Decades ago, I’d always check the horoscope to see how my day would turn out. It wouldn’t hurt to check, right? I didn’t realize how wrong I was. Eventually, I stopped because I found it too farfetched that people with the same zodiac sign will all have the same luck.

       Only after a priest explained how the horoscope was a replacement for God did I realize how subtly the devil had worked in my life then.

       Unknowingly, I had put my faith on something other than God. Feng shui, anting-anting or amulets, ouija board, spirit of the glass, fortune-telling with cards, crystal balls, palm reading and even your mole, and other occult practices fall in the same category as horoscopes. They all undermine our faith in God’s providence and protection. Instead of relying on God, we put our trust in these. It’s tantamount to idolatry.

       Do you still serve any of these false gods by relying on them? Stop now and confess. And put your faith solely in the One True God. Jun Asis (mabuting.balita@gmail.com)

Reflection: Have you completely renounced all occult practices and only rely on God’s goodness and mercy?

Lord, in You alone I put my faith. Into Your hands, I place my life. Do with it as You please.

The Books of Kings have a distinctly anti-monarchical theme. The kings never seem to do anything right. The kings after Solomon were as corrupt as the leaders of the countries surrounding Israel. There were a couple of reforming kings but two in a period of 500 years is a poor number.

2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15, 18

5 Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole land and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and deported the children of Israel to Assyria, settling them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan, and the cities of the Medes. 7 This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the Lord, their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and because they venerated other gods. 8 They followed the rites of the nations whom the Lord had cleared out of the way of the children of Israel and the kings of Israel whom they set up. 13 And though the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer, “Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,” 14 they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who had not believed in the Lord, their God. 15 They rejected his statutes, the covenant which he had made with their fathers, and the warnings which he had given them, 18 till, in his great anger against Israel, the Lord put them away out of his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left.

Psalm 60:3, 4-5, 12-13

R: Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.

1 [3] O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses; you have been angry; rally us! (R) 2 [4] You have rocked the country and split it open; repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering. 3 [5] You have made your people feel hardships; you have given us stupefying wine. (R) 10 [12] Have not you, O God, rejected us, so that you go not forth, O God, with our armies? 11 [13] Give us aid against the foe, for worthless is the help of men. (R)

When we judge others, it is likely that we are guilty of the same sin. No one stands in a position of righteousness. We are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God. We should grow in holiness and the only judging that we do must come from the holiness of our lives. We do not need to judge at all even if our personal holiness is beyond question.

The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. 2 For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. 3 Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? 5 You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”

think: When we judge others, it is likely that we are guilty of the same sin.

Thank You Lord for: __________________

AN UNPLEASANT BUT BADLY NEEDED TEACHING

Chapter 7 of the Gospel according to Matthew is the last installment on the Sermon on the Mount. We read it today, just as we begin a new week. Thank God for this special grace!

       But Jesus’ message today is by no means pleasant. It is His direct injunction against judging one another. And yet the irony of it is that, while we disdain being judged and criticized negatively (passive judgment, when we are on the receiving end of the judgment), we also give in too easily in judging others (active judgment, when we are the ones judging).

       How easy it is to point a finger and put the blame, for example, on our parents, society at large, or the government. How hard it is, on the other hand, to point a finger to our very own selves, own up our faults and take responsibility for them. The funny thing is that for every finger we point towards others, there are at least three other fingers pointing back to ourselves.

       And so, Jesus does have a point, even with His unpleasant teachings today. We do need to wake up and be provoked. And we thank Him for doing that to us today! Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Are you more prone to judge others or are you most often on the receiving end of judgment? How do you handle both?

Heal me, Lord, from my tendency to be quick in judging others. Remind me always that what I dislike most in others is the same thing that I unconsciously do not like in myself. Amen.