Jo Marcelo
- Huey
- Alejandro Legaspi
- Lydia Pe
… for the personal intentions of
- Angeli M
- Almabelle Abapo
- Couples for Christ Saudi Arabia chapter
… for the personal intentions and guidance of
- the Olmedo Family
- the Atrero Family
.. Birthday: Gloria Melgar
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Gisbert C. Pineda
- Presbyterial Ordination: Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian, DD
… 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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