DAILY- HOMILY

JUNE 22, 2011
MEMORIAL, ST. PAULINUS OF NOLA, BISHOP / ST. THOMAS MORE, MARTYR
WEDNESDAY 12TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR I

Gn 15:1-12, 17-18 / Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9 / Mt 7:15-20

GENESIS 15:1-12, 17-18
After this the word of Yahweh was spoken to Abram in a vision: "Do not
be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great!"
Abram said, "My Lord Yahweh, where are your promises? I am still
childless and all I have will go to Eliezer of Damascus. You have
given me no children, so a slave of mine will be my heir." Then the
word of Yahweh was spoken to him again, "Eliezer will not be your
heir, but a child born of you (your own flesh and blood) will be your
heir." Then Yahweh brought him outside and said to him, "Look up at
the sky and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like
that." Abram believed Yahweh who, because of this, held him to be an
upright man. And he said, "I am Yahweh who brought you from Ur of the
Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession." Then Abram asked,
"My Lord, how am I to know that it shall be mine?" Yahweh replied,
"Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year old goat, a three-year-
old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon." Abram brought all these
animals, cut them in two, and laid each half facing its other half,
but he did not cut the birds in half. The birds of prey came down upon
them, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep
sleep came over Abram, and a dreadful darkness took hold of him. When
the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a
flaming torch passed between the halves of the victims. On that day
Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have
given this country from the river of Egypt to the Great River, the
Euphrates.

MATTHEW 7:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples, "Beware of false prophets: they come to
you in sheep's clothing but inside they are wild wolves. You will
recognize them by their fruits. Do you ever pick grapes from thorn
bushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree always produces good fruit,
a rot ten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad
fruit and a rot ten tree cannot bear good fruit. Any tree that does
not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. So you will
know them by their fruit."

REFLECTION
Have you ever stopped to think about who you really are? You may say
that your theology and philosophy classes are over, thus absolving you
from having to ponder on something so pointless. But is it really a
futile exercise? You do know that if you build on a sandy foundation,
you're bound to lose the structure the minute a storm hits. In other
words, if you expect yourself to stay strong in times of trouble, you
need an equally strong sense of self. But how do you begin to work on
this or even assess this?

Jesus says we will recognize others by what they do and by the effects
of their actions. We too can recognize ourselves by our own deeds and
their effects. It is not often that we take time out from our busy
lives to think about the fruits we bear. It would be good to pause for
a while and ponder on these questions:

• What have I been doing lately?
• How do my actions affect other people?
• How do my actions affect the people I love? What about the people
who aren't that important to me yet are still within my sphere of
influence?
• Do my actions make the world a better place? If not, how can I make
the world a better place?
• Am I a good person?

Today's Gospel reading can answer the last question. "If your actions
bear good fruit, then, yes, you are a good person." And if you know
that each decision you make stems from the motivation and commitment
to bear good fruit, you have found your foundation or your strong
sense of self.

An important thing we need to remind ourselves is that we must be
consistent. It is easy to think of good effects or good fruits when it
benefits us as well. But what happens when it doesn't? This is when
our foundation is tested, and when we will be grateful that our tree
has had practice in bearing good fruit.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Fr. Luis Sierra, OP
- Jerome Llama
- Ditas dela Paz
- Jo Marcelo
- Jun Lee
… for the personal intentions of
- Pauline
- Zaida Diaz
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Shankar N. Advani
- Birthday: Mary Anne Narvaez
- Birthday: Mary Wong Lim
- Birthday: Eli John Reyes
- In Memoriam (+): Jose Antonio Carvajal +
- In Memoriam (+): Nieves Bengson Cudala
… 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!

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