“… THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE HOUSE OF THE LORD” (1 Kgs 8:11)

⏰Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year 2 (5 February 2018 – Memorial of St. Agatha)

????1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13; Ps 132:6-7, 8-10 (R.v.8a); Mark 6:53-56

It is another beginning of a new working week. Just as the presence of the Ark of the Lord made the glory of the Lord to fill the house of the Lord, so shall God make a renewed entrance into your home so that his glory may remain ever fresh in your life. Amen.

Jesus is the Ark personified. No longer is the glory of God confined to the Ark in the temple. He is an embodiment of that glory of God (cf. John 1:14), and he carries it to the ends of the earth.

Going by its geographical and historical location, Gennesaret was a rich fertile plain where people of all walks of life gather for different purposes. Jesus and his disciples brought the glory of God to this place, and from there to all over the places, villages, cities and hamlets (Mark 6:56).

This glory is not easy to come by. It comes with a price. For that glory, St. Agatha offered her virginity to God and faced serious temptations and threats to her life but never gave up. Stories have it that even her breasts were cut off in torture and she was placed on live burning coal so that she could fry to death but she was even the one rolling herself over when one part is done. This is why she is invoked for intercession in breast-related diseases and fire incidences.

That glory is also coming into your home today. Amen.

When you experience it in your home, also help Jesus to make that glory to be extended to others who look forward to it. One way to do this is by looking out for those in pains and helping them. Putting smiles back to their faces would make them to feel the glory of the Lord around them.

In that way, that glory would continue to multiply in your own life, and in the end, usher you into eternal life. Amen.

Have a glorious week ahead. Peace be with you.