DEFEAT GOLIATH

Today’s 1st reading is about the story of David and Goliath. Everybody knows from the beginning that it was a mismatch and judging from the standard of this world, David does not stand a chance against Goliath. The same is true with our giant problems and concerns in life. If we will just look back and recall the tough times that we've been through then we can now just laugh it off and shrug our shoulders but way back then was a different scenario. We sometimes wonder how we were able to go through that kind of ordeal. If like David we entrust all our battles to the Lord then victory shall be ours. We may not be living during that time when the Israelites were confronted with giants but we in our own lifetime are also faced with our own Goliath? We need to take courage! We have to make a decision to go up against very scary giant Philistines in our life. It may be in the form of a physical ailment, a financial burden, an emotional hurt or any other type of problem that the people of our world are confronted daily. Nothing could bring us down for the God who saved David from the clutches of Goliath is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Amen. Hallelujah!

1 Samuel 17:32-33, 37, 40-51
32 David spoke to Saul: “Let your majesty not lose courage. I am at your service to go and fight this Philistine.” 33 But Saul answered David, “You cannot go up against this Philistine and fight with him, for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior from his youth.” 37 David continued: “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will also keep me safe from the clutches of this Philistine.” Saul answered David, “Go! the LORD will be with you.”...Today the LORD shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will leave your corpse and the corpses of the Philistine army for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; thus the whole land shall learn that Israel has a God. 47 All this multitude, too, shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he shall deliver you into our hands.” ...

We too, can defeat the giant problems we are facing right now. Let us not limit God's power for the bigger our problem is and the more it is heightened by its difficulty the more God's glory is revealed. It is only right that we entrust everything to God for we have a giant God. If at the present time we are encountering so many trials and difficulties in life then consider everything as preparation for the victory God has reserved for all of us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 144:1b, 2, 9-10
R: Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
...who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war. (R) 2 My refuge and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I trust, who subdues peoples under me. (R) 9 O God, I will sing a new song to you; with a ten-stringed lyre I will chant your praise, 10 you who give victory to kings, and deliver David, your servant the evil sword. (R)

Today’s gospel wanted us to realize a very important and essential matter in following God’s commands. We may all know the 10 commandments but do we truly know them by heart and abide by them in the Spirit of God. Sometimes we are too preoccupied by the letter of the law and have a tendency to neglect what truly matters, the spirit of the law which is love. There should be no room for any doubt that God speaks to us through our daily circumstances. We can never deny that there are moments when we hesitate to do something, hold back or question the reason for a certain act. It is very consoling to know that we have a God who knows exactly what we are going through. If we come to Him for guidance and direction, He will surely not lead us astray. In the gospel a question arises, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Sometimes there are instances in our lives when we are confronted by a dilemma. Whether we do something or not is always a question that we need to face daily. We find in the gospel that Jesus was so disappointed with how the people responded and reacted to the miraculous healing that took place. It is easier to understand when people react badly in response to an assault but to something like restoring a sick person to health it's kind of weird but we also have to accept that there are times when we act weird. Let's always hope and pray that we will always be guided by Jesus to respond in a naturally good and charitable way. There are times when we have a tendency to put God in a box. We have a specific mindset about life in relation to God that we end up with our own narrow concept of how we are to conduct ourselves as Christians and followers of our Lord Jesus. What's worse is that we sometimes can't keep our imperfect ways to ourselves and project it to others. Sometimes we distort whatever is stated in the law to our advantage or over rationalize it and blow it out of proportion. This is where the gift of wisdom comes in. We ought to think, feel and see the way God does. Only by truly acquiring a mind and heart that is fashioned and designed like that of the Lord can we truly and sincerely understand the law of the Lord. We can also read in the gospel that Jesus looked at them with anger because of the hardness of their hearts. The Herodians and the Pharisees were great enemies at the time of Jesus but we saw how they conspired to put Jesus to death. All His works point to His Divine Kingship and the Pharisees were jealous. The reason behind this is the fact that Jesus lowers the prestige of the Pharisees before the people by healing the sick. He showed His Divine nature through this miracle done on a Sabbath. It is still happening nowadays, when people who live lives centered on Jesus and His teachings are still being persecuted. It is written in John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” Let us not lose heart for if we are faithful to Jesus and everything He stands for then we can share in His great glory that has come for all eternity. Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 3:1-6
...He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. 5 Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.