Daily Bible Reflections
for August 8, 2009;

Dear Friend,

This Saturday, let God give you rest in His Spirit.

Praying for you,

Bo Sanchez

8
 August
Saturday
TODAY'S READINGS:

DIDACHE | COMPANION | SABBATH
DIDACHE

 

IN GooD TImES AND IN BAD
 
“Lord, have pity on my son.” – Matthew 17:15
The parents took Lance to several doctors, yet the baby was often sick. He got worse and was confined to the hospital. It took several days before the correct diagnosis was finally found. The parents could only watch helplessly as their child suffered and cried from the needles and tests.
It was during that time that my friend, Lance’s father, turned to God and surrendered the situation. Surprisingly, he admitted that it was the highest point of his relationship with God. He was crying out for his son and could only place his faith in the Divine Healer. God heeded his petition and healed Lance. Should we wait for a great problem to come to experience powerful and deep conversations with God? Can’t we reach greater heights in our faith without going through a crisis?
Our journey to holiness need not be riddled with life and death situations in order to know God in a personal way. Whatever season we are in, we should strive to get closer to God, to increase our faith and love Him more through our neighbor. Jun Asis
 
REFLECTION:
Do I call on the Lord only in times of trouble? Have I acknowledged God during the happy times?
 
May I come to You at all times, Lord, not only when I think I have no options left.
 

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COMPANION

 

1st READING
 
When the text tells us that we should fear the Lord, a better translation would be that we should stand in awe of God. Standing in awe of God carries with it a certain amount of fear and that awe results from the greatness of the other in comparison to one’s self. God is an awesome God — so much greater and more powerful than we will ever be. However, He is also a God of love and mercy. Let us build on this first so that we will be better able to relate to the awesome nature of God when the time comes.
 
Deuteronomy 6:4-13
4 Moses said to the people: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! 5 Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. 7 Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. 8 Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates. 10 “When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that he would give you, a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, 11 with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner, with cisterns that you did not dig, with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant; and when, therefore, you eat your fill, 12 take care not to forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. 13 The LORD, your God, shall you fear; him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear.”
 
P S A L M
 
Psalm 18:2-3a. 3c-4. 47 and 51
R: I love you, Lord, my strength.
1 [2] I love you, O LORD, my strength, 2 [3] O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. (R) My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold! 3 [4] Praised be the LORD, I exclaim, and I am safe from my enemies. (R) 46 [47] The LORD live! And blessed be my Rock! Extolled be God my savior. 50 [51] You who gave great victories to your king and showed kindness to your anointed, to David and his posterity forever. (R)
 
G O S P E L
 
We remember today all the men and women who work and serve under the Dominican banner or name. In their charism of preaching, the Dominicans have contributed immensely to the growth and development of the Church down through the centuries, always seeking to present the Gospel to the men and women of their times so that the Word of God may find a place in the hearts of all. Only when we are guided by the Word of God will we be truly empowered to make present in the world the Kingdom of God through our faith, miracles and the Sacraments of the Church.
 
Matthew 17:14-20
14 A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, 15 and said, “Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Jesus said in reply, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring him here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. 19 Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
 
my reflections
think:To fear the Lord is to stand in awe of God.
 
_________________________________________________________

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 Tobit 8-11
 

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SABBATH

 

mustArd seed-siZed FAith
 
Interesting is the declaration of Jesus at the end of today’s Gospel: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Anyone who has seen a mustard seed will perhaps smile: it’s so tiny! The lesson is clear and simple: bigness isn’t everything; size does not matter.
Today’s mania for 42-inch plasma flat-screen TVs, upsized  drinks, humongous shopping malls, and terabyte hard disc drives is, of course, an affront to Jesus’ point. Still, when it comes to faith, it’s an entirely different matter. We can’t help but notice Jesus’ exasperation over the lack of even just a small amount of faith (as if it can be quantified!): “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you?”
That’s why even the smallest “mustard seed-sized” faith can already be good enough for our Lord. But at the same time, a warning is in order. Doing nothing at all on our part to nurture our faith, to nourish its development and deepening, is to be remiss in our duty as Catholics.
“O faithless and perverse generation” — that is what Christ will call us, too, if we don’t cultivate soon enough our faith. It may have been as small as a mustard seed when it was first planted in us through the Sacrament of Baptism. But now, surely, it must have already grown somehow. Or will that man in the Gospel complain about us now, too, for our inability to cure his son because of our lack of faith? Indeed, therefore, we should consider our faith as something to be deepened and intensified, rather than quantified and increased. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB
 
Reflection Question:
Look back at your life. How has your faith grown?
 
Lord, grant me the grace to deepen my faith every day even through the ordinary circumstances of my life.
 
St. Dominic, Priest, pray for us.
 

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