What a strong statement from Paul in today's 1st reading. He
reminds us not to become 2 face or in tagalog "doble kara" We've got
to make a stand on which side we really are. Sometimes we have this notion that
we can continue doing what we do even if there is something wrong with it and
just compensate by offsetting it with something good. Eventually things will
toll up on us and would have to make a stand so that we don't end up losing
everything. We must consider everything that we do as an offering to God just
like bread and wine. We offer to the Lord the work of our hands and consider it
a communion and participation in the Body & Blood of Christ. We go through
life without realizing this truth in today's 1st reading. We end up missing the
whole point and not reaping the benefits that we are supposed to get from it.
The Holy Eucharist is at the root of all holiness. How many saints have
advanced to holiness through the Eucharist? Holiness has always found its
center in the Eucharist. God recognizes the fact that we are material beings in
embodied souls. God uses sensible signs to lead us to spiritual realities. This
time, God did not just use a sign or symbol. Jesus offered bread and wine and
turned it into His own body and blood. We remember the Holy Eucharist models,
martyrs and saints who discovered the secret in the Body and Blood of Christ.
We can not live without the Holy Eucharist. It is only through it that we can
cope with the toil and exhaustion of this life journey. God is the source of
every good thing and He pours it out on us from the moment of creation up to
the present time. When we receive the bread and wine turned into the body and
blood of Christ during the mass, He becomes a part of us. It is a call to love
Him and be attached to Him. This invitation of God is not exclusive and is
extended to all of us.
The Bread of Life should be understood literally and
sacramentally. If we are to read the previous gospel from John we would see
that Jesus makes a noticeable shift and used the verb "eats",
"drinks" and "feeds". The reaction of His followers in the
gospel of John 6 explain and attest to this. Jesus really meant it when He said
to eat and drink His blood. It is indeed a very hard teaching that we ought to
accept and believe. Take note of John 6:66 (which has the #666) " As a
result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and
no longer accompanied him." We need to be clear of this truth and be
united with Christ in Holy Communion. We must receive with the proper disposition
for this to take effect in our soul. Anyone aware of mortal sin and receives
Communion is receiving unworthily. We must receive worthily otherwise we are
putting judgment on ourselves as St. Paul says"...whoever eats in an
unworthy manner is guilty of profaning our Lord..., he who eats and drinks
without discerning brings judgment upon himself..." (1 Corinthians 11:29) We
have to receive Christ in a state of grace. According to St. Justin, no one may
take part in the Bread and Wine, the Eucharist unless he believes what the
Church teaches is true and lives in keeping with what Christ taught. Unworthy
Communion is a sacrilege. It outrages God more than all other mortal sins
because it attacks not just the 10 Commandments but the Person of Jesus Christ.
It is a profanation, crucifies Jesus Christ in our hearts and brings to
ourselves chastisement. It is a greater crime than in Mt. Calvary
1 Corinthians 10:14-22
...The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a
participation in the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a
participation in the Body of Christ?...21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord
and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of
the table of demons. 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealous anger? Are we
stronger than he?
It will always be good to undergo trials and hardships in
life and remain steadfast in the Lord for everything will pay off in the end.
Not a single thing that we've been through for the glory of God will ever be in
vain. It is only right that we give all glory, honor and praise to God. We need
not wait and see any longer for it is in our very own lives that God wants us
to start paying attention to in order to make a return for all the good he has
done. It is only right and fitting that we honor our vows and promises as
today’s psalm is telling us. This shows
how grateful, confident and assured we are of the Lord’s goodness. It is only
right and fitting that we give 100% loyalty to God who deserves more than all
the praises we can give. Let us cloth ourselves with the blood which Jesus shed
for us in Mount Calvary
Ps 116:12-13, 17-18Responsorial Psalm
R. (17) To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
12 How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he
has done for me? 13 The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon
the name of the LORD. (R) 17 To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and
I will call upon the name of the LORD. 18 My vows to the LORD I will pay in the
presence of all his people.
The most holy and sacred woman who ever lived here on earth
is Mary. We are so blessed to have her as our own mother, for Jesus shared and
extended to us this noble and holy privilege. Today we celebrate the Feast of
the Our Lady of Sorrows and commemorate the courage and strength of Mary in
carrying out the most noble task ever known to man which she has faithfully
fulfilled thus it gives us the inspiration to not grow weary in facing further
trials that come our way and not despair and lose hope. The passion and death
of Jesus on the cross is the ultimate pain and suffering that a human being
could endure. It follows that the ultimate sorrow a mother could experience is
to see her very own son subjected to such an excruciatingly painful way to die.
On an afternoon of unnatural darkness she had to endure such cruel pain and
agony that more than human nature could endure. Mary had to stand by and see
the soldiers come and claim as their own all that was left of her dead son
(John 19:24-25, Matthew 27:35). There at the foot of the cross was the little
heap of Christ’s earthly belongings. They are the only heirlooms and the only
souvenirs that she could have. There is the seamless tunic that she must have
woven stitch by stitch with such love. There was his headdress which she had
mended and his sandals which she had kept clean. And now these men were casting
lots as to whose they should be as a reward and recompense for putting her son
to death. We know that this world of ours is cruel, cold and heartless. But it
can be kind to all men on 2 occasions, at birth and death and to be born and to
die. To come into the world and to go out of it finds hospitality easily even
from the world. But how was our Lord treated on those occasions? Why was it
that it seemed too much just for Him to be born? It took the Almighty all His
time to obtain a visible foothold of His own world. He wasn’t wanted. There was
no room for Him in the inn. Though, we did hear the angels voices singing on
the hillside that night but those voices soon changed. It changed into wailings
of women, mothers mourning the loss of their sons in the killing of the
innocents because man had been seeking God to murder Him. And at His death He
wasn’t allowed to die a natural death like the rest of men. In the very prime
of manhood His life was trampled out of Him as if it was something tiresome.
His body was swiftly buried or else it would be polluting the air of festivity
in the city (Mark 15:42, John 19:31) Mary stood at the foot of the cross as her
heart was pierced with so much sorrow seeing her only Son, Jesus crucified.
Only a heart full of faith, courage, strength and conviction could withstand
such kind of sorrow and pain. Mary never
fainted nor faltered maintained reverence in God in that time of great sorrow
and remained obedient. She is the “Stabat Mater” (Standing Mother) and such is
the heart of Mary, a mother, immaculate and strong. Mary is the Lady of Sorrows
for all these but we know from our faith that the pain of our Lady from that
afternoon is nothing to what she endures now every time she sees a soul lose
the garment of sanctifying grace for we are her children for Jesus said
“Behold, your mother.” For whenever we
sin, a human being made in the image and likeness of God is brought lower than
the beasts. All the beauty is turned
into hideousness. All the love turned into hatred and despair. There is only
one evil in our lives and that is sin. Sin means we lose our God, the light
goes out of our soul and we have become withered branches fit only to be burned
in everlasting fire. We are living in a world now that says that sin doesn’t
matter. That sin is only a little word in a dictionary that has long since lost
its meaning. “Times have changed” we are told. Sin is the source of Mary’s
greatest sorrow. May we realize that it places us in a better position with God
when we know that we have the Our Lady of Sorrows, none other than our very own
Blessed Mother who will always be with us, offering her cries and tears as she
constantly prays for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. She is
perfect enough for God to be the mother of His only Son surely she will also be
for us, more than perfect as our Mother. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.
Amen. Hallelujah!
John 19:25-27 (or Luke 7:31-35 or Luke 2:33-35)
25 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his
mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus
saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother,
“Woman, behold, your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your
mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
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