Gospel: John
8:31-42
Jesus
said to those Jews who believed in him, "If you remain in my word, you
will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set
you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have
never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, 'You will become free'?" Jesus
answered them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a
slave of sin. A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always
remains. So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free. I know that you
are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has
no room among you. I tell you what I have seen in the Father's presence; then
do what you have heard from the Father."
They
answered and said to him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to
them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works of
Abraham. But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth
that I heard from God; Abraham did not do this. You are doing the works of your
father!" So they said to him, "We were not born of fornication. We
have one Father, God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father,
you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own,
but he sent me."
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Reflection:
How can
we become true followers of Jesus?
It is
only through our adherence to Jesus teachings that we will become His true
follower there is no other way. How about those who regularly give large sum of
money to the church but they disobey Jesus’ teachings? Are they not true
follower? They are not! No matter how big the amount that they regularly give
to the church.
It’s not
impossible to become faithful to Jesus for everyone of us can aspire to become
one. But we often times choose not to be faithful because we allow ourselves to
be seduced by the devil. The devil who is disguised in many worldly forms whose
only mission is to take us farther from Jesus.
Remember Judas
Iscariot? He allowed himself to be seduced by the devil for he betrayed Jesus
for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15).
What was the effect of that betrayal on Judas? Endless mental torture
and guilt of conscience that eventually led him to end his life. (Matthew
27:3-5)
Do you
sometimes allow the devil to take hold of you? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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