For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23

       I like giveaways and freebies, who doesn’t? These include leaflets and brochures being left at the gate of our house, being given to me while I’m walking along the streets, or even by some strangers in the jeepney or bus. Usually, these materials have catchy titles like “Do you want to be saved?” or Bible verses that pertain to helping solve the problem of everyday life. I’ve noticed that they have a common message though: to receive and accept Jesus as the Lord and one’s Savior.

       I believe that one doesn’t need to die in order to have eternal life. We can have eternal life on earth by seeking God’s forgiveness for our sins and believing that God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay for our sins. We need to firmly believe and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. As stated in 1 John 5:11: “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” Gracious B. Romero (graciousromero@gmail.com)

Reflection: “But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life.” (Romans 6:22)

Father God, I cannot thank You enough for sending Your only Son Jesus Christ to save us. I humbly ask You to forgive my daily sins. I proclaim Your glory, O Lord, as my Savior. Be the Lord of my life. Help me to attain eternal life here on earth. Amen.

St. Peter of Alcantara, pray for us.

The wages of sin is death. If we can imprint this truth in our minds and hearts, we will be more convinced to fight temptations when they come. The greatest threat to our humanity is our sinfulness — something that is uniquely human, with its origin in our choices. Sin threatens our existence through its destructiveness every time we succumb to it.

19 Brothers and sisters: I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature. For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. 21 But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been freed from in and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

R: Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

1 Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, 2 but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. (R) 3 He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers. (R) 4 Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes. (R)

Jesus knows that He will suffer in order to accomplish His Father’s will. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He showed abhorrence for the suffering ahead of Him. Yet, in all His dislike of what is to come, He allowed the Father’s will to be done. How do we respond to suffering as we grow in holiness? Let us have the same single-minded obedience to God, so that we do not fall short of the glory that He offers us.

I consider all things so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

49 Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! 50 There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

think: What is your natural response to suffering — fight or flight?

Read the Bible in one year Isaiah 13-16

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

TESTED BY FIRE

Imagine a man born blind, gaining sight one day through a cornea transplant operation. He would be surely ecstatic, seeing colors for the first time. Imagine the same man the next day, deciding he would rather be blind again. Hard to imagine, right? But there have been reports of blind people going into depression, not being able to handle the “responsibilities” of newfound sight, now that they have gotten so used to seeing the world in the darkness of blindness.

       I remember a movie I saw years ago called the Shawshank Redemption. It is a depiction of prison life and how prisoners cope with a new life of freedom. One prisoner, released after serving a 50-year sentence, ended up killing himself in his hotel room. A life of freedom was too hard for him to bear. He was not used to freedom. He now had to work to pay for food, rent and shelter. In one scene, he was shown actually pining for prison life. In another scene, many of the inmates actually preferred prison life than a life of freedom. They may be isolated in prison, but life is “secured.”

       It’s a tragedy, but people can actually prefer the security of slavery than the challenge of freedom. Didn’t the Israelites of Moses’ time pine to be back in Egypt, the place of their slavery where they were fed with meat instead of manna on the road to their freedom?

       In his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us to be careful of this tendency. The slavery to sin may feel pleasurable and convenient. But then he asks, “What benefits did you then enjoy? Things you are now ashamed of…” (v. 21). Paul continues that the slavery to all sin tends towards death — the death of the soul. “Slavery” to God, on the contrary, tends to life (v. 23).

       But this slavery to God has a price. It is threatening, painful and purifying. This is why Jesus in today’s Gospel speaks of bringing fire on the earth, of bringing not peace but division (Luke 12:49). These are the responsibilities of genuine freedom. Sadly, these are responsibilities that a “cornea recipient” or a “released prisoner” may find intimidating. Fr. Joel Jason

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

What areas of your life are bound by the pleasure of slavery? Are you willing to expose them to the light of Jesus’ fire?

Grant me true freedom, Lord, even as I have to go through the crucible of fire. Amen.