Category: Ordinary Time

⏰Saturday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (14 July 2018) 📖Isa 11:1-8; Ps 93:1abc, 1d-2, 5 (R.v.1a); Matt 10:24-33 In the second account of the call of Isaiah, the prophet saw a vision of the glory of God but considered himself unfit to behold that glory, being a man of unclean lips. But God purified his lips and made him fit to behold that glory. Thenceforth, Isaiah set out on mission to bring others in to also behold that glory. This glory of God guarantees happiness and joy just as the psalmist said, “You will show me the...

⏰Friday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (13 July 2018) 📖Hos 14:1-9; Ps 51:3-4, 8-9, 12-13, 14 and 17 (R.v.17b); Matt 10:16-23 The prophet Hosea continues to call on us to repent and return to the Lord our God (Hosea 14:1). This return promises good tidings. Listen to this: “They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow, they shall flourish as a garden; they shall blossom as the vine, their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon” (Hosea 14:8). That shows that under the shadow of God, there shall be fullness of joy. Only the wise can...

⏰Thursday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (11 July 2018) 📖Hos 11:1-4, 8c-9; Ps 80:2ac and 3b, 15-16 (R.v.4b); Matt 10:7-15 It is as if the more the people sinned and turned away from God, the more he loved them. One gets this picture from Hosea 11:1-9. The prophet starts off with an obvious intention: presenting God as a loving parent who meant so well for his child (cf. Hosea 11:1). This loving gesture was always repaid with rejection from man (see Hosea 11:2) but that did not deter God from loving them and trying to lure them...

⏰Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (11 July 2018 – Memorial of St. Benedict) 📖Hos 10:1-3, 7-8, 12; Ps 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 (R.v.4b); Matt 10:1-7 At the time of the prophet Hosea, just as it was the case with Amos, Israel experienced a time of prosperity. Instead of that drawing them closer to God, they began to indulge in different kinds of atrocities. Both prophets condemned this. Amos paid more attention to how this affects communal and spiritual life of the people but Hosea paid more attention on how this attitude destroys the covenant which God made...

⏰Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (10 July 2018) 📖Hos 8:4-7, 11-13; Ps 115:3-4, 5-6, 7ab and 8, 9-10 (R.v.9a); Matt 9:32-38 I was just thinking whether there is still any need to say that the labourers are few in the face of this obvious boom in the vocation to the priestly and religious life. There are many preachers all over the place today claiming to preach the Good News. So why do we still need to pray for more labourers in the vineyard? Even though it is possible that there are still many places where the...

⏰Monday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (09 July 2018) 📖Hos 2:14bc, 15bc-16, 19-20; Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (R.v.8a); Matt 9:18-26 Faith is a supernatural gift of God which enables us to believe without doubt all that God has revealed. The Jewish official and the woman that suffered hemorrhage for about 12 years in Matt 9:18-26 manifested this gift. They must have seen Jesus perform so many miracles and were ready to surmount any hindrance to getting Jesus’ help. Remember that the Jewish authorities did not believe in Jesus due to their religious belief. But this official...