DAILY- HOMILY

March 19, 2015 THURSDAY, ST. JOSEPH, Husband of Mary

Patron of the Society of Jesus

Solemnity, White

2 Sm 7:4-5, 12-14a, 16 / Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22 / Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a

First Reading: 2 Sm 7:4-5, 12-14a, 16 

     But that very night, Yahweh's word came to Nathan, "Go and tell my servant David, this is what Yahweh says: Are you able to build a house for me to live in?

     When the time comes for you to rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your son after you, the one born of you and I will make his reign secure. He shall build a house for my name and I will firmly establish his kingship forever. I will be a father to him and he shall be my son.

     Your house and your reign shall last forever before me, and your throne shall be forever firm."

Second Reading: Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22

     If God promised Abraham, or rather his descendants, that the world would belong to him, this was not because of his obeying the Law, but because he was just and a friend of God through faith.  

     For that reason, faith is the way and all is given by grace; and the promises of Abraham are fulfilled for all his descendants, not only for his children according to the Law, but also for all the others who have believed.

     Abraham is the father of all of us, as it is written: I will make you father of many nations. He is our father in the eyes of Him who gives life to the dead, and calls into existence what does not yet exist, for this is the God in whom he believed.

     Abraham believed and hoped against all expectation, thus becoming father of many nations, as he had been told: See how many will be your descendants.  

     This was taken into account for him to attain righteousness. This was taken into account: these words of Scripture are not only for him, but for us, too, because we believe in Him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from among the dead, he who was delivered for our sins and raised to life for us to receive true righteousness.

Gospel: Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a

     Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus who is called the Christ – the Messiah.

     This is how Jesus Christ was born. Mary his mother had been given to Joseph in marriage but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

     Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.

     While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him 'Jesus' for he will save his people from their sins."

     When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do and he took his wife to his home. 

Reflection:

     Today we honor St. Joseph to whom God himself chose to entrust the Child Jesus and his mother Mary. Joseph believed and hoped that God would fulfill all the promises he had made to the people of Israel that a Savior would come. Joseph did not see how it could happen since the House of David was in shambles, without a king on the throne of Israel for several hundred years. It was a laughingstock and there was nothing left. But God's promises are fulfilled in ways we could never imagine and Joseph continued to believe and it was credited to him as righteousness.

     His faith was strong and his love of God profound: St. Joseph was called a just man or a righteous man, one who did not sin, one who did the will of God in all things. Born, like all others, with original sin, he had to struggle with all the things of the world, the flesh and the devil. And he overcame them all so that he would be a worthy guardian of Jesus and Mary, a husband to Mary and the foster-father of the Son of God. The holiness of Joseph was such that he would accept Mary as his wife and the Child conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit as his foster-Child. Though he did not fully understand, he generously said "Yes" and was obedient to God in all things.

     Joseph was the second human being to whom the mystery of the Incarnation was revealed, with Mary being the first. Joseph recognized his own sinfulness and Mary's unique holiness and saw his own unworthiness. Yet in all humility, he was willing to be part of God's plan and to do whatever God asked of him.

     So too for us when we hear the word and promises of God: oftentimes we neither hear them nor understand them; oftentimes they are fulfilled in ways we also do not understand. But whenever God makes promises, he fulfills them for he is a faithful God. We pray for the virtues which so characterized St. Joseph: faith, hope and love. He believed in everything God promised; he had hoped confidently that God would fulfill his promises in ways he might not understand; and he loved God, Mary and the Child Jesus.

     We pray that St. Joseph would help us so that our faith will be credited to us as righteousness, that we will overcome sin all our lives, that we will be humble, holy and obedient, and that we will love God, Jesus and Mary as he did.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     GRAZIANO AND JOJI NEGRONI

     PEARLIE CHAN

IN MEMORIAM (+)

     FRANCISCO F. SUN

     AMADO SANTIAGO

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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March 20, 2015 FRIDAY, 4TH WEEK OF LENT

Violet

Wis 2:1a, 12-22 / Jn 7:1-2, 10, 23-30

Reading: Wis 2:1a, 12-22

     Led by mistaken reasons they think, "Life is short and sad and there is no cure for death.

     Let us set a trap for the righteous, for he annoys us and opposes our way of life; he reproaches us for our breaches of the Law and accuses us of being false to our upbringing.

     He claims knowledge of God and calls himself son of the Lord. He has become a reproach to our way of thinking; even to meet him is burdensome to us. He does not live like others and behaves strangely.

     According to him we have low standards, so he keeps aloof from us as if we were unclean. He emphasizes the happy end of the righteous and boasts of having God as father.

