by Fr. Jose “Joesum” Sumampong, Jr.
July 25, 2021
(12th SUN in OT – A):
Kindly open your Bible and Read Mt 10:26-33
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Points for Reflection: I am sharing to my dear readers these stories which I have collected to help you reflect as the Universal Church celebrates the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A). Here they are:
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# 1. Tom Brown’s School Days was a famous British novel. It was made into a movie that became a box-office hit. Tom Brown was a popular boy who attended a boarding school in England. He lived with about a dozen other boys in one of the school’s dormitories. Whatever Tom said or did always had a big impact on what the other boys in the school said or did.
One day a new boy came to the school. When it came time for bed that night, the new boy innocently knelt down beside his bed to say his prayers.
A few of the boys began to snicker. A couple of others began to laugh and joke. One even threw a shoe at the kneeling boy.
That night Tom didn’t go to sleep right away. He lay awake, thinking about what had happened to the newcomer.
He also began to think about his mother and the prayers she taught him to say each night before bed – prayers he had not said since coming to school.,
The next night several of the boys in the dormitory were looking forward to poking fun at the new boy again. When bedtime came, however, something totally unexpected happened.
When the new boy knelt down to say his night prayers, Tom knelt down also. When the other boys in the dormitory saw Tom kneeling and praying, they did no carry out their plans.
That simple little episode from Tom Brown’s School Days illustrates in a dramatic and poignant way what Jesus had in mind when he said in today’s gospel: “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.”
For instance, the example of Tom Brown’s mother and her witness to her faith was the determining factor that led Tom to bear witness to his faith in front of his peers. (Mark Link, S.J.) ++++
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# 2. In April 1987, the Catholic Digest carried an interview of a couple who had just celebrated
their 25th year of marriage. In the course of the interview, the couple revealed that they had prayed together every night since their wedding night. At first they simply recited prayers
like the Our Father or the Hail Mary.
As time went on, they read Scripture together and shared reflections on what they read.
Another way they prayed together was spontaneously from the heart. Sometimes this involved asking God’s help for a problem that they were both having.
Each spouse admitted that praying this way was not easy at first. But they also admitted
that this kind of honest prayer from the heart was a tremendous source of grace to them.
Commenting on this the husband said, ”I’d sometimes not pray about something because I wouldn’t want to say it to Rita.”
He said he eventually overcame his reluctance when he realized that this was being dishonest not only with Rita but also with God.
When he finally got over the reluctance, this form of prayer became a great help
in getting them through some tough times, especially in the first seven years of their marriage.
The couple explained that they got the idea of praying together from Rita’s parents. “In my family, when I was growing up,” she said, “we didn’t close doors much. I could hear my parents praying at night. It was a very comforting sound. Sometimes they’d invite us in, and we’d all go sit on their bed. They read from the Bible and from a book called The Upper Room. ” ++++
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# 3. An expectant father was pacing up and down the hall in front of the operating room at the hospital, waiting to hear whether it was a boy or a girl.
The door opened, two nurses came out and passed by the waiting father without looking in his direction. Then the doctor came to the door, hesitated a moment, and motioned the impatient father to enter.
“Before you go in,” the doctor began, “I must prepare you for a shock. It’s a boy and he was born without ears. He hasn’t the slightest sign of ears, and of course he will be deaf all his life.”
“He may have been born without ears,” the father exclaimed, “but he will not go through life deaf!” (Napoleon Hill) ++++
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Today, you heard that those who are justified in Jesus will be glorified. As such, it is logical to conclude that those who are not justified, they shall not be glorified.
Since such is the case, there is an urgent need for all to be justified. Some of you may ask, “What does it means to be justified?” To be justified means to be made right in the eyes of God, to be declared free of sin. It means being in a perfect state of holiness as Adam was when God first created him. That is the condition that is necessary to be glorified by God.
Some of you may be asking yourselves how this is possible. Other may think that this is an impossibility. Let us review what the Holy Bible teaches regarding justification. The Holy Bible teaches that there are two phases to being justified in Christ, justification during the Sacrament of Baptism and justification after the Sacrament of Baptism. Both are absolutely necessary to inherit the Kingdom of God, to qualify as children of God and to be glorified.
