The Kerygma Family:DIDACHE | COMPANION | SABBATH Daily Bible Reflections for June 23, 2014 Be God?s blessing to the world this Monday! Praying for you, Bo Sanchez PS. Do you live in the Philippines? Sign up for Bos weekly cellphone message. This is FREE. (That is why you have to live in the Philippines to sign up for this service.) Text: BOSEZ__ and send to any of the following numbers: Globe (09178494444); Sun (09228945555) And youll start receiving Bos inspiring message to encourage you, guide you, and bless your week. 23 June Monday TODAYS READINGS: DIDACHE DIG DEEPER “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” – Matthew 7:2 Part of my work as a magazine editor is to correct errors in grammar, spelling and style. In other words, I look for the “wrong” in order to make it “right.” I keep in mind the metaphor, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and abide by it literally. I need to read every word, sentence and paragraph; check the graphics, photos and other details of the magazine from cover to cover. I realized that there are editing principles I should apply — and others I should avoid — in my relationship with people. When I find something wrong in a person, I should not stop there and be quick to judge. I should dig deeper — get to know the person more —and “read” beyond what my senses perceive. I have learned, for example, that an overly critical person is emotionally and spiritually wounded and her criticisms about others may be a projection of her very own faults. Unfortunately, it’s easy to judge others by appearance and by reputation. I need to learn to see “difficult” people with the compassionate eyes of Jesus. After all, this is the way He looks at me.Dina Pecaña (dpecana@yahoo) Reflection: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) Lord, grant me the grace to remember that the judgment I pass on others is the same one others will pass on me. May I see others through Your loving eyes. St. John Fisher, pray for us. COMPANION 1ST READING The prophets are constantly calling the people to deeper conversion. The cry of the Church today is exactly the same. Humanity is incorrigible. How difficult it is to change from our sinful ways to a life of righteousness, even when we know this is precisely what the Gospel demands of us. Let us do our best to respond to this call today, tomorrow and always. 2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15, 18 5 Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole land and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and deported the Israelites to Assyria, settling them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 7 This came about because the Israelites sinned against the Lord, their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and because they venerated other gods. 8 They followed the rites of the nations whom the Lord had cleared out of the way of the children of Israel and the kings of Israel whom they set up. 13 And though the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer, “Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,” 14 they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who had not believed in the Lord, their God. 15 They rejected his statutes, the covenant which he had made with their fathers, and the warnings which he had given them, 18 till, in his great anger against Israel, the Lord put them away out of his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left. P S A L M Psalm 60:3, 4-5, 12-13 R: Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us. 1 [3] O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses; you have been angry; rally us! (R) 2 [4] You have rocked the country and split it open; repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering. (R) 3 [5] You have made your people feel hardships; you have given us stupefying wine. (R)10 [12] Have not you, O God, rejected us, so that you go not forth, O God, with our armies? 11 [13] Give us aid against the foe, for worthless is the help of men. (R) GOSPEL Judging others is a very dangerous practice. It means that we have to be willing to be judged by the same standards. None of us is perfect. Far better that we seek to improve our own lives rather than spend our time making rash judgments about others. Jesus reminds us that we only have control over our own decisions, so let others decide for their lives as they wish. GOSPEL ACCLAMATION The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. Matthew 7:1-5 1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. 2 For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. 3 Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? 5 You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” think: Far better that we seek to improve our own lives rather than spend our time making rash judgments about others. SABBATH RIGHT JUDGMENT Judgment is a common weakness among many of us. We easily fall into this sin. Judgment can be tricky since there are two kinds that call us to attention. Judgment is a gift of the Holy Spirit — to judge right from wrong is the fruit of good counsel. We are to offer judgment and act wisely in its consequences. The Young Christian Workers is a movement that follows the principle of “see, judge and act.” Members are found in school, parish and work communities and seek to bring Christ to every situation and circumstance. In this case, judgment is good since it calls forth a right action and good work. In this way, the gift of judgment is exercised. However, there is another judgment that is condemnatory and that is what Jesus is referring to in our Gospel today. It is when we criticize or destroy the reputation of another through our false judgment of character. We need to be very careful in the way we act towards others. Oftentimes, the very thing we judge others for is the very thing we try to cover in our life. St. Bernard of Clairvaux teaches us to avoid judgment at all costs. He teaches the way of excusing the other so as not to fall into the sin of judgment. After all, Jesus is the Judge. Who are we to take that role from Him? Are we any better than Him when it comes to judging others? St. Bernard then would tell us to give reason for the other person having acted in a particular way. Perhaps the temptation was hard to resist so he acted in the way that evoked our judgment. Perhaps the person was struggling with his weakness. Often the judgment we make comes from our own perception and we are not willing to listen to the other side of the story. We basically lack compassion. Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to give us the spirit of right judgment that would prompt and inspire us to do well. Fr. Brian Steele, MGL REFLECTION QUESTIONS: In what ways have you judged others? Has this been good or bad? What have been its effects? Lord, give us the spirit of right judgment to discern right from wrong, to avoid evil, and to do good. Amen.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 20:58:29 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015