Many nights, I would lay in bed sobbing.

What did I do wrong? Is it the food I ate? Is it because we’re too stressed? Is it because we didn’t get checked up earlier?

Numerous negative thoughts ran through my head as I stared blankly at yet another negative pregnancy test.

The days dragged into eight long, agonizing years. 

Not to mention some other interventions. Two operations. Hundreds of expensive tests and procedures. Countless prayers. 

The emotional trauma and the looming hopelessness weighed heavy in our hearts.

But one day, light shone.

And He rescued us. 

Dawn came after the night. 

First came Andrea Helene. Then Yohan Gabriel. Our precious children. 

Both are miracles and God’s saving grace. 

Lallaine Gogna (lallygogna@yahoo.com) 

reflect

Make this your proclamation today: God never leaves nor forsakes me. He is my Rescue!

Lord, in the darkest of nights, let me hold on to the hope that I have in You. Amen. 

Saint Boniface, bishop and martyr, pray for us.

Paul tells us about the usefulness of the Scriptures. Let us ask ourselves: Are we committed enough to know and live them out in our daily lives? The Scriptures are one of the wellsprings of revelation in the life of the Church. Do we deepen our knowledge and grow in our faith and understanding of God’s love for us?

¹⁰ You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, ¹¹ persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, persecutions that I endured. Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me. ¹² In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. ¹³ But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. ¹⁴ But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, ¹⁵ and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.  

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168

R: O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.

¹⁵⁷ Though my persecutors and my foes are many, I turn not away from your decrees. (R) 1⁶⁰ Permanence is your word’s chief trait; each of your just ordinances is everlasting. (R) ¹⁶¹ Princes persecute me without cause but my heart stands in awe of your word. (R) ¹⁶⁵ Those who love your law have great peace, and for them there is no stumbling block. (R) ¹⁶⁶ I wait for your salvation, O Lord, and your commands I fulfill. (R) ¹⁶⁸ I keep your precepts and your decrees, for all my ways are before you. (R)  

Gospel | Mark 12:35-37

Jesus recalls the sentiment of Psalm 110 as He describes authority and power according to His understanding. He teaches that power and authority emanate from God, who delegates them to others for the purpose of proclaiming the Good News and ensuring order in society. Abuse of power is cynical and a deep betrayal of the nature of God’s love and mercy.

Gospel Acclamation

Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come him.

³⁵ As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’ 37 David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” The great crowd heard this with delight.

Reflect

What is your definition of authority and power?

How do you use these in your daily life? 

Read the Bible in one year! Read 1 KING  3 - 5 today.

According to the World Health Organization, 33 is the decibel level that is considered healthy. The bad news is, in Southeast Asia, the average is 83. In Metro Manila, it is more like 99.3.

All that noise is not a delight to hear. While Filipinos love to sing, and we love to hear people sing, there is nothing delightful about spending a great part of the night badgered by noise. Noise, by itself, never is and never will be a delight to hear.

Our short Gospel passage today ends with something truly delightful. “The great crowd,” Mark tells us, “heard this with delight.”

But what did they exactly take delight in? Let me explain. A few days before I wrote this reflection, I took part in the oral comprehensive exams at the theological institute where I teach. I have been doing this almost every year for the longest time. The tedious part is in the examination proper, where we, three members of the panel, must listen intently to everyone’s synthesis, followed by a question-and-answer session. That part may be a delight for us examiners, but it may not be so for the student.

The delight comes when everyone has been listened to and questioned by the panelists—when the news that this or that examinee passed satisfactorily or got one of those grades in Latin that contain “laude” (praise). Then the news gives way to noise—the joyful noise of relief! To a teacher’s ears, the noise that follows the good news is always a delight.

The past days’ Gospel passages were all about noise coming from nosy scribes, Pharisees, and Herodians. Jesus was peppered with trap questions. This time, the tables are turned. He did the asking and also the answering. What He said was news, not noise. He explained the meaning of Scripture. And the joyful noise that follows the Good News is always a delight to hear. 

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB 

reflection question

What message from God did you take delight in recently?

May I always take delight in Your Word, Lord. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _______________________________________