GOD’S CHILDREN

A promise is a promise. Surely our God knows how to keep and fulfill it because he is God. No one can deny that God has done great things for all of us and is displayed throughout the universe. Whenever we look at all the things around us and really fix in our heart the truth that there is none like our God then we are safe and secure in His loving care. Just remember that we are bound to keep the statutes and commandments of the Lord God and everything else will follow. Amen. Hallelujah!


Deuteronomy 4:32-34. 39-40
...Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of?...This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other. 40 You must keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today, that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may have long life on the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever.”


God's power is beyond our full comprehension. He is Holy, Mighty, Immortal and Infinitely Great. Did it ever occur to you how all these things that surround us, from the skies, to the mountains, plains, the seas, the wind, all the heavenly bodies above, the things down below, all the creatures of the earth especially us, human beings came to be. Not a single theory about creation could suffice and would ever satisfy the wonders and marvelous things that God has done. Just thinking about all these things should make us always put our hope in Him, feel confident and assured that we are safe under His care, to help us from all our problems and shield us from all harm. Amen. Hallelujah!


P S A L M

Psalm 33:4-5. 6. 9. 18-19. 20. 22 (12b)
R: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
...By the word of the LORD the heavens were made; by the breath of his mouth all their host. 9 For he spoke, and it was made; he commanded, and it stood forth. (R) 18 See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness,19 to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine. (R) 20 Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and our shield. 22 May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us who have put our hope in you. (R)...


Today’s 2nd reading reminds me of this person who told me that God uses people, actions, events and thoughts that suddenly flash in our mind in order to convey a message to us. It was at that trying moment in my life when she said not to be afraid. She said that the challenges we face can be viewed as God’s way of trying to become closer to us. The circumstances and difficulties we are encountering right now are just tools that God uses for us to realize that we are predestined or called by God to serve him. To fulfill this, there is a need for us to undergo purification and keep in mind that the suffering of our present life cannot be compared with the glory that will be revealed and given to us. Whatever decisions we have to make or crossroads we are confronted with that needs discernment which road to take we must always be in touch with the reality that we are the children of God. Amen. Hallelujah!

Romans 8:14-17
14 Brothers and sisters: Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “ Abba, Father!”...


We see in today's gospel the divine power of Jesus Christ. He ascended into heaven and is now seated in the throne at right hand of the Father. He has passed from death to another life beyond time and space after His resurrection. The risen body of Christ was not recognized immediately by Mary Magdalene and the disciples on the road to Emmaus. His appearance was different in the resurrection from His earthly presence. His humanity has entered into the glory of God. He was filled by the power of the Holy Spirit and sharing in the divine light of God's glory. He is fully present in the spiritual realm of the God the Father. Something of course that He has from the very beginning since He shares in God's full divinity. He just wanted to share this glory to us. He has entered into the glory of God to inspire us, the faithful to offer our homage and adoration. The glory of God that appears and disappears can only be discovered in the realm of faith. He is inspiring faith in each one of us. His resurrection has reached its full significance in this salvific event, His triumph and victory over sin and death. We remember that He was condemned to death for claiming that He was the Son of God. With His resurrection, He is confirmed and raised by the Father. Not raised like Lazarus who died again but He is raised never to die again. He said that when He is lifted up we would know that He is the Son of God and confirms His claim about His divinity. He has defeated sin and death. We are truly free. His resurrection is the principle and source of our resurrection. He is the source of new life for everyone and manifests our adoption as children of God. He is life itself. It is a hope that inspires faith and charity in us towards Him. He is the source of life and our future resurrection. He dwells in our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the mystery we come in contact with in the resurrection. In the ascension we see an even greater or another difference in the veiled glory of the risen one and that of Christ ascended into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, who is His Father and our Father. Remember He said to Mary "Do not touch me as I have yet not ascended to the Father." As He ascended in the clouds and into heaven we look upon the full glory of God. The clouds symbolizes the fullness of glory as we recall in the Old Testament the clouds that descends in Mt. Sinai and the Transfiguration (Lk. 9:35) in the New Testament. These speak of the fullness of glory. The resurrection and ascension, all confirm that Jesus Christ is alive. Pope Benedict XVI says that the ascension does not imply a temporary absence in the world but rather inaugurated the new, definitive and insuppressible form of His presence by virtue of His participation in the royal power of God. We find in today's gospel that Jesus told them that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him. This has inspired and empowered them as they became His witnesses and told the world of what He has done. In this communion with Jesus and in His power over death, to resurrect and ascend into heaven, we too have the power to proclaim what He has done for us. We all have the mission to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ in whatever way we can by our actions, love and words. Jesus gives to us His Holy Spirit and He hands over to us everything that He is. Each one of us has his or her own calling and it is well to know what God is asking us to do. In whatever it is that we do we can well be assured of the truth that He will always confirm it through accompanying signs. We would know deep in our hearts whatever it is that God wants us to do. No matter how big or small the task may be God will never leave us groping in the dark and will always hold us by the hand to guide and enlighten us in the path that He wants us to take. Amen. Hallelujah!

Matthew 28:16-20
16 The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped, but they doubted. 18 Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age .”