Zero to Hero

The WORD today (See http://usccb.org/bible/readings/030615.cfm) reminds me that God can turn your life around.

There was a movie during the 90s called “The Mask” where a normal, almost loser person found a magical mask that transforms and gives him power everytime he wears it. One of the tagline of the movie is “from zero to hero”, for the mask transforms the character of the person. God also does the same to us, though not in a magical way.

God can transform your life around

No matter what situation you are in, God can transform it and turn it around. We see in the first reading how Joseph was abused and sold as a slave by his own brothers. However, his life did not stop there, as we see in the psalm that God used him to help not only his family but his country as well. Joseph had his ups and downs in life, but he remained faithful to God, and eventually God’s plans for him was carried out.

God’s great plans for us cannot be stop by evil in this world. We just have to remain faithful to God despite whatever situation we may be in. No matter how hopeless the situation may seem, how impossible it may be to get out of it, or how helpless we feel with those powerful people around us, we just need to remain faithful to God, and like Joseph, his great plans for us will eventually come into fruition

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another day to love and serve you. Thank you for another weekend coming up. Lord, I ask that you help me remain faithful and loyal to you. Help me remain strong and steadfast, especially when situations or people weigh me down. May I always put my focus on you, and live to love and serve you, no matter what the situation is. And I know that eventually, you would carry out your great plans for me, in your perfect time. Amen.

Blessed day!

In Christ,

-g-

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March 6, 2015

Friday of the Second Week of Lent

Lectionary: 234

Reading 1 Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a

Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons,

for he was the child of his old age;

and he had made him a long tunic.

When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons,

they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.

One day, when his brothers had gone

to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem,

Israel said to Joseph,

“Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem.

Get ready; I will send you to them.”

So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan.

They noticed him from a distance,

and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him.

They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer!

Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here;

we could say that a wild beast devoured him.

We shall then see what comes of his dreams.”

When Reuben heard this,

he tried to save him from their hands, saying,

“We must not take his life.

Instead of shedding blood,” he continued,

“just throw him into that cistern there in the desert;

but do not kill him outright.”

His purpose was to rescue him from their hands

and return him to his father.

So when Joseph came up to them,

they stripped him of the long tunic he had on;

then they took him and threw him into the cistern,

which was empty and dry.

They then sat down to their meal.

Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead,

their camels laden with gum, balm and resin

to be taken down to Egypt.

Judah said to his brothers:

“What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood?

Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites,

instead of doing away with him ourselves.

After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.”

His brothers agreed.

They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.

Responsorial Psalm PS 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21

R. (5a) Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

When the LORD called down a famine on the land

and ruined the crop that sustained them,

He sent a man before them,

Joseph, sold as a slave.

R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

They had weighed him down with fetters,

and he was bound with chains,

Till his prediction came to pass

and the word of the LORD proved him true.

R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

The king sent and released him,

the ruler of the peoples set him free.

He made him lord of his house

and ruler of all his possessions.

R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

Verse Before the Gospel Jn 3:16

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son;

so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.

Gospel Mt 21:33-43, 45-46

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:

“Hear another parable.

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,

put a hedge around it,

dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.

Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.

When vintage time drew near,

he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.

But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,

another they killed, and a third they stoned.

Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,

but they treated them in the same way.

Finally, he sent his son to them,

thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,

‘This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’

They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”

They answered him,

“He will put those wretched men to a wretched death

and lease his vineyard to other tenants

who will give him the produce at the proper times.”

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

by the Lord has this been done,

and it is wonderful in our eyes?

Therefore, I say to you,

the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you

and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,

they knew that he was speaking about them.

And although they were attempting to arrest him,

they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet