Daily Bible Reflections
for March 24, 2017
;

Dear Friend,

Offer your hardships and trials to the Lord this Friday.

Praying for you,

Bo Sanchez



24
March
Friday
TODAY'S READINGS:

DIDACHE | COMPANION | SABBATH
DIDACHE

 

WHAT LOVE IS
 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Mark 12:30-31

 

       How can I love God and others with all my heart, soul, mind and strength when I feel so weak in every area of my life?

       I had been asking that question for the nth time during the week. I was sick. I was alone. I was hurt. I felt rejected by the people I love the most. My prayer life was wobbly, too. How do I love in this condition?

       As I delved into self-pity, I heard God speak. “Maymay, allow Me to love you. Just let Me love you.” “What, Lord? Didn’t You hear me?” I said.

       Then one realization hit me: Loving God and my neighbor with all my heart, soul, mind and strength is a call for me to love even if my heart, soul, mind and strength fail. To love with my everything is to love even if I have nothing to give. Sometimes, the best way we can love others is to just receive their love.

      So I opened my heart to God and let Him in. Ah! Finally, joy and peace. It’s all I need. This is love. Maymay R. Salvosa (christiane.

 

Reflection:Take a pause and be in prayerful silence. Let God love you as you are, where you are.

 

I surrender to Your love, O God. I come to You with all my pains, my weaknesses and shortcomings. Embrace me as You will. Amen.

 

St. Catherine of Genoa, pray for us.

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COMPANION

1ST READING
 

The prophet Hosea marks a change in the understanding of how God relates to His people. For Hosea, God is a God of love who seduces us in order to pour out the blessings of salvation upon us. This is very different from the understanding of God as judge or Supreme Being who stands apart from His people. God wants to be in a loving relationship with us.

 
Hosea 14:2-10

2 Thus says the Lord: Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. 3 Take with you words, and return to the Lord. Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls. 4 Assyria will not save us, nor shall we have horses to mount. We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’ to the work of our hands for in you the orphan finds compassion.” 5 I will heal their defection, says the Lord, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. 6 I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like the lily; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar 7 and put forth his shoots. His splendor shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar. 8 Again they shall dwell in his shade and raise grain. They shall blossom like the vine, and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. 9 Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will prosper him. I am like a verdant cypress tree. Because of me you bear fruit! 10 Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the Lord, in them the just walk, but sinners  stumble in them.

 
P S A L M
 
Psalm 81:6-8, 8-9, 10-11, 14, 17

R: I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

5 [6] An unfamiliar speech I hear: 6 [7] “I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket. 7 [8] In distress you called, and I rescued you.” (R) “Unseen, I answered you in thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. 8 [9] Hear, my people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, will you not hear me? (R) 9 [10] “There shall be no strange god among you nor shall you worship any alien god. 10 [11] I, the Lord, am your God who led you forth from the land of Egypt.” (R) 13 [14] “If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, 16 [17] I would feed with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would fill them.” (R)

 
GOSPEL
 

Jesus affirms that our relationship with God is all about love, not laws. It is love that empowers us to overcome our selfishness and follow the law. The love of God enables us to relate with others in the way God lovingly relates with us.

 
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Repent, says the Lord; the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

 
Mark 12:28-34

28 One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” 29 Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he. 33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

 

think: The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Have you loved others enough?

 
 
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Read the Bible in one year Genesis 31-33

 

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

 

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

 

    

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SABBATH

LOVE: AT THE HEART

OF OUR PERFECTION

 

The scribes and Pharisees debated much as to which is the most important of the commandments. It is but human to know what is first and what is second — to be able to put things in order. We are often attracted to the promise made by this or that guru about the one secret that will make us happy, healthy or successful in business. So, human curiosity is attracted to know what the first commandment is, what we must do above all. And so Jesus lays out, plain and simple, how we must live our lives: by loving God with everything we are and loving our neighbor as ourselves. So simple and yet so difficult to do.

       The scribe comments that these laws are greater than any burnt offering or sacrifice. He realizes that a sacrifice or burnt offering without love is empty. It is love for God and neighbor that gives all of our sacrifices, trials, problems and good works their value. Love is at the heart of our perfection, and when we are keeping this greatest of the laws — to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength — then all of the lesser things in life will fall into place.

        No wonder that Jesus congratulates the scribe for his understanding and tells him that he is not far from the Kingdom of God. This scribe’s knowledge was not merely book knowledge, for it is not in simply knowing a certain number of truths necessary to be admitted to the Kingdom of God. Rather it was an intimate knowledge of love — knowing in a practical way how to give one’s heart, soul, mind and strength to God and to one’s fellowmen. One of the enemies of this law of love is our tendency to hide behind some rules to avoid reaching out in love. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

----------- REFLECTION QUESTIONS -----------

Does your life follow the hierarchy of values presented by Jesus? If not, what specifically do you need to do to bring about the proper order?

 

Lord, help me to keep in mind Your commandment of love and to live it with all my strength. I do not want to live my faith with a mere intellectual knowledge of Your commandments; I want to live it with a deep knowledge that bears fruits of true holiness. Amen.

  

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