DAILY- HOMILY

May 15, 2014 
Thursday Fourth Week of Easter
[Memorial, St. Isidore, Farmer]

Acts 13: 13-25 / Ps 89: 2-3, 21-22, 25 and 27 / Jn 13: 16-20   

Reading: Acts 13: 13-25
From Paphos, Paul and his companions set sail   and came to Perga in Pam phylia. There John left them and returned to Jerusalem   while they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day   they entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the Law and the   Prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent this message to them, "Brothers,   if you have any word of encouragement for the assembly, please speak up." So   Paul arose, motioned to them for silence and began, "Fellow Israelites and also   all you who fear God, listen. The God of our people Israel chose our ancestors,   and after he had made them increase during their stay in Egypt, he led them out   by powerful deeds. For forty years he fed them in the desert, and after he had   destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an   inheritance. All this took four hundred and fifty years. After that, he gave   them Judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king and God gave   them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, and he was king for forty   years. After that time, God removed him and raised up David as king, to whom he   bore witness saying: I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own   heart, who will do all I want him to do. It is from the descendants of David   that God has now raised up the promised savior of Israel, Jesus. Before he   appeared, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for all the people of Israel.   As John was ending his life's work, he said: 'I am not what you think I am, for   after me another one is coming whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.'      

Gospel: John 13: 16-20
Truly, I say to you, the servant is not   greater than his master, nor is the messenger greater than he who sent him.   Understand this, and blessed are you if you put it into practice. I am not   speaking of you all, because I know the ones I have chosen and the Scripture has   to be fulfilled that says, the one who shared my table has risen against me. I   tell you this now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you may know   that I am He. Truly, I say to you, whoever welcomes the one I send, welcomes me,   and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the One who sent   me."

Reflection:
     When Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, he   touched on humility. But he also sought acceptance both as messiah servant which   seemed conflicting and was hard to accept. The disciples followed Jesus'   thinking He was the anointed one and sent to save mankind: a man of power. The   disciples were after a temporal kingdom where Jesus would reign and they would   share in such glory. To the disciples, servanthood was farthest from their   minds. And so to explain the concept of a servant leader, Jesus used himself as   the example.
     To complement our reading, let us look at the life of St.   Isidore the Farmer whose feast we celebrate today. St. Isidore lived during the   11th century in Spain. He is popularly known to Filipinos as San Isidro   Labrador, the patron saint of farmers. We often picture farmers as simple folks   doing humble chores and living simple lives. San Isidro Labrador was indeed born   poor and all his life he was employed by a rich landlord to till the land. San   Isidro was a pious man like his wife who later became St. Maria dela Cabeza. He   went to mass every day, the reason he was always late in plowing the fields. But   strangely San Isidro produced three times the normal output. The curious master   and his co-workers were amazed to find out he was being helped by angels who   plowed while he was at mass and even side by side with him later. He was also   fond of animals and these came to him in great numbers. Again his companions   witnessed another miracle that as San Isidro was feeding the animals, the food   never ran out. The same thing happened every time San Isidro fed the beggars who   trooped to him. In the end, San Isidro became greatly esteemed. When he died at   the age of 60 in 1622, he was canonized alongside four high profile saints as   St. Phillip Neri, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius of   Loyola. What is more, his body remains incorrupt to this day.
     To be   God's chosen people and to work as lowly servants can go hand in hand. All we   need is humility to bridge the two.

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
     * Herman Gamboa
... for world   peace and reconciliation
... for the repose of the soul - Benedicta Gilana   Gerona
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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