DAILY- HOMILY

January 18, 2015 SUNDAY

STO NIÑO, Proper Feast in the Philippines

White 

Is 9: 1 -6 / Eph 1:3–6,15–18 / Mk10:13-16.

First Reading: Is 9:1-6

     The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death. You have enlarged the nation; you have increased their joy. They rejoice before you, as people rejoice at harvest time as they rejoice in dividing the spoil. For the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors, you have broken it as on the day of Midian. Every warrior's boot that tramped in war, every cloak rolled in blood, will be thrown out for burning, will serve as fuel for the fire. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; the royal ornament is laid upon his shoulder, and his name is proclaimed: "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." To the increase of his powerful rule in peace, there will be no end. Vast will be his dominion, he will reign on David's throne and over all his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forever. The zealous love of Yahweh Sabaoth will do this.

Second Reading: Eph 1:3–6,15–18

     Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, who in Christ has blessed us from heaven with every spiritual blessing.

     God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and without sin in his presence.

     From eternity he destined us in love to be his adopted sons and daughters through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling his free and generous will.

   This goal suited him: that his loving-kindness which he granted us in his Beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

     I have been told of your faith and your affection towards all the believers, so I always give thanks to God, remembering you in my prayers.

     May the God of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Father of Glory, reveal himself to you and give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know him.

     May he enlighten your inner vision, that you may appreciate the things we hope for, since we were called by God.

     May you know how great is the inheritance, the glory, God sets apart for his saints;

Gospel: Mk 10: 13-16

     People were bringing little children to him to have him touch them, and the disciples rebuked them for this. When Jesus noticed it, he was very angry and said, "Let the children come to me and don't stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he took the children in his arms and laying his hands on them, blessed them.

Reflection:

     In today's Gospel Jesus says, "Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." This Gospel passage from Mark, which has parallels in the Gospel accounts of Matthew and Luke, presents the express criterion to enter God's kingdom, and that is, to go back to the mentality of one's beginnings as children.

     Why does Jesus call on his followers to revisit their experiences of childhood? What is it in being like a child that Jesus invites his disciples to return to?

     In his book, Unless You Become Like This Child, the Swiss theologian Urs Von Balthasar notes that, before children develop consciousness, their first experience of the world is that of being recipients of immense goodness. Newborn babies, receiving freely the unconditional care of their parents, wake up and live a reality of unbounded benevolence. In their infancy children accept easily the unmerited affection and undeserved generosity granted them by their parents. Suffice it to say, their fundamental experience of the world is being beneficiaries of sheer and unadulterated love.

     In receiving pure unbounded goodness children slowly nurture their awareness of the world. At their mother's breast and in the multitude of other good things extended to them, their consciousness grows adopting their mother's giving attitude without question as the right one. As infants, children experience goodness not as a choice but as the correct reality. Thus, children grow desiring to give because they have experienced giving as the form of goodness. Their experience of care, nurturance and love compels them to care, nurture and love, as the natural order of things and of reality.

     It is to this consciousness of being given without any conditions which engenders goodness as response that Jesus calls his disciples to be familiar with once again. Jesus summons his followers to re-acquaint themselves with the reality of sheer goodness, of pure love, which they once tangibly felt as little children, when, as they suckled at their mother's breast, they were initiated into a world where giving is not seen as a choice but as the way things are.

     When asked which is the greatest of the commandments Jesus replied by summing up the laws of love of God and of neighbor. In the eyes of children, to love or not to love is not a choice to be made. For a child whose introduction to the world is that of being given love, the only possible response is love.

     The Feast of the Santo Nino, a feast proper to the Philippines, is a fitting reminder to all who wish to enter God's kingdom to recall their fundamental experience of being given love by their parents. This day is a good occasion to pause and be reminded that to be a child means to owe one's continuing existence to the goodness of others. And because of this primary experience of goodness, one desiring to follow Christ is naturally drawn and challenged to give back and to share what he/she has been given and has received.

     In this giving, there is no counting who loses and who gains. This is because in the eyes of children everything is gift.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     SIMION TIU

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

     ANDREW & JAN CO

OTHER INTENTIONS:

For the soul of Jocelyn Marticio Balilla

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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   |  The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the

   |  priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish

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