DAILY- HOMILY

AUGUST 23, 2013
MEMORIAL, SAINT ROSE OF LIMA, VIRGIN
FRIDAY 20TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR I

Ru 1:1,3-6,14-16,22 / Ps 146: 5-6ab. 6c-7. 8-9a. 9bc-10 / Mt 22:34-40

READINGS
Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22
There was a famine in the land during the time of the Judges, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah departed with his wife and two sons to sojourn in the country of Moab. Naomi's husband Elimelech died. She was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After living in Moab for about ten years, Mahlon and Chilion also died and Naomi was left bereft of husband and two sons. Having heard that Yahweh had come to help his people by giving them food, Naomi pre- pared to return home. Again they sobbed and wept. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in- law good bye, but Ruth clung to her. Naomi said, "Look, your sister-in- law returns to her people and her gods. You too must return. Go after her." Ruth replied, "Don't ask me to leave you. For I will go where you go and stay where you stay. Your people will be my people and your god, my God. Thus it was that Naomi returned from Moab with her Moabite daughter-in-law and arrived in Bethlehem as the barley harvest began.

Matthew 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard how Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. One of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to test him with this question, "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law?" Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and the most important of the commandments. But after this there is another one very similar to it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole Law and the Prophets are founded on these two commandments."

REFLECTION
Current teachers of the law continue to struggle with the answer of Jesus to the question – "Which is the most important commandment in the Law?" It is clear from Jesus' teachings that the most important commandment is that we should love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind – in effect, our whole being. The second commandment, which is like the first, is that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. We must take note that this love for self and neighbor comes only second to love for God. We should love our visible self and neighbor as our means of loving the invisible God. Love of self and neighbor must be subordinated to the love for God and must never result in disobedience to the will of God.

Our love for ourselves and our neighbor sometimes tempts us to disobey the will of God when certain matters cause us inconvenience or hardship. We desire to plan the number of our children so that we could give them life of ease and comfort, provide them with good education for a better future. Many of our neighbors suffer destitution and could no longer afford to provide the means for a better life for their children. These are tempting situations which some of us use as excuses to disobey the will of God for the sake of love of self and neighbor.

Do we sometimes let our love for our neighbor, the poor, cause us to close our eyes to the will of God, to the extent of allowing them to kill the babies in their wombs because they would find it hard to support too many children? Or even to thwart the will of God to give life to their intended children through artificial contraception, for the sake of saving them from the inconvenience or burden of supporting those children?

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Chief Samrose Anyaugo
- Ditas dela Paz, Toots Monfort, Virginia Hernandez, and Fleur Torres
… for the personal intentions of
- Dr Ugo Anyaugo, Oge Anyaugo, Barr (Mrs) adaugo Barbara Okoronkwo, Engr. Ifeanyi Matt Anyaugo, Chuba Anyaugo and Ezinne Cordelia Anyaugo
- Beny Chua
- Rosemarie Reyes
- Pauline
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Cristine C. Tan
- Birthday: Marylou T. Lee
- Birthday: Therese Maximo Coleongco
- Prayer Intention: Peter Hui
… for families who are in need of healing
… 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.
+================================================+