Tuesday, June 10, 2014

 

Wednesday 10th Week in Ordinary Time

June 11, 2014 
Wednesday 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[Memorial: St Barnabas, Apostle]

Acts 11:21b-26; 12:1-3 / Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6 / Mt 5:17-19

Reading: Acts 11:21b-26; 12:1-3
The hand of the Lord was with them so that a great number believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the manifest signs of God's favor, he rejoiced and urged them all to remain firmly faithful to the Lord; for he himself was a good man filled with Holy Spirit and faith. Thus large crowds came to know the Lord. Then Barnabas went off to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they had meetings with the Church and instructed many people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. About that time King Herod decided to persecute some members of the Church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword, and when he saw how it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This happened during the festival of the Unleavened Bread.    

Gospel: Matthew 5: 17-19
Do not think that I have come to remove the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to remove but to fulfill them. I tell you this: as long as heaven and earth last, not the smallest letter or stroke of the Law will change until all is fulfilled. So then, whoever breaks the least important of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be the least in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys them and teaches others to do the same will be great in the kingdom of heaven. 

Reflection:
     Jesus Christ is the summary of the Old and New Testament.  He came to perfect the law, and his new perfect law is love. The purpose of life is to complete the plan of salvation of God for man. Man was created in the image of God and in his innermost being, God engraved the need to love. All the laws and commandments in fact has been summarized into two commandments: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  
     Today's Gospel reading is taken from the Sermon on the Mount which is like the constitution of the Christian to be a good citizen of heaven. It describes what a Christian is, what kind of person merits being called a disciple of Christ. It goes even further that a Christian not only follows the commandments, not only lives the commandments, but also as important, teaches the commandments. This is made possible with the arrival of Jesus Christ who resurrected from the dead and sent his Holy Spirit to give us sanctifying grace that will help fulfill the commandments of God. By sheer human effort, we cannot fulfill even one commandment. We need the grace of God to be able to do it. This is important for us to realize, that even with the best intentions, without the Holy Spirit, nothing is possible. That is why faith and the Holy Spirit are precisely gift and not reward. We cannot say we deserve grace, nor merit this gift of faith in our Baptism, but it has been given to us free, out of pure love of God for man. 

Prayer Requests:
We pray ...
... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn. 
... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
... 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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