Reading 1 HEB 6:10-20
Brothers and sisters: God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones. We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises. When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, and said, I will indeed bless you and multiply you. And so, after patient waiting, Abraham obtained the promise. Now, men swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument. So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath, so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 111: 1-2, 4-5, 9 and 10c
R. (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
GOSPEL Mark 2: 23-28
REFLECTION
This is a day dedicated to Praying for the Unborn. So, when I read the readings selected for this day, I saw a common theme. God tells the truth and gives us hope!
I teach “Children’s Liturgy” in my parish. So, you may be wondering what that has to do with the readings. Well, often I explain to the children (ages 4-6) how God always keeps his promises. God never lies!
We know that God followed through with His promise to Abraham, “I will indeed bless you and multiply you.” Abraham became the father of a nation of people, the Israelites. God made a covenant with Moses to set the Israelites free from the Egyptians and to bring them to a promised land. After forty years, God brought the Israelites into the promised land. “The Lord will remember His covenant for ever.” (Psalm 111: 5)
How does God's truth or promises give us hope? How does God's truth give me hope?
The first time I found out that I was pregnant, I began to wonder about what he/she would be like. Will he be healthy? Will he have all of his fingers and toes? Will he be smart? Then I realized that God already knows the answers to my questions. So I went to Mass and prayed that my husband and I would accept God's plan for this child.
At about 20 weeks, my obstetrician had ordered an ultrasound of the baby. This was a way to check on the development of the fetus. The tech let me watch the machine's screen while she moved a cold probe over my belly. I could see the outline of this little being moving around inside of me like a little astronaut. I could hear and see his heart beating. Wow! How, awesomely amazing!
Then I remembered what God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you” (Jeremiah 1:5) PAPA Handbook, p.28
Therefore, you see, God's truth gives us hope! I hoped for my child to be what God's plan was for him/her. Why can’t we believe that God has a purpose for each one of us? He knows which unborn beings will become good doctors, wonderful teachers, and holy priests. We need good doctors, teachers, and priests. Especially, we need holy priests! Please, we need to be the voice of the unborn. Give them hope. Pray for all the unborn and for those unborn priests in the wombs.
Let us Pray,
Pray the “Prayer for the Unborn” on our website, papamio.org. Protect the unborn and stand for their rights.
