SIGNATURE IN THE SKY

I love this song. "God's got an army. It's marching through this land. Deliverance is their song. There's healing in their hands. There's everlasting joy and gladness in their hearts. And in this army I've got a part!" When I first heard it I felt like I really want to belong. Well, it is our mission and call. We should really belong. It is nice to know that we are part of a family whom we can call our own and get support from. All of us want to belong to a family which can be a source of inspiration, love and strength. Today's 1st reading tells us that we are blessed that aside from the family that we have been born with we also have a holy family in which we become members of the household of God. Amen. Hallelujah!

Ephesians 2:19-22
19 Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. 21 Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; 22 in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

There is really no more room for doubt and fear for everywhere I turn I can clearly get the message of God. Just turn on God always and He will never forsake nor abandon.
It made so much sense to me when I heard somebody said, "Look up in to the heavens and see the sun, moon and sky. Who can ever deny the greatness of such a creation? Every great artist places their signature in their masterpiece, leaves a mark and fashions a style that is uniquely their own. Our God is holy, mighty, immortal and is also the greatest artist ever known. A long time ago, I heard of this information that the astronomers found out about the universe or the milky way in particular. They reported this unprecedented double helix nebula they saw near center of the Milky Way. To be more specific, it was in March 15, 2006, the date is something I should note of since it is exactly the same date when my mother died only a year after and also the same date of my consecration to the Militia Immaculata (March 15, 2008) It makes it all the more significant for me that at the time I found out about this, I was working on my thesis which deals greatly about the DNA. We all know that all living beings have a DNA which is a double helical structure found inside the cell. What these astronomers found out is just another signature of our Master Creator. Can we try erasing or writing over a signature written in the sky? This can never be denied and by all means can not be tampered. There are certain truths that we sometimes take for granted and even pre-existing conditions that we have become used to that make us immune to God's message to us. We sometimes go astray and tend to be lenient in our principles for the Lord due to the pressures of the modern world we live in. Our values have become loose to the point of succumbing to compromise. We have lost touch of what is truly pleasing before the Lord because of our endless justifications and rationalizations. We come up with all kinds of excuses without realizing that we only fool ourselves. In doing this we can declare ourselves justified through our self righteous acts but never in accordance with God's righteousness. Today's psalm encourages us to truly listen to God's message and never be mistaken. All the things around us echoes God's glory and power which is undeniable and displayed throughout the earth. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5
R: Their message goes out through all the earth.
1 [2] The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. 2 [3] Day pours out the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge. (R) 3 [4] Not a word nora discourse whose voice is not heard; 4 [5] through all the earth their voice resounds, and to the ends of the world, their message.

It should always bring us great joy and pleasure to look back and recall how things happen in our life and how they all connect and make more sense. This is what happens when we pray at all times even without completely getting the whole picture. Time will come when things will take its perfect form and be more clearly presented to us. In today's gospel, Jesus went up to the mountain to pray and spent the night in prayer to God before He chose the Twelve. Jesus demonstrated the importance of prayer before making decisions and coming up with choices. Looking back more than 2,000 years ago, what Jesus did was a very important decision. He appointed the leaders of the Church that still stands to this very day. But we also know that among those He had chosen one of them betrayed Him. Despite of this I don’t think Jesus regretted it because He knows that it was part of the Father’s plan. There is really a need to always connect to God in prayer. There are various ways we can pray to God and we are left with less and less excuses not to pray. Aside from the “as is where is’ option in giving praise and glory to God, today's gospel presents to us a different approach which is to go to the mountain to pray. It is also the feast day of Sts. Simon and Jude. A lot of people may not know it but I named my son Jude after this apostle of Jesus. I have encountered several miracles already in my lifetime through the intercession of this great saint. I would like to honor him for the countless times he has extended his assistance to me and my family ever since I had this devotion to St. Jude Thaddeus, With much confidence and trust I say, St. Jude Thaddeus, pray for us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Luke 6:12-16
12 Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13 When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.