Panis Angelicus: Demand for a Sign

Demand for a Sign

FEBRUARY 12, 2024 - MONDAY
Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time (Green)
Lectionary: 335
CYCLE B - YEAR II

Reading 1
Jas 1:1-11

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings.
Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters,
when you encounter various trials,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
And let perseverance be perfect,
so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom,
he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly,
and he will be given it.
But he should ask in faith, not doubting,
for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea
that is driven and tossed about by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,
since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways.
The brother in lowly circumstances
should take pride in high standing,
and the rich one in his lowliness,
for he will pass away "like the flower of the field."
For the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass,
its flower droops, and the beauty of its appearance vanishes.
So will the rich person fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 119:67, 68, 71, 72, 75, 76

R. (77a) Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I hold to your promise.

R. Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.

You are good and bountiful;
teach me your statutes.

R. Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
that I may learn your statutes.

R. Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.

The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

R. Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.

I know, O LORD, that your ordinances are just,
and in your faithfulness you have afflicted me.

R. Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.

Let your kindness comfort me
according to your promise to your servants.

R. Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live.

Alleluia
Jn 14:6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father except through me.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mk 8:11-13

The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
"Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore.

REFLECTION:

Arguing can be acceptable, but the Pharisees’ are hostile: they have decided that Jesus is their enemy. From now on in the gospel they will be ‘testing’ Jesus, trying to find his weaknesses, so they can do away with him. Nothing he does will satisfy them: their hearts are closed. God often ‘tests’ us, but it is in order to bring out the best in us, to make our faith and love grow deeper.

Do I sometimes make Jesus ‘sigh deeply’? Am I waiting for him to do something spectacular for me? Is it not enough for him to have given his life to save the world? Am I a wavering disciple who cannot be depended on? I pray: ‘Jesus, don’t leave me behind! Drag me along with you as you ‘cross over’ to a place I cannot reach without you, the kingdom of God’.

PRAYER:

Lord, let me see everything that is good around me, including nature, as the signs that I was seeking. Let me be grateful and use my energy in building the better world I desire.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

What is "Panis Angelicus"?

It started from a simple spiritual bible verse on which I mostly posted daily in my personal Facebook account, I've seeing myself realizing the idea what if I will post something different to my audiences sharing my spiritual thoughts/insights in life based on my experiences as a former church servant. Indeed, the world of social media nowadays are full of negativity where many people who are "toxic" in terms of sharing ideas and opinions, on which I personally described. Some people have already forgotten the so-called respect and being open-minded in terms of sharing ideas and opinions on each other. It comes to the point that sometimes we didn't know and feel that we're already crossing the lines causing our egos would probably triggered and even tempered due to our different emotions and expressions. For me, there are lots of causes and reasons why all of these are happen in our society today. Maybe it's because the world nowadays are also under the influence of a so-called millennial traits and other social aspects in life on which other people most especially the youth tend to do unnecessary traits that would make to hurt the feelings of others. By this, some people often forget to show RESPECT to their elder ones and even their parents as well. The new generation of youth today is far different from those times of our lolos and lolas. Even in simple greeting (in a normal traditional Filipino custom of Mano Po) showing your respect to your elders are already forgotten to practice by some of our younger ones and even adults of today. Some people often forget to pray and say the Holy Rosary together with your family every night and even go to church on Sundays to attend holy masses, maybe it is because the people of today are also changing their personal aspects and priorities in life due to power, wealth and pride.

So I decided create this blog page entitled, "Panis Angelicus". This name (Latin for "Bread of Angels" or "Angelic Bread") derived from the penultimate strophe of the hymn "Sacris solemniis" written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the feast of Corpus Christi as part of a complete liturgy of the feast, including prayers for the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. It is a collection of spiritual reflections/verses taken from the Daily Readings in the Holy Bible. Aside of spiritual reflections/verses, you'll also read some of my different insights/opinions regarding on the different types of issues that happen in our world today and what would be its connection in terms of talking about the spiritual aspects in life.

By this simple cause on which I usually loved to do during my church days to help other people in the community by means of participating on various community outreach programs organized by the former parish church that I've served, I'm eagerly open my hands to help most especially those people who already reject nor forget GOD as the center of their life by means of educating and enlighten their minds not just in spiritual aspects but also in moral aspects of life that in this world, nobody's perfect and permanent. Feel free to comment on my posts or share your own thoughts. I'd love to hear from you.