I have always been intrigued by this personality in the
bible named Melchizedek and knowing the meaning of his name which is righteousness
and peace made me understand better. Let us decide for these things which are
inseparable and welcome an invincible life as stated in today’s 1st
reading. There are many prominent historical figures in the Old Testament whom
we see the prefigurement of Christ. I can never forget how Fr. Tony in his
desire to define the great act of love that God wanted to convey to us referred
to it as a strip tease act. This is to emphasize how Jesus Christ in the
fullness of time came to be the fulfillment of all that is written in the Old
Testament. For our teasers we can start off with Jonah who was thought to be
dead after being swallowed by the whale for 3 days. At first he resisted God’s
plan only to come forth alive and proclaimed the words to a conversion of life.
Moses himself is promised the Messiah and led his people from slavery in Egypt to the
Promise land. We all look to one day being with God in heaven. Solomon sits on
the throne with great wisdom and people come from all over to hear him speak.
He built a beautiful temple in the Holy
City
Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17
1 “Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High,” “met
Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings” and “blessed him.” 2 And
Abraham apportioned to him “a tenth of everything.” His name first means righteous
king, and he was also “king of Salem ,”
that is, king of peace. 3 Without father, mother, or ancestry, without
beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he
remains a priest forever. 15 It is even more obvious if another priest is
raised up after the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become so, not by a law
expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent, but by the power of a
life that cannot be destroyed. 17 For it is testified: “You are a priest
forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
We have a high priest in Jesus Christ our Lord who
intercedes for us before God now and forever. God makes all things possible. He
does not expect us to do impossible things. We have to enter into a level of
intimacy with the Lord and the Holy Eucharist makes this possible. We need to
realize as Catholic Christians the great gift of the Holy Eucharist that is
given to us. What could be greater than this that Jesus the high priest in the
line of Melchizedek, has offered us His own body and blood for our nourishment.
Right here and now we should confidently decide without a cloud of doubt on
which side we really are. The priests and monks who gave their life to serve
God have come to a point where they realized that what they give up is really
nothing compared to what God has in store for all of us. Their lives like the
saints before us have become sign posts pointing to heaven. It helps us
increase our zeal today as if we are beginning anew. All this life is nothing
compared to eternal life so we must not be faint hearted. Nor think that we are
doing anything great for the sufferings we encounter at present. It is nothing
compared to the glory that is to come. The whole of earth is nothing compared
to the kingdom of heaven. We should always be reminded that Jesus offered His
own life for our sake and because of this we have already been given the gift
of eternal salvation and can become part of His kingdom if we choose to accept
and respond to that gift. Just like this fascinating story of a girl with her
plastic pearls. One night her father asked her if she loves him so the girl
replied ,"yes". The father asked for the pearls but the girl refused
and offered her doll instead but the father said no and told her he loves her
anyway. The following week the father did the same thing and the girl offered
her horsy. Then another week later when the father asked the same question she
tearfully handed him the plastic pearls and told her dad that he can have it.
To her surprise the father handed her a beautiful box with the pearls of great
value. Sometimes we keep holding on to something without realizing that God is
offering us something great. May we be firm and focused in leading a life of
holiness that no earthly attractions keep us from loving God. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4
R: You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
...The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth
from Zion :
“Rule in the midst of your enemies.” (R) 3 Yours is princely power in the day
of your birth, in holy splendor; before the daystar, like the dew, I have
begotten you.”
