All Around Us

The WORD today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/100917.cfm) reminds me that God is all around us. 

In the first reading, we see Jonah trying to escape God. He did not want to follow God and he tried to escape. But of course he cannot escape God, and we saw God’s power and ways of calling our attention. In the gospel, we see someone asking Jesus who our neighbor is – who we should do good to. Jesus answered him through a parable, and we see that in essence, every one around is, especially those in need, is our neighbor.

God is everywhere.

Sometimes, we do not feel that He is there just because we cannot see him, unlike other people. However, we see in the readings that he is everywhere. His power is everywhere and his protection is all around us, even if we do not feel him or we do not acknowledge that it is him. Sometimes we doubt his love and presence, but we just need to be sensitive to things happening around us. there are a lot of instances that we think we are just lucky, but it is God’s provisions that gave us these things. His active protection in us is precisely the reason why we think things are normal, that we are not in danger.

Jesus is in everyone, and we should love and serve God through everyone we can help and do good to.

There are a lot of people who abuse good people. Criminals disguise themselves as people in need and prey on kind hearted people. However, even if there are people like this, there are a lot more who are genuinely in need, and help can genuinely affect their lives. Help from others may be the only way they can feel and remember God’s love. And helping others is not just beneficial for them, but to us as well. For as we help others, we are becoming transformed to be more and more like Christ.

May we be inspired and reminded that God is all around, and be challenged to love and serve him through others.

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another week. thank you for another chance to love and serve you. thank you for all the blessings. Thank you for your protection. Thank you that you are everywhere. Sorry for the times I do not recognize you. Sorry for the times I forget you. Help me to be more appreciative and more attentive. Make me more aware of everything you have been doing to me. and help me live my love for you by doing good to others. May in my own little may, I be able to make your love more real and more alive in others. Amen.

Blessed week!

In Christ,

-g-

Ps

See related reflection:

http://mysimplereflection.blogspot.com/2013/10/running-away.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 9, 2017
Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 461

Reading 1JON 1:1–2:1-2, 11

This is the word of the LORD that came to Jonah, son of Amittai:

"Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it;
their wickedness has come up before me."
But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD.
He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish,
paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish,
away from the LORD.

The LORD, however, hurled a violent wind upon the sea,
and in the furious tempest that arose
the ship was on the point of breaking up.
Then the mariners became frightened and each one cried to his god.
To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea.
Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship,
and lay there fast asleep.
The captain came to him and said, "What are you doing asleep?
Rise up, call upon your God!
Perhaps God will be mindful of us so that we may not perish."

Then they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots
to find out on whose account we have met with this misfortune."
So they cast lots, and thus singled out Jonah.
"Tell us," they said, "what is your business?
Where do you come from?
What is your country, and to what people do you belong?"
Jonah answered them, "I am a Hebrew,
I worship the LORD, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the dry land."

Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him,
"How could you do such a thing!– 
They knew that he was fleeing from the LORD,
because he had told them.–
They asked, "What shall we do with you,
that the sea may quiet down for us?"
For the sea was growing more and more turbulent.
Jonah said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea,
that it may quiet down for you;
since I know it is because of me
that this violent storm has come upon you."

Still the men rowed hard to regain the land, but they could not,
for the sea grew ever more turbulent.
Then they cried to the LORD: "We beseech you, O LORD,
let us not perish for taking this man's life;
do not charge us with shedding innocent blood,
for you, LORD, have done as you saw fit."
Then they took Jonah and threw him into the sea,
and the sea's raging abated.
Struck with great fear of the LORD,
the men offered sacrifice and made vows to him.

But the LORD sent a large fish, that swallowed Jonah;
and Jonah remained in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
From the belly of the fish Jonah prayed 
to the LORD, his God.
Then the LORD commanded the fish to spew Jonah upon the shore.

Responsorial PsalmJONAH 2:3, 4, 5, 8

R. (cf. 7) You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Out of my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me;
From the midst of the nether world I cried for help,
and you heard my voice.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea,
and the flood enveloped me;
All your breakers and your billows 
passed over me.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Then I said, "I am banished from your sight!
yet would I again look upon your holy temple."
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the LORD;
My prayer reached you
in your holy temple.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.

AlleluiaJN 13:34

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 10:25-37

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,
"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law?
How do you read it?"
He said in reply,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself."
He replied to him, "You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live."

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, 
"And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus replied, 
"A man fell victim to robbers
as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road,
but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place,
and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him
was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,
'Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.'
Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers' victim?"
He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy."

Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."