Men and women are always trying to unravel the secrets of
how to look young and stay healthy. Scientists are working doubly hard to
discover something that will reverse or arrest the aging process or find cure
for certain illnesses and diseases. If the question is how to stay fresh amidst
the harsh conditions we are in and still bear fruit, look no further for the
answer is in today's 1st reading although it also contains a very unpopular
part of Jeremiah’s prophecy. Everything we need has always been provided for by
the Lord and all we have to do is follow His instructions to us. It is just
right and proper that we constantly consult the word of God in order for us to
not be led astray. The battle between good and evil is on and does not rest so
we all need to always be vigilant and mindful of our every action. It will always
depend on our choices, the enemy can only suggest but we are the ones who will
ultimately decide and we always have a choice. It's up to us which ones we
choose so we should choose the best part. In today’s 1st reading Jeremiah deals
with the situation of the people of Jerusalem
being divided into different camps. The cursed trust in human beings because
they trust in the King of Egypt to save them from the king of Babylon . Jeremiah warns them to obey the law
and stay out of any alliances with the King of Egypt but they don’t want to
listen. They switched alliances on a regular basis. He told them that to trust
in humans is their own doom but blessed is the man whose trust is in the Lord.
This trust and hope can give life in the presence of difficulties. At that time
Israel is in a real threat
in the presence of Babylon
but it is trust in the Lord that gives life. This applies not only in the time
of Jeremiah but also to us. If we trust in human enterprises in the midst of
the problems in our modern world despite the comforts and ease we enjoy today
then we are doomed. We still have problems no matter how well developed a
country can be there is the problem of nature. It affects their enterprises and
can’t control nature like earthquakes and tornadoes. They need to do the best
just as we too need to do the best we can with the gifts of the modern world
but most of all is to trust in the Lord. We don’t accommodate ourselves to the
culture instead we should be putting our trust in what God has revealed. The curse is on us if we keep on putting our
trust in human beings instead of what God has revealed in what’s right and
wrong. God alone can probe the mind and test the heart. We should not look at
the exterior. Even Jesus warned us not to judge one another. But we should
never be afraid to call sin for what it is, that’s part of the good sense. God
makes it clear what a person deserves. All we can do is see the outside
behavior and know that what is bad is bad. We should never be afraid to say
that those are wicked things but we’re not supposed to say that the person is
going to hell. What we should worry about is if we’re going to hell or heaven
since it is difficult enough to probe our own hearts let alone probe others.
God probes our hearts but He gives us guidelines as Jeremiah tells us today. We
sometimes encounter different scenarios in life that we thought we are totally
unfamiliar of and had no idea what to do. We succumb to the difficulty of the
situation and feel helpless without realizing that God has been showing us a
very familiar scenario in our life like a door that has always been there and
open for us to always enter. We thought that each situation is different but
it's not. And as the 1st reading tells us, even though the heat comes as in the
year of drought we need not be distressed. When we are confronted with what
seems to be dauntingly unfamiliar then we are totally wrong because each and
every situation in our life rings a bell. We should be aware of the truth that
we may not remember always but that doesn't change the fact that we've been on
that path before. A path no matter how unfamiliar it may seem, is paved by God
for us. Our passion for God disappears when we doubt that God loves us. We have
to make an effort to really believe that we receive His love daily. Loneliness
hinders us from receiving God’s love. We sometimes become too secretive due to
our fear of rejection. We make it a point to choose our friends and avoid
focusing too much on criticism. It is not being proud if we parade our
harvest in order to remind ourselves
that our work is not in vain. We have to be positive that God is using some
problems in order for us to see His glory. The following things are also fire
extinguishers of our relationship with God. Long standing conflicts and tough
love sometimes it is better to err in the side of mercy than err in the side of
justice. In Psalm 145:8 it is written, The LORD is gracious and
merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. We have to simplify our life
and make Jesus the center. We have to know what is God’s direction in our life.
