We really have to
grow up! We're no longer kids who need to be told the opposite. Reverse
psychology sometimes work especially on children aged 2-4 who are said to be
going through the negativity stage but we know that we can do better than that.
As mature individuals we find it insulting if somebody will tell us to do the
exact opposite of what they want us to do. God would always give us the right
instructions and would not resort to giving the opposite. God respects us and
will always treat us with dignity. So let us decide to act in accordance to
this. Nothing in this world can be more rewarding than what the 1st reading
tells us today. There are so many things we can benefit a lot from but they are
quick fixes and do not last long. Somehow we can always derive something out of
our efforts or things could be worse when we totally get nothing out of it in
cases when we mess up things. If the case is that we were able to get something
out of it, whether it is there to stay a little while or longer and satisfy us
fully or not could never be answered unless we first commit to God and do
exactly as we are told below. We live in a very harsh, tough and competitive
world which is no doubt very imperfect and the best thing that we can do is to work for things that do not perish unlike all the other things in this world
and hold on to God who is perfect. Amen. Hallelujah!
Micah 6: 1-4, 6-8
You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD
requires of you: Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with
your God...You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires
of you: Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your
God.
There are moments in our life when things happen to us and
we feel that God is touching us in a special way. It seems so obvious that God
is speaking to us in a variety of ways through our situations and
circumstances. Today’s psalm reading tells us something very specific. It says
that God will not just make us feel that we can somehow conclude that He is
trying to communicate something to us but really show and demonstrate to the
upright His saving power. Sometimes we insist on doing things our way and more
often than not we end up in trouble. It's about time we realize that there is
no other way but the Lord's way. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 50:5-6, 8-9, 16bc-17, 21, 23
R: To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
...“Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant
with your mouth, 17 though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?”
(R) 21 “When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it? Or do you think that I
am like yourself? I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes. 23 He
that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me; and to him that goes the right
way I will show the salvation of God.”
Have we become an evil and unfaithful generation? We tend to
doubt some things unless we have proof. What God expects of us is to believe
even in the midst of uncertainty. Let us just focus on the truth that God will always
give what's best for us. If we maintain an open communication line with God,
there is indeed no more need for proof and sign. Everything that happens to us
should be considered as God’s way of calling us to Himself. We must not be
doubtful or unbelieving anymore like the scribes and Pharisees in today’s
gospel. What could be greater than the sign of God’s infinite love for us,
Jesus who became man, suffered, died and resurrected for our sake. The gospel also
reminds us once again of the sign of Jonah. Whatever signs or significant
meaning it remind us of or could be none at all, there's something to learn
here which we must all come to know. Fr. Tony's said in his teachings that
Jonah is an entertaining lesson of the great capacity of people to do good and evil.
Even the Ninevites or our enemies for that matter can still be a source of
goodness since repentance and salvation is not a monopoly. We must not lose
sight of God's image of love and mercy first before that of a just and a
punishing God. Sometimes we tend to label people as hopeless or just like Jonah
who was very prejudiced against the Ninevites. And we can't blame him for they
can be considered as enemies of their race and an adulterous and filthy nation
incapable of change and conversion. This
is why Jonah is also a pointed message to all "righteous/holier-than-thou
people" that if an evil, good for nothing and messed-up Nineveh
can put on ashes/sackcloth" and repent, more so can a "God knowing,
fearing, righteous and good Jerusalem ."
This time instead of always looking at those people who hurt us or in our
opinion do not measure up, let us try to look at ourselves, who claim to
believe and follow God if we are able to recognize the very signs that God send
us every day in every event that is happening in our own lives. We need not
look any further for we ourselves and the daily circumstance is more than
enough sign that we need not ask for more.
Like Jonah who refused to bring the good news to the Ninevites since he
felt that he would just be endangering his life by doing so. Although it was a
legitimate concern knowing how cruel and barbaric the Ninevites were during
that time he finally obeyed after so much resistance. Sometimes we are like
Jonah, too, when we resist and refuse to do what God is telling us to do since
we are so fearful and maybe traumatized. This happens when we like Jonah
already know that he had to face a people capable of great evil and in the same
manner have to face someone whom we know is capable of hurting us or has
already caused us a great source of pain and trauma that we feel like we don't
even want to see or talk with them anymore or just fight back. We may already
know who or what the "Ninevites or Nineveh" in our lives are, and no
matter what it is, there are times when somehow we've got to follow Jonah's
example. We have to brave through our fears by not running away from it, do the
right thing and be the sign. Just like
any other sign or symptom, our thoughts, words and actions should be pointing
to just one greater sign which is to be tested and confirmed positive to have
J-E-S-U-S in our lives. Amen. Hallelujah!
Matthew 12:38-42
Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher,
we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 He said to them in reply, “An evil and
unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the
sign of Jonah the prophet. 40 Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three
days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights. 41 At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and
condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is
something greater than Jonah here...
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