Test Of Faith

Suffering the loss of his family, wealth and health, Job curses his misery and wishes for death. He cannot understand why he suffers when he was very faithful to God.

Saint Job The Faithful Servant Of GOD

In the Gospel, is the most faithful man of all time, the sinless son of God. Jesus is marching to Jerusalem where He knows He would suffer crucifixion in spit of His faithfulness. But nothing would stop Him for He knows the purpose- to pay for our sins. 

Sin is never private. Even those we commit to our own body increases our selfishness and weakens our willingness to serve others (failure to love is a sin). Sin causes an imbalance in God's Kingdom of Love and someone must set it right. Suffering that's not of our causing is an invitation from Jesus to those He has saved to join the fullness of His life and help Him carry the cross (4Col 1:2). 

Let us offer our suffering to Jesus.

Like Sheep Without A Shepherd

"When Jesus saw the crowds, He had pity on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." ( Matthew 9:36 )

So Jesus gave authority to feed and take care of His sheep to Peter ( John 21:17-17), the Rock on whom He built His Church ( Matthew 16:18-19 ).

For one thousand five hundred years, there was only one Church shepherding the flock. But then came men who protested and "made kings without God's authority." ( Hosea 8:4 )

They claimed that Christ built His Church not on the Rock but on the Bible alone - then quickly made themselves kings with authority to interpret the Bible. So five hundred years later, there are now thirty thousand churches worldwide each interpreting the Bible in their own way. 

Once more we are scattered and confused flocks of sheep with no single voice on moral issues such as abortion and homosexual marriage, a ripe harvest for the devil. We have to pray for the Christian unity.

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Love One Another

"Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of GOD, and he who loves is born of GOD and knows GOD. He who does not love does not know GOD; for GOD is love." ( 1 John 4:7-8 )

Today is the great Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Heart of Jesus is the symbol of the greatest Love the world has ever known and will ever know. His Heart beats forever for you and me, crying when we cry, laughing when we laugh. 

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is GOD's love song to us, forever courting and serenading, "Come to me, all of you are tired of carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." ( Matthew 11:28 )

Feast Days: The Sacred Heart Of Jesus

Jesus promises that whoever comes to Him will find rest. This promise becomes very real, physical and joyful when we say Yes to Jesus and be His heart and arms to those who seek Him.

Let us reunite with our lover at Holy Mass today and assure Him that we love Him too.

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Fearfully And Wonderfully Made

"You have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made." (Psalm 139:13-14)

The Bible tells us that each child is specially made by GOD and He has a plan for each one. Only GOD can create a soul and no one can force Him to do it. No child is ever an accident. Today we celebrate the birthday of Saint John the Baptist who is a prophet and the cousin of Jesus. His special mission was to prepare the world for the arrival of Jesus Christ.

Each of us is a saint in the making, created to be so like Saint John even in our mother's womb, each meant to speak and live lives that pave a way for Jesus Christ into the hearts of others.

Let us form our young ones not to be influenced by materialism, immorality and less value driven beings but to be holy children, not to be wealthy but happy, not to be senators but saints intended to be jewels that adorn GOD's crown of infinite beauty.

Do Not Judge Others

Jesus says, "Do not judge others." Judging others behind their backs stunts our spiritual growth since we see only the faults of others while we become blind to ours. It stops the flow of GOD's blessings into His Kingdom for it makes us proud judges of who are and who are not "worthy" of our help. And we end up judging GOD Himself and which of His commands are valid or not. On the other hand, Jesus is not telling us to ignore those who are living in sin.

Fraternal correction is also a command of Jesus (Matthew 18:15-17). In the First Reading, the Father sends many servants to warn His people of their sins (2Kings 17:13). Admonishing sinners is one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy. Backbiting, even if true, seeks to strip away human dignity. Fraternal correction seeks to show a brother or sister the path to heaven.

Let us pray to the Holy Spirit, to give us the wisdom to judge, not others but the things and choices in our life accordingly - not to destroy but to build.

Seek First To Promote God's Righteousness

"Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they?" (Matthew 6:28-30)

Look at how we treat GOD and worldly affairs separately. We have a separate time for Him and another for the "reality" of our daily concerns. Trying to serve two masters does not work. Look at how insecure we are. It's a sign that we consider barns of material security more real than GOD. But if we hold Jesus as THE treasure in our heart, we begin to look with His eyes. We begin sowing GOD's values into our corner of GOD's kingdom.

Seeking first to promote His righteousness over what we think we need, we learn to cut back and give back, to live simply so that others may simply live. Then shall we see GOD's amazing wisdom and power, arrange everything in place for us to reap our share of His bounty.

Store Up Your Treasures In Heaven

"Store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." 

 Properties, power or popularity - these treasures can be gone in a flash. Calamities, thieves and rivals can wipe them out, and along with them our heart. But neither are we to do good works simply to earn credits for deposit in a spiritual bank. That would save us our own savior, not Jesus. It is less a matter of doing and more of becoming.

 It is about becoming grafted to the mindset and heartbeat of Jesus as shown in His Gospel. Then what we become is what we will do. Let us invest more time and effort in learning and loving Jesus - in the bible study, prayer meetings and Holy Mass. Love for Jesus overflows into love for neighbor and enemy. This investment starts paying off on earth and perpetually in heaven.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread - An Invitation From Our Father

Our Father, "Give us this day our daily bread." (Matthew 6:11)

No parent can ignore the cry of a hungry child. It is a primal plea for life. Even if the child had been misbehaving, a plea for food will not fail "to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons." (Sirach 48:10)

Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gives us His only Son for our endless life (John 3:16, John 3 KJV). Jesus is the bread from heaven given by the Father; whoever eats this Bread will live forever (John 6:58). Family dinners are vital for a united family. There we share the day's events and more importantly, love and reconciliation. 