Fear of the unfamiliar and the uncomfortable tends to limit what God can do in
our lives. We need to expand everyday. It is important to strive daily to
commune with the Lord, pray, read scriptures and go to mass. Someday we will be tempted to give up our
relationship with God. What are we going to do when we fall? We should go to
confession, be reconciled to God and repent. Sin sucks out the joy in our relationship
with God. Here are some guide questions to keep ourselves on fire for the Lord.
Identify our top 3 fire extinguishers that are affecting our relationship and
passion for God and why? How would we overcome this and grow deeper in our
relationship with God? A disciples transforms his/her past for God’s purposes.
God uses all our past experiences for us to attain the kingdom of God
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human
beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change
of season, But stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth...Blessed is the
man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD. 8 He is like a tree planted
beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream. It fears not the
heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no
distress, but still bears fruit. 9 More tortuous than all else is the human
heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it? 10 I, the LORD, alone probe the
mind and test the heart, to reward everyone according to his ways, according to
the merit of his deeds.
Today’s psalm brought back memories of what I witnessed on
television in 2010 when miners in Chile had to be rescued in a mine.
Nobody would ever want to be trapped in a dark mine that is 2000 feet below.
What caught my attention was the fact that although some of them had been
rescued and brought up to the light they were still prevented from exposing
their eyes to the light and were given dark shades to wear to protect them.
This is what happens when we dare to step into the darkness and stay there too
long we adapt to it and wanting to go back to the light instantly could be
harmful. Let us not be led into the dark and imbibe it for too long that we
find it difficult to adapt to light. Until now, we have no idea who we are and
still in a conflict. Look at the things we do and engage in. This is because we
don’t understand who we are. We will be judged by God according to our
behavior. We should have God in the core of our identity. What builds our
confidence? Think about it. This same reason should apply in our relationship
with God. If we know and are aware of how we look right before God, then we
should have the confidence of a beloved child of the God most high. How can we
not be, knowing that we are covered by the most precious blood of His Son Jesus
who took all our sins and died on the cross for our sake then we should be the
most confident person of all. Remember, we have the composure of a child of
God. Nothing should stop us from
behaving in the way He has meant us to be, lifted up on a pedestal as His very
dear children. Today's psalm tells us that if we follow the Lord we will not be
in darkness and will have the light of life. God is true to His word and we can
always hold on to it more than we can hold to our life. Just like any person
striving to maintain a good standing in any aspect of life there are some rules
to be followed. People nowadays have become increasingly divided, there are the
poor and the wealthy and sometimes we see the not so good, arrogant, bad people
cheat in order to get money and get away with it. We must always have this hope
in God and not be tempted by the evildoers of their taunting that despite the
goodness we do we are not getting anything out of our sacrifices. God knows the
private conversations and thoughts and He exposes them and records everything.
The idea that we can get away with anything we do is not a good idea. God knows
our words, thoughts and deeds. Fear of the Lord in a positive way is one of the
greatest virtues as in the book of Wisdom. It is stated that it is the
beginning of wisdom if it is paralleled with trust that we will not be put to
shame. Those wicked people who think that they have a lot of money, power,
disobey God and don't use their resources in accordance to God's will can be
compared to chaff that can easily be burned. If we have the right relationship
with God then we too can be exposed to the heat of God's love like the sun that
can make things go on fire but instead of burning becomes a source of healing
like the rays of light shown in a monstrance which symbolizes being in God's
presence. We should never lose hope nor fall into despair. Whenever we sin, we
must not just acknowledge it. The lesson we always have to remember is to have
humility to approach Christ as we acknowledge our sins. This should remind us
of Peter and Judas, they both sinned and acknowledged it. Peter wept bitterly
after denying Jesus 3x while Judas threw away the silver coins that were paid
to him. The difference lies in the fact that Peter as the scriptures say, when
he wept, looked at Jesus with a heart, humble and contrite, which God would not
despise and ran to Mary. While Judas, fell into despair and hanged himself.
