Saturday, June 12, 2010

 

11TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

JUNE 13, 2010
11TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

SECOND SAMUEL 12:7-10, 13
Nathan then said to David, 'You are the man! Yahweh, God of Israel,
says this, "I anointed you king of Israel, I saved you from Saul's
clutches, I gave you your master's household and your master's wives
into your arms, I gave you the House of Israel and the House of Judah;
and, if this is still too little, I shall give you other things as
well. Why did you show contempt for Yahweh, by doing what displeases
him? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword, you took his wife to be
your wife, causing his death by the sword of the Ammonites. For this,
your household will never be free of the sword, since you showed
contempt for me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite, to make her
your wife." David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against Yahweh.'
Nathan then said to David, 'Yahweh, for his part, forgives your sin;
you are not to die.

GALATIANS 2:16, 19-21
We have nevertheless learnt that someone is reckoned as upright not by
practicing the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ; and we too came to
believe in Christ Jesus so as to be reckoned as upright by faith in
Christ and not by practicing the Law: since no human being can be
found upright by keeping the Law. In fact, through the Law I am dead
to the Law so that I can be alive to God. I have been crucified with
Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in
me. The life that I am now living, subject to the limitation of human
nature, I am living in faith, faith in the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. I am not setting aside God's grace as of no
value; it is merely that if saving justice comes through the Law,
Christ died needlessly.

LUKE 7:36-50
One of the Pharisees invited him to a meal. When he arrived at the
Pharisee's house and took his place at table, suddenly a woman came
in, who had a bad name in the town. She had heard he was dining with
the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment.
She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fell on his
feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet
with kisses and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who
had invited him saw this, he said to himself, 'If this man were a
prophet, he would know who this woman is and what sort of person it is
who is touching him and what a bad name she has.' Then Jesus took him
up and said, 'Simon, I have something to say to you.' He replied, 'Say
on, Master.' 'There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt;
one owed him five hundred denarii, the other fifty. They were unable
to pay, so he let them both off. Which of them will love him more?'
Simon answered, 'The one who was let off more, I suppose.' Jesus said,
'You are right.' Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, 'You
see this woman? I came into your house, and you poured no water over
my feet, but she has poured out her tears over my feet and wiped them
away with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my
feet with kisses ever since I came in. You did not anoint my head with
oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. For this reason I
tell you that her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven her,
because she has shown such great love. It is someone who is forgiven
little who shows little love.' Then he said to her, 'Your sins are
forgiven.' Those who were with him at table began to say to
themselves, 'Who is this man, that even forgives sins?' But he said to
the woman, 'Your faith has saved you; go in peace.'

REFLECTION
If we seriously examine our own lives, we will have to admit that
there is a little or a lot of David living within each of us. Not only
have we felt the sting of ingratitude of other people we also have
inflicted its pain on others. At one time or another we have acted
ungratefully to the Lord who has given us life, to our parents who
have worked so hard for us to succeed in life and to our fellow-
workers. It is so easy for us to forget all that we have received
through the goodness of God and others. We are so easily caught up in
our own projects that all else is overlooked. At times we inflict deep
hurts on those who have loved us much. We break the hearts and dash
the hopes of those who most desire our good. Because of our sinful
ways, we cause God and others to ask us: "Why have you done such a
thing?"

All three of our readings today are taken up with broken promises and
the pain which follows. But more importantly, all three are about the
need to extend and accept forgiveness.

The first and often the hardest but most important step in the
forgiveness process is the recognition of having committed a wrong.
David simply says, "I have sinned against the Lord." The simplicity of
acknowledging his wrongdoing is matched by the simplicity of God's
forgiveness. God does not demand from him a litany of requirements.
There is no bringing up the past and re-examining the sin. David's
guilt is not going to be used by God as a weapon against him. The old
relationship will continue. There will be new life and not death.

Like God's forgiveness of David, forgiveness of our sins produces new
life, a new relationship between us and God. Forgiveness of sins
reestablishes our relationship with God and brings a true peace which
cannot be taken from us. Now, how do we face our own sinfulness and
accept forgiveness? Unless we honestly confess our sins we miss out on
the miracle of God's mercy, the way Simon the Pharisee did.

We can't give up certain sinful ways which keep us in our selfishness.
Only the one who has the desire to change fundamentally can experience
the lasting peace and love of Christ. To break away from our habitual
sins is a hard task because sin is rooted in our selfishness. It must
have been hard for St. Paul and Mary Magdalene to free themselves from
their past lives. But once they surrendered themselves to Christ, they
received the strength and the power to hold on their new life in
Christ.

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
- Maricar
- Josheil Dapo
- Jessy
- Jo Marcelo
- Jun Lee
- Cesar Galang
… for the guidance and enlightenment of R
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Augusto & Didit Cosio
- Birthday: Jacqueline Lim Yu
… 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


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?