Audio Reflections of Wednesday, June 20, 2018

To hear the Audio Reflections of Wednesday, June 20, 2018 click HERE

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - How often have you made “means” ends in themselves?

To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Kings 2,:1,6-14; Mt 6:1-6,16-18

Immediately after the six antitheses (5:21-48) in the Sermon on the Mount, there follows instructions on three practices that were common among the Pharisees as a sign of closeness to God namely almsgiving, prayer and fasting. All three though only a means to reach God can be made ends in themselves. 

Almsgiving can be ostentatious, prayer can be used to show-off and fasting can be used to point to one’s self. 

Jesus cautions the listeners about these dangers and challenges them to make them all internal activities that will lead the way to God rather than being made ends in themselves.

For us as Christians, Jesus has simplified matters. There is absolutely no obligation in the Christian way of life except the obligation to love. When there is love then all our actions come from our hearts and spontaneously without counting the cost. Almsgiving becomes generous and spontaneous, prayer becomes union with God and leads to action and fasting is done in order to show our dependence on God and not on earthly things.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 2 Kings 2:1,6-14; Mt 6:1-6,16-18

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 2 Kings 2:1,6-14; Mt 6:1-6,16-18

1. How must a disciple of Jesus give alms?

By informing everyone
By sounding a trumpet
The left hand must not know what the right is doing


2. With what did Elijah strike the water?

With his staff
With his rolled up mantle
With his rod


3. What did Elisha ask of Elijah?

A more comfortable accommodation
A double share of his spirit
A new set of clothes


4. How many men from the company went with Elijah to the Jordan?

Sixty
Fifty
Forty


5. How must disciples of Jesus pray?

By shouting out aloud
By singing praises of God
Quietly and in secret


6. With whom was Elijah when the Lord was about to take him in a whirlwind?

His brother
Elisha
His sister


7. How must the disciples of Jesus fast?

By putting oil on their head and washing their face
By bragging about it
By eating extra after the fast is over


8. How did Elijah ascend into heaven?

In a whirwind
In a cloud
In secret


9. Into how many pieces did Elisha tear his clothes?

Four
Two
Many


10. What is the message of the readings of today?

Internal conviction is more important than external action
Rules can never become ends but are means to an end
Our pious acts must be done in secret

Thanks for taking the Quiz. I hope it makes the word of God more relevant. Let me know on errolsj@gmail.com. Suggestions are always welcome.

Audio Reflections of Tuesday, June 19, 2018

To hear the Audio Reflections of Tuesday, June 19, 2018 click HERE

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 -How often has the expectation of some “reward” been your motivation for “doing good”? Will you “do good” without any expectation of reward today?

To read the texts click on the texts: 1 Kings 21:17-29; Mt 5:43-48

In the last of the six antitheses, Matthew focuses on the love command. While there is no command to hate the enemy in the Old Testament, there are statements that God hates all evildoers and statements that imply that others do or should do the same. Jesus, makes explicit here, the command to love enemies. The conduct of the disciples of Jesus must reveal who they are really are, namely “sons and daughters of God”.

The command to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” does not mean to be without faults, but means to be undivided in love as God is undivided in love.

The love we have for others is more often than not a conditional love. We indulge in barter exchange and term it love. We are willing to do something for someone and expect that they do the same or something else in return. It is a matter of “give”, but also a matter of “take”. When Jesus asks us to be like the heavenly Father, he is calling us to unconditional love.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 - 1 Kings 21:17-29; Mt 5:43-48

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 - 1 Kings 21:17-29; Mt 5:43-48

1. Besides being like the house of Jerobaom like which other house will the house of Naboth be?

Baasha
Ahijah
Abijah


2. On whom does God make the sun rise?

On those who obey him
On the evil and on the good
Only on the good


3. Who does Jesus say greet only their brothers and sisters?

The Gentiles
The tax collectors
The Scribes


4. Where would the prophet find Ahab?

In his palace
In Naboth's vineyard
On his throne


5. What did Ahab do when he heard the words of the prophet?

He put him in prison
He banned him from his kingdom
He tore his clothes and put sackcloth


6. By whom was Ahab urged on?

Jezreel
Jezebel
Jebezel


7. Which prophet was asked to meet Ahab?

Elisha
Elijah
Samuel


8. Who does Jesus say love only those who love them?

Gentiles
Tax collectors
Scribes


9. Who else besides Ahab had gone after idols?

The Jezubites
The Amorites
The Malachites


10. What is the message of the readings of today?

We must be undivided in love
Our love must not be conditional
We must love without expectation

Thanks for taking the Quiz. I hope it makes the word of God more relevant. Let me know on errolsj@gmail.com. Suggestions are always welcome.

Audio Reflections of Monday, June 18, 2018

To hear the Audio Reflections of Monday, June 18, 2018 click HERE

Monday, June 18, 2018 - How often have you gone beyond the call of duty? Will you do so today?

To read the texts click on the texts:1 Kings 21:1-16; Mt 5:38-42

The text of today contains the fifth antithesis. In it, Jesus not only affirms the thrust of the Law in opposing unlimited revenge, but also calls for a rejection of the principle of retaliatory violence as well. 