Thus we remember these things and always run to God with humility and also to
Mary, the mother of Christ who will obtain for us true contrition. There is
really a need for God's people to always be connected to Him in order to
survive whatever is going on at present and what is to come. We've got to
always keep ourselves motivated to do all in our power for the glory of God.
All other things fade in the background and should not get our attentions any
more than we ought to believe that God is our only hope. We may have started at
the peak but as time goes by we may have started to lag or worse go on a
downward path. Or could have started off but never worked our way up then it's
time we get things straight and be focused so as not to lose sight of the
unsurpassed and unfading trophy and blessing that await those who are
victorious in the Lord. Today’s psalm continues to give us the guidelines we
need to live by to truly prosper in the Lord. God assures us that even though
life may bring us so many heartaches and pains we can still stand firm and hope
that we will have the light of life if we will persevere, not waver nor falter
in following the Lord. Let us choose to live in the light rather than stay in
the dark. God gave us the freedom to
choose let us hope and pray that we are always inclined to do the will of God
in our lives to carry out His plan of prosperity in our life. It has been
impressed to me that God has already given us the gift, all we have to do is
open it and use it as intended to serve its purpose. Sometimes we remain
stubborn in our old ways we don't realize that everything is just within our
reach, it's just a matter of committing and deciding what is right before God.
We all know that life becomes difficult when it comes to commitments and making
decisions but it will always be worth it after all the hard work as implied in
the psalm reading. It doesn't matter who or what we are, whether young or grown
up, God will always find a way to bless us in various ways. We just have to open
ourselves to Him and always draw near to Him and never stray away from His
side. The scriptures say it all. We need not hesitate, stall, delay nor look
for anything else further but just follow what the scriptures tell us to do. In
fact the bible has an acronym which stands for (B) Basic (I) Instructions (B)
Before (L) Leaving (E) Earth. Another thing I am reminded of is my son Jude
when he was just a little boy aged 6. When my mother was hospitalized I was the
one taking care of her during the day and my brother who is the eldest is the
one who slept in the hospital at night and stayed by her bedside. When she died
we were both not by her side or no one for that matter because she was brought
to a different room for removal of water in her lungs and also the time when my
brother and I had changed shift. I just arrived home coming from the hospital
and had no thought whatsoever that my mother already passed away. I was in
complete denial of the fact that she would be leaving us soon during that time,
I had always hoped for a miracle and extension of her life although my mother
kept on telling us back then that she is ready to go anytime. I could never
forget when I was just entering our home, my son Jude suddenly came up to me
while holding a bible in his hand and opened a page in front of me with a
picture of a tree beside a river and animals grazing on the land. What my son
told me was this, "Nanay (Mother) let’s do a bible study." Since I
was so tired, I got the bible from him closed it and told him that we'll do it
later. But he was persistent he opened the bible again and lo and behold saw
the same picture and page that he showed me a few seconds ago. He did it again
for the 3rd time and the same page in the bible was showing up. Because of that
I was prompted to finally give in to his persistence and read the bible passage
underneath the picture. It was exactly the same message in today's psalm
reading. After reading it something in me prompted me to say to him that her
grandmother is already healed and will soon be coming home to us from the
hospital. This is without knowing yet that it was the same time too when she
passed away. Later on I realized that it was God's way of telling us that
indeed my mother is healed and has gone home although not to our earthly house
but to a place of eternal rest and perpetual light, in paradise. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6
R: Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
1 Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the
way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, 2 but delights in the
law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night. (R) 3 He is like a tree
planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose
leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers. (R) 4 Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away. 6 For the LORD watches over the
way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes.
