Wednesday, July 22, 2015

 

THURSDAY, 16th Week in Ordinary Time /

July 23, 2015 THURSDAY, 16th Week in Ordinary Time /
St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious          
Green      

Ex 19:1 – 2, 9-11, 16-20b / Mt 13:10 - 17 

[St. Bridget of Sweden (1303 – 1373), a mother of eight children one of whom is canonized as St. Catherine of Sweden, became a Franciscan tertiary and founded a religious order.]

Reading: Ex 19:1 – 2, 9-11, 16-20b
     Exactly two months after the Israelites had left Egypt, they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. They arrived there coming from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.
     Yahweh spoke to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud so that the people may hear me speaking with you and trust you always." Then Moses related to Yahweh what the people had said.
     Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Go to the people and have them sanctified today and tomorrow; let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day Yahweh will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 
     On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled. Moses then made the people leave the camp to meet God and stand at the foot of the mountain.
     Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke because Yahweh had come down in fire, and the smoke rose as from a furnace. The whole mountain shook violently, while the blast of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke and God replied in thunder.
     When Yahweh had come down to the summit of Mount Sinai, God called Moses who went to the summit where Yahweh said to him, "Go down and give this warning to the people, lest they rush to see Yahweh and many of them perish. 

Gospel: Mt 13:10 – 17
     Then his disciples came to him with the question, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 
     Jesus answered, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but not to these people. For the one who has, will be given more and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived of even what he has. That is why I speak to them in parables, because they look and do not see; they hear, but they do not listen or understand.
     "In them the words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled: Much as you hear, you do not understand; much as you see, you do not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears hardly hear and their eyes dare not see. If they were to see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart, they would turn back and I would heal them. 
     "But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear. For I tell you that many prophets and upright people would have longed to see the things you see, but they did not, and to hear the things you hear, but they did not hear it."

Reflection:
     How come God reveals Himself to some people and to others he does not?  Because it is God who chooses and not man. In the first reading, God chose Moses to receive the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai and not any of the other Israelites. He chose Israel to be his covenanted people, not because Israel was a great nation; he chose Israel because he loved them.
     In the Gospel reading, Jesus reveals the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven to his disciples and not to the crowd coming to see him everyday. Why only to some, and not to all? God always chooses a select few because his teachings are sacred and not to be given to just any curious onlooker. He also chooses the humble ones, those who are weak and nobodies in men's eyes, in order to confound the proud and the powerful.  The choice of God is his and his alone. What we can do is to heed his call to follow him if and when he calls us.  


WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY
     FR. ANWAR MARI L. ADONA
     FR. SIGMUND B. DE GUZMAN, SJ

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.  
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WEDNESDAY, 18TH Week in Ordinary Time

July 22, 2015 WEDNESDAY, 18TH Week in Ordinary Time

St. Mary Magdalene, Disciple of the Lord 

Memorial, White

    

Ex 16: 1 - 5, 9 - 15 / Jn 20: 11 - 18

 

[At his resurrection, our Lord appeared first to St. Mary Magdalene, a close disciple of our Lord.]

 

Reading: Ex 16:1 - 5, 9 - 15 

     The Israelites left Elim and the entire community reached the desert of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt.

     In the desert the whole community of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron and said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of Yahweh in Egypt when we sat down to caldrons of meat and ate all the bread we wanted, whereas you have brought us to this desert to let the whole assembly die of starvation!"

     Yahweh then said to Moses, "Now I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to gather what is needed for that day. In this way I will test them to see if they will follow my Teaching or not. On the sixth day when they prepare what they have brought in, they will find that there is twice as much as they gather each day."

     Then Moses directed Aaron to say to the whole community of Israel, "Draw near to Yahweh for he has heard your complaints."

     It happened that as Aaron was speaking to the full assembly of Israel, they turned towards the desert and saw the Glory of Yahweh in the midst of the cloud.

     Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, "I have heard the complaints of Israel. Speak to them and say: Between the two evenings you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have bread to your heart's content; then you shall know that I am Yahweh, your God!"

     In the evening quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morning, dew had fallen around the camp. When the dew lifted, there was on the surface of the desert a thin crust like hoarfrost. The people of Israel upon seeing it said to one another, "What is it?" for they didn't know what it was. Moses told them, "It is the bread that Yahweh has given you to eat."

 

Gospel: Jn 20: 11- 18

     Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she bent down to look inside; she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and the other at the feet. They said, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She answered, "Because they have taken my Lord and I don't know where they have put him."

     As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognize him. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" She thought it was the gardener and answered him, "Lord, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him."

     Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him, "Rabboni" - which means, Master. Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me; you see I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them: I am ascending to my Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God."

     So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord, and this is what he said to me." 

 

Reflection:

     Today's readings at Mass point to a common experience of man: the absence of God.  

     In the first reading the Israelites in the desert felt that God had abandoned them because they lacked food and water. In the Gospel reading Mary Magdalene was in grief looking for Jesus and finding an empty tomb. The Israelites felt despair in their extreme need; Mary Magdalene was in great sadness not finding her Lord. But God heard their pleas and answered them.

     Oftentimes in our sadness and despair, we ask the same question, "Where is God?" When there is suffering we feel that God must have abandoned us. The readings assure us that God never leaves us but perhaps our weak faith blocks our view of his presence and love. Knowing our restlessness and need, God will "re-appear" in our lives in various ways to reassure us of his abiding presence and love for us.

     When in despair, in sadness and feeling lost, we can simply trust in God's abiding presence and love for us.  

 

 

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

 

BIRTHDAY

     LUIS BERNARDO A. PUHAWAN

 

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

     RAYMUND & JULIE CHUA

 

IN MEMORIAM (+)

     JAMES RICHARD HART

     JULIAN UY JR.

 

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.  

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

 

 

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