Have you ever won in a raffle? I did. It feels great! Although
this happened 5 years ago I could never forget when I won a $1000 gift card in
a Nurse Expo at Long Beach
because it was very memorable and significant in many ways. I never thought
that my name will be drawn. I was just sitting there looking after the bags and
the tons of souvenir items of my nurse companions when my name was called. I
can't believe my ears! From out of the many entries, my name was picked. Not
just that, I still do not have my license at that time so I needed to give them
proof that I am a USRN. It was good that I brought the letter from the California
Board of Registered Nursing stating that I already passed and they were kind
enough to accept it. Up to this time that gift card remains useful for me
because I bought a laptop and a camera out of it. I felt that it was exactly
what I wanted to buy back then even though I already have a desktop computer
which I can use because I was still living with my aunt then. I never thought
that I would be moving out of their house and would be needing my own computer
in order to communicate with my family in the Philippines and of course to make
a journal of my daily walk with God such as this one to proclaim His word and
His glory. God knows exactly what we will need even before the need arises and
for that I say, "It is indeed a gift of God!" Another thing I am
reminded of is my co-participant in a training that I attended in Japan . He is
from Korea .
The duration of the training is almost one year so it is important to have a
good rapport among the participants. Unfortunately, our personalities do not go
well together. I sensed something different about him and was confirmed when I
found out that he didn't believe that there is a God. He claimed to be an
atheist. At first, I was trying to be really extra careful and nice to him and
was even injecting discreetly some Christian values and ideas to him whenever
we are engaged in a conversation. I should say that next to the challenge of my
research work there in Japan ,
he posed to me a difficulty that I never thought I would be able to handle and
surpass. Everyday especially during our 1st few months in Japan , I would pray hard for
strength in order to withstand whatever challenges that lie ahead of me during
the day. This involves putting up with his manners and attitude on top of the
fact that we are from different countries with very diverse cultural background
and beliefs. After several weeks of constantly praying and putting on hold my
temper and practicing patience, gentleness and courtesy to the best of my
ability, I finally succumbed to the pressures I've been experiencing then and
blurted out all my repressed and bottled up anger. Whew! You could just imagine
what I did by how everybody who saw me reacted. They had the impression that I
am the Filipina who can pulverize people with an iron fist like Pacquiao.
Although it worked since he stopped bothering me from then on, I also regretted
what I did for I know that getting back at someone in that manner is not
pleasing before the Lord. I am a professed believer of God and should embody
this faith. What I did is not a reflection of a person who believes in God. It
is imperative that we act what we believe in our thoughts and words. The story
about my Korean co-participant in Japan did not stop there. It is not
yet over until God says so. God arranged for something else to happen. Another participant
got very sick and was hospitalized and we ended up visiting her together. On
our way to the hospital, I started a conversation with him which unexpectedly
led to his unbelief in God and the theory of the evolution. Judging from where
it was going I thought it would end up in disaster that is why I am still in
awe at how things happened the way it did. I could never understand or figure
out up to this time how I was able to speak those words that I spoke to him. It
was as if someone else was speaking in my behalf. Instead of opposing his ideas
I just found myself even agreeing with him. This is what I said, “Let us say
the evolution theory is true, but consider even for a moment the hardship with
my research work wherein I needed to transform the microorganism or simply put
it as, improve the strain. I need not change the microorganism which was a
fungus to another microbe like a bacterium but just introduce a tiny bit (DNA)
of characteristic to improve it. Just the thought of changing fungi into
bacteria is already an impossibility that I could never even think about since
the transformation alone and the maintenance in itself is already hard work. I
told him I've been putting all my efforts and whatever intelligence left in my
brains after slaving myself to work beyond midnight just to succeed in my
experiments and there was no room for mistake or even a short period of neglect
for timing and strict maintenance is a must or else everything I worked for
will be gone. I asked him in the light of his being a science researcher
himself, that if he believes that humans evolved from a single cell to a very
complicated human body like we have right now, a genius must have sustained,
maintained and watched over our evolution to our present condition, wonderfully
made and crafted by none other than the greatest Genius, Researcher and
Scientist of all time.
As I was talking to him, his face suddenly lit up as if he was
like a person who was losing his way and finally found it. He said, "Well
I guess that was what I've been waiting to hear, I should say." From then
on, he became nice and polite to me for the rest of our stay in Japan .
He even went with me to mass in a Catholic Church after that. Amen. Hallelujah!
Ephesians 2:1-10
...For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this
is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may
boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.
The Jews knew of the prophecy that from King David’s lineage
would come forth a King, the foretold Messiah of Israel. During the reign of
King Ahaz and all other kings of Israel who did evil things the
royalty was cut off. During the Babylonian captivity and in exile, those born
of the line of David, of royal blood went in hiding for fear of being killed.
Even though the divinic dynasty was cut off, from the tree of Jesse, the father
of King David, came forth the shoot that brought forth the King. We remember
that it was prophesied in Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of
the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” The genealogy of
Jesus in Matthew 1 tells of this family tree. We would find at the end of this
lineage, Joseph who is the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus. Joseph is not
king but a carpenter and being Jew knew of the prophecy as foretold by the
prophet including this one from Isaiah 7:14 … the Lord Himself shall give you a
sign, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name
Emmanuel.” as spoken to him by the angel who appeared to him. He finally
understood the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel . Isaiah is important to
better understand Jesus. Joseph knew of the need for secrecy and not to make
public these things because the reigning king at that time is Herod. He is not
Jew but an Edomite who was just appointed by the Romans to be king. He is king
not for the Jews but for the Romans to collect taxes for them. This is mainly
the reason why Herod wants all male babies born at the time of Jesus, dead.
