JUDE’S LOYALTY

The 1st reading for today reminded me of my experience in St. Martha's Church when I was just new in the parish in 2008. I was so surprised when I saw the statue of Jesus in St. Martha Church here in West Covina. It was a first Friday of Feb 2008 when I envisioned this statue of Jesus with an extended right arm holding His heart on his hand. Tita Piling was with me then so I asked her if that is a statue of the Sacred Heart because I have never seen anything like one before, but she simply nodded her head. That was how I saw it. It appeared to me like He was handing over His heart to me. But on the day we went for Sunday mass I found out that the image/statue which I envisioned was not how I saw it on that day with Jesus extending his arm offering His heart on his hand. To my surprise when I came closer to the statue, I realized that it is indeed the Sacred Heart of Jesus but not as I had seen it on the 1st Friday of that month. The heart of Jesus was not in His hand but on His chest. I was almost in tears and felt God's love being offered to me as symbolized by His heart held on His extended hand. A lot of people may find it hard to believe that I have seen Jesus holding His heart on His extended hand but the eyes of my faith can not deny it and with that I proclaim God's miracle for His greater glory. Amen. Hallelujah!



Exodus 3:1-6. 9-12
...As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. 3 So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.”


There is no reason for us to even doubt and hold back anything from the Lord for nothing is too difficult for Him. Amen. Hallelujah!


P S A L M

Psalm 103:1b-2. 3-4. 6-7
R: The Lord is kind and merciful.
...Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits...


Matters of the faith are very difficult to accept and understand for some people for they will always question and rationalize things. The vision I had of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is quite difficult to believe. There are some things that can not be explained and we simply have to pray to God to reveal them in our hearts. This is why Jesus in today's gospel emphasized the importance of being like the little children. We, grown ups are always caught up in the cares and concerns of this world that we sometimes forget who really is in charge of everything and tend to overpower God. The same way a child entrusts everything to his/her parents we, too should learn to trust that God our Father will take care of us. We can learn a lot from the children who are full of trust and confidence in their parents. I am suddenly reminded of Jude since he is a product of the Sacred Heart of Jesus miracle. When he was still a little boy, he used to move and act like his father in many ways. There are certain mannerisms that he got from his father even as a little boy which are really noticeable. As he was growing up I noticed that he has this peculiar attitude to his father that I have mistaken as fear since his father is very strict and very much a disciplinarian. There was one time when I was so irritated with his father and started venting out my anger verbally. I never expected that Jude who was very young at that time would say, "You are always angry at my father." He really sounded like he was in favor of his father and I never forgot that. Despite the many times that his father exercised rigid discipline on them which I thought was too rough, he remained loyal to his father. It made me realize that all the while what I thought was fear was really respect. If we will only learn the secret of the childlike then we can surely acquire the wisdom of God. If we always maintain in us a high level of confidence in God who is our loving Father then we are never far from achieving it. May we acquire the trusting attitude of the children and continue to discover the wonders of God’s love. Amen. Hallelujah!


Matthew 11:25-27
25 At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.