DAILY- HOMILY

October 14, 2014

Tuesday 28th Week in Ordinary Time

[Memorial, St. John Ogilvie, priest and martyr]

Gal 5: 1-6 / Ps 119:41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48 / Lk 11: 37-41         

Reading: Gal 5: 1-6    

Christ freed us to make us really free. So remain firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. I, Paul, say this to you: if you receive circumcision, Christ can no longer help you. Once more I say to whoever receives circumcision: you are now bound to keep the whole Law. All you who pretend to become righteous through the observance of the Law have separated yourselves from Christ and have fallen away from grace. As for us, through the Spirit and faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. In Christ Jesus it is irrelevant whether we be circumcised or not; what matters is faith working through love.

Gospel: Luke 11: 37-41    

As Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to have a meal with him. So he went and sat at table. The Pharisee then wondered why Jesus did not first wash his hands before dinner. But the Lord said to him, "So then, you Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves you are full of greed and evil. Fools! He who made the outside, also made the inside. But according to you, by the mere giving of alms everything is made clean.

Reflection:

     In today's gospel, Jesus uses strong words to convey an important concept:  the authenticity of our faith and discipleship.  He lashes out at the Pharisees because of their hypocrisy - their words, their actions and inner thoughts are inconsistent. They claim to follow God's Law, but Jesus could penetrate their hearts and see the truth which they themselves refused to acknowledge.

     In our daily lives as Christians, we can easily fall into the trap of proclaiming our faith with our words, or giving lip service to Christian values, and yet contradict them with our actions or attitudes at the same time. We see many examples of this in our society. We claim to be a predominantly Catholic or Christian nation, and yet we allow or even take part in practices such as corruption, immoral living and cheating others. Many times we seek to conform to worldly standards instead of following the teachings of the gospel. The result is that our light as Christians does not shine as brightly as Christ intended it to be, if it has not been snuffed out altogether.

     The gospel serves as a wake-up call for us, especially during these times when even our church hierarchy is besieged with attacks on its own integrity. We need to ask ourselves, "Am I a light or a scandal to the people around me? Are there inconsistencies in my life that contradict my identity as a follower of Christ? What are the areas of my life where I still live in darkness where the Lord needs to come in and give light?"    

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

... for wisdom, perseverance and clarity of mind for those who prepare and take their exams:

     * Karen Tuala who takes the bar exams on the four (4) consecutive weekends of October

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.  

  +================================================+