The word of the Lord is upright and all His works done in faithfulness. – Psalm 33:4

       Whenever I encounter stressful moments, I call on God using personal, endearing names that reveal His character to me in the way that I need Him to be at those times.

       My wife and I were on a flight from Melbourne to catch our connecting flight in Sydney to Manila. Thirty minutes past our scheduled Sydney-Manila flight, we were still in the air trying to land. Instead of saying, “We’ll surely miss our flight,” my wife and I called on the God of order. Sure enough, our flight to Manila was also delayed and we were able to board without problems.

            At another time, a guy got my goat and sent my temper soaring right before I slept that night. So I called on the God of peace to calm my nerves. I was able to sleep soundly and later apologized to the people I had offended.

          Calling on God in an intimate, fatherly way deepens our personal relationship with Him. His words, “When you call to Me, I will answer you,” becomes a reality. Our God is not a distant God, but a personal God. Rolly España (rolly@homeliving.com.ph)

Reflection: Are you tired and anxious about certain situations in your life? Call on the Lord who is the Great I Am.

O Holy Spirit, guide me always to the path where Your grace and gifts abound.

St. Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor of the Church, pray for us.

It is a good idea to reflect on this text often as it is very instructive as regards the nature and dynamic of love. Take each aspect one by one and reflect on them each day. Start each day by reading the whole text and then focus on one aspect of love and make that the theme for a whole day.

31 Brothers and sisters: Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way. 13: 1 If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, 5 it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, 6 it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. 9 For we know partially and we prophesy partially, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. 12 At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. 13 So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

R: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

2 Give thanks to the Lord on the harp; with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises. 3 Sing to him a new song; pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness. (R) 4 For upright is the word of the Lord, and all his works are trustworthy. 5 He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full. (R) 12 Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance. 22 May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us who have put our hope in you. (R)

We cannot have it both ways — either we accept the challenges of the Christian way of life and embrace it to the full, or we do not. However, we cannot expect the benefits of a Christian life without paying the price of living it. Too often today we hear people talk in terms of being entitled to this or that benefit of the state. There can be no benefits without corresponding duties. You cannot get anything for nothing in life.

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life, you have the words of everlasting life.

31 Jesus said to the crowds: “Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

think:  There can be no benefits without corresponding duties. You cannot get anything for nothing in life.

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Psalm 116-118

SPOILED BRATS

Some children can be real spoiled brats. I often watch children play in nearby parks and I hear them quarrel when they don’t get their own way. One time, I heard one boy say, “I am taking my bat and ball and going home!” Simply put, “I have had enough! You are not playing by my rules so I will go home.” It is a sulking attitude. Jesus uses a description of sulking children towards the elders and rulers of His day.

       No matter what happens in Jesus’ life, He cannot escape the ridicule and criticism of the Pharisees or the religious leaders of society. They are so set in their ways that they do not believe in the words of Jesus or heed His teachings. They consider Him as a hobo from the province, a cheap upstart who has no respect for culture and tradition. Little do they know!

       Even as the Pharisees witness many people following Jesus, a lot being converted to His ways, miracles do nothing to change their rigid beliefs, their stubbornness of mind and heart. John the Baptist came preaching a baptism of repentance, which many participated in, but when Jesus offers a ministry of eternal life, many turn away from Him. But the Holy Spirit will blow where He wills and many are advancing in the Kingdom of God, according to Jesus. If only the blind Pharisees could see with open hearts and minds.

       The experience that Jesus encounters in the closed-mindedness of the Pharisees and leaders is nothing new. We read in the pages of the Old Testament their constant refusal and rejection of the prophets and their messages. It’s as though God is saying, “What more can I do? Since you are closed and stubborn in your ways, what else must be conveyed?”

       John of the Cross explains that God has nothing else to say. He has spoken His final and definitive word through His Son. He has nothing else to say. We must be open to the message of God found in the Son who loves and gives Himself for us and for the life of the world. Fr. Brian Steele, MGL

REFLECTION QUESTION: Are you open-minded to the ways of the Lord?

May Your love be upon us, Lord, as we place all our hope in You. Amen.