Friday, June 26, 2015
FRIDAY, 12th Week in Ordinary Time
June 26, 2015 FRIDAY, 12th Week in Ordinary Time
St. Josemaria Escriva, Priest
Green
Gn 17:1, 9 – 10, 15 – 22 / Mt 8: 1 - 4
[St. Josemaria Escriva (1902 – 1975) was the founder of Opus Dei, which encouraged and promoted holiness in ordinary life.]
Reading: Gn 17:1, 9 – 10, 15 – 22
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty. Walk in my presence and be without blame!
God said to Abraham, "For your part, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation. This is my covenant with you, that you will keep, you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised;
God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai, your wife, no longer are you to call her Sarai, but Sarah. I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and from her will come nations; kings and peoples shall come from her."
Then Abraham fell face down, and he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? And can Sarah who is ninety have a child?" And Abraham said to God, "If only you would accept Ishmael as yours!" But God said, "Not at all! It is Sarah, your wife, who will give birth to your son and you will name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him and his descendants after him forever. As for Ishmael, I heard you. I will bless him and make him fruitful, and I will multiply his race. He shall be the father of twelve princes and I will make of him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, the child Sarah will have this time next year." When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went away from him.
Gospel: Mt 8: 1 - 4
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.
Then a leper came forward. He knelt before him and said, "Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean." Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to, be clean again." At that very moment the man was cleansed from his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, "See that you do not tell anyone, but go to the priest, have yourself declared clean, and offer the gift that Moses ordered as proof of it."
Reflection:
One of the greatest gifts that God has given us is our freedom. Even if we don't deserve it, God gives us this great respect and bestows upon us freedom. This is proof of God's great love. Sometimes we think that it would be simpler if we did not have a choice, if we were just simply "forced" to do good, and "forced" to convert. Perhaps this type of martial law, or authoritarian rule would get a lot of positive things done, yet the Lord mysteriously allows us to be free, giving us a conscience and a mind to think and decide on our own.
It requires this same freedom to choose Christ. God cannot force himself to heal us, but he so respects that he patiently waits for us to have the inspiration and desire to want to be cured.
The first step is to recognize that we are unclean, that we are sinners. We have first to realize our limitations, our weaknesses and our sins. We cannot call upon Christ if we declare ourselves free from sin. Many of us go through life quite satisfied with ourselves, thinking we can manage quite well without God. We think we are in very, very good health when in fact we are spiritually almost dead. We don't realize the gravity of our sins which is a more serious advanced stage of spiritual leprosy. We may remain blind all our lives without this realization.
When we realize we are sick, we need to look for the one who can heal us. And Christ can heal us! We shout out, cry out to be healed. This action of asking is important because it shows our deep intention and desire to convert. These words "I want to be clean again" are spoken from the heart. And the Lord looks into our heart and cures us. If we are serious, we can get well again!
Today, we can ask the Lord to cure us, to heal us that we may have his Spirit and love within us.
WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:
BIRTHDAY
RUBY JANE G. NAVAL
IN MEMORIAM (+)
ELEANOR REYES ONGHAI
FELISA DY
LUISITA R. CHUA
PATERNO LUYM
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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# posted by F O O D F O R T H O U G H T @ 7:12 AM 
