DAILY- HOMILY

JUNE 26, 2011
SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

Dt 8:2-3, 14-16/ Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20/1 Cor 10:16-17 / Jn
6:51-58

DEUTERONOMY 8:2-3, 14-16
Moses said to the people, "Remember how Yahweh, your God, brought you
through the desert for forty years. He humbled you, to test you and
know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments
or not. He made you experience want, he made you experience hunger,
but he gave you manna to eat which neither you nor your fathers had
known, to show you that man lives not on bread alone, but that all
that proceeds from the mouth of God is life for man. "Then do not let
your heart become proud and do not forget Yahweh, your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery. It is he
who has led you across this great and terrible desert, full of fiery
serpents and scorpions, an arid land where there is no water. But for
you he made water gush for th from the hardest rock. And he fed you in
the desert with manna which your fathers did not know."

1 CORINTHIANS 10:16-17
Brothers and sisters, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a
communion with the blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it
not a communion with the body of Christ? The bread is one, and so we,
though many, form one body, sharing the one bread.

JOHN 6:51-58
Jesus said to the crowds, "I am the living bread which has come from
heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I
shall give is my flesh and I will give it for the life of the world."
The Jews were arguing among themselves, "How can this man give us
flesh to eat?" So Jesus replied, "Truly, I say to you, if you do not
eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life
in you. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood live with
eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. "My flesh is
really food and my blood is drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my
blood, live in me and I in them. Just as the Father, who is life, sent
me and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats me will have life
from me. This is the bread which came from heaven; unlike that of your
ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this bread will live
forever."

REFLECTION
Two messages can be drawn from the words of Jesus. First, the love of
God lays a higher or prior claim than even love of family, and second,
this love calls for supreme sacrifice. Love of father and mother which
is a cardinal commandment of God is not supposed to contradict with
love of God. What Jesus is really telling us is that God's love takes
precedence over all other loves. In truth, it is the source of our
love for family and it is that which purifies and perfects our love
for father or mother or brother or sister or friends.

The love of God lays a higher claim on one's love of family. At
crucial times, the demand to love God more than parents or sibling or
friend is even more directed to those whose vocation is the world and
its many affairs. Where there is a higher question of morality and
doing the right thing, the norms and standards of God as revealed by
Christ in the gospels should prevail. The norms, standards and values
of human families and societies should not be the determining criteria
for actions and decisions because all too often, human families and
societies are too susceptible to prejudices, narrow-mindedness, and
sin causing their judgments to fail. There is a much higher norm that
belongs to God from which human actions and decisions must be based.

Many of us are exposed to the many risks and dangers of ignoring God's
higher claim on our love. In our country for example whose culture is
such that family ties are central to one's life, many acts of
deception and wrongdoing have been commit ted because of disordered
and misdirected love and affection for family. While love of family
has also brought many good and admirable things like prosperity,
solidarity and self-sacrifice, it has also been the cause of many ills
in our society like corruption, nepotism, patronage, political
dynasties, etc. And we need not go to great lengths. In all of these,
the love of God is displaced from the hearts of persons. People then
turn to their own selfish loves for their security. And we know that
anything done without the love of God as its foundation is bound to
fail. Anyone whose love is other than God's love cannot advance and be
a disciple of Jesus. He will always be looking back. He cannot give
his heart totally to Jesus. A divided hear t cannot judge with true
love and wisdom.

For the person who puts love of God first above all others, love will
call for sacrifice, great sacrifice like taking up one's cross. It is
a sacrifice borne by the person consumed by the love of God. It is
actually the love of God that enables him to bear the weight of the
cross in his life; it is not his own strength but the strength of
God's love in him. One's cross can even come from within his own
family, from his own close friends. It is a heavy cross to bear when,
because one stands for the right thing and for one's valued principle,
he strains or even cuts off his relationship with people very close
and familiar to him that used to be his home and security. It is also
a heavy cross to bear when one separates from his family or when the
family that one loves undergoes great trials and sufferings.

One's cross can also come from places where one has to show greater
love for God than for one's love for the self. Crosses appear where
one is to choose between good and evil, between personal integrity and
fleeting fame or honor, between one's soul and the preservation of
one's life at the expense of one's soul. And the one who has taken
great sacrifices for God would discover that crosses can be liberating
and be the source of strength. Crosses are not meant to crush the
spirit but really to build character and to make the person more whole
when they are borne with trust in the love and wisdom of God.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Wally Torres, Francis Torres, Ditas dela Paz
- Pat, Gene, Frank, Maria, Pam, John C, Scott R & Mrs B
- Fr. Luis Sierra, OP
… for the personal intentions of Tess Mendoza
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Ruby Jane H. Gamboa
- Birthday: Michael F. Fulla
- Birthday: Rosario P. Melchor
… 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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