Sunday, July 2, 2017

1Reflection for Sunday, July 9; Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Matthew 11:25-30

Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30
At that time Jesus exclaimed: "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
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Reflection:
There’s a story of two neighbors one was very rich, wise and learned and the other one was a simple middle class guy. Naturally being poles apart they both have their own lifestyles. The rich one was fond of expensive things he had good taste with the better things of life and he lived a complicated lifestyle.

The middle class guy lived a simple lifestyle; his guiding principle was this: “Live simply and let God take care everything.” There was another thing that separates these two friends. The rich one trusted on his riches: whenever he had problems he would always look for comfort on his riches.  On the other hand the simple man trusted on God he would always pray for his protection and guidance. He never misses to attend Holy Mass during Sundays; God is always number one in his life.

To be rich is not a sin neither a curse in fact it’s a blessing from God that we must properly take care of. Riches or material possession becomes a curse in our lives when we put our trust on it. When we regard ourselves so highly and we become domineering and arrogant.

So what is the proper attitude that we must always have especially if we are rich, learned and wise? The proper behavior to have is to always be humble. If we have almost everything in life the more that we become humble. Let us remember that Jesus has everything yet He chose the less travelled path of humility by dying on the cross for our sake.

In the first reading the prophet Zechariah echoes the power of Jesus by saying that His dominion shall be from sea to sea. And from the river to the ends of the world; yet He was meek and rode on an ass.

A person will never go to Jesus if he is full of arrogance caused by his riches and other worldly things. Naturally, Jesus will certainly not reveal His majesty to this kind of person. But the moment we prefer to become humble, we prefer to let Jesus come into our lives and we choose to abhor any form of arrogance. 

Expect to discern this invitation of Jesus: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. (Matthew 11:28-30)” – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

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