Mug Shots

First Reading:  Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29

My child, be gentle in carrying out your business, and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.  The greater you are, the more humbly you should behave, and then you will find favour with the Lord; for great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble. For the disease of the proud there is no cure, since an evil growth has taken root there. The heart of the sensible will reflect on parables, an attentive ear is the sage's dream.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11

Second Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or gloom or total darkness, or a storm; or trumpet-blast or the sound of a voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them.

But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church of first-born sons, enrolled as citizens of heaven. You have come to God himself, the supreme Judge, and to the spirits of the upright who have been made perfect; and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to purifying blood which pleads more insistently than Abel's.

 Gospel:  Luke 14:1, 7-14

Now it happened that on a Sabbath day he had gone to share a meal in the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour. He said this,  'When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you both may come and say, "Give up your place to this man." And then, to your embarrassment, you will have to go and take the lowest place.

Reflections:
by Gary Tulabut

When they are all working properly, we only have three microphones in our prayer meetings. Sometimes when only one works, it is shared by the worship leader, prayer leader, and the music ministry.

Our borrowed projector is slowly showing signs of wear and tear as the usual snow-like white patterns common to old projectors start to cover portions of the projected screen. We use borrowed mini-component as our sound system and borrowed laptops for the media operations.

That’s how we have been operating for more than a year now. And so the council decided it’s time to raise funds for these pieces of equipment.

Among the ideas that came up in our fund-raising meetings were the usual solicitations, sponsorships and selling promotional stuff such as t-shirts, fans, mugs and the like. The first and the easiest to produce among our merchandise are the coffee mugs. These mugs had beautiful designs. Thanks to that wonderful artist who wants to remain anonymous. Let us just call him Gary T. (LOL.)

Our brothers and sisters in the community were excited to sell these beautiful mugs, each priced at P150.

One of our brothers who also teaches in the same school I teach brought one in school to try his sales pitch at some co-faculty members. While delivering his short speech to one colleague, one eavesdropper suddenly interrupted and lambasted him and the mug, saying that it was so expensive, that a mug like that can be bought at a much cheaper price, and so on. This brother maintained his composure, controlled his temper, and remained humble. (He’s a Philo major, by the way, and situations like these are nothing compared to many others he has already dealt with.) But even before he was able to open his mouth to explain, the prof who the brother was initially talking to reprimanded the interrupter saying, “What’s wrong with you? Are you sick? This is a fund-raising campaign and for a good cause.”

And that’s all that was needed to call the attention of the other professors and one by one they said, “I’ll get one.” “Me too.” “Me too.”

Humility works in mysterious ways. God works in mysterious ways.

PRAYER:

Father, Thank You for showing us what humility can do in these times when people have become opinionated. May we always be humble in our ways so that the world will see You in us. Amen.

 

What Matters Most

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time  31 July 2016    

First reading

Ecclesiastes 1:2,2:21-23

Vanity of vanities, Qoheleth says. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity!

  For so it is that a man who has laboured wisely, skilfully and successfully must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it at all. This, too, is vanity and great injustice; for what does he gain for all the toil and strain that he has undergone under the sun? What of all his laborious days, his cares of office, his restless nights? This, too, is vanity.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 89:3-6,12-14,17

Second reading
Colossians 3:1-5,9-11

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.
  That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god; and never tell each other lies. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its creator; and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or the uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.

Gospel	Luke 12:13-21

A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’
  Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?.” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.’

Reflection
By Arthur B. Reyes  

On his death bed, Alexander the Great summoned his generals and told them his three ultimate wishes:

“I want the best doctors to carry my coffin to demonstrate that, in the face of death, even the best doctors in the world have no power to heal.”

“I want the road to be covered with my treasure so that everybody sees that material wealth acquired on earth, stays on earth.”

“I want my hands to swing in the wind, so that people understand that we come to this world empty handed and we leave this world empty handed.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is not preaching against wealth but how wealth is to be acquired and utilized. There is nothing wrong with amassing fortunes, as the land owner wanted to do. It is normal for us humans to strive for riches because we need to provide for our loved ones. However, when we are distracted with our material needs, we tend to forget to include God in our plans.

There are three obstacles to our faith according to St. Ignatius – it is wealth, honor, and pride. He himself experienced how people wanted wealth badly so that they would be highly regarded and respected, and pride in what they possess. But we know things can change very quickly. We may become ill, lose our job, our business turns sour.

At the end of our life, God will not measure us by how many cars we had, how big our house was, or how much money we earned. Share with others our talents, our love, our time because by giving to others we are giving back to God. And when we include God in all of our plans, we are also giving God the glory.

In the end what matters most is not how much treasures we hold in our hands but how we used our heart to uplift others.

  Prayer

Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to desire You as my treasure. Help me to make good use of the material riches You give me that I may use them for Your glory and for the good of others. Amen.