Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness? ? 2 Timothy 3:10

What makes a saint a saint?
      Is it the food they eat? Do they bath with holy water? (Do they drink it?) Or is it the posture they take for praying? (Kneeling down on pebbles?) The length of their prayers? (Seven hours a day, not counting ?levitation? exercises.) How about mortification and penance?
      So what makes a person holy? The length of his prayers? The amount of bible verses he memorized? The number of prayer meetings he attends?
      None of the above. I know a person is holy by how much he has grown in love.
      I?ll ask boring questions like, ?How constantly loving is he towards his spouse? His kids? His parents? His officemates? His house helpers?? I?ll check whether he?s judgmental or forgiving. Self-righteous or humble? Is he honest or does he cover up his sins? Is he able to serve others faithfully?
      By the fruits you shall know them, says Jesus.
      And love is the fruit of the Spirit. Bo S.

REFLECTION:
Like Paul, can you dare say to others, ?Observe my life??

Lord, when others observe my life, I pray that Your love will shine through brilliantly!

Perhaps there were people that were encouraging Timothy to part from the teaching of Paul. Why else would Paul be recounting his faithfulness and all that he has endured in the mission of the Church? Paul encourages Timothy, and all of us for that matter, to remain faithful to the traditions of the Church as only in that way will we be preserved from unholy variations and incorrect developments of the Gospel. It is not always easy to discern whether or not a new idea is heretical or not. This job is left to the Magisterium of the Church to determine.

10 You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, persecutions that I endured. Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me. 12 In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. 14 But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, 15 and that from infancy you have known [the] sacred scriptures, which are capable of giving  you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

P S A L M

Psalm 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168

R: O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.

157 Though my persecutors and my foes are many, I turn not away from your decrees. (R) 160 Permanence is your word?s chief trait; each of your just ordinances is everlasting. (R) 161 Princes persecute me without cause but my heart stands in awe of your word. (R) 165 Those who love your law have great peace, and for them there is no stumbling block. (R) 166 I wait for your salvation, O LORD, and your commands I fulfill. (R) 168 I keep your precepts and your decrees, for all my ways are before you. (R)

G O S P E L

Mark 12:35-37

Jesus claims the title, ?Son of David? for Himself. This is not a title of pride, but one identifying Him as the Messiah. It reveals to His disciples something of His identity in order that they can understand more fully the mission with which He has been entrusted. As we reflect upon this title we can also see why the Jews expected a militarily dominant Messiah ? something Jesus never fulfilled unless you consider the fight against sin as a military battle.

35 As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, ?How do the scribes claim that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.?? 37 David himself calls him ?lord?; so how is he his son?? [The] great crowd heard this with delight.

my reflections
think: Are you continuously battling against sin?

________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

God?s special verse/thought for me today________________

________________________________________________________
  
T O D A Y ? S BLESSING LIST

Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________

_______________________________________________________

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Psalm 120-134

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI. Days before he was elected Pope, he warned the world ? specifically the Catholic Church ? against being swayed into the tide of modern relativism. I believe that this way of thinking prevalent in our time is born from our fear of excluding others, and of being excluded by others. Therefore, we are willing tocompromise. We stretch to the limits the tenet that there is goodness in all and in everyone, and we shun categorically saying which one is ?good? and ?bad.?
      In our Gospel, Jesus asserts his superior nature over anyone, even over King David from whose ancestry he descended in the flesh. By this, he would like also to show that anyone who believes in him should be convinced of the rightness and the absoluteness of faith in him. True, the Church of Vatican II calls us to deal with men and women of other cults and faith in the spirit of ecumenism. Authentic ecumenism however does not mean abandonment of our Catholic faith and morals and simply living with the tenets of religious openness and ?theism.?
      Ecumenism rather entails this: we can only give the respect due to men and women of various Christian and religious persuasions if we ourselves realize how much we value our own Catholic standing. Valuing our being Catholic and being uncompromising in our Catholic faith, we realize that persons of other religions feel the same way about their honest faith. Fr. Domie G.

REFLECTION QUESTION:
Which person will you respect more: the person who easily changes his/ her thoughts and words to please you, or the person who can honestly disagree with you? Why?

Help me relate with love to persons of other religions, Lord, the way you treat all your children.

St. Ephrem, deacon confessor, pray for us.