Today’s gospel wanted us to realize a
very important and essential matter in following God’s commands. We may all
know the 10 commandments but do we truly know them by heart and abide by them
in the Spirit of God. Sometimes we are
too preoccupied by the letter of the law and have a tendency to neglect what
truly matters, the spirit of the law which is love. There should be no room for
any doubt that God speaks to us through our daily circumstances. We can never
deny that there are moments when we hesitate to do something, hold back or
question the reason for a certain act. It is very consoling to know that we
have a God who knows exactly what we are going through. If we come to Him for
guidance and direction, He will surely not lead us astray. In the gospel a
question arises, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do
evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Sometimes there are instances in
our lives when we are confronted by a dilemma. Whether we do something or not
is always a question that we need to face daily. In fact I was reminded of
doing something I am not totally happy about but just the same I needed to do
what I had to do. I am very touched and felt like God gave me a pat on the back
upon reading Fr. Benny’s reflection from
Sabbath. Here it is entitled , THE WITHERED HAND
The Jews had a very high, if not an absolute, respect for
their laws. These laws were derived and sourced out of the laws given by Yahweh
to Moses. Jesus, a Jew, knew all of these laws by heart and lived them to the
full. In the Gospel today, we can dispense the idea that Jesus was not aware of
this regard for the Law, which includes the law on the Sabbath — that no one is
to cure on that day, among other things.
But Jesus took the opportunity here, in the case of the man
with the withered hand, to bring forth the true and essential spirit of the
Law. He asked the disturbing question to those around Him, “Is it lawful to do
good on the Sabbath rather than do evil, to save life rather than to destroy
it?” Jesus did not really violate the Law but put it in its correct
perspective. The ultimate end is goodness and life. “Good” here is not the
relative worldly good but the absolute divine good. Life here is really more of
life in the Lord than just mere breathing. It is not against the Torah but a
deepening of it. Once I was in a retreat together with priests from other
countries in Europe, Asia, USA
and Latin America, in Novara ,
Italy Italy was playing against Argentina . I could not believe what
I heard! Later, seeing them watch the game made me appreciate the decision even
if I did not fully understand it.
Only God knows whether it was reasonable enough or in
accordance with the Spirit. I tend to believe it is. The message in today’s
Gospel becomes clearer. Each of us, in our heart, has a good connection with
God. The decisions we make are guided and influenced by various people, events
and faith. In the end, it is between us and God. As Cardinal Rosales once said,
“With love and God, you cannot go wrong.” Goodness and life are testimonies of
loving and a spark of the divine! Fr. BennyTuazon
Reflection Question:
Am I a stickler for rules or do I have enough sensitivity to
put the spirit above the law?
Lord, grant me an open heart and mind to always listen to
the dictates of the Spirit rather than the letter of the law.
God's love, mercy and goodness abound and is above any law. We
find in the gospel that Jesus was so disappointed with how the people responded
and reacted to the miraculous healing that took place. It is easier to
understand when people react badly in response to an assault but to something
like restoring a sick person to health it's kind of weird but we also have to
accept that there are times when we act weird. Let's always hope and pray that
we will always be guided by Jesus to respond in a naturally good and charitable
way. There are times when we have a tendency to put God in a box. We have a
specific mindset about life in relation to God that we end up with our own
narrow concept of how we are to conduct ourselves as Christians and followers
of our Lord Jesus. What's worse is that we sometimes can't keep our imperfect
ways to ourselves and project it to others. Sometimes we distort whatever is
stated in the law to our advantage or over rationalize it and blow it out of
proportion. This is where the gift of wisdom comes in. We ought to think, feel
and see the way God does. Only by truly acquiring a mind and heart that is
fashioned and designed like that of the Lord can we truly and sincerely
understand the law of the Lord. We can also read in the gospel that Jesus
looked at them with anger because of the hardness of their hearts. The
Herodians and the Pharisees were great enemies at the time of Jesus but we saw
how they conspired to put Jesus to death. All His works point to His Divine
Kingship and the Pharisees were jealous. The reason behind this is the fact
that Jesus lowers the prestige of the Pharisees before the people by healing the
sick. He showed His Divine nature through this miracle done on a Sabbath. It is
still happening nowadays, when people who live lives centered on Jesus and His
teachings are still being persecuted. It is written in John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, realize that it
hated me first. If you belonged to
the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the
world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.”
Let us not lose heart for if we are faithful to Jesus and everything He
stands for then we can share in His great glory that has come for all eternity.
Amen. Hallelujah!
Mark 3:1-6
...He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here
before us.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they
remained silent. 5 Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their
hardness of heart, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it
out and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately took
counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
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