It is mercy I desire and not sacrifice. ? Matthew 12:6

We were running late for the Sunday mass.
      I was getting irritated at my husband for the delay and was trying so hard to keep my cool because I might say something hurtful. And I had every good reason to do so! Suddenly the Lord spoke to my heart, ?Is it more important to get to mass on time but in an irritable mood, or to attend mass with peace and love in your heart even if you?re a little late??
      Oftentimes, we exalt our value system above people, putting more emphasis on norms and rules rather than on love and relationship. St. Paul said that even if you give everything you have including your life but if you do not have love, then you gain nothing. The Pharisees prided themselves in being able to keep their laws and making all sorts of sacrifices. But they were forgetting the law that fulfills all the laws ? the law of love. Jesus said that it is mercy he desires and not sacrifice.
      Immediately my irritation disappeared and God?s peace just flooded my heart and mind. I chose to love rather than to get upset for being late for mass.
      Guess what? The mass started late. Rowena L.

REFLECTION:
Do you just have religion in your life or do have a relationship with Jesus?

Remind me always, Lord, that it is obedience to You, and not sacrifice, that pleases You.

Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8

It is a tremendous grace to be given foreknowledge of the time of death as it gives us an opportunity to properly prepare for this last great adventure of life. Hezekiah cries out for extra time and in His mercy, God grants Hezekiah?s request and adds 15 years to his life. Let us pray for the grace to prepare well for own death whenever it will come to us so that we will be ready to give an account of our lives to the Lord when we meet Him face to face.

1 In those days, when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: ?Thus says the LORD: ?Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover.? ? 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD: 3 ?O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!? And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah : 5 ?Go, tell Hezekiah: ?Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David. I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, in three days you shall go up to the LORD?s temple; I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city.?  ? 7 [21] Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken and applied to the boil, that he might recover. 8 [22] Then Hezekiah asked, ?What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?? 9 [7] [Isaiah answered ] ?This will be the sign for you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised. 10 [8] See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz go back the ten steps it has advanced.? So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.

P S A L M

Isaiah 38:10, 11, 12, 16

R: You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.

12 [10] Once I said, ?In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years.? (R) 13 [11] I said, ?I shall see the LORD no more in the land of the living. No longer shall I behold my fellow men among those who dwell in the world.? (R) 14 [12] My dwelling, like a shepherd?s tent, is struck down and borne away from me; you have folded up my life, like a weaver who severs the last thread. (R) 18 [16] Those lives whom the LORD protects; yours is the life of my spirit. You have given me health and life. (R)

G O S P E L

Matthew 12:1-8

Jesus must have become very frustrated with the nit-picky attitude of some of the Jewish leaders. There is a clear lack of sincerity and goodwill in the accusation they bring against the disciples of Jesus. This is often true today when the media takes aim at the Church in an unfair way. There seems to be an underlying agenda to try to remove the influence of the Church?s teaching from the lives of its adherents. The battle with sin is never fair. We should remember this when we are confronted with it as we go about our daily lives.

1 At that time Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, ?See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.? 3 He said to them, ?Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, 4 how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in thetemple violate the sabbath and are innocent? 6 I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you knew what this meant, ?I desire mercy, not sacrifice,? you would not have condemned these innocent men. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.?

my reflections
think: Let us pray for the grace to prepare well for our own death.

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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Isaiah 26-28