Category: Year I
“I HAVE OPENED MY MOUTH TO THE LORD, AND I CANNOT TAKE BACK MY VOW” (Judg 11:35)
⏰Thursday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (19 August 2021) 📖Judg 11:29-39a; Ps 40:5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10 (R.v.8a, 9a); Matt 22:1-14 🎤”I HAVE OPENED MY MOUTH TO THE LORD, AND I CANNOT TAKE BACK MY VOW” (Judg 11:35) Reading through Judg 11:29-39, something keeps me from being blinded by the fact that the actions of Jephthah in sacrificing his only daughter were borne of a pagan custom that was already condemned by God (cf. Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 12:31). Instead, the FAITHFULNESS OF JEPHTHAH TO FULFIL HIS VOWS TO THE LORD struck me. How often do we keep...
“WHEREVER THERE IS JEALOUSY AND SELFISH AMBITION, YOU WILL ALSO FIND DISCORD AND ALL THAT IS EVIL” (Jam 3:16)
⏰Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time (03 August 2021) 📖Num 12:1-13; Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 6cd-7, 12-13 (R.v.3a); Matt 14:22-36 🎤”WHEREVER THERE IS JEALOUSY AND SELFISH AMBITION, YOU WILL ALSO FIND DISCORD AND ALL THAT IS EVIL” (Jam 3:16) There is one Igbo adage which says, “Nwata kpachuo ibe ya na nke, asi na o kpara nke ya n’ajo ohia,” literally meaning that when a child fetches more firewood than his mates, they will allege that he fetched his from the evil forest. Why would that happen? ENVY AND JEALOUSY! They want to rubbish his integrity so that they...
FOCUS ON THE KINGDOM FOR YOUR BLESSING
⏰Monday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (26 July 2021 – Memorial of Ss. Joachim and Anne) 📖Exod 32:15-24, 30-34; Ps 106:19-20, 21-22, 23 (R.v.1b); Matt 13:31-35 🎤FOCUS ON THE KINGDOM FOR YOUR BLESSING Beloved in Christ, things might be rough, slow and unstable at the beginning, but if you put your trust in the Lord and persevere to the end, you shall reap the fruit of abundance. In our journey of faith, our destination is the kingdom of God. The two parables that Jesus gave in Matt 13:31-35 speak of the kingdom as one one with a...
“EVEN THE HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED” (Matt 10:30)
⏰Saturday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (10 July 2021) 📖Gen 49:29-33, 50:15-26a; Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7 (R. Ps 69:33); Matt 10:24-33 🎤”EVEN THE HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED” (Matt 10:30) Beloved in Christ, do you know that you are not an accident? Not minding whatever might be the circumstances surrounding your birth, God knows you before you were born and approved of your birth and made out plans for what he shall achieve with you (cf. Jer 1:5). You are a child of destiny and no one can do anything to you without God’s approval...
BE AN AUTHENTIC AND DEDICATED WITNESS
⏰Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time 1 (08 June 2021) 📖2 Cor 1:18-22; Ps 119:129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135 (R.v.135a); Matt 5:13-16 🎤BE AN AUTHENTIC AND DEDICATED WITNESS Immediately after his teaching on the beatitudes, Jesus went on to teach them on how they can be effective in transforming the world, using three important allegories – light of the world, salt of the earth and city built on a hill. Light has many roles; it dispels darkness and illuminates the world. As Christians, we are expected to also dispel the darkness of evil and hatred in the...
GOD CAN DO ALL THINGS!
⏰Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time 1 (02 June 2021) 📖Tob 3:1-11, 16-17a; Ps 25:2-3, 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9 (R.v.1); Mark 12:18-27 Our view of life influences how we embrace it. For those who believe that everything ends in this present world, anything goes. And they can afford to live as they wish without the thought of eternal life. But we believe that there is life after death where those who have died go into eternal bliss or eternal damnation. The Sadducees belong to the elite class among the Jews. Things were obviously going well for them...
“BLESSED THE MAN WHO FEARS THE LORD” (Ps 112:1)
⏰Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time 1 (01 June 2021 – Memorial of St. Justin) 📖Tob 1:3, 2:1-8; Ps 112:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6 (R.v.1b); Mark 12:1-12 🎤”BLESSED THE MAN WHO FEARS THE LORD” (Ps 112:1) Beloved in Christ, I welcome you to this first day of the new work month. Listen to the prayers of the psalmist for you today:Your descendants would be powerful on earth and your generation blest (Ps 112:2), amen. Again, riches and wealth shall be in your house and a light would rise to enlighten the darkness before you (Ps 112:3-4), amen. And it shall...
“WISDOM DOES NOT ENTER THE WICKED SOUL” (Wisdom 1:4)
⏰Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time 1 (29 May 2021) 📖Sir 51:12c-20b; Ps 19:5, 9, 10, 11 (R.v.9ab); Mark 11:27-33 🎤”WISDOM DOES NOT ENTER THE WICKED SOUL” (Wisdom 1:4) In Sirach 51:12-20, the wise man tells us how he prayerfully sought wisdom. The attitude he put up was that of humility, trust, repentance and reverence. He made this search as if his life depended on it. Indeed, his life depended on it! This is because the scriptures normally compares wisdom as the same as God. In fact, 1 Cor 1:24 declares Jesus as the power and wisdom of...
BE PRODUCTIVE AND LIVE!
⏰Friday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time 1 (28 May 2021) 📖Sir 44:1, 9-13; Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a, and 9b (R.v.4a); Mark 11:11-25 🎤BE PRODUCTIVE AND LIVE! Beloved in Christ, the time of the great harvest is ever closer. Please ensure that you bear good fruit which would ensure your continuous existence even after your earthly existence. Remember that the good that men do lives with them and follows them. But evil men have no good place in history (cf. Sirach 44:9-13). We must therefore encourage our leaders, in whatever capacity, whether spiritual or temporal, even as low as...