Joseph dreamed a lot of dreams and it was through them that Joseph was able to
successfully carry out his mission as the protector of the baby Jesus. Another
point of reference here is the fact that in the Old Testament (OT) there was a
foreshadowing of the Magi or Wise Men who came to worship Jesus in the manger.
It was at the time of the reign of Balak an evil king in the OT when Balaam
also a wise man from the East prophesied in Numbers 24:15,18 that there shall
come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel who will dispossess Edom . He was asked to exact a curse
upon Israel
but from his mouth came forth a blessing. A star and a scepter signifies
kingship. In parallel, it was also the 3 wise men who were looking for a star
that would direct them to the newborn King of Israel who would inform Herod of
his whereabouts but warned in a dream not to go back to him in a dream. Jesus
is truly our King. The Kingship of Jesus is accompanied by many more wonderful
things that we still have to know of. In the Jewish tradition the # 3 and 7
stands for perfection and completeness. It is somehow puzzling to know that
there are 3 sets of 14 generations from the time of Abraham to the exile to the
time of Jesus. So why the #14? The significance of the #14 stands for the name
of King David which is equivalent to 14 in Hebrew. The 3 sets of 14 stands for perfect royalty
and king that all leads to Jesus. It could also be equivalent to 6 sets of 7.
The #6 signifies the date when the beast is made or the beginning thus the #666
which signifies the beast of all beasts. The 6 of 7 sets could mean the
beginning of the 7th set. 7 is also the Sabbath. The new 7 is the new creation.
Jesus is the beginning of the 7th set. Why the fuss in all of these? It is a
consolation to know that we have a God who is King. The King of kings and the
Lord of lords. We will eventually come face to face with our Creator and God
who made heaven and earth. The time is now to make a conscious move to be in
touch with this truth. It is such a waste that we don't always realize God's
presence among us. When there is nothing more rewarding than to always be aware
of God's presence and cry out to Him in joy. Whenever we are in a relationship
with someone and give our 100% into it then we can not help but expect it to
work. But there are times too when we have given our all and yet it doesn't seem
to be enough. We sometimes are bound for disappointments. When these things
happen then is really no reason to be sad for we can always go to God for
consolation whose love for us endures forever. We are all called to become
partakers and residents of the eternal Kingdom of God Elm Street " every time the girl in
this movie falls asleep, her nightmare begins and Freddie Krueger appears to
wreak evil and havoc in her life. She has to stay awake or else something really
bad happens to her and the people around her. Somehow this should make us
realize the importance of being awake, conscious and in touch with reality. If
there's one thing that we have to always be aware of, that is God has our best
interest in mind. It may not be easy to see, understand and have a grip on this
reality always especially at times when we seem down and out as in falling flat
on bed without a care in the world like dumb sleepyheads. We have to rise, wake
up and shine. We ought to always get a hold of this truth in today's psalm and
never let it leave our consciousness. We will eventually come face to face with
our Creator, and the time is now to make a conscious move to be in touch with
this truth. Our devotion to God should have no limits for He is Almighty, All
Powerful and Holy. We should remain faithful to God and never stray away from
the path where He leads us. Let us stay within the flock that God has formed
for us. When we are being cared for by God who is constantly and consistently
good, kind and faithful forever and ever then we are confident that we are safe
and secure in the fold where we belong like a flock tended by the Good
Shepherd. We should always remember that we have a God who cares for all our
needs for we belong to Him. May we all take part in the grand banquet that God
has prepared for us in heaven. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 100: 1b-2, 3, 4ab, 4c-5
R: The Lord made us, we belong to him.
1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; 2 serve the LORD
with gladness; come before him with joyful song. (R) 3 Know that the LORD is
God; he made us, his we are; his people, the flock he tends. Enter his gates
with thanksgiving, his courts with praise; give thanks to him; bless his name.
5 For he is good, the LORD, whose kindness endures forever, and his
faithfulness, to all generations.
Today’s gospel is definitely not a far cry from the messages
being conveyed in all the other readings for today. In fact it is explicitly
stated what will become of those who fail to store up treasures in heaven.
Everything else will be for nothing if we are not wise enough to realize what’s
truly important and essential in this life. We should not continue wasting and
throwing away precious time and opportunities to invest and be rich in what
matters to God. God is indeed a God who will always assure us and will never
leave us feeling at a loss. There are so many conflicts going on around us and
sometimes we get too carried away by the concerns of this world we sometimes
overlook what's most important and essential. Although we are part of this
world we should not forget that at the end of it all, the only thing that will
matter is our stored up treasure that matters to God. What is our main focus in
life? If we still find ourselves attached more to other things than what God
calls us to do then we are in danger of missing the true wealth. It is easier
when we have to choose between good and bad but more difficult when we are
confronted with choices that are both good. Today's gospel speaks of a fool who
did not make the wisest choices. We must pray for the gift of discernment in
order for us to recognize what is truly important and essential in life.
Today’s gospel is also another assurance from the Lord that He will never
forsake nor leave us and will always uphold our cause. It is only right and
fitting that we continue to give honor and praise to Him by reflecting God in
our lives. We have to be rich in the eyes of God and not in the eyes of men.
God's impression of us is what matters most and everything else will follow.
Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 12:13-21
...“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may
be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”... … God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you
have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ 21 Thus will it be for the one who
stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
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