In the daily readings these past few days there seems to be violence and merciless killing of those people who are faithful to God and His commands. In today's 1st reading there is a sudden shift in this trend when all of a sudden Matatthias a person with great faith in God was the one on the offensive. He took arms and even killed somebody in defense of His faith. If there's one thing impressed on my mind based on this reading that is the need to take action and be full of courage. If we are confident in God whose All Powerful and Almighty then we should reflect that in ourselves and remove all traces of fear. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves if we are unable to follow what the Lord commands us in His laws given to us through the church. If Mattathias fought hard for his faith during that severe time of trial and hardship for the people of God, all the more should we be able to stand firm in our faith at this present time when we are free to exercise our faith in God without fearing for our lives. Mattathias eliminated the enemy of his faith and every time I encounter this bible passage it reminds me of Hendrie. I could never forget the time when he told me how critical the condition of my laptop was being in the point of crashing that could have affected my hard drive which was definitely not good news. This incident is also related to the healing mass I attended at St. Christopher officiated by Fr. Joseph Magdaong because it was at that exact day too when I turned over my laptop to Hendrie for him to fix it. This is why this sharing always go hand in hand with his homily about a tailor who is about to die. This tailor was asking his loved ones to bring before him his key to heaven. At first they were confused as to what key he is referring to but later on find out being a tailor that it was his needle that he considers his key to heaven. This made me say that I consider my laptop as my key to heaven. When my laptop was assailed with very harmful viruses that rendered it unserviceable, it was Hendrie whom I thought of asking help at the time I got very scared upon finding out that the virus of my laptop was a lot worse than the one that he fixed before and could have caused irreversible damage so when he broke the good news that it's back in good shape that was when I thought of considering Hendrie as the fixer of my key to heaven and also called him Mattathias who eliminated and tore down all threats and viruses of my key to heaven. Amen. Hallelujah!
1 Maccabees 2:15-29
15 The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices. 16 Many of Israel joined them, but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart...Mattathias answered in a loud voice: “Although all the Gentiles in the king’s realm obey him, so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers and consents to the king’s orders, 20 yet I and my sons and my kinsmen will keep to the covenant of our fathers. 21 God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments. 22 We will not obey the words of the king nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree.” 23 As he finished saying these words, a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein according to the king’s order. 24 When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal; his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused; he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar. 25 At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar...
God saves. There is no question about that but we have to also be diligent in fulfilling our part of the bargain. This reminds me of the vow I have made when it was impressed to me way back Oct. 7, 2007 in the reading from Book of Habakkuk 1,2-3.2,2-4. “Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.”
From then on I've been writing daily reflections that can be read by everybody and to my surprise it has become integrated in my daily activities. As time and days go by, a lot of things started to unfold before me, most especially the enormous message contained in that prophecy in Habbakuk. This has given me inspiration and joy to continue doing it. Praise the Lord. Amen. Hallelujah!
P S A L M
Psalm 50:1b-2. 5-6. 14-15
R: To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
...“Offer to God praise as your sacrifice and fulfill your vows to the Most High; 15 then call upon me in time of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me.”
We sometimes wonder why things happen unexpectedly in our lives like we have no clue that it's going to happen. But there are times when we could have known for sure that it certainly was headed our way but we were just too busy minding other things that it just faded in the background and we failed to recognize that very critical hour of our visitation. As stated in Companion we must not take for granted the grace of God when it is offered to us, as our refusal always will have dire consequences. We should always place God in the center of our lives. It should not be a surprise at all if we only take with great seriousness the message being conveyed to us in today's gospel. Once again I am reminded by the participation of a mentally challenged person who regularly attends Wednesday evening mass with his caregiver who happens to be a member of the choir. In spite of his mental disabilities he still managed to mumble some words as he tried to keep up with the singing in the choir and the responses all throughout the mass. Although he is unable to receive Holy Communion, he still eagerly lined up as he was given a blessing by the communion minister. I know that in God's infinite goodness and mercy, He still looks with so much love, compassion and understanding at this man. He may be mentally incapable of knowing the things going on around him during the mass but it doesn't stop God from loving him just the same. So when we are confronted with our incapacities and shortcomings let us not be hindered by it and still go to God no matter how we may look or appear before others. A mentally disabled man is free of any liability that has something to do with any exercise of the mind due to his condition but we who are mentally sound and given the full capacity of the use of our minds will have to measure up to it for us not to end up in a miserable, pitiful and weepful situation. We may end up saying a mental retard is better off than we are if such will be the case. God is weeping for us, for there is really a need for us to answer His call and take responsibility for our actions lest we lose time and forfeit it. Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 19:41-44
41 As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. 44 They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
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