In the five examples that follow (being struck in the face, being sued in court, being requisitioned into short-term compulsory service, giving to beggars and lending to borrowers) the one point being made is to place the needs of others before one’s own needs. The disciple of Jesus is called to go beyond the call of the Law and do more than it requires.

It is so easy for us to be reactors. If someone does something to hurt us, we think that it is “natural” for us to want to do something to hurt him or her in return. In the text of today, Jesus is calling us to be actors and not reactors and to do what we do because we think it is right and just and not as a reaction to someone else’s action.

Monday, June 18, 2018 - 1 Kings 21:1-16; Mt 5:38-42

Monday, June 18, 2018 - 1 Kings 21:1-16; Mt 5:38-42

1. Which cheek must the disciple of Jesus turn to the attacker?

The left
The right
None


2. How many men accused Naboth?

Three
Two
One


3. Who had a vineyard in Jezreel?

Jezebel
Naboth
Ahab


4. How was Naboth killed?

He was crucified
He was stoned to death
He was hanged


5. Who was king of Samaria?

Naboth
Ahab
Ahaz


6. Why did Naboth not want to give his vineyard?

Because is was his only source of livelihooh
Because is was very fertile
Because it was his ancestral inheritance


7. How many books of Kings does the Bible contain?

One
Two
Three


8. Who was Ahab's wife?

Salome
Jezebel
Jezreel


9. What was the charge brought against Naboth?

He refused to help the poor
He cursed God and the king
He had abandoned his family


10. What is the message of the readings of today?

We must respond and not react
We must be ready to forgive
We do not use violence to contain violence

Thanks for taking the Quiz. I hope it makes the word of God more relevant. Let me know on errolsj@gmail.com. Suggestions are always welcome.

Sunday, June 17, 2018 - Hope and Confidence

To read the texts click on the texts: Ezek 17:22-24; 2 Cor5:6-10; Mk 4:26-34

Optimism, hope, confidence and assurance are words that summarise the theme of all three readings of today.

This note of confidence and hope begins in the first reading where Ezekiel emphasizes the power of God’s word. God will plant the branch or twig from the mighty cedar so that it will grow and bear fruit. The tree will be so huge that every bird of the air will be able to nest in its branches. This means in other words that every human from every nation will recognize and acknowledge the saving power of God. This is why the text ends with the words “I the Lord have spoken. I will accomplish it”. The power of God is so strong that nothing will be impossible. God does this to assert that God is not indifferent to creation. On the contrary God is constantly involved in the whole creative process and in creation. The great reverser, who brings low the high tree and exalts the low tree, thereby demonstrates that power that transcends every human expectation.

This power of God is evident in the Gospel text of today through the two parables of the seed. Clearly both are about the kingdom and are so simple to understand that it is possible that one might miss the point precisely because of their simplicity. In the first of the two commonly known as the Parable of the seed growing secretly, the sequence of events is of prime importance. A person scatters the seed on the ground, sleeps at night, rises in the day and the seed grows. The one who sows is not involved in the process of growth. The seed grows of itself. This is clearly an indication that it is the work of God and that God is in control. It is God who makes the seed grow once it has been sown. This also means that while the disciples are called to do their bit, they can do only that and no more. No matter how much they try, they cannot hasten the growth. No matter how much they worry, they cannot make the seed grow quicker. Thus the point is that the disciples have to sow and God will make it grow. The disciples have only to do their best and God will do the rest.

The parable of the mustard that follows, points on the one hand to the contrast between small and big, and on the other hand to the fact that it is not merely great trees like oaks and cedars that demonstrate that the kingdom of God has indeed come. The mustard seed though extremely small grows into a large shrub when sown into the ground. Here too the message to disciples is that they must not be anxious or worry about the outcome. They must have the confidence that after they have sown and done all that is required; from small there will be big; from little there will be much. Despite the fact that their efforts sometimes may seem as insignificant and tiny as a mustard seed, the end product will be enormous, simply because God will do what remains to be done.

This is precisely the reason why Paul can have the confidence that he expresses in the second reading of today. He is aware that the present circumstances, which include suffering and affliction, are not the ideal arrangement or the final picture, the goal. Paul therefore adopts the attitude of “indifference” which is not be interpreted as a “don’t care attitude”, laissez faire or a lax attitude, Rather the indifference is a very positive attitude. It is an attitude where because the person concerned knows that he/she can only do so much, does it and leaves the rest to God.

There are moments in our lives when we put in a lot of effort into something and cannot see the fruit of that effort. There are times in our lives when we think that all of our effort is in vain and there are times when we give up and give in because we are more concerned about the outcome or result than about our action. The readings of today warn against such an attitude. They challenge us to do what we are called to do. They also caution us not to jump the gun, but to follow the logical sequence of events. It is sometimes the case that we do not scatter the seed and consequently remain awake at night with useless worry and sleep in the day when we ought to be awake. We first need to sow or scatter the seed for it to take root and germinate. Then we can sleep at night and be awake in the day and the seed will indeed grow.