We are being
encouraged in today's 1st reading to bear witness to Jesus. It is said that
great favor was accorded to the apostles and there was no needy person among
them. This is such an ideal set up for everyone who wants prosperity and who
wouldn't aspire for something like that. It may sound so simple but if we will
look closely at what is stated, our witnessing should be one with GREAT POWER.
It is imperative that we don the armor of God in Eph. 6:10-18.
("10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the
full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full
armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your
ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with
the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of
righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that
comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield
of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and
requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the
saints.") I was so impressed with the way Dr. Scott Hahn from EWTN
show, was talking about angels. He discussed about this topic with such great
enthusiasm and confidence that I should say everybody who heard him was
convinced. His face lighted up and was animated as he described the angels
based on what he extensively read, researched, studied and experienced. He was
trying to relate this belief in angels which dates back to the time of the
Patriarchs, Abraham, Moses, the prophets, Joshua in Jericho , Manoah, Samson, Gideon, Isaiah and
Ezekiel. He said that angels are best friends who are intelligent and strong
and whose purpose is to minister and bring God's gifts to His people. We can
see all throughout the bible the revelation of angels and how they have
rendered an incredible service to mankind extended to the New Testament to Mary
and Joseph. What we are doing right now in the Catholic Church with regards to
our practices has long been established in a holy pattern in the Old Testament
and fulfilled in the New Testament in Jesus Christ. The angels are all subject
to the Lord’s bidding. We are sure to receive tremendous blessings if we are to
ask from our Lord who resurrected from the dead. Favor, anyone? If God has
power over death then what else can't He overcome. Amen. Hallelujah!
Acts 4:32-35
...With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them,
...With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them,
God is the source of all good things. Only Jesus can satisfy
our souls. We should be really careful in setting our priorities. Sometimes we
end up making the wrong choices and decisions in life. We end up rejecting
something that should be valued and treasured more than anything else in this
whole wide world. All we need to do is trust that the Lord will always take
care of all our needs we need not tire ourselves to the point of exhaustion
because it is better to take refuge in the Lord than resort to trusting in or
own strength and others. According
to Fr. Joseph Koterski a Jesuit priest and a professor in Fordham University
Psalms 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
R: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
…Let those who fear the LORD say, “His mercy endures forever.” (R) 13 I was hard pressed and was falling, but the LORD helped me. 14 My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior… This is the day the LORD has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it. (R)
R: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
…Let those who fear the LORD say, “His mercy endures forever.” (R) 13 I was hard pressed and was falling, but the LORD helped me. 14 My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior… This is the day the LORD has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it. (R)
In relation to the need to put on the armor of God, there are 3
steps to victory in spiritual warfare.
1. Define the enemy. Know that the enemy could be blatant or
subtle. It could be disguised in the form of lies, a force that leads us away
from Christ, or a person/desire that makes us act in contrary to Christ. The
subtlety of the enemy can be compared to this strategy, a frog placed in a pot
of water on a stove top that was being slowly heated until it boiled to death.
The frog could have easily jumped out of the pot if it was placed there when
the water was already boiling.
2. Determine the desires of the enemy. Its desire is to get the
people against each other. This is so, in order to lure us to sin and by
distorting the real face of sin to make us believe that we are not committing
it at all.
3. Do the opposite. If what we are doing leads us to sin then do
the opposite. If we feel like answering back or gossiping about a person then
don't.
We are
also warned not to cling to spiritual experiences to the point of losing sight
of the purpose of these spiritual delights which is to allow us to have a
deeper faith and hope in God. It should work as transmitters of spiritual
growth. The only spiritual and temporal benefit that we should gain from it
most importantly should bring us to the knowledge and love of God. The primacy
of love is emphasized in Lk. 10:19-20 which say "I have given you
authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of
the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits
submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." If
we've become so inordinately attached to the gift it can lead to inappropriate
use. According to St. John Texas
and Alabama
in January 2010. This lady whom I got acquainted with is a big fan of the Texas
Long Horns. I told her that my mother happened to be a big fan of Texas too although not
the Football team but the place itself. I can never forget it when she told me
that she considered Texas as the best place
she had visited in the US .
Before the game even started and while watching the game we were both hoping
and praying that Texas
would win. But it was just the 1st quarter and looked like they do
not stand a chance because the score was 24 to 6 in favor of Alabama . We had the biggest surprise when
all of a sudden during the last quarter they were able to catch up with a score
of 19 against 24. It all got us very excited and we’re cheering out loud but
they still lost in the game. We didn’t even finish the game anymore when Alabama was able to make a touchdown since it ended all
hope that Texas
could still win. I saw the disappointment in this woman’s face who even wore an
orange jacket as a testimony of her support to the Texas Long Horns. I tried to
lift her spirits up by telling her that it was a good game because they put up
a good fight and what matters most is that they tried their best to win the
game which makes them winners themselves in their own right. There is something
more to winning these titles and honors this world has to offer. The real
winner of them all can be found in today’s 2nd reading. Sometimes if things we
have been praying for are taking a long, long time and it seems like nothing
good is ever going to happen we tend to falter in our faith and become enticed
by the options that this world is offering us. It is our human tendency that
lures us to this hopeless mentality of "Damn if you do or damn if you
don't." deception and begin to entertain the attractive and lucrative
offers being presented to us without much thought. We fail to realize the true,
undisguised and plain reality that only God has the best offer there was, is
and will be ever known to man. Thus it is indeed for the best to really see
what this poem tells us. It is entitled, “They Missed Him” whose author is unknown.
