Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Daily Reading for Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

'If it is the Lord's will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.' There are times when I fail to remember my frailty, my mortality, my limits. Problems could sometimes overwhelm me that I get so preoccupied in giving my all hoping to achieve good results and not be in the same dire situation again. It makes me depend on my own strength, creativity and intelligence. But everything runs dry in no time. Patience, determination, open mind, calmness... they all run out.

Of course it will be a different story if I am not a Christian. Not believing in someone greater than myself means depending on my own strength and what I can do to solve impossible situations in my life. Ironically, it's happened too many times. Every time I fail to acknowledge the fact I won't be able to accomplish anything without God.




Reading 1, James 4:13-17

13 Well now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend a year there, trading, and make some money.'
14 You never know what will happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears.
15 Instead of this, you should say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.'
16 But as it is, how boastful and loud -- mouthed you are! Boasting of this kind is always wrong.
17 Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and does not do it commits a sin.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 49:2-3, 6-7, 8-10, 11

2 people high and low, rich and poor alike!
3 My lips have wisdom to utter, my heart good sense to whisper.
6 They trust in their wealth, and boast of the profusion of their riches.
7 But no one can ever redeem himself or pay his own ransom to God,
8 the price for himself is too high; it can never be
9 that he will live on for ever and avoid the sight of the abyss.
10 For he will see the wise also die no less than the fool and the brute, and leave their wealth behind for others.
11 For ever no home but their tombs, their dwelling-place age after age, though they gave their name to whole territories.

Gospel, Mark 9:38-40

38 John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.'
39 But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me.
40 Anyone who is not against us is for us.

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