DAILY- HOMILY

September 22, 2015 TUESDAY, 25th Week in Ordinary Time       

Green    

Ezr 6:7 - 8, 12b, 14 – 20 / Lk 8:19 - 21

Reading: Ezr 6:7 - 8, 12b, 14 – 20

     Let the governor of the Jews together with their leaders build the House of God on its former site.

     This is the command I give as to what you should do to help those Jewish leaders rebuild the House of God: pay the expenses in full and without delay, with the income from taxes of the province at the other side of the River which is allotted to the king. 

    "I, Darius, give this command. Let it be carried out at once."

     And the leaders of the Jews continued to make progress in building, encouraged by what Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo, had said; and they finished the work according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus and Darius. The House was finished on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of Darius.

     The children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of those who had returned from exile celebrated the consecration of this House of God with rejoicing, offering on this solemnity one hundred young bulls, two hundred rams and four hundred lambs; and twelve he-goats as a sin-offering for all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

     Then they installed the priests according to their ranks, and the Levites according to their classes, for the service of the house of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

     Those who had returned from exile celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, for the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together, and all of them were clean. So, they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all who had returned from exile, for their fellow-priests and for themselves.

Gospel: Lk 8:19 - 21

     Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him for the crowd. And he was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you." But he said to them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."

Reflection:

     In the Gospel reading today Jesus seems to ignore his family. His seeming inattention and statement, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it" emphasize the primacy of the Kingdom of heaven over everything else.

     Jesus was raised where family ties had great value.

     Immediately after the annunciation, Mary hurries to the hill country to assist her cousin Elizabeth who was with child.  After the finding in the temple of the twelve-year-old Jesus, he "went down with [his parents], returning to Nazareth, and he continued to be subject to them."

     In his public life he was known as the son of the carpenter Joseph from Nazareth.  Jesus raised to life the young man at Naim and restored him to his widowed mother; similarly he raised from the dead the young daughter of Jairus at the request of her parents. Jesus treasured his friendship with the family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus whom he raised from the dead.

     And dying on the Cross, Jesus commends his mother to the care of the beloved disciple John.  

     But Jesus also clearly taught the primacy of God's will and of his the Kingdom of heaven, over family and everything else.

     As a young boy of twelve, when his anxious parents found him in the temple: "Son, why have you done this to us? You father and I were very worried while searching for you." "Why were you looking for me? Do you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

     At his call, Simon and his brother Andrew "at once left their nets and followed him;" "Immediately. Jesus called [James and John] and they followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men,"

     To one wishing to follow him but had to bury his father first, "Let the dead bury the dead; as for you, leave them and proclaim the kingdom of God." (Lk 9: 59)

     Discussing the cost of following Jesus, "Peter spoke up and said, 'We have given up everything to follow you.' Jesus answered, 'Truly, there is no one who has left house or brothers and sisters, or father and mother, or children, or lands for my sake and for the Gospel, who will not receive his reward. . . . a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands in the present  time, and in the world to come  eternal life." (Mk 10: 29 – 30)  

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     ANTHONY CHUA

     JAIME TAN

     MARIA ROSABEL NAZAL KAW

     MICAH M. DEL CARMEN

     NICKY TESORO

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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