Moses sent out spies to check out the promise land and when
they returned in Numbers 14 they were full of discouragement. They came back
and reported that the Land
of Canaan Canaan . But the
people believed the spies and concluded that it’s impossible to overcome these
barriers. They wanted to choose new leaders and kill Moses & Aaron and go
back to slavery in Egypt .
Due to their unbelief the whole generation never entered Canaan
only the new generation with both Joshua & Caleb did. The goal is to enter
into rest in the land of Canaan but they refused because they believed their
fears rather than believe what they’ve already seen in God’s miracles in Egypt .
Let us no longer complain and believe that the best is yet to come. Today we
must realize that the lesson of their story does not just apply to the
Israelites. It also applies to the Church and we consider ourselves the New
Israel. Let God call us to attention. We don’t have to fall back to the same
sin of disbelief. No matter how hard the world makes us do so. The Church is
beginning to experience persecution. Today we have to keep in mind what God
already said in the past especially as we hear the words of His Son today.
Jesus Himself gives us a greater authority than the prophets and the angels.
When we look at our day, there are a number of strains that we have to alert
ourselves. There are New Age beliefs
that everything is God including the forces of nature. It is moving towards the
act of depersonalizing God by a vague force. It clouds the truth of God the
Father, God the Son & God the Spirit. There is this New Age notion vs. the
Christian notion of God. The catch here is the fact that there are no demands
upon the faithful to be obedient. A hardened heart is equivalent to
disobedience. There is no longer a clear distinction about the truths of the
faith. It's just a matter of loving nature and taking care of the environment.
No other demands like obeying the 10 commandments. The truth is not existent with
the New Age. They water down the Person of Jesus and lead others to disbelieve
in Him. Certain scholars deny Him as a historical figure or is believed that He
had a wife as depicted in the fictitious Da Vinci Code. These are all things
that are far from the authentic gospel. The image of Jesus is being shaped to
imitate our worst moments and sins. It makes him appear like He is no better
than we are and attack His moral character. It is an act of impunity to God’s
character as if He is just a character of fiction. It looks like God is on the
dock as C. S. Lewis put it. Instead of us being on trial, God appears to be the
one who’s on trial. Let us not fall into this kind of thinking nor continue in
our lack of faith or let anything shake our faith. Some dogs are amazing in
their ability to show devotion and faithfulness although they do not even
measure up to the dignity and standing of human beings they are capable of
obeying their master with so much love and respect. This should make us realize all the more can
we do it and a whole lot better than that. We have to make a decision to be
with Christ. God is the Good Shepherd. He will not scatter but draw people to
holiness, righteousness and goodness. How can we be lost or led astray? There
are things we need to do if we want to be under the care of the Good Shepherd,
listen to His voice, follow His guiding hand and stay within the circle of the
flock He tends. The truth is that we should never have any doubts about our
decisions for as long as we know that it is all for the glory of God first and
foremost and everything else will follow. We have this faith and confidence in
God as in Philippians 4:6-8, "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things." When someone speaks to us we sometimes ignore,
refuse to listen, simply pretend that we haven't heard anything or
misunderstood what we heard because we are too distracted or busy to give time
to listen well. Let us always open our hearts and mind so that we become
sensitive to the voice of God talking to us.
Surely there were times when we heard and experienced the voice of God
giving us “out of this world” instructions and we responded nonchalantly as if
we never heard anything, refused outright and rejected it. If before we just
choose to do it whichever way we wanted it without much thought from now on let
us respond to God in the best way we can with hearts full of love and obedience.
When we grumbled and complained we all know for a fact that it didn't make
things any better. We would have to practice more and make perfect the art of
trusting and hearing God's voice. God is never short of anything. God is God
and He will always be. Let us no longer confuse ourselves with the inaccuracies
and discrepancies of our human hearts and minds. Let us keep it focused on Him
who is Holy and Perfect. Let us all acculturate ourselves to the Kingdom of God
Numbers 13:1-2. 25 –14:1. 26a-29a. 34-35
...The LORD also said to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long will
this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the
Israelites against me. 28 Tell them, “By my life, says the LORD, I will do to
you just what I have heard you say...
