Our Faith Should Stand Out

10th Sunday In Ordinary Time
08 June 2008

First reading: Hosea 6:3 - 6
‘On the third day he will raise us
and we shall live in his presence.
Let us set ourselves to know the Lord;
that he will come is as certain as the dawn
his judgement will rise like the light,
he will come to us as showers come,
like spring rains watering the earth.’

What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What am I to do with you, Judah?
This love of yours is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that quickly disappears.
This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets,
why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth,
since what I want is love, not sacrifice;
knowledge of God, not holocausts.

Second reading: Romans 4:18 - 25
Though it seemed Abraham’s hope could not be fulfilled, he hoped and he believed, and through doing so he did become the father of many nations exactly as he had been promised: Your descendants will be as many as the stars. Even the thought that his body was past fatherhood – he was about a hundred years old – and Sarah too old to become a mother, did not shake his belief. Since God had promised it, Abraham refused either to deny it or even to doubt it, but drew strength from faith and gave glory to God, convinced that God had power to do what he had promised. This is the faith that was ‘considered as justifying him.’ Scripture however does not refer only to him but to us as well when it says that his faith was thus ‘considered’; our faith too will be ‘considered’ if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Jesus who was put to death for our sins and raised to life to justify us.

Gospel: Matthew 9:9 - 13
As Jesus was walking on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’

Reflection
By Pietro S. Albano

I salute Abraham whom St. Paul cited in the Second reading. Such was his strong faith in God that he moved out of his land and settled elsewhere with no questions asked. He believed in the Lord's promise of a son in spite of the physical impossibility to sire children at such an old age. He trusted God even if it will cost the life of a son he longed for. His faith has been put to the test. We may not experience a similar scenario, yet our faith too is being tested. Apart from the sufferings that we face, our faith is also tested with what's happening in our society. Our faith should stand out in the midst of the crises we encounter. If others do evil, shall we follow the flow? If others beg for help, do we simply say "God bless you!"? I remember Manang Apolonia who was then our Vigil Master for the Eucharistic Adoration in the parish every first Saturday of the month. She was never absent, except one time. A colleague covered for her absence. The following day, as I was having a chat with her, I found out that she attended a neighbor's funeral. She has known this neighbor and has helped the bereaved family as they have no one to turn to. Listening to Jesus' words in the Gospel, I believe Manang Apolonia took heed of what the Lord prefers: mercy, not sacrifice.







Heavenly Father, may our faith move us to a better knowledge of You so we may see and serve You in others. Amen.