GOD’S CHAMPION

The knowledge of God is encompassing and strives to reach the height and depth of God's unfathomable love. Abraham is the 1st recipient of God's revelation of Himself to mankind. He is considered as one of the Patriarchs to whom God chose to establish his covenant. Salvation history tells us of God's faithful love and continues to restore and bring back the broken relationship of God and man. It was through Abraham's total surrender to God's will to offer his son Isaac that he foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb of God. It is true that God started to reveal Himself to us through Abraham and the ultimate revelation was in Jesus His only begotten Son. The victimhood of Jesus to conquer evil not by slaying evil but by allowing Himself to be killed is the height of God's love. It should always be a treasure embedded in our hearts. Amen. Hallelujah!


Genesis 22:1-19
1 God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar. 5 Then he said to his servants: “Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you.” 6 Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. 7 As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. “Father!” he said. “Yes, son,” he replied. Isaac continued, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?” 8 “Son,” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust.” Then the two continued going forward. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar. 10 Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. 12 “Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger. “Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.” 13 As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the site Yahweh- yireh; hence people now say, “On the mountain the LORD will see.” 15 Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven 16 and said: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, 17 I will bless you abundantly…

We’ve got to straighten up some things about God. Who He is and what He wants for our life. What is our picture of God? It’s not surprising to know that most of us think that God doesn’t want us to have fun. It’s like all the things that we want to do with our friends that are interesting and exciting when we were young are against God’s commandments. It may seem like we have to settle for less. What’s worse is that all the faithful Catholics get less out of life. This is part of the propaganda way back in the Garden of Eden. God gave us a magnificent paradise wherein there is perfect intimacy and no shame with each other. In the Garden they have everything they need but gave just one limit, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is very interesting because God said, “Don’t do this because you will die.” The reason why God commands us something is because He is a loving Father who cares for us. He wants us to have the best. But then came the serpent, he didn’t create Adam & Eve, nor gave the garden or anything at all. All the serpent gave was a lie and told Adam & Eve not to listen to God or they’ll lose out and won’t become like God. They were made to believe that God is holding out something from them and is actually their rival because God doesn’t want them to have what He has. So instead of trusting the one who gave them everything, they trusted a stranger. They disobeyed God and listened to the liar. They were hooked into a downward spiral of destruction. This is what sin is all about. It is a trap. It is disguised as an apparent good because the fruit looks good and desirable but it ends in disaster. The relationship with God is messed up and so creation turned against them, thorns and thistles appear and things in life become hard. This is what sin does, it seemed small but it gets out of control. Things get worse and worse and there are broken lives everywhere. This is the reality about sin. We are draining life out of ourselves unless we recognize the One, True and Living God. Amen. Hallelujah!

P S A L M

Psalms 115:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
R: I will walk in the presence of the Lord, in the Land of the living.
1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name give glory because of your kindness, because of your truth. 2 Why should the pagans say, “Where is their God?” (R) 3 Our God is in heaven; whatever he wills, he does. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the handiwork of men. (R) 5 They have mouths but speak not; they have eyes but see not; 6 they have ears but hear not; they have noses but smell not. (R) 8 Their makers shall be like them, everyone that trusts in them. 9 The house of Israel trusts in the LORD; he is their help and their shield. (R)

