DAILY- HOMILY

July 8, 2017 – SATURDAY, 13th Week in Ordinary Time

Green

Gn 27:  1- 5, 15- 29 I Mt 9: 14- 17

GOSPEL READING:           Mt 9: 14- 17

     Then the disciples of John came to him with the question, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?"

     Jesus answered them, "How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast.

     "No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. Besides, you do not put new wine in old wineskins. If you do, the wineskins will burst and the wine will be spilt. No, you put new wine in fresh skins; then both are preserved."

REFLECTION

     It  is so tempting to  find  quick  one-size-fits-all solutions to  complex issues such  as poverty, corruption, traffic congestion, criminality and  drug addiction and  other  serious  concerns in society today. We sometimes hope that some kind of "magic pill" is all we need to rid ourselves of these social maladies once and for all.  We grow tired seeking fresh perspectives and simply demand easy­ to-apply remedies.

     This is also true of our spiritual woes.  We almost demand from  God that  he give us the cure which  we think  is best  for us when  we are hurt  and suffer,  when we are unable  to forgive or be forgiven, when  we feel frustrated and not  loved.

     But we also know there is no such magic cure.  The Lord reminds us to look deeply into the crises we are in, to understand and appreciate the complex situations and to act with discernment and faith.

     We must never assume that we have completely figured out who God is and so have completely understood, to the very last detail, how he ought to save us from our predicaments and problems.  The quicker we place God in a box, the more we foolishly trap ourselves in our own false notions and assumptions of God. Essentially this  is what  the  well-meaning disciples of John  had  done,  as seen  in  today's Gospel  reading, in their  questioning of  Jesus  of  his seemingly unconventional ways in matters of fasting.

     Let us be reminded of what Pope Francis said, "Being with Jesus demands that we go out of ourselves from living a tired and habitual faith."

     We must allow God to be God.  We must allow his Spirit to grow in our hearts and expand our capacity to embrace God and his ways. We must be friends with the Lord, faithful and even silent companions at times in the face of a truly mysterious God.  We must allow ourselves to be surprised by God's love which is infinitely greater than what we have imagined it to be.  Only then can we rejoice in our absolute trust in him.

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

   |  priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish

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