DAILY- HOMILY

September 16, 2013

Monday , 24^th Week in Ordinary Time - Year I

Memorial, Saints Cornelius, pope, and Cyprian, bishop, martyrs - Memorial

1 Tim 2:1-8 / Ps 28: 2. 7. 8-9 / Lk 7:1-10

1 Timothy 2:1-8

First of all I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanks giving be made for everyone, for rulers of states and all in authority, that we may enjoy a quiet and peaceful life in godliness and respect. This is good and pleases God. For he wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. As there is one God, there is one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave his life for the redemption of all. This is the testimony, given in its proper time, and of this, God has made me apostle and herald. I am not lying, I am telling the truth: He made me teacher of the nations regarding faith and truth. I want the men in every place to lift pure hands in prayer to heaven without anger and dissension.

Luke 7:1-10

When Jesus had finished teaching the people, he went to Capernaum. There was a captain whose servant was very sick and near to death, a man very dear to him. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent some elders of the Jews to persuade him to come and save his servant's life. The elders came to Jesus and begged him earnestly, saying, "He deserves this of you, for he loves our people and even built a synagogue for us." Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house, when the captain sent friends to give this message, "Sir, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to welcome you under my roof. You see, I didn't approach you myself. Just give the order, and my servant will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers, and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes; and to the other, 'Come!' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this!' and he does it." On hearing these words, Jesus was filled with admiration. He turned and said to the people with him, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith." The people, sent by the captain, went back to his house; there they found that the servant was well.

Reflection

When the centurion asked Jesus through other people to heal his servant, he did not expect him to come. He simply believed that if Jesus would only will it, it would happen. He asked great things from a great God. Yet what he asked was not for himself but for someone who worked for him.

Being a Gentile, the centurion probably felt that Jesus, who was already quite famous at that time, would think of him as an outsider. It was, however, his great desire to see his servant healed that he made the effort to ask people for help. Knowing that powerful people could do many things, he believed that Jesus need not come to his house, for he only had to will it and his servant would be healed.

The believing centurion is the opposite of Thomas who needed physical proof before believing that Jesus did rise from the dead. Time and again, Jesus would remind us of our need to believe in what we could not see. Proof of Jesus' existence is often debated upon. Also our own notion of God is different from who God really is. After asking too many questions about God, we come up with one inevitable answer: God is a mystery. And when we come to this conclusion, what would assure us that He is there and He is in charge would not be news reports of sightings, pictures on the internet, ads on TV, detailed miracles on video but our own faith experiences which make us sure that HE IS HE.

Faith focuses on God as its proper object. It does not require visible audience. Most of all faith, like the faith of the centurion, is a blessing for others. Have we taken a leap of faith?

Prayer Requests

We pray …

… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.

… for the speedy recovery and healing of

Lourdes, Jun, Aileen

… for the personal intentions of Medi

.. Birthday: Emy A Dimayuga , Ricardo Villanueva Jr, Elton Villanueva

… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.

Birthday: Aurea Santos Elepano

Birthday: Jeremy L. Lim

Birthday: Lucia Uy

Birthday: Imelda Reyes

Wedding Anniversary: Vincent & Chia Sui Lim

Wedding Anniversary: Jerald & Lusyl Gomez

… 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!

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