Gospel: Matthew
17:9a, 10-13
As they were coming down from the mountain,
the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come
first?” He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already
come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So
also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that
he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
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Reflection:
Why is it that we sometimes are not aware
that God is already manifesting His presence in our lives? Because we have no awareness of God and our
lack of awareness is made worse by our non observance of the church’s discipline.
For example, our Sunday Holy Mass
obligation, our obligation to submit ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation
at least once a year and so forth. When we behave like this we distance
ourselves from God and as a consequence of this we become numb to the presence
of God in our lives.
By not following Jesus the scribes and the Pharisees
were not able to imbibe the teachings of Jesus. That the Prophet Elijah has
already manifested himself through the person of John the Baptist. By not
followinng they persecuted and killed both John and Jesus.
If they followed John and Jesus they would
have not dared to persecute and kill them for they will know their mission and
their true identity.
How then could we connect this gospel with
our faith life? If we will not listen to the voice of Jesus who speaks to us
through manifold ways like the observance of the church’s discipline. We distance
ourselves also from Jesus just like what the Pharisees and scribes did. And we
may end- up becoming the persecutor of the church which Jesus has founded instead
of becoming its protector.
Do we faithfully observe the laws and
discipline of Jesus voiced through the Catholic Church? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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