Daily Reflection – Aug 22, 2016

Monday 22 August 2016

First Reading: 
2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12
Responsorial Psalm:
Proclaim his marvellous deeds to all the nations
Psalm 95(96):1-5
Gospel Reading: Matthew 23:13-22

Today’s Feast: Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Gospel Reading:

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.
You do not enter yourselves,
nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You traverse sea and land to make one convert,
and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna
twice as much as yourselves.

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say,
‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’
Blind fools, which is greater, the gold,
or the temple that made the gold sacred?
And you say, ‘If one swears by the altar, it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.’
You blind ones, which is greater, the gift,
or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it;
one who swears by the temple swears by it
and by him who dwells in it;
one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God
and by him who is seated on it.”

Reflection:

Today’s celebration occurs on the octave day of the Assumption of Our Lady. The Gospel reading is the account of the Annunciation taken from Luke’s Gospel.

The angel greeted Mary, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” Mary is quite alarmed by this greeting. She is not aware of being in any way special. The angel then goes on to tell her that she is specially favoured by God. Because of this, she will conceive and bear a son, who is to be called Jesus (which means ‘God saves’).

Mary is deeply puzzled. How can this happen to her because she is not yet married and has no relations with any man? The Angel replies that all this will happen through the special intervention of God. Mary then bows her head and submits unconditionally to the words of Gabriel.

This is the high point of human history as we Christians understand it. With that unconditional acceptance of God’s will for her, in that moment, the new life began in the womb of Mary. It is the moment of Incarnation, the moment of God’s enfleshment, of his becoming a member of the human family and making God visible in a special way in our world.

Mary gave her unconditional ‘Yes’ to God’s request and she never for a moment took back that ‘Yes’. Jesus needs to be reborn in each one of us.

“Mary, Queen of Heaven, pray for us!”