St. Sixtus Ⅱ, pope & martyr

St. Cajetan, priest 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Ｎahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7

See, there on the mountains,

the feet of one who brings good news, one who proclaims peace. Judah, celebrate your feasts and carry out your vows. For the wicked have been destroyed, they will not attack you anymore Yahweh will now restore Jacob’s magnificence, like Israel’s splendor.

For they had been plundered laid waste as a ravaged vineyard. Woe to the bloody city, city of lies and booty, O city of unending plunder! But what! Crack of whips, rumble of wheels and clatter of hoofs!

See the frenzied chargers, the flashing swords and glittering spears, the heaps of the wounded, the dead and dying – we trip over corpses! Will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make of you a shameful show, so that all who look on you will turn their backs in disgust and say: Nineveh – a city of lust – is in ruins. Who will mourn for her? Where can we find one to comfort her?

 

Dt 32:35cd-36ab, 39abce, 41

it is who deal death and give life.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Matthew 16:24-28

 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.  For whoever chooses to save his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for my sake will find it.  What will one gain by winning the whole world if he destroys himself? There is nothing you can give to recover your own self.

 Know that the Son of Man will come in the Glory of his Father with the holy angels, and he will reward each one according to his deeds. Truly, I tell you, there are some here who will not die before they see the Son of Man coming as king.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

The british writer Richard Dawkins ran a campaign for a God-free life. His slogan:God does not exist, so enjoy your one and only life. Do not hope for a heaven. Never fear any hell. Live it as what it can avail.

These statements suppose that God is a stumbling block to living a free life. God has put us into shackles and chains. As if He is to blame for lost pleasure when we spend an hour of prayer, make sacrifices, and be God-fearing. For Jesus, our life is never free without God.

“Whoever chooses to save his life will lose it.” By that, He warns against our false claim to our life. Life can never live freely without God because, in the first place, God owns it-not us. we have to live it, not as if we own it, but as how it belongs to God.