I grew up under the care of my grandma and aunts. Lola told me I should eat whatever food was served to me, while my aunt told me to always obey my elders.

Now in my 30s, I still eat whatever is handed to me, even if I don’t like it. Then I learned about the “good child syndrome,” a behavior where kids try to be exceptionally good to please their guardians, even to the point of faking it and not expressing their real feelings. That gave a label to what I was experiencing. I expected myself to never make mistakes, never sin, and never disappoint anyone. Doing it with my own strength and merit was impossible and totally tiring.

Thankfully, the moment I encountered my own brokenness and reached the end of my own goodness was also the time when I encountered the Divine Mercy and unconditional love of Christ. Now, I continue to strive to be good, no longer to please everyone, but to honor the God who died on the cross and sent me the Holy Spirit! 

Gretchen Veran (gretchen@getsmarterandbetter.com)

reflect

“O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” (from the Exsultet)

St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop, pray for us.

Saint Paul had a realistic and honest view of his weaknesses. He had no illusions about his goodness but saw his true poverty of spirit and total need for God’s mercy in his life. Most of us think that we are good. It is only when the Spirit reveals to us the true depths of evil in our hearts and how far we are from the perfection and purity of God that we can see our true need for His grace.

¹⁸ Brothers and sisters: I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ²¹ So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. ²² For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, ²³ but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 119:66, 68, 76, 77, 93, 94

R: Lord, teach me your statutes.

⁶⁶ Teach me wisdom and knowledge, for in your commands I trust. (R) ⁶⁸ You are good and bountiful; teach me your statutes. (R) ⁷⁶ Let your kindness comfort me according to your promise to your servants. (R) ⁷⁷ Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. (R) ⁹³ Never will I forget your precepts, for through them you give me life. (R) ⁹⁴ I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts. (R)  

Gospel | Luke 12:54-59

Jesus pointed out to the crowd their spiritual blindness. If only they were as adept at seeing the true signs of God’s Kingdom as they were at predicting the weather, they wouldn’t miss out on the wonderful graces and blessings that God wished to bestow on them. May our hearts be sensitive to the movements of the Holy Spirit, so we can receive all that God wants to give us.  

Gospel Acclamation 

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.

⁵⁴ Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain—and so it does; ⁵⁵ and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot—and so it is. ⁵⁶ You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time? ⁵⁷ “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸ If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”

Reflect:

What signs of God’s Kingdom do you see today? 

How do you recognize these signs?

Read the Bible in one year! Read MALACHI 1 - 3 today.

Today’s short Gospel passage ties up with yesterday’s and continues on with what I would call 3D: Discern, Decide, and Do.

One of the many features in the so-called “media ecology” of our times is that the media itself has shaped the messengers in a foundational way. The presence of the medium itself alters individual consciousness, social structures, or cultural habits and sensibilities. Take that from Gordon David.

The Gospel passage refers to weathermen who are confident in claiming that a storm is brewing or that the heat wave to come will be terrible. One should hand it over to them. They are good at reading the signs of the times, and they are not necessarily mistaken.

But the Lord raises the level of discussion and takes them from shallow awareness to a higher form of consciousness, from being merely discriminating to being truly discerning, from the human capacity to be predictive to being spiritually proactive.

And here is where the difficulty lies—the new media has fundamentally changed both the messengers and the recipients of the message. The current state of media ecology does not help the 3Ds I referred to above.  

Discernment is compromised by the culture of fake news and false narratives; decisions become invalid, based as they are on cognitive distortions and lies. A steady barrage of marketing ploys wear away at people’s capacity for choice, and the so-called herd mentality or groupthink invalidates our individual and communal decisions. Division is the end result, including factionalisms on the domestic front—father against son, mother against daughter, etc.

We need the Word of God to lead us more than ever to help us discern, decide, and most importantly, do accordingly. 

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

reflection question

How much importance do you give the Word of God when you make decisions in your life? 

Intensify in me, Lord, a love for Your Word. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ______________________________________