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Category: Year II

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Eighteenth Week / Ordinary Time / Weekdays / Year II

THE BANE OF FALSE PROPHECY

⏰Monday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (03 August 2020) 📖Jer 28:1-17; Ps 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102 (R.v.68b); Matt 14:13-24 🎤THE BANE OF FALSE PROPHECY In ancient Israel, there are three criteria that were used to determine authentic prophets:💥The prophecy must not contradict the Law (cf. Deut 12:32 – 13:4);💥The prophet must be a prophet like Moses, who is seen as the ideal prophet (cf. Deut 18:15-20);💥The prophecy must come to fulfilment (cf. Deut 18:21-22). Consider the confrontation between Jeremiah and Hananiah (Jer 28:1-17) in that light. The people would obviously be confused at whom to...

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Ordinary Time / Seventeenth Week / Weekdays / Year II

“DO NOT BE AFRAID… THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS BUT GOD’S” (2 Chron 20:15)

⏰Saturday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (01 August 2020 – Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori) 📖Jer 26:11-16, 24; Ps 69:15-16, 30-31, 33-34 (R.v.14); Matt 14:1-12 🎤”DO NOT BE AFRAID… THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS BUT GOD’S” 2 Chron 20:15 Can you see how the spirit of John the Baptist was hunting Herod even in death? Trust God when he said, “vengeance is mine” (Deut 32:35) as St Paul reechoed in Rom 12:10. If it is God’s will, your enemy will not harm you. Even if he allows it, still trust him with all your heart just like...

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Ordinary Time / Seventeenth Week / Weekdays / Year II

THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE LIKE THE SUN IN THE KINGDOM OF THEIR FATHER (Matt 13:43)

⏰Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (28 July 2020) 📖Jer 14:17b-22; Ps 79:8, 9, 11, 13 (R.v.9bc); Matt 13:36-43 🎤THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE LIKE THE SUN IN THE KINGDOM OF THEIR FATHER (Matt 13:43) Revelation 22:14 says, “Happy are those who wash their garments clean for they will have free access to the tree of life and enter the city through the gates.” The saints are those who have washed their garments clean. They belong to that “great crowd that no one could count…standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white” (Rev 7:9). No one...

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Ordinary Time / Sixteenth Week / Weekdays / Year II

GOD HAS COME DOWN TO US (Acts 14:12)

⏰Thursday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (23 July 2020) 📖Jer 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13; Ps 36:6-7ab, 8-9, 10-11 (R.v.10a); Matt 13:10-17 🎤GOD HAS COME DOWN TO US (Acts 14:12) Have you ever been bothered to ask questions, as many people do, on the purpose of the Incarnation? All positive answers to this point to the fact that Jesus took the human nature in order to redeem it and take it back to God, that is, for salvation. This has been a project that God took on since the fall of man. Through the prophets, he has always brought...

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Ordinary Time / Thirteenth Week / Weekdays / Year II

“HE ROSE AND REBUKED THE WINDS AND THE SEA; AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM” (cf. Matt 8:26)

⏰Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (30 June 2020) 📖Amos 3:1-8, 4:11-12; Ps 5:5-6, 7, 8 (R.v.9a); Matt 8:23-27 🎤”HE ROSE AND REBUKED THE WINDS AND THE SEA; AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM” (cf. Matt 8:26) Beloved in Christ, today marks the end of the month of June. Today, the first half of the year 2020 will officially come to an end. I pray that it may also bring to an end, your pains and afflictions, your disappointments and failures. And may you be prepared to welcome new realities in your life and in all that...

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Ordinary Time / Twelfth Week / Weekdays / Year II

CHOOSE TODAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE

⏰Friday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (26 June 2020) 📖2Kings 25:1-12; Ps 137:1-2, 3, 4-5 (R.v.6ab); Matt 8:1-4 🎤CHOOSE TODAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE As he prepared to wound up his ministry, Joshua gathered the people and led them to opt for absolute faithfulness to God (see Josh 24:14ff). It was probably easier for him to convince them because he led by example by choosing to serve the Lord with his family (Josh 24:15). That was not so for Zedekiah, who was the last king of Judah from 597 BC to about 586 BC. Instead of trusting...

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Ordinary Time / Twelfth Week / Weekdays / Year II

“DO NOT LET YOUR GOD ON WHOM YOU RELY DECEIVE YOU…” (2 Kgs 19:10)

⏰Tuesday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (23 June 2020) 📖2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18; Ps 60:3, 4-5, 12-14 (R.v.7a); Matt 7:1-5 🎤”DO NOT LET YOUR GOD ON WHOM YOU RELY DECEIVE YOU…” (2 Kgs 19:10) Hey! I hope you can already see that those words were not exactly mine. They were copied right from the scripture. Well, for some time, I have been having the same thought. So, it is not accidental that I picked it up as my theme for reflection today. Some years ago, I had a bitter experience that really put my faith to...

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Ordinary Time / Twelfth Week / Weekdays / Year II

SEEK AND REMAIN IN THE FACE OF GOD

⏰Monday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (22 June 2020) 📖2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18; Ps 60:3, 4-5, 12-14 (R.v.7a); Matt 7:1-5 🎤SEEK AND REMAIN IN THE FACE OF GOD Isaiah 59:1-2 states, “The Lord’s arm is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. It is rather your iniquities that have separated you from your God; it is your sins that have made him hide his face from you, so that he does not hear you.” That prophecy is what is echoed in 2 Kings 17. The kingdom of Israel came to an...

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Ordinary Time / Tenth Week / Weekdays / Year II

“OUR HELP COMES FROM THE LORD WHO MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH” (Psalm 121:2)

⏰Monday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (08 June 2020) 📖1 Kgs 17:1-6; Ps 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 (R.v.2); Matt 5:1-12 🎤”OUR HELP COMES FROM THE LORD WHO MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH” (Psalm 121:2) Beloved in Christ, join me in thanking God for his saving mercy. It is his mercy that has kept me going against all odds. May his name be glorified both now and forever. Amen. Our God is so faithful that he cannot commission you for a mission without a provision. I believe that Elijah understood this so well such that he trusted God and...

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Ordinary Time / Seventh Week / Weekdays / Year II

BEAR FRUITS OF FAITH AND WISDOM!

⏰Monday of the Seventh Week of the Ordinary Time Year 2 (24 February 2020) 📖Jam 3:13-18; Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15 (R.v.9ab); Mark 9:14-29 🎤BEAR FRUITS OF FAITH AND WISDOM! My dear friend in Christ, St. James tells us that those of us who received the gifts of wisdom must bear fruits of peace, gentleness, openness to reason, mercy, goodness without uncertainty or insincerity (Jam 3:17). In this way, we shall be authentic members of Christ. Authentic members of Christ do not live in the ways of the world but in the ways of God. Failure to connect to the...