TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN OT (YEAR C)
First Reading: Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:2, 3, 4, 18
Second Reading: Hebrew 12:1-4
Gospel Reading: Luke 12:49-53
Reflection: In today’s Responsorial Psalm we responded, “Lord, come to my aid.” To whom should I go to when I am unfairly treated? Don’t we find ourselves victims or victimized by others even though we have not done any wrong to them? What wrong had prophet Jeremiah done (as we find in today’s first reading) to his people to deserve being thrown into the cistern and die by hunger and thirsty? Was he not doing the work of God as a prophet of God to his own people? Was he not reminding them of their own salvation to abandon sin and embrace holiness? To whom should Jeremiah cry to for this mistreatment from his own people? Many righteous people find themselves in such situations. Are we not experiencing parents who are groaning about their children who have left the ways of the Lord even after they had done all the best they could to raise them in the faith? What about the couple who experience the unfaithfulness in their marriage life? What about employees who are fired from their work simply because they have unveiled the evils in their workplace? What about the person whose car is damaged by the hit and run driver? During all these challenging situations, the psalmist (in today’s Responsorial Psalm) invites us to raise our eyes and souls to God as we pray, “Lord, come to my aid.” In all these circumstances, we need God’s help. He is the Lord of all powers and knowledge. He is the Lord of all salvation. It is the Lord himself who sent Ebed-melech, a court official to rescue Jeremiah from the cistern when he went to the king and told him, “My lord king, these men have been at fault in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah, casting him into the cistern.” It is through this intervention of this “angel” of God that Jeremiah is pulled out of the cistern. Our faithfulness to God will not exempt us from worldly trials, persecutions or afflictions. Indeed, we will suffer because of our faithfulness to the Lord but we will not perish. In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus clearly tells his disciples, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.” He continues saying, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Walking in the ways of God will bring us into conflict with the world systems which espouses darkness rather than light and cherishes sin than holiness. As we journey in the paths of holiness, the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews writes, “let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.” In all our trials and challenges, let’s pray, “Lord, come to my aid.” Yes! Amen! Fr. Severine.

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TWENTYFIRST SUNDAY IN OT (YEAR C)
First Reading: Isaiah 66:18-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 117:1, 2
Second Reading: Hebrew 12:5-7, 11-13
Gospel Reading: Luke 12:22-30
Reflection: In today’s Responsorial Psalm we responded, “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.” This is the core vocation as baptized people in Christ. We are called to study and learn and know the Good News and proclaim it from where we are to the ends of the earth. Jesus never contained the work of evangelization to himself or only to his first disciples. From the very beginning he commanded his disciples to take the task of evangelization of the faith into their hands. He sent out the Twelve, the Seventy-Two and many individuals to be proclaimers of the Good News and makers of the new disciples. In today’s Gospel Reading Jesus responds to question posed by one of his followers, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” To respond to this question, Jesus told him, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” As we continue reading this passage, Jesus tells us how the Lord of the house will reject opening the door to some who think they belong to him. The Lord will respond to them, “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!” Yes, there are many of us who have heard the Gospel, received all the Sacraments, attended Catholic school systems but we have estranged ourselves with the Church and with Christ. Two thousand years plus have passed since the birth of the Church but we have thousands of people who have not yet heard the Gospel or they have poorly been evangelized and now they live in the darkness. They vaguely know about the First coming of Christ or about his Second coming in Glory. God is sending us today to bring his message to all the nations. In today’s First Reading, Isaiah the prophet is presenting God’s plan of salvation as he writes, “I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory…They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the LORD.” God’s plan of salvation is universal by its very nature  s it is geared to reach people of all nations, times, and places so that they may know, love and serve him so that they may receive the gift of salvation. This plan needs to be known and the message of salvation always be proclaimed. Who is to do this plan? This work is entrusted to each one of us since we are extension of God’s hands and feet and mouths as we listen to his commission, “Go out to all he world and tell the Good News.” Yes! Amen! Fr. Severine.

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TWENTYSECOND SUNDAY IN OT (YEAR C)
First Reading: Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 22-29
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11
Second Reading: Hebrew 12:18,19,22-24a
Gospel Reading: Luke 14:1,7-14
Reflection: In today’s Responsorial Psalm we responded, “God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.” Many people or most of us may not be happy with positions we find ourselves in life. We criticize them. We dislike them and we think that other people’s positions are better than ours. With this perception, we nurture envy in our hearts which will have negative impacts to other people and ourselves. These feelings lead us to failing to appreciate what God has lovingly given to us and thus be grateful. We may cry to God and even judge God as unfair. In today’s Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist is inviting us to have richer perspective in life as he invites us to recognize the values of our positions even those which in human eyes and standards seem insignificant. In God’s eyes, everyone counts even those who live in the margins of our societies. Yes the psalmist sings in his prayer “God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.” In today’s First Reading, God calls us to conduct our affairs with humility. He wants us to humble ourselves in our daily life. Maybe some of us think that humbling ourselves is to lower, dislike or reject ourselves. This is not the case. A person who humbles herself is a person who takes and honors her/his true position in life. It is a person who is joyful with the position he/she has received from God without elevating or lowering him/herself unnecessarily. May be I need to ask myself some few questions in order to craft my true identity and bring self awareness to myself. Who am I? Where am I now? Who am I in relation to all who surround me? Why has God created me in this time and place? In responding to these basic questions and even more of this nature, I may be aware of that what I am and how to embrace my true self for the honor of God and everyone surrounding me. Yes I may appear to occupy lower position as defined in my society. I may be called poor or insignificant. This does not tell much since my current position regardless, it is significant in God’s bigger plan. In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus is sharing with the leading Pharisees a parable of invited guests to the wedding banquet. Basically, in this parable Jesus invites leading Pharisees to humble themselves as they take their true positions and not less nor more. In my personal prayer, I pray, “God grant me your grace that I may know, love and cherish the position you have granted me in life and be able to serve you with honor and dignity through that position.” Let us find deep wisdom in the prayer of the Psalmist who prays, “God, in your goodness, you have a home for the poor.” Yes! Amen! Fr. Severine.