01 August Wednesday

WHY WE DON’T HAVE TO BE SCARED

 

For I am with you, to deliver and rescue you, says the Lord. – Jeremiah 15:20

 

When Francis was only four years old, we watched Jurassic Park I. I was worried about the scary parts of the movie. Especially when a ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex bites the bald lawyer sitting on the potty. How morbid. So right before the T. Rex chomped half of the lawyer’s body, I covered my son’s eyes. He protested, “I want to see that, Daddy. It’s the fun part.”

After the movie, I asked him, “Weren’t you scared?” He said, “I watched the movie before. I know the ending.”

He knows the ending that’s why he wasn’t scared.

Friend, are you worried about your problems? Are you anxious over what will happen tomorrow?

Listen. God knows the last chapter of your life. And from what I hear, it’s very good. Glorious even. You have a happy ending.

You may be going through tough times now but fear not. Believe that you’ll be stronger. Your faith will be purer. Your heart will be bigger. And you’ll be more blessed than ever.

Because the best is yet to come. Bo Sanchez(bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com)

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REFLECTION:

Do problems obscure your vision from the  blessings wrapped inside them?

 

Lord, may I always approach life’s difficulties with faith and trust in You, and with an expectant heart for the blessings that are wrapped in them.

 

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, bishop and doctor of the Church, pray for us.

 

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1^ST READING  

 

Jeremiah has discovered that being a prophet means to be a man of contention and dispute. It means life as a political outcast as the messages he brings are not welcome. This is the life of a prophet and it is still the same today. The Church herself sets an example in this regard when she refuses to bow to the demands of society and change her moral stance on various issues.

 

Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21

10 Woe to me, mother, that you gave me birth! a man of strife and contention to all the land! I neither borrow nor lend, yet all curse me. 16 When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart, because I bore your name, O Lord, God of hosts. 17 I did not sit celebrating in the circle of merrymakers; under the weight of your hand I sat alone because you filled me with indignation. 18 Why is my pain continuous, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become for me a treacherous brook, whose waters do not abide! 19 Thus the Lord answered me: If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand; if you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece. Then it shall be they who turn to you, and you shall not turn to them; 20 and I will make you toward this people a solid wall of brass. Though they fight against you, they shall not prevail, for I am with you, to deliver and rescue you, says the Lord. 21 I will free you from the hand of the wicked, and rescue you from the grasp of the violent.

 

P S A L M

 

Psalm 59:2-3, 4, 10-11, 17, 18

R: God is my refuge on the day of distress.

1 [2] Rescue me from my enemies, O my God; from my adversaries defend me. 2 [3] Rescue me from evildoers; from bloodthirsty men save me. (R) 3 [4] For behold, they lie in wait for my life; mighty men come together against me. Not for any offense or sin of mine, O Lord. (R) 9 [10] O my strength! for you I watch; for you, O God, are my stronghold, 10 [11] As for my God, may his mercy go before me; may he show me the fall of my foes. (R) 16 [17] But I will sing of your strength and revel at dawn in your mercy; you have been my stronghold, my refuge in the day of distress. (R) 17 [18] O my strength! your praise will I sing; for you, O God,

are my stronghold, my merciful God! (R)

 

GOSPEL

 

We need to ascertain the value of an article before we put a price on it. Eternal life is a gift and yet we are asked to pay the price of our mortal life to receive it. There is a mystery here that we wil l never understand. Suffice it to say, none of the good things in life are free. Let us remember that eternal life is a priceless gift; no price is too high for us to pay in following Jesus as His disciple.

 

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

I call you my friends, says the Lord, for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me.

 

Matthew 13:44-46

44 Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. 46 When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

 

think: Eternal life is a gift and yet we are asked to pay the price of our mortal life to receive it.

 

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ON ACCOUNT OF God’S WORD

 

I can’t blame Jeremiah for complaining. Everything was thrown at him for speaking out in God’s name. He got condemned for doing what he did not want to do in the first place. Young, inexperienced and unschooled about the ways of the world, he was sent right smack into the fray, to deliver his brand of “prophetic criticizing” and “prophetic energizing.”

I can identify with Jeremiah — been there, done that. I was also young when I tried to organize people against a growing drug menace. I was in the thick of my own version of prophetic criticizing. And just like Jeremiah, I began to feel the heat especially when my prophetic criticizing was translating into prophetic energizing as far as the people were concerned.

I began to realize that words were cheap and human life was even cheaper. I didn’t want to be a mere statistic, felled by a single blow, a possible but eerily probable mute witness to boundless greed and to man’s inhumanity to fellow man. Last year’s brave revelations of a woman who was in the thick of the fight against corruption in high places involving men in uniform reminded me of Jeremiah, of myself, and of the many whose courage did not only go unrewarded but even silenced forever.

My thoughts today go to Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko of Poland. Authorities in his native Poland could not bear his popularity and his effectiveness as a preacher. He was beaten and murdered in 1984, his body dumped in a water reservoir. He was beatified two years ago, in June 2010, with his centenarian mother in attendance.

But what the martyrs and saints had that I didn’t was exactly what Jeremiah also had. Jeremiah devoured God’s Word. Blessed Father Jerzy lived — and died — on the basis of that Word. They all suffered trying to uphold the Word of God. But God is a God of justice. Jeremiah and Jerzy discovered joy and happiness in God’s Word. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How do you uphold the Word of God in your life? Or do you even read God’s Word at all?

 

Father God, give me the thirst and the hunger for Your Word and may I live it according to Your will.