??as many as touched it were healed.? ? Mark 6:56

When moved by a deep emotional or spiritual experience, people exclaim, ?Touched   naman ako!? Being ?touched? is deeper than the physical contact but a profound inspiration, healing and love felt by the heart. I learned that the acronym T-O-U-C-H stands for the effects of Jesus? touch in our lives: His touch T-ransforms: a drug-addict and war freak was transformed into a Word-addict and a Jesus-freak. His touch O-verwhelms: the emptiest of hearts was filled and overwhelmed with joy and hope. His touch U-nifies: a hardened son reconciled with family members and they became a unified basic church. His touch C-cleanses: inferiority complexes were cleansed and washed away by faith and confidence. Finally His touch H-heals: physical, spiritual and emotional sicknesses were healed and replaced by health and enthusiasm! These are the things that God?s mighty and gentle hand did to me. Miracles still happen in the hands of God! That?s the reason I never stop allowing Him to touch many by the very life He lent me. Obet C.

REFLECTION:
When we are touched by His grace, do we touch people?s lives by our love and service?

See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name. (Isaiah 49:16)

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13

The Temple of God has been built and it will become the focal point of the Jewish religion for centuries to come. It was a magnificent building imposing and fit to be called a ?House of God.? It symbolizes for the people the presence of God in their midst. The Ark of the Covenant, the resting place of the stone tablets of the Law of Moses, resides in its sanctuary as the guarantor of God?s presence and blessing.

1 At the order of Solomon, the elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites, came to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD?s covenant from the city of David [which is Zion]. 2 All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month). 3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark; 4   they carried the ark of the LORD and the meeting tent with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. (The priests and Levites carried them.) 5 King Solomon and the entire community of Israel present for the occasion sacrificed before the ark sheep and oxen too many to number or count. 6 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the holy of Holies of the temple. 7 The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above. 9 There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites at their departure from the land of Egypt. 10 When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD 11 so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the LORD?s glory had filled the temple of the LORD. 12 Then Solomon said, ?The LORD intends to dwell in the dark cloud; 13 I have truly built you a princely house, a dwelling where you may abide forever.?

P S A L M

Psalm 132:6-7, 8-10

R: Lord, go up to the place of your rest!

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. 7   Let us enter into his dwelling, let us worship at his footstool. (R)  8 Advance, O LORD, to your resting place, you and the ark of your majesty. 9  May your priests be clothed with justice; let your faithful ones shout merrily  for joy. 10 For the sake of David your servant, reject not the plea of your anointed. (R)

G O S P E L

Mark 6:53-56

People were coming from everywhere to see Jesus and have Hm heal their sick. I am sure that many came for the right reasons and others for the wrong reasons. We do not see Jesus rejecting any of them! Let us see in Jesus? acceptance of all who come to him as a model for our own lives. We must prepare a place for all people in our hearts and in the midst of our communities. Jesus wants us to welcome all people into our midst.

53 After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. 54 As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.  55 They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.

my reflections
Think: We must prepare a place for all people in our hearts and in the midst of our communities.

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God?s special verse/thought for me today _________________

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T O D A Y ? S BLESSING LISTT

Thank You Lord for: _________________________________

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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Numbers 16-19
 

Today?s Gospel tells us how well-known Jesus was as an itinerant preacher in Israel. Word of the wonders and miracles that He works precedes Him wherever He goes to such an extent that the sick are ready and waiting for Him to arrive! It is unlikely that the same happens with you and I as we go about our business of evangelization. But this should not cause us to think that we are ineffective witnesses to the Gospel. Jesus and the saints generated an enormous amount of attention to their ministry for one reason or another. But this is not necessary for an effective ministry. In some places, the hidden works of love and mercy will speak louder than the amplifier ? enhanced words of a Christian rock band! In fact, what is important is not the profile of the ministries with which we are involved but our fidelity to the will of God. For some, this may mean very public and spectacular ministries but this will not be true for most people and we will have to resign ourselves to the anonymity of the many disciples of Jesus. One is not better than the other ? they are simply different ways of serving the Gospel according to what it is that God asks each of us to do for Him. There is one thing that we should remember and never doubt ? that whatever ministry of evangelization we are involved with, we can be 100%   sure that the Holy Spirit is going before us to prepare the hearts of all those to whom we will minister so that they will be disposed towards hearing the Good News proclaimed. This does not mean that we will be 100% successful in converting people as each person has a choice as to whether they will respond to the Gospel or not. However, we can be sure that God is with us as we proclaim His Good News to the world. Let us take courage in this knowledge and never hold back from sharing the truth about salvation when God gives us the opportunity. Fr. Steve T.

REFLECTION QUESTION:
Do I really believe that I have a role in evangelizing others? How can I make myself more available to this call and thus faithfully fulfill my duty as an evangelist?

Jesus, You gave everything in the pursuit of obedience to Your Father?s will. Help me to give all in my service of the Gospel, not so much to count the cost but to embrace the blessing of sharing the Good News with others.

St. Gonzalo Garcia and Companions, martyrs, pray for us.