Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Following Jesus entails taking up of cross


February 11, 2016

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Reading 1

15Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. 16If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving Him, and walking in His ways, and keeping His commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.

17If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods, 18I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.

19I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, 20by loving the LORD, your God, heeding His voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Responsorial Psalm

R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

1Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked Nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, 2But delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on His law day and night.

R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

3He is like a tree planted near running water, That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers.

R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

4Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
6For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.

R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Verse Before The Gospel Matthew 4:17

Repent, says the Lord;
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Gospel

22Jesus said to His disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

23Then He said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.[1] 24For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”



Notes on Readings:

[1] Luke 9:23 - Daily: this is a Lucan addition to a saying of Jesus, removing the saying from a context that envisioned the imminent suffering and death of the disciple of Jesus (as does the saying in Mark 8:34-35 to one that focuses on the demands of daily Christian existence. 

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Dear Humanity,

I personally encourage everyone to emulate JESUS' values on LOVE, FAITH, HOPE
and CHARITY, as the humanity has been a failure; which resulted to the more than two (2) years of pandemic and its after-effects on economy, not only here in the Philippines but worldwide.

And the saddest part of it, is that, it affected the POOREST of the POOR to even extremely be more poorer, in exchange of the affluent to be more richer.

Thank you and may GOD bless you and the whole family to have an enjoyed life's journey at home, Church, schools/universities, corporate commitments, public and places of interest.