Daily Reading: True Blessedness - Lk 11:27-28

August 12, 2013

Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar

27^th Saturday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Reading: True Blessedness

Lk 11:27-28

While [Jesus] was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed." He replied, "Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."


My Reflection
I love that in this gospel, Jesus tells us that we can also be blessed, as Mary was blessed. She's blessed not because she's the Mother of Jesus, but because she chose to obey God's word.

How good it is to know that we too can experience the grace of being blessed, just by keeping and living the word of God. We have a lot of ways to hear and know of God's word. We can attend mass, read the bible and join in catholic groups. But it doesn't stop there. We should take these words to heart and follow them. Hearing is not enough. We should listen to God's call and live as He wants us to. This is the path to blessedness, to heaven.

Jesus is Weakest When Your Faith is Strongest.

Like most of us, when people we love ask us of something, we find it hard to say "No". It pains us to turn them away when they need us. In a similar manner, when we ask Jesus earnestly, and with great faith, He give us what is due.

Gospel Reading: Dependence on God - Lk 12:32-48

Dependence on God

Lk 12:32-48

³²Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

³³Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. 

³⁵"Gird your loins and light your lamps 

³⁶and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.

³⁷Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.

³⁸And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.

³⁹Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

⁴⁰You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."

⁴¹Then Peter said, "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?"

⁴²And the Lord replied, "Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time?

⁴³Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.

⁴⁴Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.

⁴⁵But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶then that servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷That servant who knew his master's will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely;

⁴⁸and the servant who was ignorant of his master's will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

Gospel Reading: The Paradox of the Grain of Wheat - Jn 12:24-26

Jn 12:24-26

The Paradox of the Grain of Wheat

²⁴Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

²⁵Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.

²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.

Gospel Reading: The Conditions of Discipleship - Mt 16:24-28

Mt 16:24-28
The Conditions of Discipleship

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

²⁵For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

²⁶What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

²⁷For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.

²⁸Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Gospel Reading: Peter's Confession about Jesus - Mt 16:13-23

Mt 16:13-23

Peter’s Confession about Jesus

¹³When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do the people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.: ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of livingGod.” ¹⁷Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my hevenly Father. ¹⁸And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah.

                ²¹From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed on the third day be raised. ²²Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” ²³He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”