It was my first time to be in the ICU. I spent five days there because I was diagnosed with COVID pneumonia. But it was my heart exam where the doctors discovered that I was at risk for a heart attack. I needed critical attention.

It was a difficult experience not so much because I was weak from the sickness. It was the sleepless nights and discomfort of staying in bed for hours and days. In prayer, I offered up this “suffering” as a participation to the suffering that Jesus endured. When I did, I became thankful that during those days, fear or anxiety never crept in my mind.

Aside from praying, I listened to spiritual talks. All these acts of adoration and expressions of love for Him mitigated all possible sources of worries over my sickness, the hospital bills, and even death.

During all those critical days, I was always in touch with my Savior, my ultimate source of security and my safe haven. 

Rolly España (rollyespana53@gmail.com)

reflect

“We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become.” (St. Clare of Assisi)

Jesus, teach me to be like You. Form me into Your character.

St. Andrew the Scot, pray for us.

First Reading | Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14-16, 22 (or Isaiah 9:1-6)

Ruth’s loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi is a beautiful image of a soul that desires to serve God. Ruth desires to worship the God of Naomi, and not the pagan gods of her people. This devotion leads her on a journey of true discipleship. She leaves her own people to join the people of God. God rewards Ruth’s faithfulness by arranging for her a marriage to Boaz, the great-grandfather of King David.

¹ Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah departed with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab. ³ Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons, ⁴ who married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, ⁵ both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband. ⁶ She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her there that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. ¹⁴ Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth stayed with her. ¹⁵ Naomi said, “See now! Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!” ¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! for wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” ²² Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 146:5-6, 6-7, 8-9, 9-10 (or Psalm 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8)

R: Praise the Lord, my soul!

⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord, his God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. (R) The Lord keeps faith forever, ⁷ secures justice for the oppressed, gives good to the hungry. The Lord sets captives free. (R) ⁸ The Lord gives sight to the blind. The Lord raises up those that were bowed down; the Lord loves the just. ⁹ The Lord protects strangers. (R) The fatherless and the widow he sustains, but the way of the wicked he thwarts. ¹⁰ The Lord shall reign forever; your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia. (R)

Gospel | Matthew 22:34-40 (or Luke 1:26-38)

Based on the Ten Commandments, the Pharisees came up with 613 laws that one should keep. So, people tried to simplify this and each rabbi was asked which among the 613 laws was the most important. Jesus simplifies the laws into two and shows that He is the greatest Teacher. According to Jesus, if we fulfill these two commandments, then we have fulfilled the whole law.

Gospel Acclamation

Teach me your paths, my God, guide me in your truth.

³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵ and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, ³⁶ “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷ He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the greatest and the first commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read ISAIAH 29 - 32 today.

‘Do Whatever He Tells You’ 

Once, I was preparing a talk on Mary and I deemed it helpful to solicit the opinion of a friend, now a priest, who had a Protestant upbringing. For someone like him, the Scripture is the only key to understand and appreciate Mary. He 

grew up relating to her more as an inspiration than simply as an intercessor. 

We, Catholics, relate to Our Lady in two ways: as intercessor and as inspiration. As intercessor, we ask Mary to pray for and with us; and as inspiration, we look to her on how we could be a disciple of Jesus. We are challenged to imitate Mary’s virtues, and this is an aspect of our Marian devotion where we are invited to grow some more.

Aside from a few references about Mary in the Bible, Our Lady also utters some of the most spiritually loaded words ever recorded in the Scriptures. At the Annunciation, she speaks with the Angel: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). When she visits Elizabeth, Mary sings the psalm of praise known as the Magnificat (Luke 1:4655). At the wedding at Cana, she tells Jesus that there is no more wine and then instructs the servers, “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5). In this, we see the depth of Mary’s faith in her Son, Jesus. Her words point us to the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Christ—to do what Jesus tells us to do.

It may sound simple and easy an undertaking, but we know it takes a lifetime or even beyond to faithfully live out the teachings of Jesus. Although it may not be easy, Mary shows us the way as she is herself the first disciple of her Son, Jesus.

Fr. Ricky Montañez, AA

reflection question

As we remember the Queenship of our Blessed Mother Mary today, are you directed to imitate Mary’s virtues so as to become a true disciple of her Son, Jesus?

“Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.” 

Today, I pray for: ____________________________________