We should always keep in mind that if Moses was able to turn
back God's anger and withhold His destructive wrath how much more Jesus His
only begotten Son who suffered, was obedient to the point of death on the Cross
and gave Himself as ransom to redeem us from all our sins. Let us not forget
even for a second nor neglect this truth every single minute, hour and day of
our lives that we have been ransomed, saved and redeemed by the Precious Blood
of Jesus. Our little gods and idols can not do anything for us. They are
useless and stupid things. How foolish we can be as a people of God to do such things and be off track by turning
away from where the Lord has pointed out. A lot of terrible things happen when we forget. Important
and significant events in our life should always hold a special place in our
hearts. We must not ignore those times when we had those special moments with
the Lord. These will serve as a constant reminder to us and would definitely
help us remain faithful to the Lord. Our memory of this, though very wonderful
to forget may sometimes become dull or fade in the background when we are beset
by the present and daily cares of this world. We may eventually lose the awe
and wonder that we used to feel about it as time passes most especially when we
encounter trials and difficulties. Today's psalm tells us to always remember,
never forget and always tell our story of the goodness of God. Let us
not forget and be mindful always of the love of God. Sometimes when things
don't turn out the way we wanted or expected we get sidetracked by the realities
of this world then we start to immediately or slowly lose sight of the goodness
of God. No matter what our situation is we must not forget that God saved us,
had done great and wondrous deeds and He alone has the power to make things
happen and not happen in our lives. We have to be in a relationship with the
only true God. If there's something we really need to be thankful to God for
bringing us to life at this present time that is the fact that we have a
glorious background that we can always draw strength, hope and inspiration. We
need to focus on this and be aware that we've got so many things in this
present life to look back to and be blessed. The timeline of our salvation
history demonstrates God's persistent and consistent effort to win our hearts
and be in a relationship with us. Not to forget that after Jesus, the saints
followed which added to the color of this long time running declaration and
evidence of God's great love for us. It's been quite a while already that He
has been waiting for our answer much more than a suitor offering his pledge of
love to his lady. We should never doubt any single moment that God is good all
the time and all we need to do is just give thanks to Him no matter what our
circumstances may be. Let us always
remind ourselves of the good things God has done in our lives. Let us always
count our blessings instead of focus on the negative things. We are constantly
reminded in the readings today to always work for the things that win the favor
of God. It's not because of any selfish motive but because what we do is born
out of great love for the Lord. God calls us to repent and live a new life.
There's one very important thing that we should be guided with. We always have
to keep in mind that a repentance born out of fear will never last but
repentance born out of love will last. We should always keep in mind the great
love of God for all of us. Our Lord's
instructions are very simple and easy to understand. It is in the following and
obeying part that we find difficulty in doing. Let us always focus our eyes on
the Lord and remember to follow and keep what the responsorial psalm tells us
if we intend to live a blessed life not just in the beginning but to the end. Amen.
Hallelujah!
P S A L M
Psalm 106:6-7ab. 13-14. 21-22. 23
R: Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
...But soon they forgot his works; they waited not for his
counsel. 14 They gave way to craving in the desert and tempted God in the
wilderness. (R) 21 They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great
deeds in Egypt , 22 wondrous
deeds in the land of Ham , terrible things at the Red
Sea .
It pays to always have a strong faith in God. No matter what
our situation may be. We should follow the example of this woman in the gospel
where she lowered down her pride, and was very humble in coming before Jesus.
This same woman got the answer to her prayer and got her heart's desire because
of her perseverance and persistence. Whatever we’ve been through, are going
through and will still go through, let us have the great faith of this
Canaanite woman who never gave up against all odds and received the answer to
her request to Jesus. There are times in
our life when we are pushed to the limits and we sometimes give in to pressure
and pride because we want to save face and protect our ego. We learned from the
prayer meeting that EGO stands for E = edge, G = God and O = out. If we are
being egoistic then what we do is edge God out. We put God aside and put
ourselves in the center instead. This happens when instead of taking things
that come to us with a heart of faith we end up responding in an ill mannered
way which always makes things worse. When we hear unpleasant things being said
to us we can always learn something from the wise humility of this woman. We should
always try to look at things in a positive and constructive way rather than in
the offensive way. Today's gospel shows
us how this woman really stood up for her faith despite of it all. She openly
professed in public her great faith and confidence in God's power by
maintaining her belief that everyone can take part in God's grace. The covenant
of God with the chosen people is extended also to the Gentiles and all people
of faith. It is open to all and no one is excluded. Amen. Hallelujah!
Matthew 15:21-28
...“Lord, help me.” 26 He said in reply, “It is not right to
take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Please,
Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their
masters.” 28 Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that
hour.
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