My brothers and sisters, you may have heard it said by some that because they live a good life, they are made righteous, being justified in Christ. I tell you, no one is justified by their own efforts of living a good life. “For it is not the hearers of the (spiritual) law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the (spiritual) law who will be justified.” [Rom. 2:13]
You may have heard it said that one is justified by faith in Jesus. I tell you, no one is justified by faith in Jesus alone. A person is justified by (spiritual) works, over and above faith. [Jas. 2:24]
You may have heard it said that one is justified by Baptism alone. I tell you, no one is justified through the Sacrament of Baptism alone. Through Baptism, Christ passed over the sins that were previously committed, [Rom. 3:25] including all traces of the Original Sin. Jesus said that unless one is born again of water and Spirit from above, He will not see the Kingdom of God. [Jn. 3:5] Therefore, if none of the previously mentioned are made righteous by Christ, none of them will be justified by Christ before the Heavenly Father.
Some may claim that Jesus passed over the sins that were previously committed “to prove at the present time that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies the one who has faith in Him.” [Rom. 3:26] Therefore, salvation is by faith alone. My brothers and sisters, I just finished reading the passage of Saint James where it states that one is justified by (spiritual) works and not by faith alone.
Permit me to elaborate on this subject. Allow me to explain how one is truly justified in Christ. By the grace of God, we were all called to accept Jesus in living faith so we may receive our salvation. Through sincere repentance of our past sins, we received Jesus in our hearts. Following this, we joined the holy Catholic Church that was instituted by Jesus Christ Himself. We received the Sacrament of Baptism that admitted us into the Body of Christ, blessing us with the free gift of the new creation. Then we received the Sacrament of Reconciliation to maintain our righteousness in the eyes of God.
By the grace of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, our faith in Jesus Christ and the Sacrament of Baptism, we received a new heart and spirit that were free of all the past sins that we had committed, including all the traces of the original sin. And to help our new heart and spirit, we were born again of the Spirit, [Jn. 3:5] having received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to guide us in the Christian path. That new creation within us is our only assurance of the blessed hope of eternal life.
But that is not the end of the spiritual road. That was just the beginning of the road, the beginning of our new walk in Christ as a new creature. Now, we are required to live our faith. We must maintain our righteousness in the eyes of God. A Christian can only have a living faith when it flows like streams of water, when it shines as a light. As a new creation, a child of God, we must love God above all others and above all our worldly goods. We must love our neighbour as we love ourselves. And, we must receive the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church on an ongoing basis.
Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, after having received the Sacrament of Baptism, we are sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with His Blood [1 Pet. 1:2] so our righteousness may be maintained before God. But even all this is not enough. We must still receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist for Christ said that the bread, the Holy Eucharist, is His Body. He is the Living Bread. Without the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, we will surely die. (To surely die is to experience spiritual death, eternal damnation.) We must receive the Holy Eucharist on a regular basis to have the Living Bread within us to ensure our eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
Some may wonder what all of this has to do with today’s readings. My brothers and sisters, the kingdom of heaven is like a hidden treasure. Not everybody knows the truth and understands the hidden messages of Jesus. Some have eyes but they do not see. They have ears but they do not hear. They only see and hear what they want to see and hear.
During today’s First Reading from the First Book of Kings, we heard how the Lord God rewarded Solomon for his unselfish desire to be righteous before the people as their King. God has not changed! He continues to bless those who live an unselfish Christian life, striving towards meeting the physical and spiritual needs of others.
During the Second Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans, we heard how God knew before creation which one of us would respond to His grace through our own free will. He knew beforehand which ones of us would live our Christian faith in accordance with the teachings of Jesus, shining in Divine love so we may inherit the Kingdom of God. If we are among the humble and obedient servants of God, those that He foreknew, then we are among those who have been called to be justified. We are among those who will be glorified in Jesus Christ.
There are some who have been called but who have not answered their callings as of yet. They have yet to be justified and glorified. Today’s Gospel is meant to open their eyes so they will respond to the grace of God.
The kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that is hidden in a field that someone found and hid. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all what he has and buys that field. That treasure is what I have just finished explaining to you during the last ten minutes. Through I, a minister of the Word of God, a servant of the Lord, Jesus is explaining to you what you must do to obtain your eternal glory. Having found this treasure, you are called to embrace it by rejecting your worldly ways.
The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind. When it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
When the day comes for us to appear before the Almighty and Righteous Lord, there will be no second chance. There will be no coming back on earth to start all over again to correct the wrongs that we may have done. That will be it! Our free will, our thoughts, our words, our actions, all will be judged, determining if we will be among the good fish or the bad ones that were drawn ashore from the net.
complete in His Most Holy Name, in the Name of He for who I speak today.
My brothers and sisters, my greatest desire is to see that each and every one of you is justified so you may all be glorified as one in Christ. Today, I call upon those of you who have not done so yet, to respond to the grace of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that through the embracing of your calling, my joy may be