DAILY- HOMILY

MARCH 2, 2010
TUESDAY 2ND WEEK OF LENT – YEAR II

ISAIAH 1:10, 16-20
Hear what Yahweh says, you rulers of Sodom; listen to what our God
teaches, you people of Gomorrah. wash, make yourselves clean. Take
your wrong-doing out of my sight. Cease doing evil. Learn to do good,
search for justice, discipline the violent, be just to the orphan,
plead for the widow. 'Come, let us talk this over,' says Yahweh.
'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow;
though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are
willing to obey, you shall eat the good things of the earth. But if
you refuse and rebel, the sword shall eat you instead -- for Yahweh's
mouth has spoken.'

MATTHEW 23:1-12
Then addressing the crowds and his disciples Jesus said, 'The scribes
and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do and
observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do,
since they do not practise what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens
and lay them on people's shoulders, but will they lift a finger to
move them? Not they! Everything they do is done to attract attention,
like wearing broader headbands and longer tassels, like wanting to
take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the
synagogues, being greeted respectfully in the market squares and
having people call them Rabbi. 'You, however, must not allow
yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one Master, and you
are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you
have only one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor must you allow
yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the
Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who raises
himself up will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be
raised up.

REFLECTION
In Jesus' day, the Pharisees had unfortunately developed some pretty
bad habits. They were very good at telling the people down to the
smallest detail what the Law of Moses prescribed them to do, but they
exempted themselves from having to fulfill it.

Note that Jesus does not tell crowds to rebel against the Pharisees.
But we should not do as they do. We should not lord it over others.
Sometimes, we can fall into this way of living, and when we do, the
first thing to be thrown out of our Christian living is the law of
love.

Jesus has called us to go well beyond the bad example of the
Pharisees. He calls us to put his law of love into practice at all
times. We need to be on guard against looking at our faith as a series
of "do's and don'ts," of mere rules to follow like a robot. We need to
love God above all else in order to see that everything that he asks
of us is to our benefit and is a joy, because the truth alone sets us
free.

We imitate Jesus when we go about our daily duties the way Jesus would
do and love people the way Jesus would have us love them. Dear
friends, put Jesus' words in today's gospel reading into practice by
doing an act of charity to someone in your family or workplace.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the strength and healing of:
- Abraham A.
- Francis Torres
- Luis Torres
- Mon Torres
- Jessy
- Jo Marcelo
- Huey
- Juvy Ong
… for the personal intentions of Grace
… for the eternal repose of the soul of Walter Stamatelaky. Eternal
rest grant unto him and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he and
all the dearly departed rest in peace.
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Enrico Yao Bate
… 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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