EXCEEDING GOODNESS

How can I repay the Lord for all the good done for me? – Psalm 116:12

       The New Year has just begun as I write this reflection for Didache. I cannot help but feel overwhelming gratitude to God for His exceeding goodness to me in the past year. He has showered me abundantly with both material and spiritual blessings. He has promised me a “future full of hope.” And yet, even as I recall and list down the big and small blessings I received from Him last year, all these pale in comparison to His gift of Himself on the cross.

       Nothing beats this great mystery and miracle! The Son of God coming into the world and laying down His life to save sinners like me even before I’d decided to change my ways or love Him back. The Son of God rising from the dead and overcoming sin and death so I could have eternal life. The Son of God calling me His friend and loving me this much.

       How can I repay the Lord for all the good He has done for me? I can never repay Him. I can only live my life following His example, as my way of loving Him back and showing Him gratitude. Teresa Gumap-as Dumadag (teregmps@yahoo.com)

Reflection: Recall the many good things you have received from God lately. How can you best express your gratitude to God for the good He has done in your life?

Lord, show me how I can best show my gratitude for Your exceeding goodness to me. Inspire me through Your Holy Spirit and enable me to express my thanksgiving in my own unique way.

St. Katéri Tekakwitha, virgin, pray for us.

The Passover of the Jews is the forerunner to our celebration of the Eucharist. The Last Supper is the event that links the two celebrations. The Jews remember deliverance from slavery in Egypt; we remember deliverance from slavery to sin. Indeed, through the redeeming work of Christ, sin has lost any absolute power it may have gained. Let us be faithful and live in Jesus’ victory over sin.

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. 4 If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. 5 The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. 7 They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. 8 That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the Lord. 12 For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt — I, the Lord! 13 But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. 14 This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord, as a perpetual institution.”

Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18

R: Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

12 How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? 13 The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord; (R) 15 Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones. 16 I am your servant, the son of your handmaid; you have loosed my bonds. (R) 17 To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. 18 My vows to the Lord I will pay in the presence of all his people. (R)

In the Pauline correspondence, the celebration of the Eucharist in a very simple form is mentioned and is an evidence of its early development within the Christian faith. I t has been around now for almost 2,000 years as a celebration and memorial to what Jesus has done for us. I like the final line of one of the hymns we used to sing that says, “We remember; we celebrate; we believe.”

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

23 Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, 24 and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Service is at the heart of any love relationship. Without love, service becomes mechanical and meaningless. We need both for a healthy relationship. Let us examine our lives today as we meditate upon the scene of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Let us ask ourselves how we can better serve God and one another.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you.

1 Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, 3 fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, 4 he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” 11 For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? 13 You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. 14 If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Leviticus 19-21

VISITA IGLESIA

After the solemn liturgy of the Lord’s Supper, people will go around visiting seven churches for the traditional practice called Visita Iglesia. This tradition dates back to the Apostolic Age, when early Christians on pilgrimage in the Holy Land prayed at shrines deemed important to the story of the Passion of Jesus. The visit to the seven sites recalled seven Gospel events: Jesus’ Trial before the High Priest Annas (John 18:12-23); Journey from Annas to the High Priest Caiaphas (Mark 14:53-63); Mock Trial at the Sanhedrin (Matthew 26:57-67); Trial before Pilate (Luke 23:1-5); Trial before Herod (Luke 23:6-12); Sentencing by Pilate (Luke 23:13-25); and Carrying of the Cross to Calvary (John 19:17-18).

       In 313 A.D., pious observants also began to make seven visits within these Roman basilicas: Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, St. Peter’s Basilica, St. Mary Major, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. Lawrence Outside the Walls, Shrine of Holy Cross of Jerusalem, and St. Sebastian Outside the Walls. In the Great Jubilee Year 2000, Blessed Pope John Paul II replaced St. Sebastian Outside the Walls with the Shrine of the Madonna of Divine Love.

       Visiting seven churches, we recall how Jesus willed that all He had started in His three-year ministry should now form the heritage, patrimony and responsibility of His Church or “Iglesia.” As regards the Law, He has summarized everything in one mandate: “Love one another.” As regards liturgy and worship, Jesus perfects the Old Testament provision: His own flesh and blood He now gives in the Holy Eucharist as the most acceptable offering to the heavenly Father. In contrast with the hereditary priesthood that Moses instituted, Jesus institutes the college of the Twelve as ministers who will now “do this in memory” of Jesus.

       In our Visita Iglesia let us pray not just for our family’s and personal intentions. We pray for the protection, faithfulness and advancement of our Church, the community born from the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: List down the seven churches that you plan to visit with your family today. Spend an hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament today, in thanksgiving and in intercession for ministers of the Church whom you know.

I lift up to You, Lord, all the priests that have touched my life. I thank You for them.