Cycle A - Year II:  

17 August 2014: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical color: Green)

Matthew 15:21-28

How great is our faith?

You may have come across this popular dictum: "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again!" It provides inspiration to those struggling with anything. And it seems that it has also a biblical connection.

Let us find that out in the Gospel narrative for this Sunday. We will hear another beautiful story of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and His mission to help those who come to Him with trust and confidence.

The Gospel story begins with a Canaanite woman, who is considered a foreigner among the Jews. She calls out to Jesus, to

beg our Lord to heal her daughter who was tormented by a demon. Jesus did not immediately respond to the woman's plea. In fact He reminded her that He came first to seek out the lost sheep of the house of Israel (and not a foreigner like her.)

The story goes on that in spite of this mild snub, the Canaanite woman persists, draws even closer to our Lord, pays Him homage and says, "Lord, help me."

Then Jesus said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done to you as you wish." Her great faith in our Lord and persistence paid off.

Now we recall that in all the Gospel accounts, Jesus at times responds immediately to a request for help or healing. But sometimes He delays. Yet always He offers His blessing to those who come to Him with faith and trust.

We need to remember that God has perfect timing, which may differ from our own expectations. Because He knows the depths of our hearts better than we know them ourselves. He knows when a person is ready to receive a particular grace, and when we need to do or have something more before we are ready. 

So God sometimes wants to test our faith, purify our hearts, or grant us the opportunity to grow in our spiritual life so that we may discover that what we ask for is in union with His divine plan. In other words, God knows how to prepare our hearts so that we are ready to receive what we really need, and not necessarily what we ask for. That is why God's wisdom and love may look to us very puzzling at times, and even beyond our comprehension perhaps, but His actions always flow from the depths of His love and His truth.

The lesson of this Sunday's Gospel is that we must keep faith, persevere, and approach our Lord with confidence. Great faith conquers difficulties and obstacles in our journey of life.

So let us pray: 

God, I may not understand how everything will work out, but I trust You.

I don't see a way, but I know you will make a way.

I have great faith that at this very moment You are touching hearts, opening doors, and lining up the right breaks and right opportunities.

Things may look dark and bleak now, but I have great faith that my dawn is coming, in Your time! Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam! 

Cycle A - Year II:  

10 August 2014: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical color: Green)

Matthew 14:22-33

Lord, increase our faith!

What is a miracle? Why does our Lord Jesus perform miracles?

The simplest definition of miracles is that they are divine intervention in human events and natural order of things.

We can also say that miracles are something out of the ordinary. Yet, if we reflect further, almost all of our Lord's recorded miracles in the Bible have something of the ordinary about them. That is to say, in his healing ministry Jesus did not bestow superhuman powers to those He healed. He merely restored to them what every normal person should have. For example, to the blind He gave sight, but not x-ray vision; the lame walked at His command, but they were not given wings to fly.

In last Sunday's Gospel, Jesus fed the multitude with just five loaves and two fish, and still had twelve baskets full of left over, but it was not magic food to satisfy their hunger forever.

Even when He raised Lazarus back to life, it was not yet eternal life. Because Lazarus had to live out the rest of his years on earth as an ordinary man, and die again before he could enter heaven.

In this Sunday's Gospel narrative there is a notable exception to this rule of the

ordinary. St. Peter able to walk on the water is like having superpower that no other men could do. Jesus granted this exceptional privilege only to St. Peter, and not to any other disciples. Biblical scholars say that this is indicative of the Lord's gift of authority to St. Peter as the "rock" on whom He builds His Church.

Scriptures describe God as having authority over the waters. Thus, Jesus' walking on the water Himself reveals His divinity.

When St. Peter asks our Lord to let him come out to the waters is clearly a confirmation of his faith in Christ's divinity. But when St. Peter takes his eyes off the Lord, because he begins to fear the big waves, trouble comes, and he begins to sink. Jesus needed to rescue him.

What does this miracle of walking on the water teach us in our particular time and situation today?

With Jesus, anything is possible in our lives, even walking on the water. For the God who created the universe out of nothing is "well-qualified" to direct our lives and allow us to overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties and challenges we face every day.

But we must remain focused on Jesus, even when outside factors appear and overpower our own abilities. Because without Jesus in our lives, even our own abilities limit us.

In the Eucharist at Mass, let us pray for faith to believe in God's presence in both the ordinary and extraordinary moments in our lives.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam! 

Cycle A - Year II:  

3 August 2014: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical color: Green)

Matthew 14:13-21

The Lord answers all our needs!

When we pray in the "Our Father" that the Lord gives us our daily bread, what do we really mean? Are we asking only for food that satisfies our physical hunger? Do we ask only for things that we need for our day-to-day living?

Perhaps to the poor, putting food on the table preoccupies their daily struggle. Because satisfying their physical hunger for food is a step to liberation from poverty.

The theme of this Sunday's liturgical readings focuses on nourishment. Jesus shows his concern for our temporal needs by feeding the multitude that followed him. Because man is both body and soul while in journey in this world.

According to biblical scholars, Jesus' feeding of the five thousands is the only miracle recorded in all the four Gospel accounts (Luke 9:10-17, Mark 6:34-44, John 6:1-15, and Matthew 14:13-21).

Large crowd continued to follow Jesus, and as evening approached the disciples wanted Jesus to send them away. They were in a deserted place and there was no food provision for such a large and hungry crowd. All that the disciples could find were five loaves of bread and two fish.

Jesus took the little they had -five loaves and two fish- and giving thanks to his heavenly Father, distributed to all until the whole crowd were satisfied of their hunger. And there were twelve baskets full of loaves and fish that were left over.

What is the significance of this miracle?

It shows us the remarkable and overflowing generosity of God and his great kindness to us. The miracle of the multiplication of loaves emanated from the mercy and love of Jesus for the crowd that followed him. Because our Lord Jesus cares for the whole man, body and soul, that he takes care of our physical needs as well, including our hunger for food.

When God gives, he gives abundantly. He gives more than we need for ourselves so that we may have something to share with others, especially those who lack what they need. In other words, God takes the little we have and multiplies it for the good of others. 

And so we ask ourselves: do we trust in God's provision for our need, and do we share freely with others, especially the poor in our midst?

God never fails to nourish our material needs when we do our part and trust him. But Jesus also invites us to work for "food that endures for eternal life" (Jn 6:27). Jesus is referring to his "flesh which is real food" in the Holy Eucharist. For Jesus says: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." (Jn 6:35) Do we believe this?

In the Eucharist, let us ask the Lord Jesus beyond our daily necessities and open our hearts to better and lasting blessing that God wants to share with us, our bread of life in Jesus. So that in the midst of life's many challenges and trials, we persevere in faith, even as we acknowledge our total dependence on the Creator for our life and sustenance.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!