OUR DESTINY

Today's 1st reading tells us that we are to live the covenant and at its heart are the statutes and decrees spoken of by Moses. If we live the heart of the covenant then we could take possession of the Land. This land is a foreshadowing of heaven. Right now we take the land interiorly as we receive communion, we become one with Christ. Jesus is in communion with God the Father and we take communion with Christ. What faith confesses, the sacraments communicate. Baptism makes us sons of God. We see in scriptures, that we have the right to become children of God. As in 2 Peter 1:3-4, "His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power. Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire." He has granted His precious and magnificent promises for us to be partakers of the divine nature. Also in Col 2:12 You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Baptism makes us sharers of the divine mystery. In Romans 8:14-17, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, 3 Father!" The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” We share in the very destiny of Jesus. We live out this call that we’ve been given. We are called by God and destined for God. We are called to beatitude to take possession of the land and to lay hold of the beatific vision of the light. We have the dignity as human persons and are moved by grace to direct ourselves to this fulfillment. It is by our act of choice and the grace. It is our duty to develop an informed conscience and also through revelation. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1849) Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as "an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law." It violates eternal law, reason, humanity and our dignity as children of God. Amen. Hallelujah!

Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
1 Moses spoke to the people and said: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.


Psalms 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20
R: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs his word! 16 He spreads snow like wool; frost he strews like ashes.

Jesus is very clear in today’s gospel that He has come not to abolish but to fulfill the law. He comes in obedience to the Father and lives it perfectly. We fall into this vicious cycle of believing in Jesus and still continue to sin. He did not come to overturn but to fulfill the law. We are to avoid sin and do good. We trust ourselves to the mercy of God. Though, we still grow as we struggle with sin. We must humble and renew ourselves in charity. Lent is the time for conversion of our life to goodness. We should assess ourselves. Are we become holier as we struggle against sins? Are we moving away from sins of our predominant fall? What sins do we usually repeat in our confession? Are we struggling and fighting against it? What do our friends and families remind us of? How do we worship? How is our moral life? Is it lived in the whole pillar dedicated to the commandments? Our personal sin is the enemy that we’re fighting. Our pitfall is that we’re trying to change the external all the time. The other people around us and the situation instead of looking at the battle we have to find in ourselves. The usual loophole is our covetousness towards our neighbor’s goods. It comes up in different forms, these desires that is not in harmony with reason. It is the concupiscence and lust of the flesh. Lust is a huge epidemic and problem to live the 6th & 9th commandment. We need help and God’s grace. We need chastity and appeal to Him for that grace. We should avoid near occasions that cause us to sin. It’s in the heart so we have to make the radical approach not to let it enter our heart. We need to work on the purity of heart in order to see God face to face when our time comes. We are called to be like Him and see our brothers and sisters as children of God. We also have to fight our desires to have more and more. The more we have the more secured we are. There is this deep tendency in us to place our security in things and people. We are always confronted with the temptation to do predominant work in our life and pull us away from God. It scatters our energies and focus to do something to build up our esteem pride and ego. We tend to desire to control others, call the shots and not to submit to God. We need to seek His direction and His will. It should be the trajectory of our life, to prefer God over everything else. When we lack security then we should cling to God. Whatever sin it is that defeat us, we should make a firm and conscious effort to get out of our selfishness, go to others, fight sin and appeal to God for grace. Amen. Hallelujah!


Matthew 5:17-19
17 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”