YUMMY!

I can still remember my son, Jude when he was still a kid, during mealtimes we usually make a scene at home. It will take hours before he can finish his food. As a child he preferred to eat sweets like chocolate and ice cream but when it comes to real healthy food that a growing child is supposed to eat he simply refused to eat them. It was a very tedious task back then when I had to utilize all tactics in order to make him eat. Somehow I felt that God our Father feels the same way because He wants what's best for us but we sometimes refuse to follow and fail to understand that it will always be for our own good.

Ezekiel 2:8–3:48 The Lord God said to me: As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you, be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.

We've got to realize that there is nothing more delicious than the food God is offering us. We need to make sure that what we sought and yearn for, is what should bring us genuine riches, true delight and the most precious treasure which the world can not give and only God can bring about. Amen. Hallelujah! 

Psalm 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131

R: How sweet to my taste is your promise!

14 In the way of your decrees I rejoice, as much as in all riches. (R) 24 Yes, your decrees are my delight; they are my counselors. (R) 72 The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (R) 103 How sweet to my palate are your promises, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (R) 111 Your decrees are my inheritance forever; the joy of my heart they are. (R) 131 I gasp with open mouth in my yearning for your  commands

God is assuring us that there is no need to be afraid because He directs us always to the right path and if ever we are led astray He constantly searches for us to lead us back to Him. We should remain eternally trusting in our faith in God as a child is with his/her parents. It is faith that must become the foundation of all that we do. God wants to clearly make a stress on this point that He is always with us and knows our deepest thoughts and concerns. If we are just going to look back and recall all the things that have happened in our life then we can never deny the presence of guardian angels as spoken of in today's gospel. There is this very interesting detail I read with regards to the instinctual behavior of oriental breed sheep whenever they get lost. According to this study, upon sensing such a misfortune, they stop their frantic wandering and just stay still. Instead of searching the right way on their own, they prefer to sit still and just wait instead until they are found by the shepherd. This somehow explains how Jesus in today's parable left the 99 in search of the astray. In our own lives we, too experience being lost and led astray. Sometimes we are too wrapped up in our problems and miseries that we just kept on searching for ways and means to get out of it. The more we do this the more exhausted we become and the less likely we find a solution. God our Father and Good Shepherd knows exactly what we are going through and He already figured out what to do. Instead of relying on our own efforts which are obviously no match for God's plan and design we might as well stop our frantic wandering and just stay still if we want God to find us. Another interesting message in today's gospel reading is the fact that the quantity is irrelevant and looks after every person for God cares for each one of us. God wants to put emphasis on this point that He is always with us and knows our deepest thoughts and concerns. Jesus makes all things possible for we are adopted sons and daughters of God.

Amen. Hallelujah!

Matthew 18:1-5. 10. 12-14

...“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” 12 Jesus said to his disciples: “What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? 13 And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. 14 In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”