14 August 2016
| First reading |
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Jeremiah 38:4-6,8-10
The king’s leading men spoke to the king. ‘Let Jeremiah be put to death: he is unquestionably disheartening the remaining soldiers in the city, and all the people too, by talking like this. The fellow does not have the welfare of this people at heart so much as its ruin.’ ‘He is in your hands as you know,’ King Zedekiah answered ‘for the king is powerless against you.’ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the well of Prince Malchiah in the Court of the Guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the well, only mud, and into the mud Jeremiah sank.
Ebed-melech came out from the palace and spoke to the king. ‘My lord king,’ he said ‘these men have done a wicked thing by treating the prophet Jeremiah like this: they have thrown him into the well, where he will die.’ At this the king gave Ebed-melech the Cushite the following order: ‘Take three men with you from here and pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the well before he dies.’
| Responsorial Psalm |
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| Psalm 39:2-4,18 |
| Second reading Hebrews 12: 1-4 |
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With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.
Gospel Luke 12:49-53 |
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Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!
‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
Reflection
by Gary Tulabut
The younger generation today would probably be surprised to
find out that during the 90s, Apple was not a major player in the personal
computing industry; that the usage of Macs was then just a niche. In fact,
until today, personal computer or PC refers to the Windows-based computers, and
not the Macs.
And with the dominance of PC’s for a long time, majority of
new softwares Were only for PCs. Companies rarely used Macs for work. And even computer
viruses were created for PCs only, sparing the Macs.
In other words, the world in personal computing revolved
around PCs and Windows. And with that Bill Gates became the richest man in the
world.
But then Steve Jobs returned to Apple; introduced new gadgets;
improved the Mac; and the rest is history.
Apple is now one of the top companies in the world in almost
all metrics.
Even if PCs still have the upper hand in terms of market
share, Macs are now considered one of the high-end products in personal computing
along with some PCs in the same price range. It is already a major player, if
not the benchmark for excellence.
Competition is good. It is good for the consumers. Quality
is assured. Good products guaranteed. It wakes up those companies who used to
enjoy monopoly in the market… to improve their products… to win more customers
from competition… and hopefully to win back lost market share.
Because we knew it is the Catholic Church that Christ
founded; and probably because we knew we have the numbers; we Catholics tend to
be lax and proud. But often times we do not do anything to grow spiritually and
disciple more.
Then came our non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters.
Suddenly, they’re everywhere. Their churches grew fast. Suddenly, 20% of your
neighbors are not Catholic; 30% of your friends; 40% of your celebrity idols;
50% of your classmates (despite being in a Catholic school.)
I believe Christ allowed this division to happen as
mentioned today in the gospel.
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Thank you for teaching us to be on guard with our faith. May the diversity we experience be a wake-up call for us to always be in constant pursuit to a deeper understanding of You so that we may seek Your glory alone.
Amen.
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