 | Daily Bible Reflections
for March 14, 2012 |
|  Dear Lordie,
God will never leave you. This Wednesday is no different.
Praying for you,
Bo Sanchez
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| | BREAKING THE RULES “Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments…” – Matthew 5:19 I was 10 or 11 years old when this happened. And until now, nobody in my family knew about this. It was summer and early afternoons were supposed to be naptime for us unless my sisters and I had a scheduled activity. One day, I escaped our naptime to play with some cousins in the house next door. I don’t remember now what game we were playing but what I vividly recall is that I was walking atop the hollow block fence of my aunt’s house, like an acrobat walking on a tightrope. Then suddenly I fell off the fence and a protruding steel bar hit my thigh. Blood oozed out, but fearing that my parents would reprimand me, I hid the wound from them and administered first aid. Fortunately, the wound healed by itself after a couple of weeks but the scar remained until many, many years later. The same is true when we break God’s commandments. We get hurt in the process. We fear the priest’s reprimand in the confessional box, and unless we are truly repentant, the wounds of our sinfulness stay with us. Breaking rules has consequences, whether they are rules of God or of man, so it’s best to be ready to make amends whenever we do. Tess V. Atienza (svp_tvatienza@yahoo.com) 14 REFLECTION: What rules do you love to break? Why? Lord, help me to follow Your rules every moment of my life. St. Maximillian, pray for us. | |
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| | COMPANION | 1st READING Most of the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy relate the Law as the leading thinkers of Israel developed it. There are many aspects of the Law that we would not accept today, particularly those laws that command us to kill the persons who break them, including adultery, disrespect for parents et al, all of which require the death penalty according to these books. It is important that we acknowledge there are time-conditioned elements that have made their way into the Scriptures. It is up to the Church to detail those that fall under this category. Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 1 Moses spoke to the people and said: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 5 Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the Lord, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy. 6 Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has Gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? 8 Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today? 9 “However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children. P S A L M Psalm 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20 R: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem. 12 Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. 13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. (R) 15 He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs his word! 16 He spreads snow like wool; frost he strews like ashes. (R) 19 He has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. 20 He has not done thus for any other nation; his ordinances he has not made known to them. (R) GOSPEL Jesus does not declare war on the Law of Moses; He simply challenges us to be reasonable about how we understand and apply them. This is not an unreasonable request as it will certainly help us to be more merciful in the way we judge people’s actions. Perhaps we need to learn that we cannot simply impose laws from on high. We need to convince people of their reasonableness so that they will freely accept them as both right and good. LIST GOSPEL ACCLAMATION Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life. Matthew 5:17-19 17 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” think: We need to learn that we cannot simply impose laws from on high. T O D A Y ’ S BLESSING LIST Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________ _______________________________________________________ God’s special verse/thought for me today________________ _________________________________________________________ READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Genesis 4-6 LIST READING 2nd READING GOSPEL PSALM TODAY’S BLESSING LIST 1st READING 2nd READING GOSPEL PSALM TODAY’S BLESSING LIST | |
Didache | Companion | Sabbath | Top
| | SABBATH | Did Jesus contradict himself? I had a heated debate with my students when we discussed the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel. One of the seminarians said, “Jesus is contradicting Himself; sometimes He seemingly ignores the Law, like when He healed on a Sabbath or didn’t wash His hands before eating, and now He stresses that He did not come to abolish it.” Another student agreed but added, “Or Jesus never said this. Matthew, a Jewish scholar, might have put this on the lips of Jesus.” In the end we had to clarify what Jesus means when He speaks of “the Law.” The “Law” is basically what we call the Ten Commandments. Jesus never ever abolished them. They were and still are valid until today, as our catechism clearly teaches. But during His time, these Ten Commandments had multiplied into hundreds of commandments and laws with countless sub-laws and sub-commandments. It was like a beautiful garden with a few selected flowers that had become an impenetrable jungle. Whenever Jesus “violated” a Jewish law, it was one of those countless additional laws but never one of the Ten Commandments. They were not given by God to make life more difficult but to help us live a God-pleasing life and reach our eternal destiny. Jesus does not want us to be legalistic when it comes to laws given by humans. But He wants us to be faithful to the 10 basic God-given commandments. And behind them we should always see a loving Father God. Pope Benedict XVI said in one of his homilies, “Christianity is more than and different from a moral code, from a series of requirements and laws. It is the gift of a friendship that lasts through life and death.... The Ten Commandments are first and foremost a ‘yes’ to God, to a God who loves us and leads us, who carries us and yet allows us our freedom” (8 September 2007). Unfortunately, it is some of the Ten Commandments that are violated by the same people who call themselves Christians. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you keep God’s Law out of fear or because you understand it as a sign of God’s love and care for you? Lord, too often I try to avoid violating small rules and think I am a good person. But when I go to confession I have to confess that I violated the more important God-given commandments. | |
Didache | Companion | Sabbath | Top
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