TAKE IT PERSONALLY

I bet all of us would like the idea of having to make the right decisions in life. Sometimes we are confronted with so many confusing things that we are no longer sure of what to do. These can be avoided if we are always consulting God in prayer which endows divine assistance. It comes in the form of signal graces which are signs sent by God to help us in our life making decisions. It is not just signs but also divine assistance with all aspects of our life. In view of this I would like to share the 15 promises of Mary to Christians who recite the Rosary. (Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche) Our favorite promise is #1 on the list - Signal Graces!

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.

2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.

3. The Rosary will be a powerful armor against hell. It will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.

4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.

5. Those who recommend themselves to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.

6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.

7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.

8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death, the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.

9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.

10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.

11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.

12. All those who propagate the holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.

13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.

14. All who recite the Rosary are my sons, and brothers of my only son, Jesus Christ.

15. Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

This can also be found in the Pieta Prayer Book with an Imprimatur: Patrick J. Hayes, D.D., Archbishop of New York

If everyone knew about these promises, more people would be praying the rosary. Just like in today's 1st reading when they prayed altogether with Mary, Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. Amen. Hallelujah!

Acts 1:12-14

...All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Brothers and sisters, if we are confident that we are where we are supposed to be and the Lord allowed things to happen in our life the way they are happening right now then we should be still and know that God is in control. We need to understand the mysteries of our faith in order to appreciate it better. We have to go near as much as possible to the Word of God and experience it come to life and see His glory shining on us. As we go near Him we see his face and feel His love. We always have hope in the Lord who knows what's best for each one of us. There should be no doubt in our minds that He answers prayers. All we have to do is call on the Lord, trust that He hears the sound of our call and wait for Him with courage. When we get carried away by all the commotion there is a tendency that we neglect the essential and most central issue which is to always believe that we shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. There is really nothing that we should worry about if we always hold in our hearts the truth about Jesus. There may be times when we encounter disappointments and setbacks in life but this doesn't mean that God has stopped becoming the Loving God that He is, who suffered His only Begotten Son to die on the cross for our sake. Our focus should be on the truth of this love and everything that it stands for. This reminded me of a mini play staged in EWTN of a passenger waiting to be boarded on the airplane. He was the 1st and only person in the boarding area waiting patiently for his seat reservation to be called. He got surprised when someone came along and hardly ever waited when his seat number was called. He felt somehow annoyed at the idea of someone who just came and did not wait but got on the plane first although he managed to stop himself from making a scene. A lady with her young child also came and looked very excited to board the plane but he tried to warn them not to keep their hopes up too much because it would definitely take time and said that he had been waiting for a long time and came early but his number had not been called yet. To his surprise their numbers were called and happily boarded while he was once again left behind. He simply couldn't stand it anymore when a pleasant young lady came with all smiles on her face and speaking of how excited she is to board an airplane for the first time. The company of this nice lady kept her impatience at bay. She advised him to stop thinking about how the others were able to get there quickly but rather think of the joy he would have once he gets there. She assured him to just relax and make the most of his time because he has a reservation and a ticket all he needs to do is just wait. He did exactly just that and found himself at peace until the time his number was called. The same thing happens to the best of us when we are confronted with a tedious and exasperating process of waiting. We tend to lose our peace and joy and succumb to worry and doubt. If we are holding on to something that was assured to us by a trustworthy and reliable source we can put our worries to rest. Although sometimes anxiety can still find its way to our hearts and forget on whom our confidence lies.  If we remain in the Lord and put our trust in Him then there is nothing we should worry about. In life, there are 4 things which are 1. sin 2. grace 3. forgiveness 4. reconciliation that we could all learn a lot from. The 1st 3 are all a reality but #4 is only a possibility. Reconciliation calls us to true conversion. An example that fits this is a snake and caterpillar since both of them undergoes conversion. The snake sheds off its old skin but comes out the same while the caterpillar emerges into a butterfly. We have to ponder and think about setting our goals high, keeping our thoughts positive and coming up with new solutions. There is no room for fear for He is consistent to His nature as God. Let us strive to become the child He has meant us to be. Another thing we could learn something about is a puzzle. I am one person who never even thought of working on a jigsaw puzzle. I am not the type of person who would bother to even buy one. It just happened that when I was in Japan and saw all sorts of things which are being sold in a bazaar, I ended up buying one for no reason at all. In fact it took years before I finally opened it and put the puzzle together. That was when I actually experienced how to do it. It takes patience and perseverance to do it especially with the complicated puzzles. Sometimes in life we just back out and give up when things become complicated and when we do, we fail to witness the bounty of the Lord. As psalm today tells us, we've got to wait with courage and be stout hearted. We should all long for the day when we will have 100% confidence level in all our decisions for God. When the time comes it will totally remove all forms of anxiety and fear and incline ourselves to Him at all times. It should be our ultimate desire and nothing else, to always be in the presence of the Lord. To abide in Him at all times even when things are not very good. I could never forget and would always remember those times when I used to pick figs at Sis Loreta's garden. It was then that a thought came to my mind while I was climbing a ladder in order to get the figs in hard to reach places. Despite the fact that I was already on top of the ladder there were still some figs that I was not able to see and pick up right away although it was already right in front of me. They are being covered by the leaves of the tree and some are hidden in between branches. I just realized that it could be compared to how God showers us with all the blessings and graces that we need. There are times when we fail to see it though it is already right in front of us. Sometimes we have to really look very closely and try to turn our gaze into different angles in order to see it. What's funny was that when I thought that I've got almost every ripe fig in the tree, I noticed one big ripe fruit at the lowest part of the tree, there was even no need to use a ladder in order to get it. Sometimes in life we resort to a lot of means that are sometimes no longer necessary. All we have to do is believe that we will see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living if we will just be patient and full of courage. We ought to realize that if we wait on the Lord patiently and persevere long enough we will never be disappointed for He alone is our light and salvation. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14