Today’s parable may make us want to think of the parable of
the Prodigal Son because he got his inheritance but lost everything. He became
impoverished but he repented. The parable in the gospel today is about a rich
man who is not named and the poor man named Lazarus. His name means God is his
help despite the catastrophe for him who is impoverished and sick. The rich man
did not do anything particularly bad to Lazarus. He didn’t kick him nor did he
steal money from him but he committed the sin of neglect when he had plenty.
For that he ends up condemned and God judges him to be worthy of the flame
while Lazarus is in the bosom of Abraham for having suffered with God as his
help. He trusted and hoped in God. The emphasis is on the fact that we will be
held accountable for all our actions and also for our failure to act and do the
good we ought to have done. Abraham said that the rich man received what was
good during his lifetime but failed to respond accordingly to the blessing he
was entrusted with. Lazarus was right in front of his door but he did not see
the opportunity to share his blessing to him. It was not stated in the story
that the rich man did evil things. We have to look into this very carefully.
Sometimes it is not what we did wrong that will make us deserve hell but what
we failed to do. Let us not miss out on these things while we still have time
before it gets too late just like what happened to the rich man. His firm and
determined effort for resolution was useless because he already came to a point
of no return. May we not find ourselves in the same situation as the rich man
when nothing else can be done. While there is still time we should act now and
not delay. When this time comes for us, may we find ourselves in the same
position of Lazarus, a place of comfort. It’s interesting that the rich man is
burning in hell and still trying to give orders by saying, tell Lazarus to dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. Notice that he still doesn’t
call him by name the second time when he asked to send him to their father’s
house, for he has five brothers, so that they may be warned. He is still trying
to run things on his own. Hell does not
rule in heaven. There is no authority as Abraham said a great chasm is
established to prevent anyone from crossing. He further reminded him they have
Moses and the prophets and have plenty of warnings with the commandments, in
the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. We are shown how important it is to share
with those who are poor. This is something very important. When the rich man
insisted that it’s not enough because they need someone from the dead to tell
them, it is also for us to realize that Jesus already came back from the dead.
In the creed every Sunday we say we believe in the Holy Spirit who has spoken
through the prophets. We trust that the Lord spoke through the prophets and
still speak to us in the old and the new testaments. We will be amazed at how
the Lord calls us away from the judgment as He infinitely do for He does want
to send us all to heaven. Most of us want to go to heaven but God wants us
there infinitely more. He gives us the means in the scriptures and the
sacraments in the church where we belong. We trust in the Lord as Jeremiah said
that He will bring us to heaven as we follow His ways, read scriptures and
receive the sacraments so as to make it to that heavenly way to the heavenly
joy. The gospel also reminded me of my commitment to always pray for the holy
souls in purgatory and the faithful departed. As Christian Catholics we believe
that we the living are all members of the Church Militant while those who have
departed and passed away and are still undergoing a process of purification are
the Church Suffering and those who already in perfect union with God are the
Church triumphant. We are all part of the Church, the body of Christ. It is
only right that we work altogether for our good and the good of all His Church.
Whatever we are going through let us always offer it to God in prayers for
nothing is ever wasted as pictured by the gospel story today. It also prompts
me to always be mindful of not only the cares and concerns of this present life
but most especially of the life thereafter that awaits those who will
faithfully respond to the greatest gift that Jesus gave us. Let us take
advantage of every situation in our life today to work for our ultimate goals
knowing that we are bound for greater things and we are just temporary
residents here on earth and we ought to focus on the permanent and everlasting.
Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 16:19-31
19 Jesus said to the Pharisees: “There was a rich man who
dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. 20
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who
would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s
table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. 22 When the poor man died, he
was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and
was buried, 23 and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his
eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he cried out,
‘Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in
water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.’ 25
Abraham re plied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good during
your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is
comforted here, whereas you are tormented. 26 Moreover, between us and you a
great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go
from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’ 27 He said, ‘Then I beg you,
father, send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he
may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham
replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ 30 He
said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they
will repent.’ 31 Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’
”
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