DAILY- HOMILY

February 21, 2017 – TUESDAY, 7th Week in Ordinary Time

St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Green

Sir 2: 1- 11 / Mt 9: 30 - 37

     St. Peter Damian (1001 - 1072), a Benedictine monk who became Cardinal - Bishop of Ostia, doctor of the Church, wrote on the liturgy, theology, morals and the religious life.

FROM THE 1ST READING:     Sir 2: 1 - 6

     My son, if you have decided to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. Keep your heart upright and remain resolute; do not be upset in the time of adversity.

     Hold fast to the Lord, do not separate yourself from him so that you may be successful to the end of your days. Accept all that happens to you, be patient when you are humbled, for as gold is tested in the fire, so those acceptable to God are tested in the crucible of humiliation. Have confidence in him and he will take care of you; follow the right path and hope in him.

GOSPEL READING:     Mt 9: 30- 37

     After leaving that place, they made their way through Galilee; but Jesus did not want people to know where he was because he was teaching his disciples. And he told them, "The Son of Man will be delivered into human hands. They will kill him, but three days after he has been killed, he will rise." The disciples, however, did not understand these words and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

     They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, Jesus asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?" But they did not answer because they had been arguing about who was the greatest.

     Then he sat down, called the Twelve and said to them, "If someone wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child, placed it in their midst and, putting his arms around it, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes a child such as this in my name, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me but the One who sent me."

REFLECTION

     In the Gospel reading Jesus surprises his disciples when he says that to be first one must make himself the servant of all. This is completely opposite of what most people think. Almost everyone strives to be the first, to get ahead of others, to become richer, more successful, and more influential, more in everything than the others.

     But Christ instead says that, to be first, one must be the servant of all. Indeed we need the Spirit of Jesus to accept this startling statement, this way of thinking and doing. Jesus himself taught and lived this path of humility and selflessness.

     We pray that this could also be our path. Are we ready to walk and live this path, of being small, least and last? Jesus tells us this is the path to being first in God's eyes.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY 

     GREGORY NOAH NAZAL KAW

      RIS SAN GIL 

      IRENE CORAZON S. VICEDO

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY 

     ANITA & GODFREY LIM PEK CHUAN

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

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