EDSA boasts of six lanes in each direction—a broad highway by normal standards. Yet people jokingly call this 24-kilometer highway the “national parking lot” because of the phenomenal traffic jam there every day. 

As the metro’s main connector of cities from north to south, EDSA is supposedly the ideal route to get to places faster. But that is not the case. The navigation app would sometimes direct the driver to narrow, winding side streets where traffic flows slowly but continuously. The broad highway is not usually the faster route. 

As sinners, we journey on the broad, spacious road with all the worldly attractions. But the Gospel warns that this path leads to destruction. Jesus encourages us to “enter the narrow gate” and take “the constricted road” that only a few people find. The narrow road may seem difficult, but it’s the surest way that leads to Him. Only then do we experience true conversion we need for eternal life. Dina Pecaña (dina.p@shepherdsvoice.com.ph) 

Reflect:

What road are you taking today? Does it lead you toward or away from Jesus? 

Jesus, the world leads me everywhere and I easily get lost. Send Your Holy Spirit to guide me to the narrow road and help me find my way back to You. 

St. Prosper of Aquitaine, pray for us.

Even though Israel is in exile in Assyria, God still remembers His people and will bring them home. Believe that no matter how dire our circumstances may be, God is always with us. This is what is meant by the call to live in faith. If what God did in our lives was obvious, then there is no need for faith. Let us always surrender to His will. 

⁹ Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiah with this message: ¹⁰ “Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. ¹¹ You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all other countries: they doomed them! Will you, then, be saved? ¹⁴ Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then he went up to the temple of the Lord, and spreading it out before him, ¹⁵ he prayed in the Lord’s presence: “O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Incline your ear, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸ and cast their gods into the fire; they destroyed them because they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. ¹⁹ Therefore, O Lord, our God, save us from the power of this man, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lords, are God.” ²⁰ Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, in answer to your prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of Assyria I have listened! ²¹ This is the word the Lord has spoken concerning him: “‘She despises you, laughs you to scorn, the virgin daughter Zion! Behind you she wags her head, daughter Jerusalem. ³¹ “‘For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant, and from Mount Zion, survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.’ ³² “Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast up siege-works against it. ³³ He shall return by the same way he came, without entering the city, says the Lord. ³⁴ I will shield and save this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.’” ³⁵ That night the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. 36 So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp, and went back home to Nineveh. 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 48:2-3, 3-4, 10-11

R: God upholds his city forever. 

² Great is the Lord and wholly to be praised in the city of our God. Hisholy mountain, ³ fairest of heights, is the joy of all the earth. (R) Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,” is the city of the great King. ⁴ God is with her castles; renowned is he as a stronghold. (R) ¹⁰ O God, we ponder your kindness within your temple. ¹¹ As your name, O God, so also your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Of justice your right hand is full. (R) 

Gospel | Matthew 7:6, 12-14

Jesus exhorts us not to waste the blessing of God’s grace. The worst thing we can do is to ignore or walk away from His grace. This is tantamount to an unforgivable sin: asserting one’s independence and denying God's access to our lives. Can we tell God that we do not need Him and that we can achieve salvation our own way? I do not think so. 

Gospel Acclamation

I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life. 

⁶ Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. ¹² “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets. ¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. ¹⁴ How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” 

Read the Bible in one year! Read 2 MACCABEES 11 - 12 today.

“Kung ano ang ‘di mo gusto, h’wag gawin sa iba,” sang the late Filipino singer Rico J. Puno, meaning, “What you do not like, do not do to others.” This is the Golden Rule, familiar to everyone because each culture has a similar teaching. This is one of the many expressions of that universal principle that is also called the Principle of Reciprocity. Many thinkers claim that this is the most culturally universal ethical tenet in human history. 

So many other spiritual or cultural leaders have given their own version of this rule. The Jewish Rabbi Hillel presents it thus: “What is hateful to thee, do not do to another. That is the whole law and all else is explanation.” Philo, the Jewish philosopher said, “What you hate to suffer, do not do to anyone else.” The Greek orator Isocrates put it this way: “What things make you angry when you suffer them at the hands of others, do not you do to other people.” The Stoics also had this among their teachings: “What you do not wish to be done to yourself, do not you do to any other.” Confucius’ version was: “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” 

Common to all of these is the word not. Their form is negative. When all things are considered, even if this rule is essentially the same, we do find something interesting—and precious! The Gospel passage presents the Golden Rule among two other ideas: not profaning what is holy and the narrow gate. It formulates the Golden Rule as follows: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.” Jesus’ command does not consist in not doing things but in doing them. This is the more difficult path, the narrow gate—that which seeks to actively do good. Fr. Joel Camaya, SDB 

Reflection Questions:

How do you treat other people? Do you do to them what you want them to do to you? 

Lord, may I treat others with love and respect the way You treat each one of us. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ______________________________________