Precious

The WORD today (see http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071418.cfm) reminds me that I am precious in God’s eyes. 

In school, we are very conscious of the focus of people in authority. Students are more likely to be rough and naughty when they know the attention of the teacher is not on them. Mas makulit yung mga bata pag wala and teacher. They maximize the fact that human beings have limited view and capability to monitor people, and they wait until the attention is not on them before they do what they want to do. This is how we as humans function, but not God.

God has his eyes on all his creations. 

In the gospel, Jesus tells us that God has his eyes on the sparrow – which is worth very little in this world. God created everything, and as such, he looks after everything – even the seemingly insignificant creatures in this world. If he has his eyes on these creatures, much more on us who are made in his image and likeness. God can do that, to watch over everyone and everything, but as his greatest creatures, his masterpiece, he has more focus on human beings. Even the hair on our head is counted. He watches over us in that level of detail. That is how special we are. That is how special I am to God. 

God watching over us is not just so he knows what we are doing. Jesus warns us of what we should be afraid of and careful about – those who can take our life into this world and the next – the devil. We should be careful of falling into sin, into the devil’s traps that will affect where we will spend eternity in. However, as God is watching over us, he also is protecting us. He is guiding us and he sends his angels to make sure we have reminders to do good and fight the devil. He watches over us and he is powerful over anything That’s what we should remember.

God also makes us clean. We are so precious that he wants us clean for him. In the first reading, we see how his angel made Isaiah clean. This is a testament of how precious we are for him. God loves us too much to leave us as we are. He cares about us and wants us to be with him for eternity, so he reminds us that we are not too dirty or too sinful for his love. And as we are cleaned, we should be able to love and serve God better. 

May we find courage that our great God always has his eyes on us, and always be reminded of how special we are in God's eyes. 

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another chance to love and serve you. Thank you for another weekend. Lord, thank you for loving me and watching over me. thank you for protecting me. I am sorry for the times I ignore you and do what is not pleasing to your sight. Sorry for doubting myself and my worth. Sorry for not coming to you and running elsewhere. Help me remember you, to live right in your eyes. Help me remember how special I am as a child of God. And help me live like that - like the son of a King. As you clean me, help me live pleasing to you and doing your will all the time. Amen.

Blessed Weekend!

In Christ,

-g-

Daily Readings

July 14, 2018

Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 388

Reading 1 IS 6:1-8

In the year King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings:
with two they veiled their faces,
with two they veiled their feet,
and with two they hovered aloft.

They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.

Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

He touched my mouth with it and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said; “send me!” 

Responsorial Psalm PS 93:1AB, 1CD-2, 5

R. (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.

Alleluia 1 PT 4:14

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MT 10:24-33

Jesus said to his Apostles:
“No disciple is above his teacher,
no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,
for the slave that he become like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,
how much more those of his household!

“Therefore do not be afraid of them.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.