“The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light...” – Matthew 4:16

       Have you ever experienced praying your deepest, hardest and most desperate prayers but you felt God wasn’t listening?

        I have. I was kidnapped in the hinterlands of Mindanao.

       The abductors tied me and pointed guns at me.

       At almost every waking moment, I prayed. I asked God to save me. I asked for signs. Signs in the wind, the weather, the movements of the leaves on the trees, anything that would make me feel and see that He was with me. I saw and felt no sign.

       I sat in darkness feeling all alone. I recalled how God had been good to me. The memories of His goodness and His promises in the Bible were my light. I embraced my fate and held on to my faith that all things will work for the good of those who love and serve the Lord. If it was my time, I simply surrendered.

       After six days that seemed like six years, I was rescued. It was a miracle. There was no bloodshed, no firefight. And I saw the light again. Even in darkness, I should not fear because His promises endure forever. Carlo Lorenzo (carloflorenzo@yahoo.com)

Reflection:Are you praying desperately for something but you feel that God is silent? How can you keep your faith strong in this situation?

Holy Spirit, grant me the gift of strong faith.

St. Vincent, deacon and martyr, pray for us.

Christians are supposed to be the great light — a light that will help the world to see the truth of the Gospel and the human person. Secular humanism, building on a foundation of rational skepticism, relativize our understanding of the human person to the point where nothing is universal anymore. Everything is left for the individual to decide — the meaning of love, sex, etc. This will lead to chaos and destruction. There will be nothing on which to build society unless there are truths we believe in.

23 First the Lord degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. 9: 1 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. 2 You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils. 3 For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.

R: The Lord is my light and my salvation.

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid? (R) 4 One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple. (R) 13 I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord. (R)

Disunity in the Body of Christ is a scandal. Before we blame others for this problem, let us first look at ourselves and ask how we might be contributing to the problem. Taking responsibility for our own faults is one of the essential tenets of discipleship. Self-understanding goes a long way in building a healthy and wholesome community.

10 I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. 11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you. 12 I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not  with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.

Jesus is a community man. He needs others to help Him in the work of evangelization. Working with others is essential to the successful proclamation of the Gospel. Leaders in the Church today need to take this truth seriously.

Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom and cured every disease among the people.

12 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: 15 Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16 the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. 17 From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 18 As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. 19 He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. 23 He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.

think: Are you spiritually preparing the nets? Leaving the boat? Following Jesus? Feeling left behind?

Read the Bible in one year  Luke 4-6

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

WHAT TIME IS IT?

Whenever the Chicago Bulls team of the Michael Jordan era went to court, the players huddle together and Jordan usually shouts, “What time is it?” The team shouts back, “Game time hoops!” They psyche one another to a serious game of hard basketball. In one huddle caught on video, Jordan shouted, “What time is it?” Someone quickly shouted back, “8:30!” Everybody laughed.

      “8:30.” This is what philosophers call chronos time: a linear, quantitative reckoning of the seconds, minutes and hours. When someone asks us, “What time is it?” we look at our watch and give a numerical measure of the time.

       When the Bible speaks of time, it is usually in the sense of kairos time: the qualitative indwelling of God, the in-breaking of God in history. This is why Jesus speaks of a “time of fulfillment.” In His person, everything that has been written and spoken of in the law and the prophets have come to fulfillment. God’s entrance into human history has radically transformed our dry, qualitatively deprived experience of chronos time and has aligned it to a perfection in the exciting, rich and fulfilling experience of kairos time: the domain of the Divine.

       Why did Simon and Andrew in today’s Gospel immediately leave their nets to become disciples? Why did James and John leave their father Zebedee to follow Jesus? When kairos time beckons, you don’t dilly-dally. When the God of kairos summons, everything else is second place.

       The call of Jesus today is not simply a call to do something; it is a call to be something: to be holy, to be friends with God. Belonging in the Kingdom is not a matter of doing. It is a matter of being.

     Today’s Gospel is truly good news because Jesus announces His offer of kairos time. May that offer be yours — and mine as well. Fr. Joel Jason

---------- REFLECTION QUESTION ----------

Are you living a life in friendship with God? If not, you must be dragging your feet through life, fighting through the dry, boring ticking of the chronos clock endlessly wondering, “Is it done yet?” When you live a life in friendship with God, you’ll fly through life. Yours will be a life of significance and you won’t even notice the passing of time.

Before Your invitation to the “time of fulfillment,” may I not delay, O Lord. Amen.