DAILY- HOMILY

July 31, 2015 FRIDAY – ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA 

Priest and Founder of the Society of Jesus 

Solemnity, White

Dt 30:15 – 20 / 1 Tim 1: 12 – 17 / Lk 9:18 – 26

[St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491 – 1556), a Basque, founded the Society of Jesus and taught the Spiritual Exercises.]

First Reading: Dt 30:15 – 20 

     See, I set before you on this day life and good, evil and death. I command you to love Yahweh, your God and follow his ways. Observe his commandments, his norms and his laws, and you will live and increase, and Yahweh will give you his blessing in the land you are going to possess. But if your heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and bow before other gods to serve them, I declare on this day that you shall perish. You shall not last in the land you are going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan. 

     Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be witnesses against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live, loving Yahweh, listening to his voice, and being one with him. In this is life for you and length of days in the land which Yahweh swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Second Reading: 1 Tim 1:12 – 17

     I give thanks to Christ Jesus, our Lord, who is my strength, who has considered me trustworthy and appointed me to his service, although I had been a blasphemer, a persecutor and a rabid enemy. However he took mercy on me because I did not know what I was doing when I opposed the faith; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, together with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 

     This saying is true and worthy of belief: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. Because of that I was forgiven; Christ Jesus wanted to display his utmost patience so that I might be an example for all who are to believe and obtain eternal life. To the King of ages, the only God who lives beyond every perishable and visible creation—to him be honor and glory forever. Amen!

Gospel: Lk 9:18 – 26

     One day when Jesus was praying alone, not far from his disciples, he asked them, "What do people say about me?" And they answered, "Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say that you are Elijah, and still others that you are one of the former prophets risen from the dead." Again Jesus asked them, "Who then do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Messiah of God." Then Jesus spoke to them, giving them strict orders not to tell this to anyone.

     And he added, "The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and put to death. Then after three days he will be raised to life."

     Jesus also said to all the people, "If you wish to be a follower of mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it, and if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it. What does it profit you to gain the whole world while you destroy or damage yourself? If someone feels ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Glory and in the Glory of his Father with his holy angels. 

Reflection:

     After having been with his disciples for a couple of years, it was important for Jesus to ask them who he was to them. They first told him what they heard from others, that he was John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets of old. But Jesus wanted to hear what they thought, "Who then do you say I am?" Jesus was asking him what they themselves thought.

     Peter's reply was a bold proclamation of Jesus as the "Messiah of God." Subsequently Jesus predicts his passion and death, "The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and put to death. Then after three days he will be raised to life."  

     Understandably the disciples did not understand what Jesus told them. Even Peter, who had confessed him as "the Messiah of God" and would later be privileged to witness his transfiguration and had been warned about his betrayal of the Lord, could not understand how Jesus could be arrested, beaten up and put to death on the cross. Before common-folk Peter deserted and betrayed him.

     Today is the Solemnity of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest and Founder of the Society of Jesus. Like the saints of old, Ignatius was moved to desire to be of greater service to the Lord Jesus. If he would have been asked by the Lord what he was to him, he most probably would have answered, "Lord, you are everything to me, my Lord and Savior, my King and my best friend ever." 

     Ignatius learned to know and love Jesus above all in prayer and contemplation: in the context of a loving and "intimate" friendship.  Ignatius encountered Jesus who shared our humanity at his birth in Bethlehem, as Jesus grew in wisdom, age and grace before God and man in the family home and shop in Nazareth, as Jesus left Mary and home for his public life to carry out his mission, as he traversed Galilee a preaching the Good News, as he chose and taught his disciples, as he agonized in the garden and at the hands of the Roman soldiers, as he hung to his death on the cross, and as he was raised from the dead in his resurrection.

     Contemplation, prayer and friendship endeared Ignatius to the person of Jesus who as-it-were swept Ignatius off his feet and moved him to stake his whole life and being in the following and service of Jesus as his eternal King.  Ignatius wished to be wherever the Lord was. 

     The path of Ignatius is something we could learn from and aspire to: to know Jesus more closely, to love him more dearly and to follow and serve him with great love and generosity, "not just in words but in deeds."   

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     AIDZ DY

     HELEN TAN

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.  

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

August 1, 2015 SATURDAY, 17TH Week in Ordinary Time

St. Alphonsus Liguori, 

Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Memorial, White

Lv 25:1, 8 – 17 / Mt 14:1 - 12

[A native of Naples, St. Alphonsus Ligouri (1696 -1787), a famed moral theologian, founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists).]

Reading: Lv 25:1, 8 – 17

     Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: 

     When seven sabbaths of years have passed, that is, seven times seven years, there shall be the time of the seven weeks of years, that is forty-nine years. Then on the tenth day of the seventh month sound the trumpet loudly. On this Day of Atonement sound the trumpet all through the land. Keep holy the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom for all the inhabitants of the land. It shall be a jubilation year for you when each one shall recover his property and go back to his family. In this fiftieth year, your year of Jubilee, you shall neither sow nor reap the aftergrowth, nor gather the grapes from the uncultivated vines. This Jubilee year shall be holy for you, and you shall eat what the field yields of itself without cultivation.

     In this year of Jubilee each of you shall recover his own property. When you sell something to your neighbor or buy something from him, do not wrong one another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy it from your neighbor and according to the number of years left for harvesting crops he shall sell to you. When the years are many the price shall be greater and when the years are few the price shall be less, for it is the number of crops that he is selling to you. So you shall not wrong one another but you shall fear your God, for I am Yahweh, your God.

Gospel: Mt 14:1 - 12

     At that time the news about Jesus reached King Herod. And he said to his servants, "This man is John the Baptist. John has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him."

     Herod had, in fact, ordered that John be arrested, bound in chains and put in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. For John had said to him, "It is not right for you to have her as wife." Herod wanted to kill him but he did not dare, because he feared the people who regarded John as a prophet.  

     On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst of the guests; she so delighted Herod that he promised under oath to give her anything she asked. The girl, following the advice of her mother, said, "Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a dish." 

     The king was very displeased, but because he had made this promise under oath in the presence of the guests, he ordered it to be given her. So he had John beheaded in prison and his head brought on a dish and given to the girl. The girl then took it to her mother.    

     Then John's disciples came to take his body and bury it. And they went to bring the news to Jesus.    

Reflection:

     "So you shall not wrong one another but you shall fear your God. . ." These were the words spoken by God to Moses but it seems Herod must have forgotten these words thinking that he shall not wrong another by giving in to the evil request because of his promise under oath to give anything to the daughter of Herodias. His fear of things of the world made him forget about the fear of being separated from God.

     Yes, there are still some individuals, modern day Herods in the different sectors of our society who continue to exist pleasing others or themselves at the expense of others, causing different kinds of death in humanity. We sometimes become like Herod when we opt to follow what is pleasing in the eyes of the world and we forget about what is pleasing to God. Let us not forget about what our greatest fear should be, to be separated from God for all eternity. 

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     FE ESPERANZA D. CHUA

PRAYER INTENTION

     MARGE R. ZARATE

OTHER INTENTIONS:

For the birthday intentions of Richard Condor

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.  

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