It’s so easy to get insecure and even depressed in today’s social media era. All we see are travel photos, expensive apparel, delicious food, and other beautiful things that many of us can only dream of.

However, I am thankful that some online celebrities are also bold enough to declare that not all these posts are true. Many of them are even paid and scripted.

So, for the sake of my mental health and self-confidence, I decided to filter the online influencers I follow. I now follow more women who talk about body acceptance and those who share about affordable self-care because they have to stick to a budget. I like women who talk about the real struggles of entrepreneurship, those who share their vulnerabilities and show the realities of life.

By following them, I learn new ways to love and accept my imperfections instead of questioning why I don’t have a glamorous life. Tintin Taton (kristinetaton@gmail.com)

reflect

Who do you follow on social media? Do they help you celebrate your life or do they make you feel insecure?

Lord Jesus, teach us to focus on what we have and not on what we don’t have. Amen.

St. Guy, pray for us.

Paul was like an anxious father of the communities he established in Greece and Asia Minor. He who begins the work always has a special place in the heart of the people. However, there comes a time when community founders have to let go and allow others to take up the leadership.

¹⁸ Brothers and sisters: Since many boast according to the flesh, I, too, will boast. ²¹ To my shame I say that we were too weak! But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare. ²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they children of Israel? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person.) I am still more, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death. ²⁴ Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fasting, through cold and exposure. ²⁸ And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant? ³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

R: From all their distress God rescues the just.

² I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall be ever in my mouth. ³ Let my soul glory in the Lord; the lowly will hear me and be glad. (R) ⁴ Glorify the Lord with me, let us together extol his name. ⁵ I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. (R) ⁶ Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. ⁷ When the poor one called out, the Lord heard, and from all his distress he saved him. (R)

Gospel | Matthew 6:19-23

Jesus reminds us that there are essential things worth our time and effort. Let us discern what are and are not important so we do not waste our time doing things that have no lasting value. One of the tragedies of the spiritual life is when good men and women do tasks that do not help build God’s Kingdom. Do they do the good that God wants them to do? Beware of Satan who distracts the faithful from their true mission.

Gospel Acclamation

Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

¹⁹ Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. ²² “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read 2 KINGS 7 - 9 today.

Perhaps many of us felt good imitating Saint Paul in bragging about our efforts and sacrifices for Jesus. But the problem with us is we focus too much on our negative side than the positive. St. Teresa of Avila said that “humility is walking in truth,” meaning, we just have to accept our good characteristics in order to acknowledge the talents God has given us.

Today’s First Reading and Gospel tell us something different from the bragging rights of the world. It is foolish, as Saint Paul claims, “Brothers and sisters: since many boast according to the flesh, I, too, will boast. To my shame I say that we were too weak! But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Corinthians 11:18, 21, 30).

What sets us apart are the wounds and hurts we bear for the love for Jesus and others. We are the same in everything—talents and intelligence, even beauty and strength, wealth and other things. But one’s greatness can truly be found in one’s weakness as the world sees it—in taking all the beatings of this life, in being patient, in being forgiving, understanding, and persevering.

Many people talk about their achievements. But those who truly love and serve Jesus, those who follow Him as Christians, boast only of their weaknesses. Jesus can only dwell in our weaknesses because it is only through them that we can truly be like Him and have Him as our only treasure in this life.

When the coronavirus pandemic swept the world last year, worst hit were the most powerful and richest nations whose material resources were almost wiped out by the virus. Many of us were blinded by the world, such that when COVID-19 struck, we realized in an instant that our true home is in heaven with God, not on this earth that passes away. How funny, too, that due to the pandemic, we rediscovered the value of every person, especially those we took for granted but who continued to serve us. Fr. Nick Lalog

reflection questions

What are you so proud of in your life? Why?

Continue to bless us, Lord Jesus, as we try to truly love with sincerity in our hearts, sacrificing for others as well as those who suffer in the name of Your truth and justice. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ___________________________