It’s scary sometimes. When I’m up there preaching on stage, my listeners gobble up my every word. Sometimes, one or two people come up to me, touch my arm reverently and make the sign of the Cross. I’m not kidding.

       In the past 2,000 years, there have been thousands of sincere cuckoos who’ve claimed some fancy title for themselves: “I’m God’s Apostle!” or “I’m God’s Prophet!” Or the big one, “I’m God Himself!”

        Can I share to you my own official title? I’m Bo Sanchez, “God’s Big Hypocrite.” I’m a hypocrite because I wear masks. I pretend to be what I’m not so that you’ll like me. I believe every human being, to some degree, is a hypocrite and wears masks.

       In my past talks and books, I shared about my porn addiction and how God healed me through those dark stages of my life. It’s fantastic telling people about my weaknesses and temptations. Because when I show you my wounds — and God dwelling in those wounds — you get healed.

       Bottom line, I’m not better than you are. I need you and you need me — to be healed and to be holy. Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com)

Pope Francis Says: “I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”

Lord, I lift to You all my weaknesses and masks. Use them for Your purpose.

Paul encourages Timothy to step out and use the gifts the Holy Spirit has given him. The Holy Spirit wants us to exercise those gifts. If we do not take the risk and use the gifts, we will never know whether we have them or not. The spiritual gifts are like muscles — if we do not use them, they atrophy and waste away.

2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12

1 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the promise of life in Christ Jesus, 2 to Timothy, my dear child: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 I am grateful to God, whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. 6 For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. 8 So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God. 9 He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, 11 for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher. 12 On this account I am suffering these things; but I am not ashamed, for I know him in whom I have believed and am confident that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.

R: To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.

1 To you I lift up my eyes who are enthroned in heaven. 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters. (R) As the eyes of a maid are on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes on the Lord, our God, till he have pity on us. (R)

Jesus is not impressed with the question of the Sadducees because the motivation behind it is to try and trap him, not really to learn anything. I was the master of this thing in school. I made life difficult for my teachers. There will always be elements of mystery to our faith. Let us pray for the grace to accept them humbly and move on to the next thing that God will ask us to do.

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; whoever believes in me will never die.

18 Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, 19 saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. 21 So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. 23 At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” 24 Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. 26 As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told  him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”

think: The spiritual gifts are like muscles — if we do not use them, they atrophy and waste away.

Thank You Lord for: __________________

WHEN WE ARE MISLED

That was a blunt and unhappy conclusion to our Gospel episode today. After answering their absurd question to Him about the resurrection of the dead, intended actually to trap Him, Jesus chided the Sadducees: “You are greatly misled.”

        Yes, we can say that again. But can these words apply to us as well? How often have we, too, been mistaken concerning our faith and our spiritual life, especially with our picky, mix-and-match approach to God’s Word and the Church’s teachings? To be told that we are mistaken isn’t very pleasant. Plus, the likelihood of it happening is strong and high.

       Our saint for today serves as a counterpoint and example for us concerning this. St. Justin (100-165) was known as an apologist, a defender of truth and doctrine against heresies and false philosophies. He was also a martyr who gave up his life for the sake of Jesus Christ, holding on to the truth and defying the offering of sacrifices to the gods.

       Likewise, our First Reading comes as something most appropriate. Paul advises Timothy, “Stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.” Perhaps what was initially a powerful flame in us has now become barely glowing embers due to our complacency and apathy. Now, if ever God has to tell us a few not-so-pleasant things, we know that behind it is something for our own good: to provoke and revive us back into our original zeal, to retrace our steps and come back to the path we have strayed from.

       In all humility, we accept the fact that truly we can be (and we are) at times misled. We just have to smile and be of good cheer — for our God “is not God of the dead but of the living!” Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How is the flame of your spiritual life? How do you keep it constantly burning?

Dear Lord, enkindle the fire in me with Your love. May I grow in my love for You, too. Amen.