Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Reflection for December 1 Thursday of the First Week of Advent: Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Gospel: Matthew 7:21, 24-27
(Jesus said to his disciples) “Not
everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but
only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of
mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And
it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
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Reflection:
What would happen to us if we always pray yet we don’t live our faith? For example, we always pray the Holy Rosary every day or we go to Holy Mass every Sunday yet we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to change us? We would easily succumb to worldly temptations and we render useless our acts of worship for God.
The Philippines is a catholic country, in fact more than eighty percent (80%) of us are Catholics and the majority of our leaders in government are Catholics. However, corruption is still deeply rooted in our government. Why is this so? This is for the reason that we are only good at worshipping God but we don’t allow our worship for God to transform us.
What does Jesus want from all of us? He wants us to worship Him and allow this same worship for Him to transform us. So that we could become His true and faithful followers, it’s very easy to pray so that others would see us. However, the real qualification for us to be called a follower of Jesus is when we allow our worship for Him to transform us.
What will happen to us if we let our prayers to transform us according to the will of God? We would be like the wise man in the gospel who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock (Luke 7:24-25).
Do you allow your worship for God to
transform you? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Reflection for Wednesday November 30 Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle: Matthew 4:18-22
Gospel: Matthew 4:18-22
As Jesus was walking by the Sea of
Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother
Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come
after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed
him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of
Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee,
mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and
their father and followed him.
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Reflection:
Are you ready to respond to Jesus’ call?
Jesus called ordinary fishermen to help Him advance the gospel, ordinary folks just like you and me. What is striking in the gospel reading was their immediate response to the call of the Lord. When Jesus called Peter and Andrew they immediately left their nets (their livelihood) and they both became a follower of Jesus.
The same occurrence happened when Jesus
called the brothers Zebedee and John. Upon hearing the call of Jesus they left
their boat and their father to immediately become a follower.
Let us take a closer look at the gospel for today because this is for us also. The four of them were ordinary fishermen, they were expert in their craft but they had no formal education about the faith.
What does this mean to us? This simply means that a formal education about the faith is not a requirement to become an effective follower. What is important is the desire, humility and willingness to respond to Jesus. For as long as we are ready to respond we all can have a role in the mission of Jesus.
Let us not worry if we have no formal education about our faith because this is not the requirement of Jesus. What Jesus wants from us first is for us to respond to His call, this is perhaps the first requirement responsiveness to His call.
Jesus is always calling us to follow Him
every second, every minute and hour that passes by. Let us respond to this call
of Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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