When my youngest daughter was born, she spent a significant amount of time in the neonatal ICU. I visited the hospital twice a day to bring her breastmilk from my wife. It was a challenging period for us as a family.

While that was happening, my wife also experienced postpartum preeclampsia, and my eldest son had no one to care for him.

It was the first time I was compelled to pray desperate prayers and plead with God for healing and miracles. I had no control over anything. I had to trust Jesus completely.

Eventually, the members of my family were healed. 

Through that ordeal, my faith has grown in Jesus as my Healer. 

Truly, He cares for my family even more than I do.

JPaul Hernandez (jpaulmh@yahoo.com)

reflect

How desperate are you to receive God’s healing and miracles?

Jesus, I need Your help. Can You heal me? Amen.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerick, pray for us.

Obedience to the Word brings God's glory to the people of Israel. His glory will also stay with us if we follow His will for our lives. God’s glory is manifested through the lives of His obedient people. An aura of holiness and grace accompanies us throughout our lives when we live in obedience to God.

¹ The elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the children of Israel, came to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David, which is Zion. ² All the people of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month). ³ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark; ⁴ they carried the ark of the Lord and the meeting tent with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. (The priests and Levites carried them.) ⁵ King Solomon and the entire community of Israel present for the occasion sacrificed before the ark sheep and oxen too many to number or count. ⁶ The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the holy of holies of the temple. ⁷ The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel at their departure from the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord ¹¹ so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the Lord’s glory had filled the temple of the Lord. ¹² Then Solomon said, “The Lord intends to dwell in the dark cloud; ¹³ I have truly built you a princely house, a dwelling where you may abide forever.”

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 132:6-7, 8-10

R: Lord, go up to the place of your rest!

⁶ Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. ⁷ Let us enter into his dwelling, let us worship at his footstool. (R) ⁸ Advance, O Lord, to your resting place, you and the ark of your majesty. ⁹ May your priests be clothed with justice; let your faithful ones shout merrily for joy. ¹⁰ For the sake of David your servant, reject not the plea of your anointed. (R)

Gospel | Mark 6:53-56

God is always present for His people. If we feel He is far from us, it’s because we have moved away from Him—not the other way around. God’s healing power is always available to His faithful people. Let us receive His gift of healing by crying out to Him in faith to heal the sick and restore our broken land.

Gospel Acclamation

Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease among the people.

⁵³ After making the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. ⁵⁴ As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. ⁵⁵ They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.

Read the Bible in one year! Read 2 CORINTHIANS 9 - 13 today.

The Struggle to Remain Lit and Salty

Ancient wisdom suggests that when we face God, He will ask two questions: First, did you find joy in your life—the “salt of the earth”? Without joy, we may spread negativity, and in that case, we might be asked to leave. Second, was your life a joy for others—the “light for others to see”? Joy is not something we create for ourselves; we bring joy to others, and in doing so, we find joy within ourselves.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to be both salt and light for others. Salt preserves and enhances life, while light promotes and illuminates it. Salt enhances flavor, preserves food, and symbolizes wisdom, covenant, and solidarity. Light, the first act of creation, leads us from darkness to salvation. Though darkness and light contrast, both reflect God’s will, which will be fully revealed in His time.

Salt works best when it dissolves, blending in to enhance the flavor of life. Light shines outward, illuminating others rather than drawing attention to itself. Both salt and light serve others; we don’t praise the salt when we eat, but the food it enhances. Likewise, we don’t compliment the light when we sleep; we simply live illuminated by it. This calls us to be salt and light for others, serving without seeking recognition.

Yet, we must remember that we are not always salty or lit. To embody salt and light is a daily mission that requires self-emptying and continual renewal. Our Christian lives are works in progress—a mixture of grace and sin, light and darkness, virtue and vice. 

Discipleship has its seasons. At times, we feel strong; at other times, we grow weary. We are not “bad” people; we simply get tired. We don’t give up. The greatest temptation is to grow bland and dim; if we yield to that, the only one who will be happy is the devil. This is the temptation we must resist. 

Fr. Paolo Asprer, SSP

reflection question

How are you being salt and light to others?

Lord, grant us the grace to be the salt that seasons life with love and the light that guides others to Your truth. In moments of weariness, renew our hearts, filling us with Your joy and hope. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _____________________________