"STAY WITH US, LORD" (Luke 24:29)

1st Reading      Amos 3:1-8; 4:11-12 Psalm           Psalm 5:5-6.7.8 (R. 9a)  Gospel                  Matthew 8: 23-27 We continue our reflection even as the month of June ends today and we enter the second half of the year. These are times when people are most faced with difficulties. Today, we focus on one of Jesus' miraculous acts in Matthew. This narrative is so famous that we find it very appropriate in our attempt to console those perturbed by storms, storms in the sense of difficulties. The year of faith finds this text at heart.  The setting of this event is on the Sea of Galilee. For us to appreciate and help us get a clearer view of the narrative, we have to know what happens on the sea. The sea of Galilee naturally _goes wild_  unexpectedly. Waves are experienced at any time and sea farers and fishermen are well aware of this. In fact, some of Jesus' disciples are fisherme...

1st Reading         Acts 12:1-11 Psalm                   Ps. 33:2-9 2nd Reading       2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18 Gospel                  Matthew 16:13-19 Dear friends, we celebrate today the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. These two are great pillars when we speak about Christianity, especially in the early Church. With Paul and his mission to the Gentiles and Peter with his to the Jews, we see a sense of a universal  missionary mandate, less indifference. In fact, these two ancestors of our faith experienced imprisonment and were delivered.  The first reading narrates the Lord's deliverance of Peter while in prison. In any case, the reading reveals that earnest prayer for him was made to God by the Church . This is a great leader in prison. He was supported by prayers. Widening the sense, we say support. Support in the sense of being ther...

1st Reading        2 Kings 25:1-12 Psalm                   Ps. 137: 1-2.3.4-5.6 (R. 6ab)  Gospel                  Matthew 8: 1-4 I WILL DO IT The liberation of the poor and the oppressed is at the heart of Jesus' public ministry. Often, he is seen attacking the elites in a bid to seek justice for the poor and the oppressed. Dear friends, today we read about one of Jesus' acts of liberation of a leper who gave Christ the decision to liberate or not to. This incident, however, did not witness an attack on the elites. The first reading tell of another incident during the reign of Zedekiah who has been made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar after Jehoiachin has been taken to exile. Our first reading is also recorded in Jeremiah 39: 1-10. Zedekiah, after rebelling against the Nebuchadnezzar, coupled with his breaking of a solemn oath to Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Ezk. 17:11-21) suff...

1st Reading   2 Kings 24: 8-17 Psalm             Ps. 79:1-2.3-5.8-9 (R. see 9bc)  Gospel         Matthew 7:21-29 Rescue us, O Lord for our stronghold has been broken into. Rescue us for we are perishing, save the dying and protect our 10,000 men going into exile in Babylon. This is the anguish in Judah as in the first reading of today.  Judah is at the verge of being conquered by the Babylonians under the famous Nebuchadnezzar who is already in the 8th year of his reign. At this time, Jehoiachin has just been made king of Judah and, just like his predecessors, he is noted to have done evil in the sight of the Lord. Three months of reign as King of Judah, they were sent into exile and these are trying moments in Judah and for Jehoiachin, a dream-shattering incident. This is the result of Jehoiachin's misdeed.  As is often the case, Judah suffers the same fate as other nations as they weakly watched Babylonians taking a...

1st Reading          Isaiah 49:1-6 Psalm           Ps. 139: 1-3.13-14.15 (R. 14a)  2nd Reading         Acts 13: 22-26 Gospel                    Luke 1: 57-66.80 Dear friends, today we celebrate the Solemnity of St. John the Baptist. This celebration, with the personality of John the Baptist, is so important in the recounting of the Salvation History of Man. In this case, we take turn to reflect and be grateful to God for his saving work so as to sanctify our future for the reason that our glorification is itself a means for our sanctification.  With John the Baptist we notice an entrance into the second half of the Salvation history of man for which with his birth, the redeemer will be announced. This celebration, therefore includes the soon birth of Christ. In fact, this kind of relation is further stressed by the very fact that John the Baptist and Jesus ar...

1st Reading           2 Kings 19:9-11,14-21,31-36 Psalm                       Ps. 48: 2-3ab.3cd-4.10-11 (R. 9cd) Gospel       Matthew 7:6.12-14 Hope is a virtue which spurs us on in times of pain and tragedy. This virtue helps us wait patiently for an intervention from where lasting help may come from. The first reading of today focuses still on the political life of Israel with its mutuality with religion. In the Gospel we read one of Jesus' teachings in which he uses dogs and swine to relate the issue of the reception of the Good News. Assyrians are in the siege of Judah, the southern Kingdom and under their King Sennacherib, they seek to conquer Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. Hezekiah, King of Judah receives a threat from Sennacherib which should naturally instill a certain fear in him, lead to a loss of hope in Jerusalem and finally surrendering to the Assyrians. Jerusalem, a city ...

1st Reading       2 Kings 17:5-8,13-15,18 Psalm                 Ps. 60:3.4-5.12-14 (R. 7a)  Gospel                Matthew 7: 1-5 Beloved, today we quickly turn to reflect on two passages in the Old and New Testaments with the idea of a mutuality between politics and religion unravelled.  The first reading takes us into the explicit political life of Israel particularly on the end of Israel, the northern kingdom. With quest to posses and rule, Assyrians, under Shalmanezer V (726-722BC; cf. 2 Kings 17: 5) sought to fulfill this political task and send Israel into exile in Assyria. The reason for this foreseen exile is God's anger in which case Israel had sinned against the Lord, their God (v. 7). Specifically, their sin was a rejection of God's statutes, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and  the warnings he had given them (v. 15). In fact, they threw themse...