Category: Nineteenth Week

⏰Monday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time (19 August 2019) 📖Judges 2:11-19; Ps 106:34-37, 39-40, 43-44 (R.v.4ab); Matt 19:16-22 🎤THE VOICE OF CHANGE My dear, sin is an abomination before God. In fact, we can say that it is sin that cannot withstand the presence of God. Hence, whenever we sin, we move away from the presence of God, and so, exposed to the dangers which the wicked one tries to unleash in the world. This was exactly what was happening with the relationship which God had with the Israelites. Whenever they committed sin, they made themselves vulnerable to...

⏰Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time (13 August 2019) 📖Deut 31:1-8; Deut 32:3-4ab, 7, 8, 9 and 12 (R.v.9a); Matt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14 🎤”UNLESS YOU TURN AND BECOME LIKE CHILDREN, YOU WILL NEVER ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN” (Matt 18:3) My dear, yesterday, we concluded our reflection with a call to participate effectively in Jesus’ mission of setting others free. We cannot really do that without humility and simplicity, the type often associated with children. That is the message that Jesus gives us in Matt 18:1-14. Notice his progression from the use of children (cf. Matt 18:3, 5)...

⏰Monday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time (12 August 2019) 📖Deut 10:12-22; Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20 (R.v.12a); Matt 17:22-27 🎤YOU ARE FREE INDEED! By virtue of your baptism, you have been set free from the bondage of sin and initiated into the royal family of God. And the good news is this, “If the Son makes you free, you will be really free” (John 8:36). When you enjoy that freedom, there is nothing that can tie you down again and no earthly power can oppress you. Jesus already paid a price for you. In Matt 17:27, he paid a...

⏰Saturday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time (17 August 2019) 📖Josh 24:14-29; Ps 16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 11 (R.v.5a); Matt 19:13-15 My dear, yesterday, we talked about the faithfulness of God which is everlasting and the need for us to reciprocate that faithfulness by becoming faithful to him too in our life decisions and in the manner of lives we live. Today, he tells us that for those who remain faithful to him, no force or opposition can keep them away from him. Remember that he compared the faithful to little children and declared that the ticket to making...

⏰Friday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time (16 August 2019) 📖Josh 24:1-13; Ps 136:1-3, 16-18, 21-22 and 24 (R.v.1b); Matt 19:3-12 God is faithful at all times. Even at that time when you think that he has probably forgotten you, he is right there working for your good. Recall what the scriptures said in Deut 7:6-8. God is the one who took the initiative and chose the people of Israel from among the nations. Their relevance among the nations was also as a result of that choice. Then he established a covenant with them – an everlasting covenant. The...

⏰Thursday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time (17 August 2017) ????Josh 3:7-10a; Ps 114:1-2, 3-4, 5-6; Matt 18:21 – 19:1 Yesterday, we were talking about the necessity of forgiveness in order to build up a harmonious community. But today, we are reminded that forgiveness is a norm that must be observed by all. Peter might have recalled Jesus’ teaching in Matt 6:14-15, and then, since Jesus just brought up the matter of forgiveness again, he wanted to make sure he is doing the right thing. The number “7”, as we have often noted in this forum, indicates “completion” or...

⏰Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time (14 August 2019) 📖Deut 34:1-12; Ps 66:1-3a, 5 and 8, 16-17 (R.v.20a, 9a); Matt 18:15-20 My dear, the unity of all Christians is at the heart of Christ (cf. John 17:20-23). In further answering the question he was asked by his disciples on who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus directs our minds towards holding hands together as that would help us to achieve our goals in greatness better (cf. Matt 18:15-20). Individualism is a disease that is killing most societies today. Most times, this is caused by ego,...