12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A, Year II)
Community Word: The perfect love of the Holy Trinity calls us to live in solidarity in our desire to be holy.
Theme: We live in solidarity in our desire to be holy when we have the courage to testify to others what Jesus has done in our life.
Promise: “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.” (Mt 10:32)
Reflection:
We are created in the image and likeness of God, just as we are the expression of His love and glory. Since we are created in His love, we are called to be a community of loving persons, just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in love. Their perfect loving relationship should be the supreme model of our human relationships. From the day of our baptism, we are united with the Triune God, becoming adopted children of the Father, brothers of Christ, and temples of the Holy Spirit, called to a path of holiness towards God.
God desires our sanctification. He places the desire in our hearts to grow in virtue and holiness. St. Paul tells us, “He chose us in Christ from the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight,” (Eph 1:4). It is our vocation, our purpose, the reason we are created. Only God is holy, the source of all holiness. To be holy is to be like God, to be in union with Him. Jesus is the perfect image of God and therefore, to be holy is to be like Jesus, to imitate his life and virtues, to be one with him.
How are we to become one with Christ? Our theme for the week tells us: We live in solidarity in our desire to be holy when we have the courage to testify to others what Jesus has done in our life. The calling is to live Christ and to share Christ!
We give witness to our values, beliefs, and religious commitments by telling others about our faith and how we meet Jesus in our ordinary experiences and circumstances. Sharing our life in Jesus has the power to help those with whom we share a passing moment, an inter-action, or even a lifetime, and then see how God begins to work in their lives. Sharing how God works in our everyday life, in answered prayers and blessings, in our struggles and triumphs, in the little miracles that we receive, can readily be felt by people we interact with. Our godly habits in word and action help in passing on the richness of our Catholic faith to other, our family members, neighbors, friends, co-workers and faith community we belong to. In the ordinariness of our life, we can truly be witnesses to the power of our loving God.
An authentic and humble witness to Christ transforms the heart, leading people to a meaningful path in amending their lives. Our Lord Jesus is constantly and persistently using people to make him known to all. We have experienced his saving grace in our own life when we were blessed by people who shared their transformed lives because they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Their testimonies have pointed us to a new life in Christ. Their simple faith and authentic transformation stories were powerful moments that touched us deep in our hearts that led us to encounter and deepen our relationship with Jesus, as they did.
Courageously testifying to others what Jesus has done in our lives will definitely have a corresponding reward. This time of pandemic should not even stop us from being witnesses to Christ. There are daily manifestations of his love and miracles that need to be shared by means of the cyberspace. We cannot be saved and achieve holiness alone. We need God’s grace and we need one another, to grow in holiness side by side with others thru our faith community. Thus, our growth in holiness and our salvation is the acknowledgment of the promise of Jesus when he tells us: “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father,” (Mt 10:32).
Prayer:
Father God, we thank you for giving each one of us the opportunity and courage to become your witnesses, proclaiming to others what you have done in our lives. In like manner, we thank you for sending people who shared their transformed lives with us, allowing us to wake up from our slumber and start changing our lives, and to live a life of godliness in Christ. Abba Father, grant us continuously the grace to be holy like your Son Jesus, imitating his life and virtues. Amen.
Reflection Guide Questions:
1. Have you ever shared to your loved ones and others what Jesus has done in your life? How did it make you feel?
2. Share an experience when someone has touched your heart, because of how Jesus transformed his/ her life as a result of your transforming testimonies.
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
June 21, 2020 (Sun) – Jer 20:10-13/Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35/Rom 5:12-15/Mt 10:26-33
June 22, 2020 (Mon) – 2Kgs 17:5-8; 13-15a, 18/ Ps 60/ Mt 7:1-5
June 23, 2020 (Tues) – 2 Kgs 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36/ Ps 48/ Mt 7:6, 12-14
June 24, 2020 Wed) – Is 49:1-6/ Ps 139/ Ac 13: 22-26/ Lk 1:57-66, 80
June 25, 2020 (Thurs) – 2 Kgs 24:8-17/ Ps 79/ Mt 7:21-29
June 26, 2020 (Fri) – 2 Kgs 25: 1-12/ Ps 137/ Mt 8:1-4,
June 27, 2020 (Sat) – Lam 2:2, 10-14, 18-18/ Ps 74/ Mt 8:5-17
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