The problem is that there is a great propaganda out there. It makes sin appear with all its fun, excitement and glamour. It makes virtue appear boring, lame, bland and unexciting. But the truth of the matter is, it’s not. The pleasures that God created in this world are enjoyed the most by those who don’t abuse them and use it simply. Who do we think enjoys food most? The person who doesn’t know how to fast and engorges all the time or a person after a fast experiences a feast? The virtuous person enjoys life the most. The person who uses creation and all things according to God’s plan enjoys it the most. It is because pleasure is God’s idea. All the good things in the world that people want are God’s idea. Satan can’t invent even one bit of pleasure. But God commands them to be used so that it leads to life and a part of life is joy. The way to enjoy life is to follow God’s commands. Life is not all about rules and regulations. God did not just give us a bunch of rules and regulations that we are supposed to obey like machines. What we do does not just proceed from who we are but also makes us who we are. The actions we engage, the words that we say and the things that we do have an impact on us. We are making ourselves all the time. God created us when we came out of the womb, our mothers and father have a great role in that but our creation continues every single day of our lives. We’re even becoming someone more beautiful, mature and stronger or someone weaker and more despicable. There’s no middle ground. We’re going one way or another. Life leads either to heaven or to hell. That’s what the acts that we commit do. Virtuous acts build in us strength. The word virtue comes from the word manly which is strength and power. Virtue is a habit that makes it easy and pleasurable to do the right thing. Golden virtue isn’t always easy. It is hard. But what is vice, it is a habit that makes it easy to do the wrong and evil thing. Let’s take exercise as an example. People make it their New Year’s resolution and people who go to the gym noticed that it’s packed on January but they’re gone by the 3rd week. If we’ve ever engaged in an exercise program for the first time, we know that we feel bad, tired, exhausted and wake up sore. This is because we do not have the habit of exercise. We have not trained and our bodies are not used to it. It hurts and it’s hard the first time we work out. If we persevere past the first few weeks and developed a habit of regular exercise then we end up getting used to it and become easy that when we don’t exercise we feel bad. What happens is that we build up the power or the virtue. We’ve conditioned ourselves so that it becomes second nature to us. If we want a progressive course we need to do something hard. No pain no gain. The next time we work out we add up a little bit more since we are stronger. We can move forward and grow in our ability to lift weights. This is the deal. The actions we do have an impact of what we are. It’s like when we start lifting weights we start to change and look different. We look like someone who has strength, power and endurance. This is the point, God is about building champions. The goal of the Christian life is to build champions. Well, not necessarily athletic champions but spiritually. A real champion in every aspect of life. God wants us to be strong, loving, wise and to have the power to live. It’s not so much what we do that counts but it’s who we become. That’s what the commandments, teachings and God is all about.