     Let us see the truth of what he says and find out what his end will be. If the righteous is a son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from his adversaries.

     Let us humble and torture him to prove his self-control and test his patience. When we have condemned him to a shameful death, we may test his words."

     This is the way they reason, but they are mistaken, blinded by their malice. They do not know the mysteries of God nor do they hope for the reward of a holy life; they do not believe that the blameless will be recompensed.

Gospel: Jn 7: 1-2. 10. 25-30

     After this Jesus went around Galilee; he would not go about in Judea because the Jews wanted to kill him. Now the Jewish feast of the Tents was at hand.

   But after his brothers had gone to the festival, he also went up, not publicly but in secret.

     Some of the people of Jerusalem said, "Is this not the man they want to kill? And here he is speaking freely, and they don't say a word to him? Can it be that the rulers know that this is really the Christ? Yet we know where this man comes from; but when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from."

     So Jesus announced in a loud voice in the Temple court where he was teaching, "You say that you know me and know where I come from! I have not come of myself; I was sent by the One who is true, and you don't know him. I know him for I come from him and he sent me." They would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him because his time had not yet come.

Reflection:

     The purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ as Messiah was to reconcile us with God the Father. When we want to reach out to someone we don't know, we usually try to find an intermediary who knows that person, to introduce us to him or her. It has a better effect and it achieves a more comfortable environment of familiarity. No one has ever seen or spoken to God of our original sin which has to be repaid and which can be forgiven through someone who has connections to God the Father. And what better connection than his Son, Jesus Christ. God did not send a mere emissary, a mere employee, or a mere worker. God sent his only begotten Son to be one of us.

     Christ was born into mankind, and being one of us, he took our cudgels and our case for us. He literally took our place and absorbed all our sins and repaid it with the full compensation of his life. As a result, all of us now have become co-sharers of the divine life awaiting all of us. With his resurrection, we know where Christ came from and where he is. His time has come. Let us take advantage of the light while we have it.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     CHAELDA M. DEL CARMEN

     EARNEST JAMES YU

     THELMA N. FACTORAN

IN MEMORIAM (+)

     YU TIONG (1921 – 2002)

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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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: 

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

   |  priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish

   |  distributed free and for personal use only.  

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

March 21, 2015 SATURDAY, 4th Week of Lent

Violet

Jer 11:18-20 / Jn 7:40-53

Reading: Jer 11:18-20

     Yahweh made it known to me and so I know! And you let me see their scheming: "Take care, even your kinsfolk and your own family are false with you and behind your back they freely criticize you. Do not trust them when they approach you in a friendly way."

     But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me that they were plotting, "Let us feed him with trials and remove him from the land of the living and let his name never be mentioned again."

     Yahweh, God of hosts, you who judge with justice and know everyone's heart and intentions, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause.

Gospel: Jn 7:40-53

     Many who had been listening to these words began to say, "This is the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But some wondered, "Would the Christ come from Galilee? Doesn't Scripture say that the Christ is a descendant of David and from Bethlehem, the city of David?" The crowd was divided over him. Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

     The officers of the Temple went back to the chief priests who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him?" The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man." The Pharisees then said, "So you, too, have been led astray! Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him? Only these cursed people, who have no knowledge of the Law!" Yet one of them, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, spoke out, "Does our law condemn people without first hearing them and knowing the facts?" They replied, "Do you, too, come from Galilee? Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee." And they all went home.

Reflection:

     The first reading is about the plot against the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah has set his goal to perform his mission for God so passionately that he was not even aware that people were out to kill him. He had entrusted his goal and life to his Lord and had placed his faith in God to protect him.

     So it is with us. When we have discerned and decided in undertaking a project that God has willed for us, we put our heart and soul, our love and passion to do a good job. What does it mean, however, to have faith and trust in him while undertaking his mission? In the journey, especially when it entails espousing social justice, or the like, there will be some misunderstandings or hostile elements that can impede one's accomplishment of the mission, thereby sowing chaos in us, and darkness can overtake our sight.

     But if we set our eyes on Jesus, his light will illumine our dark tunnel, and in the depths of our weakness as in giving up, he will be our strength and our consoler, our Balm of Gilead for all the wounds we shall bear! Such is the power and essence of Christ's life on earth here with us.

     His full humanity assures us that he had been there himself and still bears these with us....all these that we anticipate because we had decided to undergo in the course of doing God's will!

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

IN MEMORIAM (+)

     PATRICIA REYES

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

   |  distributed free and for personal use only.  

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