R: I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid? (R) 4 One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD and contemplate his temple. (R) Hear, O Lord, the sound of my call; have pity on me, and answer me. Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks. R

The body does not think that everything goes. Behaviors can cause physical and mental health problems. The blessing of our church is that we have such good wisdom when it comes to guidance around sexuality and that wisdom is validated by scientific evidence. We don’t need science to prove our faith but to those who tend to say that our faith is outdated and antiquated then they are wrong about that. Science is absolutely on the Church’s side. There is great wisdom in the faith about sexuality and good guidance. Sometimes people don’t know what the church teaches. What exactly does the church teach is acceptable in marriage.  This is perhaps caused by the cultural idea that anything goes, they are wrong, whether they accept the faith or not, there are some physical and mental health consequences to some behaviors. Any habit can become a compulsion. The problem is that the culture encourages to move from disappointment to resentment. When we become full of self pity and resentment we want to escape that pain, the emotional pain is unbearable and that’s when people move into something for comfort to escape pain and to increase pleasure. The culture offers all kinds of ideas for comfort and pain escaping. Those become habits simply to deal with the pain created by resentment and self pity. Once a habit limits the freedom of human desire like an addiction then it blocks grace. Let’s say you eat a particular kind of food  every night and then someone offered you something very special but you don’t want it. You just want what you are accustomed to. It is very typical in people who could not receive love in the way it is offered because their habit has become a compulsion. A compulsion means a person could not stop even if they want to, like “I do that which I don’t want to do.” It’s really about slavery and no longer having that freedom of human desire. There are all kinds of ways people try to stop. The only way is simply to stop. Once you stop there’s an enormous amount of pain that you must know how to deal with. At the core of an addiction is a wounded heart, a malady of the heart. We are people with legitimate needs (physical and emotional) and someone responds. When a baby cries, every drop of comfort and love is not received. The addiction, compulsions and obsessions are blocking the ability to receive that love and comfort that we need. Sometimes somebody settles down because somebody cares and listens. We can not give love until we properly receive it. All therapy starts with a change of thought. We claim the truth that God the Father gave us value, there’s nothing we do that will make us less or taint it. Separate our value from our behavior. Until we change our thoughts we can not remove our compulsions. Compulsions lead to addiction.  Jesus loves us and knows already our bad behavior. We have to claim the truth that God loves us in spite of our bad behavior.  

1 Peter 4:13-16

Beloved: Rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly. If you are insulted for the name of  Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let no one among you be made to suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer. But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name.

Something good is going to happen this very day. This day is a special day and is definitely not like any other. We have to believe that God has designed everything according to His wonderful plan for us. Sometimes we find ourselves led to the events and situation in our lives like we have never imagined. It was all too unbelievable that sometimes we come to this point when we almost feel like we don't know where to go and what to do.  This should not wear us out and down but rather hold on to God's promise that He will fulfill in His most perfect time. In whatever situation we have in life we are called to respond to God as is where is. Sometimes we make things more difficult than it really is when we make all kinds of excuses and alibis just to get away with the fact that we already know what we're supposed to do but just don't want to do it because only we ourselves know it and nobody else. God our Father, Brother and Comforter surely speaks to the person concerned first and foremost and not to anybody else. All we have to do is just keep our communication lines with Him always open especially through prayers. Once we've known it then we can already give our commitment and full conviction to do and accomplish what God is asking of us so that we can give glory to Him. Amen. Hallelujah!

John 17:1-11a

1 Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come…I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.