For many years, my family was privileged to present at a weekend retreat called The Family Encounter. We would travel to far-off places to share in front of other families, witnessing to how God brought healing in our family. This was meant to inspire attendees to reflect on their own hurts within their family, open up, forgive, and ask forgiveness.

The retreat culminates with each family having a “grand dialogue” and one-to-one dialogues among themselves. This is followed by a healing session where they stand in a circle and make the sign of the cross on each other’s foreheads while saying, “I love you. I forgive you. Please forgive me.” Years worth of bitterness and resentment melt away as they embrace one another in tears. It’s such an amazing sight to behold. I wish every person I know could attend that retreat to experience it.

Not everyone gets to have that kind of a retreat with their family—but that’s not the only way God heals relationships. The retreat may never come, but His same grace is available right now. Someone just has to make the first move. Will that someone be you? George Tolentino Gabriel (georgetgabriel@gmail.com)

Reflect:

Forgiving someone doesn’t make the wrong action right. It just means that person is more important than holding on to the hurt.

Lord, give me the grace of humility, openness, and initiative.

St. John of the Cross, priest and Doctor of the Church, pray for us.

The writer of the Book of Ecclesiasticus rejoices at the wonders that Elijah performed in his ministry. How well do we know the saints, the heroes and heroines of our faith? Have we read about their lives? We need inspiration and encouragement in our faith walk. One of the best ways is to get to know the saints.

¹ In those days, like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace. ² Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal he reduced them to straits; ³ By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire. ⁴ How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Whose glory is equal to yours? ⁹ You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses. ¹⁰ You are destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the Lord, to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob. ¹¹ Blessed is he who shall have seen you and who falls asleep in your friendship. 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 80:2, 3, 15-16, 18-19

R: Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

² O shepherd of Israel, hearken, O guide of the flock of Joseph! From your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth. 3 Rouse your power. (R) ¹⁵ Once again, O Lord of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; take care of this vine, ¹⁶ and protect what your right hand has planted, the son of man whom you yourself made strong. (R) ¹⁸ May your help be with the man of your right hand, with the son of man whom you yourself made strong. ¹⁹ Then we will no more withdraw from you; give us new life, and we will call upon your name. (R) 

Gospel | Matthew 17:9, 10-13

John the Baptist and Elijah were both called to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. Elijah, the first of the great prophets, and John, the last and greatest of all—what better preparation could Jesus ask for? Let us be diligent in preparing our hearts for the coming of Jesus this Christmas. 

Gospel Acclamation

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths: All flesh shall see the salvation of God. 

⁹ As they were coming down from the mountain, ¹⁰ the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹¹ He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; ¹² but I tell you that Elijahhas already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. 

Read the Bible in one year! Read PHILEMON today.

Would you like to be the one to break the bad news?  No one wants to be in this position. Both the passages from the Book of Sirach and Matthew’s Gospel talk about the Prophet Elijah and his difficult role of calling Israel to task concerning their relationship with God. The prophet’s vocation dared him to speak the truth of Israel’s infidelity to God in order to reform their lives and to forge a more fitting relationship with Him. The passage from Sirach describes him as having been “designated in the prophecies of doom to allay God’s wrath before the fury breaks.” 

As this was the case, Jesus in the Gospel passage declared a truth about the prophets and this is deemed shared by all prophets even up to this day. The prophets do invite an outright resistance from many because what comes out of their lips simply have the power to disrupt the status quo, the present run of things, or what is thought to be normal, acceptable, and OK at the moment. 

Similarly, there are persons who confront us with the truth that we often want to ignore. We avoid them as much as we can, simply because they can be a nuisance at times. And yet, deep in our hearts, we know they have the messages that we need for our growth and direction. In more ways, the people we often ignore because of the nagging truth that they have for us are the bearers of truth in disguise—the same truth that is supposed to lead us to the path of goodness, of virtue, of value. 

We have been blessed with so many prophets in this life. Some we do not immediately appreciate; some even have the words that we need to hear. These are words of truth that may hurt us and bring us to an awareness of our shortcomings, our pride, our selfish tendencies. These are grounding words of truth that will sustain us in our faltering commitment to our faith. Fr. Rick Montañez, AA

reflection question

Are you open to listen to the nagging prophets in your life? 

I pray for the grace to welcome Your instruments of truth and of righteousness in our midst, Lord God. Amen.

Today, I pray for: __________________________________