Thursday, August 18, 2016
Friday, 20th Week in Ordinary Time
19 August 2016
Friday, 20th Week in Ordinary Time
St. John Eudes, Priest;
St. Ezequiel Moreno, Bishop
Green.
Ezk 37: 1 – 14 / Mt 22: 34 – 40
French priest St. John Eudes (1601 – 1680), devoted to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (1643) for the training of the clergy and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity to assist morally endangered women.
St. Ezekiel Moreno (1846 – 1906), a Spanish Augustinian Recollect ordained a priest in Manila in 1871, worked for fifteen years as a missionary in the Philippines before he became Bishop of Pinara and later of Pasto in Colombia. Beatified in 1974, he was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in Sto. Domingo, Domnican Republic, in 1992.
From the 1st Reading: Ezk 37: 13 -14
"You will know that I am Yahweh, O my people, when I open your graves and bring you out of your graves when I put my spirit in you and you live. I shall settle you in your land and you will know that I, Yahweh, have done what I said I would do."
Gospel Reading: Mt 22: 34 - 40
When the Pharisees heard how Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. One of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to test him with this question, "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law?"
Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the most important of the commandments. But after this there is another one very similar to it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole Law and the Prophets are founded on these two commandments."
Reflection
In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel speaks of Israel, then exiled in Babylon, as similar to dry bones in graves. He prophesies that one day Yahweh would resurrect them from their graves and re-settle them in their own land.
We are also like the people of Israel. When we are in sin, we are like those dry bones but God can enliven us through his Spirit.
The Gospel reading talks about our relationship with God and our neighbor as given in God's commandments. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments as his covenant with the Israelites. At times the people kept them; at times they disobeyed them and worshipped false gods.
Jesus taught that "the whole Law and the Prophets are founded on these two commandments," love of God and love of neighbor.
We should be grateful to God that, despite our weaknesses and failures to obey his commandments, he remains patient with us: indeed the all-powerful God is full of mercy and compassion.
We hope and pray that God will give us the perseverance to keep his commandments and one day that he will raise up our dry bones and bring us into the joy and glory of his kingdom.
WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:
BIRTHDAY
Josie Pangan
Vera Angele M. Cleofas
Fr. Manuel M. Flores 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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