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Friday, July 16, 2021

Mercy not Sacrifice


The WORD today reminds me that God is a God of mercy.

In the gospel, the Pharisees chose to see evil in the disciples’ actions. Their hearts were closed and they were quick to judge the actions based on their own standards, based on strict observance of the law. Kung hindi ginagawa ng mga Pharisees, kung kontra sa mga batas nila, mali na outright. Jesus told them that he desires mercy, not sacrifice. He chooses to see the goodness in us, he chooses to put more importance on the person rather than the law – for their laws are man-made, but people were made by God.

God is focused on you, not on laws. 

However, This does not give us an excuse to break the law. Wag naman maging pilosopo. In another gospel, Jesus DID NOT tell the people NOT to pay taxes to the government. Jesus told them to give to Caesar what is due to Caesar, and to God what is due God. Jesus tells us that more than the superficial observance and adherence of the law, the disposition of a person is more important. Jesus tells us that God is above human law, and working for Him exempts us from following human law, if such conflict arises

God loves us so much and he gives us all the love we need, and all the opportunities to change our ways and follow Him. How merciful and gracious he really is

Where do I tend to focus, on the positive or on the negative? Am I being too hard on myself, or on others? Am I too strict with the law? What is God telling me today?

May we never focus on man made laws and regulations, but on doing God's will on earth

Father God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for the reminder. Lord, I praise and adore you for who you are. I do not deserve your mercy and your grace, but you wholeheartedly give me those. Such a great God I am serving. Thank you for seeing the goodness in me and my actions, and for always giving me a chance to make myself better. Sorry for the times I am focused on the wrong things. Sorry for losing sight of you and your love and mercy. Lord, I ask that I also see the goodness in other people and lead them into changing their lives as I serve you. Amen.

Blessed Day!

In Christ,
-g-

July 16, 2021
Friday of Week 15; Our Lady of Mount Carmel

FIRST READING

Although Moses and Aaron performed various wonders in Pharaoh’s presence, the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let the children of Israel leave his land. 

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole, with its head and shanks and inner organs. None of it must be kept beyond the next morning; whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up. 

“This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. 

“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

R. (13) I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord. 

How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. 

R. I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord. 

Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. I am your servant, the son of your handmaid; you have loosed my bonds. 

R. I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord. 

To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all his people. 

R. I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.

ALLELUIA

R. Alleluia, alleluia. 

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord, I know them, and they follow me. 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.” He said to the them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”

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