“Thank you. Love you.”  These were the words my 78-year-old papa would say whenever I’d tuck him in bed at night. He’s been battling Parkinson’s disease since the pandemic and gradually lost his flexibility and control, along with delayed neural response and sensory difficulties. He needs caregivers to help him daily—a journey filled with ups and downs, especially now that Mama is already gone. 

But despite the seeming heavy situation, Papa is nonchalant. Perhaps due to his condition. But he keeps a cool, pleasant demeanor in the midst of his difficulties.  I wouldn’t know what would have happened to us if it weren’t for Papa’s love, patience, and godly character. He diligently followed up on agreed activities and responsibilities, even payment dues, etc. He’d be the first to offer food to others when given something to eat. He never lashed out or spoke  badly about anyone. My dad is a saint.

I pray to grow more into the kind of person my papa is. We are all called to love maturely as God’s adult children. May we all “grow up” into Him. 

Jonathan Yogawin (coachj@jyogawin.com)

reflect

Is your love mature? What “childish things” do you need to put away? 

Father, teach me to grow up into the adult child You call me to be. 

Saints Cornelius, pope, and Cyprian, bishop, martyrs, pray for us.

It is good to reflect on today’s reading as it tells us about the nature and dynamic of love. Take each aspect and reflect on it one day at a time. Start the day by reading the whole text, focus on one aspect of love, and make that the theme for the whole day.

³¹ Brothers and sisters: Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way. ^13:1 If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. ² And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, ⁵ it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, ⁶ it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. ⁹ For we know partially and we prophesy partially, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. ¹² At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. ¹³ So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 33:2-3, 4-5, 12, 22

R: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

² Give thanks to the Lord on the harp; with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises. ³ Sing to him a new song; pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness. (R) 4 For upright is the word of the Lord, and all his works are trustworthy. ⁵ He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full. (R) ¹² Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance. ²² May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us who have put our hope in you. (R)

Gospel | Luke 7:31-35

We cannot have it both ways—either we accept the challenges and embrace the Christian way of life or we do not. We cannot expect the benefits of a Christian life without paying the price of living it. Today, we often hear people talk about being ‘entitled’ to this or that benefit of the state. There can be no benefits without corresponding duties.

Gospel Acclamation

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

³¹ Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? ³² They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’ ³³ For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ ³⁵ But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Reflect

What are the benefits you receive from being a disciple of Jesus? How do you share these benefits with others?

Read the Bible in one year! Read PSALMS 111 - 115 today.

A nun was in a disagreement with three priests over a doctrinal matter. No matter how the nun explained her point, the priests always had a counterargument. Exasperated, the nun prayed to heaven, “Lord, please help me convince these priests of Yours.” All of a sudden, the heavens opened and a voice was heard, “Sister is right!”

“So, do you believe now?” the nun asked. At which a priest quickly countered, “Oh no, it’s still three of us against the two.”

We are wont to think that belief is a matter of convincing and foolproof intellectual discourse. We think that the locus of belief is the mind and senses. After all, we say, to see is to believe. But no. Even if a voice from heaven testifies to the truth, a disbelieving heart will not be moved. Belief is a matter of the will, of the heart. That is why we speak of the so-called “will to disbelieve.” It is a state of the will and the heart that insists on its own shallow opinions and persists in its error.

In the Old Testament, Moses called the stubborn Israelites as a “stiff-necked people.” In the New Testament, Jesus called this attitude “hardness of heart” (see Matthew 19:8). When you have stiff neck, you’re cursed to having a tunnel vision. Stiff-necked people, on the other hand, confuse the “right to an opinion” with a “right opinion.”

In today’s Gospel, we can feel a sense of exasperation from the lips of Jesus: “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’” (vv. 33-34). No sign is sufficient for a heart that wills to disbelieve. For a heart that believes, a sign will come in handy, but it is only secondary. 

Fr. Joel O. Jason

reflection questions

Has your heart been hardened? Has your neck been stiffened? 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ________________________________