It is very appropriate for today's 2nd reading. May we treasure in our hearts
the real message it brings and not miss Him. Amen. Hallelujah!
They Missed Him!
They were looking for a lion,
He came as a Lamb, and they missed Him.
They were looking for a warrior,
He came as a Peacemaker, and they missed Him.
They were looking for a king,
He came as a Servant, and they missed Him.
They were looking for liberation from Rome ,
He submitted to the Roman stake, and they missed Him.
They were looking for a fit to their mold,
He was the mould maker, and they missed Him.
What are you looking for? Lion? Warrior? King? Liberator?
They were looking for their temporal needs to be met,
He came to meet their eternal need, and they missed Him.
He came as a Lamb to be sacrificed for your sin
Will you miss Him?
He came to make peace between God and man.
Will you miss Him?
He came to model servant hood for all mankind.
Will you miss Him?
He came that we might have true liberty.
Will you miss Him?
He came to give you eternal life.
Will you miss Him?
When we submit to the Lamb, we will meet the Lion.
Join with the Peacemaker, and we will meet the Warrior.
Work with the Servant, and we will meet the King.
Walk with the Submitted, and we will meet the Liberator.
Concern ourselves with the eternal, and we will have the
temporal.
If Jesus is not fitting into the mold you have, then come to
the mould maker and get a new one.
Submit to His plan for your life and you will see the
eternal need met first; then all the other things you have need of will be
taken care of as well.
1 John 5:1-6
...For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4 for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Beloved: Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The gospel today is about the story of "Doubting Thomas" which is also the story of each one of us. One time or another we can not deny that we've been like Thomas, too. We also doubted God in our own personal lives sometimes even without knowing it through our words and actions. Our experiences at times are mostly occasions that lead us to doubt. We all come to a point in our lives when our faith is greatly tested. But just like those holy and faithful souls including Father Abraham and the rest of our ancestors in the Old Testament whom the church said were in limbo before the coming of Jesus Christ, who waited and were rewarded with Heaven we, too should be hopeful that our time will come. Instead of dwelling on the negative we should realize that despite the locked doors in our lives God always stand in our midst and give His peace. We should be thankful to God for the several occasions in our life when we encountered difficulties for those were times when we discovered that God never left us. These experiences that cause fear and pain sometimes make us turn away from God and doubt Him. This is very common nowadays as we see people live their lives as if there is no God. Today's gospel is very appropriate for the kind of generation we have right now, a doubting and unbelieving race of people who no longer believe anything without first seeing. In the encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI entitled, "Spe Salvi" we are asked to nourish our faith, hope and love through prayer, unity of our own sufferings to that of Jesus Christ and belief in the reality of judgment. We are so blessed to have Pope Benedict XVI who was a teacher before he became pope. This present generation definitely benefited from his papacy. We must not assume that we are already good in our faith rather we must have the humility to admit that we still have a lot to learn before we can profess the words of Thomas with the same love and conviction. Amen. Hallelujah!
...For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4 for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Beloved: Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The gospel today is about the story of "Doubting Thomas" which is also the story of each one of us. One time or another we can not deny that we've been like Thomas, too. We also doubted God in our own personal lives sometimes even without knowing it through our words and actions. Our experiences at times are mostly occasions that lead us to doubt. We all come to a point in our lives when our faith is greatly tested. But just like those holy and faithful souls including Father Abraham and the rest of our ancestors in the Old Testament whom the church said were in limbo before the coming of Jesus Christ, who waited and were rewarded with Heaven we, too should be hopeful that our time will come. Instead of dwelling on the negative we should realize that despite the locked doors in our lives God always stand in our midst and give His peace. We should be thankful to God for the several occasions in our life when we encountered difficulties for those were times when we discovered that God never left us. These experiences that cause fear and pain sometimes make us turn away from God and doubt Him. This is very common nowadays as we see people live their lives as if there is no God. Today's gospel is very appropriate for the kind of generation we have right now, a doubting and unbelieving race of people who no longer believe anything without first seeing. In the encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI entitled, "Spe Salvi" we are asked to nourish our faith, hope and love through prayer, unity of our own sufferings to that of Jesus Christ and belief in the reality of judgment. We are so blessed to have Pope Benedict XVI who was a teacher before he became pope. This present generation definitely benefited from his papacy. We must not assume that we are already good in our faith rather we must have the humility to admit that we still have a lot to learn before we can profess the words of Thomas with the same love and conviction. Amen. Hallelujah!
John 20:19-31
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” 24 Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” 24 Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name
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