In 1646, during the five naval battles against Dutch invading forces, the Filipino-Spanish galleon crew prayed before the image of Our Lady of Naval de Manila, and desperately asked her intervention. The crew credited their victories to the Blessed Mother. Two nuns of the Sisters of the Holy Cross who were detained in the Japanese camp in Laguna prayed for liberation while saying the rosary daily. Their prayers were answered as 150 American paratroopers descended from the sky. In 1986, God intervened with the  bloodless EDSA revolution. Faced by armed soldiers, military tanks, and a looming air strike, lay and religious took to the streets and fought for freedom arm-to-arm in prayer. 

But today, our beloved country remains to be Third World. Still, throughout our history and beyond, “our God is near us whenever we pray to Him.” 

That makes the Philippines FWF: First World in faith. 

Dina Pecaña (dina.p@shepherdsvoice.com.ph)

reflect

What is the most challenging and difficult time in your life now? Entrust your concerns to God and patiently wait for His answer.

While in this world, Your faithful continue to struggle, Lord. Remain with us. Have mercy on Your people who strive to do Your will despite the trials and tribulations. By our obedience and Your grace, set us free.

Saint Aengus, pray for us.

Memory is an important faculty for human beings, both in daily life and in religion. Moses reminds the people that they must remember all the mighty deeds the Lord has done for them. Why? The answer is simple: If we remember all that God has done for us and keep it in our consciousness, we will remain aware that our faith demands a grateful response to His goodness. 

¹ Moses spoke to the people and said: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ⁵ Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the Lord, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy. ⁶ Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’ ⁷ For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? ⁸ Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today? ⁹ “However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20

R: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

¹² Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. ¹³ For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. (R) ¹⁵ He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs his word! ¹⁶ He spreads snow like wool; frost he strews like ashes. (R) ¹⁹ He has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.  ²⁰ He has not done thus for any other nation; his ordinances he has not made known to them. (R)

Gospel | Matthew 5:17-19

Jesus is neither an anarchist nor bent on destroying anything except sin. He challenges the Jewish interpretation of the Law and provides an alternative understanding of it that is based on compassion and love. But He does not abolish the Law. Jesus wants the people to prioritize God’s love and mercy, and do away with the practice of placing the Law above the person. The Law exists to serve us, not rule us.

Gospel Acclamation

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.

¹⁷ Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. ¹⁸ Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. ¹⁹ Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

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

In our Gospel today, Jesus tells us, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” He is not erasing the Old Testament or throwing it away. He is bringing it to its fullness—revealing what was always at the heart of God’s covenant of love, even when people could only grasp it imperfectly.

God, from the very beginning, was meeting a people still learning to trust. A people formed in a world where violence and cruelty were normal ways of survival. A people whose hearts were often hardened by fear and sin. And so God worked patiently, using the tools they could understand—laws, commands, covenants—to begin to shape something new. He planted seeds of justice, mercy, and holiness into a soil that was often dry and resistant.

In the First Reading from Deuteronomy, Moses tells the people to observe God’s commandments carefully—not as burdens, but as wisdom. He urges them to remember that God’s nearness, His attention to them, is a gift not given to other nations.

In Jesus, the Word becomes flesh. He does not cancel the old covenants. He fulfills them. He shows us that behind every commandment was the beating heart of mercy. Behind every law was the invitation to love. The tenderness we see in Christ—His patience with sinners, His welcome of outcasts, His healing touch—is not a new invention. It is the fullness of what God has always been offering, now made visible in a way that even our hardened hearts cannot miss. God has always been mercy. But sometimes our eyes need time to adjust to the full brightness of His love.

Today, we are invited to trust that even the difficult parts of our story can be understood more deeply when we stay close to Christ. He is the fulfillment, the light, the living proof that love has always been the plan. Fr.

Albert Garong, SSP

reflection question

Where in your life is God inviting you to move from fear into deeper trust in His mercy?

Lord, help me to trust in Your unchanging love and to see Your mercy even when I do not yet fully understand it. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _________________________