Heaven is the realization of being a champion. In heaven we will be glorified magnificently. We will live forever with strength, power and beauty sharing a new humanity with Jesus. What about hell? Let’s look what vice is about. A habit that instead of building up, deteriorates us. It starts small just like exercise. There was a guy named Ted Bundy, who was executed in the State of Florida for horrible sexual crimes, murder and all sorts of perversion. He was sorry for what he did. He didn’t ask for mercy but he warned people before he died. He was interviewed and narrated how did this road begin. It began with looking at pornographic books which incited in him the wrong kind of attitude towards other human beings and the opposite sex. It became in his mind, instruments and play things. One thing led to another and just gradually led him to murder, rape and all sorts of horrible things. That’s the way it is with every sin. Sins that we commit are traps and tricks that will lead us to habits and patterns of behavior that will change us. When we tell the first lie we may not be a liar yet but it makes a lot more prone to lie again. We start with kids maybe stealing a pack of candies from the store. If we don’t stop that, the next time it will be bigger. Maybe for teens it may be something like breaking in to a house and steal things. It just keeps on going and it becomes easier and easier to do more horrible things. Then we become a thief, an unjust person with just one little act. There’s a little thing that illustrates all these. Sow a thought, reap an act, sow an act, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap a lifestyle, sow a lifestyle, reap a destiny. It all begins with a decision or thought, an act and then it becomes a pattern. It has dared us to become who we are. There are 7 habits that have been identified for the last 2000 years that will lead us to success, excellence in every aspect of human life and holiness. The most important of human life is our relationship with God. But every other aspect like our relationship with other people, family, the way we are in the work place and all these things are governed by these 7 habits, patterns or qualities. These habits we can find in scriptures and see it in the life of saints. Even before God begin to reveal Himself to His people in Israel, human nature is smart and wise enough to see some things on its own. We, Catholics believe that God gave human beings reason although it sometimes gets darkened by sin but still human reason can figure out some things. One of the things that human beings figure out without God having to reveal it, is that human beings need to meet 4 qualities to be deemed a human being. The philosopher, before even Plato, Aristotle and Socrates, had this figured out. We find it mentioned in Wisdom 8:7, the 4 virtues or qualities are also called the hinge virtues because it is where all the other virtues or qualities of good people would hinge. The word cardinal means hinge. The Cardinals who surround the Pope are the doorway to the Pope. They are also the ones whom he rely the most for advice. Everything else depends on the cardinal virtues. (Prudence or wisdom, justice, temperance and courage or fortitude) Prudence is the ability to make right decisions in complex situations. Decisions that lead to the best and right thing. Without this we can be in big trouble. We’ve got to be able to decide in a situation that we’re in what the right thing to do which is the best thing to do. How do we get something done? There are some folks who probably just can’t figure out what to do. There are other folks who look at the problem and they can figure out a solution. It’s a core and they execute that core. It’s practical wisdom. We’ll find in the Book of Proverbs a lot of things about wisdom even in Sirach, Ecclesiastes and all the wisdom literature in scriptures. We can also find all the other 3 cardinal virtues, like justice which means giving each person his or her due. We all know even as kids instinctively how important justice is. The first thing that a kid cries out as soon as he learns how to talk if he has brothers and sisters is “Not fair, he got more than I did” or “You ask me to do more than what that person is doing.” This is because we have instinctively or natively offensive justice. Each person has rights and ought to get their due. There’s also another part of justice that we forget, that is, we have obligations and duties to everyone. A person who is unjust is not a good person. To be just, we need to control our passions. Temperance is a virtue that balances and controls our passions. It is like controlling our desire for that last piece of cake if we know that it belongs to our sister. In order to be just, we’ve got to control our appetites. Make our appetites come into line with justice, truth and goodness. We’ve got to have that balance in our life in order to be a good and effective person. Temperance makes this happen. We also have to be courageous. If we are not courageous then every time a difficulty arises we’re going to shrink back. If there’s any danger involved in doing the right, just and wise thing then we’re just going to crack out and find an excuse because we’re afraid. Courage or fortitude helps us to master fear and not let fear keep us from doing what’s right. We’ve got have all these things but here’s the problem. When Adam & Eve decided to sin they let loose a weakness into our race and nature that impacts all of us. We call it original sin. Sin is not so original, we just copy what other people have done. There’s nothing creative about sin. Adam & Eve’s sin was the only original sin. What they did has an impact on us. By weakening their own nature, sin weakened man’s nature. They passed on to us a weakened nature. They separated themselves and the whole human race from friendship with God and were born into that. There’s a tendency in our nature to go on a downward drift, a drift off course and a tendency to a great degree is dealt with through grace. How do we get grace? Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has made possible for us, healing of our humanity. He gives us other gifts, faith, hope and charity that make it possible for us to really have wisdom, justice, temperance and courage. Without faith, hope and charity in this life, no one can really become truly wise.
All throughout human history we see people who exercise these gifts. They may not be Christians, deeply spiritual people, or in a state of grace and can exercise some of these potentials here and there. But ultimately original sin means we are going to sin seriously and mess up. We need God’s grace for those 4 great virtues to be perfected. Faith, hope and charity are supernatural. These are things that human beings would never know that they need or could have without God giving them supernaturally that’s why they are called the theological virtues. We only know about them through divine revelation and we couldn’t know about them by reason. We can only have them through God’s grace. The theological virtues, faith, hope and charity are the crown of the first 4 cardinal virtues that transform and make them possible. God doesn’t want us just to be whole human beings and restore us to what Adam & Eve were when they blew it in the Garden. God wants us to be more than that. He wants to elevate our human nature and divinize it. He wants us to share in His own Divine nature. Charity is all about loving with God’s love. Loving as the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity love each other and sharing in that goes way beyond human nature. This is an incredible thing and call. It was only possible because God became man and we can share in his virtue. This is what the real Catholic life is all about. It’s not just about making it or going to heaven by the skin of your teeth after struggling. It’s about growing in holiness and becoming like Jesus all throughout our life, a champion not without struggles. As a matter of fact without the struggles we can never become a champion. But with victory and excellence not with hopelessness, despair and frustration. This is God’s desire for us which is a fantastic calling. The power to do this is given to us. It is by knowing the virtues and the habits of a champion. Amen. Hallelujah!


Matthew 9:1-8
… “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.” 3 At that, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” 4 Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts? 5 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” 7 He rose and went home. 8 When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to men.