DAILY- HOMILY

JUNE 9, 2010
MEMORIAL, EPHREM OF SYRIA, DEACON, DOCTOR
WEDNESDAY 10TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR II

FIRST KINGS 18:20-39
Ahab called all Israel together and assembled the prophets on Mount
Carmel. Elijah stepped out in front of all the people. 'How long', he
said, 'do you mean to hobble first on one leg then on the other? If
Yahweh is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.' But the people had
nothing to say. Elijah then said to them, 'I, I alone, am left as a
prophet of Yahweh, while the prophets of Baal are four hundred and
fifty. Let two bulls be given us; let them choose one for themselves,
dismember it but not set fire to it. I in my turn shall prepare the
other bull, but not set fire to it. You must call on the name of your
god, and I shall call on the name of Yahweh; the god who answers with
fire, is God indeed.' The people all answered, 'Agreed!' Elijah then
said to the prophets of Baal, 'Choose one bull and begin, for there
are more of you. Call on the name of your god but light no fire.' They
took the bull and prepared it, and from morning to midday they called
on the name of Baal. 'O Baal, answer us!' they cried, but there was no
voice, no answer, as they performed their hobbling dance round the
altar which they had made. Midday came, and Elijah mocked them. 'Call
louder,' he said, 'for he is a god: he is preoccupied or he is busy,
or he has gone on a journey; perhaps he is asleep and needs to be
woken up!' So they shouted louder and gashed themselves, as their
custom was, with swords and spears until the blood flowed down them.
Midday passed, and they ranted on until the time when the offering is
presented; but there was no voice, no answer, no sign of attention.
Then Elijah said to all the people, 'Come over to me,' and all the
people came over to him. He repaired Yahweh's altar which had been
torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of
tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh had come,
'Israel is to be your name,' and built an altar in the name of Yahweh.
Round the altar he dug a trench of a size to hold two measures of
seed. He then arranged the wood, dismembered the bull, and laid it on
the wood. Then he said, 'Fill four jars with water and pour it on the
burnt offering and on the wood.' They did this. He said, 'Do it a
second time;' they did it a second time. He said, 'Do it a third
time;' they did it a third time. The water flowed round the altar
until even the trench itself was full of water. At the time when the
offering is presented, Elijah the prophet stepped forward. 'Yahweh,
God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,' he said, 'let them know today that
you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, that I have done
all these things at your command. Answer me, Yahweh, answer me, so
that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God and are winning
back their hearts.' Then Yahweh's fire fell and consumed the burnt
offering and the wood and licked up the water in the trench. When all
the people saw this they fell on their faces. 'Yahweh is God,' they
cried, 'Yahweh is God!'

MATTHEW 5:17-19
'Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I
have come not to abolish but to complete them. In truth I tell you,
till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke,
is to disappear from the Law until all its purpose is achieved.
Therefore, anyone who infringes even one of the least of these
commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the
least in the kingdom of Heaven; but the person who keeps them and
teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of Heaven.

REFLECTION
Why is it so easy to do things we like yet so difficult to obey and do
the things we should? "Obedience, it would seem, is a most Catholic
`thing,'" writes Anthony Stevens-Arroyo. Yet we do not see it fit to
apply this to certain Catholic issues. We who claim being One Church,
label one side as liberal and progressive and the other as
conservative. And true to being cafeteria-style Catholics, we choose
the side we think our conscience would have us choose.

But have we done our homework? Have we read the doctrine? Have we
taken time to form our conscience well? Or do we just think it is our
conscience that speaks and have not learned from our first parents'
original sin of disobedience. We find ourselves turning away from
God's love and determining by ourselves what is good and evil. Worse,
we teach others to do the same, at the very least by our bad example.

Perhaps today we can reflect long and hard on how Jesus had been
obedient and compare our obedience to that of him, the Best Example.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery, strength and healing of
- Arian Yu
- Alfonso Purugganan & Arnold Cabatingan
… for the personal intentions of
- Mary Wong
- JES
- Maricar
… for the eternal repose of the souls of
- Tan Liong Chiu
- Benedicto V. Venturina
- Maxima Lugsanay
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: Alexis Tsoi
- Birthday: Mea Hazel B. Cuento
- Birthday: Elizabeth P. Dela Fuente
- Wedding Anniversary: Ted and Elisa Sta. Ana
- In Memoriam (+): Amada Deseo (Dec 2, 1908-Jun 9, 1985)+
- In Memoriam (+): Miguel C. Uy (Aug 4, 1931-Jun 9, 2003)+
… 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!

**************************************************

These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only.
Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends,
colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include the
following:

+================================================+
| The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the
| priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish
| http://www.marythequeen.org
| Distributed free and for personal use only.
+================================================+

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GoogleGroup Address: http://groups.google.com/group/daily_homily
To subscribe from this free mailing service, send email to: dailyhomily@earthlink.net
To unsubscribe: daily_homily-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

© 2010 Daily-Homily