Our Father invites us daily to the Eucharist Table (Matthew 22:1-4). He desires our reconciliation and to share with Him our life's events and problems. Do you have problems? Come, eat and believe in the Bread from Heaven. Our Father needs our belief to work miracles (Matthew 13:58, MT 13:58).

 

Matthew 6: The Lord's Prayer

What Do We Know Of GOD?

What do we know of GOD? Logic tells us that there has to be a "Causer" of all causes, an "uncaused" cause.

Science tells us that there is an incredibly fine tuning in the development of the universe into the livable place that it is. Art tells us that there is a beauty in nature that no random events can possibly create.

The Bible tells us that:

GOD is the Father, Cause of all life and all that is good; GOD is the Son, the Word who guides and fine-tunes our lives; and GOD is the Holy Spirit who prompts us into the beauty of holiness. GOD's being is a shared community bound by perfect love. We whom He fashioned in His image are called to live and love in the same manner, sharing the wealth of the earth and the joys of heaven.

GOD the Father, GOD the Son and GOD the Holy Spirit. Three Persons in One GOD - equal in majesty, undivided in splendor, One Lord, ever to be adored. Through this, let us remember in our hearts and minds, the feast of the Blessed Holy Trinity.

To know more about the Holy Trinity,
please visit:
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity

The Challenge Of Jesus For Us

"Take care not to perform good deeds for people to praise you." - Matthew 6:1

In today's Gospel, Jesus challenges us to examine the purity of our intentions in serving the Lord.

His humble servant, Mother Teresa, has this beautiful encouragement for us. She said " It's between you and GOD." People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, hidden motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will get some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be frank and honest anyway. If you find happiness and serenity, others will be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good that you do today, people will forget tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Why? Because in the final analysis, all of these is between you and GOD!
It was never between you and them anyway.

The Lord's Mercy - Rich And Everlasting

"Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned." The Lord is rich in mercy and His mercy is everlasting.

On the very day His Son was tortured and killed, the Lord continued to send sunshine, cooling breeze, nourishing food and refreshing water to His Son's killers. "He makes His sun rise on the bad ans the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust." (MT 5:45) 

The Lord even had mercy on Ahab, the most evil man in the Old Testament (1Kings 21:25) and on Saul, the most evil man in the New Testament (1Tm 1:15-16).

When we rebel against Him, the Lord waits patiently for us to allow Him to run to us, throw His arms around us, and give a party in our honor (Lk 15:11-24). The Lord treats us MUCH BETTER than we deserve.

He is merciful....perhaps now, the command of Jesus for us to "Love your enemies" (Today's Gospel) is not so unreasonable after all!

GOD's Heritage Handed Down To Us

Naboth was killed for resisting the tempting offer of evil king Ahab for his land. GOD forbade him to give up his ancestral heritage.

Likewise, Jesus also refused to give up His ancestral heritage, the HOLINESS of His Father in heaven that He brought down to earth. This heritage He also hands down to us: "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other one also....and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." This is our Father's response to our sins. This was Jesus' response towards His torturers during His crucifixion.

As children of GOD, we are also to resist the temptation to instantly strike back an eye for an eye at the slightest offence. Rather, we look at our offender as another child of GOD victimized by Satan and who needs the heritage of a "Second mile," the second chance that GOD gives us daily.

The Inheritance From GOD

"You are my inheritance, O Lord." - Responsorial Psalm

When a parent leaves an inheritance to a child, it is meant to benefit the child, to make his life better. The inheritance we receive from GOD our Father is far more precious than a share of real property or shares of stocks. It is a share of His own divine life - a participation in the life and mission of Jesus. This share is not forced on us, we are invited.

The prophet Elijah is sent by GOD to call Elisha to take over His ministry. Without hesitation, Elisha accepts his new vocation. He leaves the security of his farm and oxen and followed Elijah into a new life of service.

When was the last time GOD sent a friend to invite you to do something for Him? What was your responsorial psalm? The smooth functioning of GOD's kingdom and its delivery of inheritances need our cooperation and punctuality.

The Holy Spirit speaks to us in gentle whisper

God did not come to Prophet Elijah in the mighty windstorm, or in the earthquake, or in the blazing fire. God came to him in a gentle whisper. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in gentle whisper. He does not shout for He does not want the fearful submission of a slave but the sweet yes of a lover.

To prevent us from hearing God, Satan blasts us with many distractions, the most potent of which is sex. Everywhere we look, in billboards, magazines and movies, we see sex. Jesus warns us in the Gospel that this develops into lust and leads to pornography, masturbation, adultery, abortion and end in divorce and destruction of families. Against lust we are powerless.

Let us seek GOD in the solitude of the Blessed Sacrament, the Bible and Confession. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD." And they shall have peaceful lives and happy families.

My Favorite Thoughts On Life

One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts—just mere thoughts—are as powerful as electric batteries—as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live... surprising things can happen to any one who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place.

The Dying Wish Of Jesus

In the Gospel is the dying wish of Jesus. He earnestly desires and prays that all His future believers be one and united. It is a must that the whole world is to kneel before Him.

But today there are 33,000 denominations worldwide, each led by a mini-pope claiming the correct interpretation of the one Bible. This has caused confusion, weakened faith and bred secular ideas that do away with Jesus altogether, that re-define marriage, encourage fruitlessness and kill babies, the buliding blocks of society and the Body of Christ.

Clearly there is a need to follow one living authority. And the logical one is the Church that Jesus created, founded on Peter and promised to preserve forever, that which He told the apostle Paul to strengthen in Rome. 

As Pentecost draws near, let us pray the prayer of Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit for Christian unity.