NEW MOSES

We read in today’s 1^st reading a reference to the stiff necked nature of the Israel people and the contrast as Moses displays a deep friendship with God as he speaks in behalf of his people. The Israel people thought he’s not coming back. Despite of the wonders that their very eyes have seen they had the nerve to complain, gripe and abandon God. They were grumbling against God. It is an apostasy, abandonment and rejection of the faith that they had been entrusted. They forgot the God who had saved them. Somehow this reminds us of ourselves, midway in this season of lent. Here we are in our own desert, we sometimes very quickly think that God has abandoned us. In the middle of fasting, penance and prayer we quickly forget God who has saved us, abandon and reject our faith in our living of life today. Sometimes we feel guilty about something that we didn't directly or indirectly cause. Or we feel responsible for the actions of other people especially those who are close to us. We must keep in mind that we are not supposed to own the decisions and actions of other people since there are certain limits to this and must know up to where our responsibilities extend. In the same way we must not blame other people for things we ourselves have caused. We must be brave enough to accept the consequences of our actions and not point fingers. We have to be clear about these things for God said that sins will be punished accordingly in its appointed time. So while we still have the time let us see to it that everything is in the right order before it gets too late. We need to remain steadfast no matter how difficult it may seem. We quickly turn aside from the way that God is pointing out. The love that this world can’t imagine and comprehend is not dormant, it is the love of God. We tend to set ourselves up to be our own little god and soon turn aside from the way God has pointed out. We need to cry out for mercy to God and listen to Moses as he points out to us our wrong doings. The plea of a righteous person is always heard, answered and never refused by God. Moses was heeded by God in his request which tells us that if God listened to Moses all the more should we be always rejoicing knowing that Jesus the Lamb of God not only pleaded before God for our sake but offered Himself on the cross in order to save us. We are blessed to have a glorious background much more than the heritage of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. We have the blood of Jesus who took upon Himself on the cross, the guilt of all our sins that have won for us His perpetual kingdom. People during the time of Moses don't know better than any of us living today. Only the legacy of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Israel was known to them and haven't come to this point in our time when we already have the Incarnation of Jesus as the highlight of the glorious background of our faith. Moses pleaded with God in behalf of His faithful servants, the Patriarchs and was heard by God. We have to be aware of the fact that looking back more than 2,000 years ago and even way back to the time of Abraham, God has already been extending His desire to be in a loving relationship with man. If we are to visualize and construct a timeline for this, we would find that God has already invested so much in His people. Aren't we filled with joy and gladness that we are living at this time when we already have the legacy of not only the patriarchs, the Kings, Judges, and the Prophets but most especially and importantly, Jesus. He is the fullness of God's love and came in the fullness of time. God is unchangeable and remains Holy, Mighty and Immortal. We might misunderstand these words in today's 1st reading when it said, "the Lord relented..." We must keep in mind that it is not God who changes but ourselves who change in the process. God is the constant we are the variable. What God has ordained He will forever sustain and it is up to us, to accept and respond to the challenge. One thing is sure, His grace is always enough. Amen. Hallelujah!

Exodus 32:7-14

7 The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. 8 They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshipping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ 9 I see how stiff-necked this people is,” continued the LORD to Moses. 10 “Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation.” 11 But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, “Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth’? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’ ” 14 So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.

Organizing all my daily reflections since 2007 made it easier for me to locate and retrieve them. I have found it very rewarding and beneficial. It has given me the opportunity to access with ease, the insights and reflections I wrote in the past. Thus paving the way to recall, reflect, and share it again. In light of the readings today I am reminded of Fr. Alex Amayin, the associate priest in St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. His talk was about reconciliation which is very much in line with the 1st & psalm readings for today. It was centered on 4 things which is 1. SIN 2. GRACE 3. FORGIVENESS 4. RECONCILIATION. He said that the 1st 3 are all a reality but #4 is only a possibility. There is no doubt that SIN happens but the GRACE of God is always present and available for us even before we ask for FORGIVENESS. When we ask FORGIVENESS, God is always ready to give it.  RECONCILIATION calls us to true conversion. We should always find our way back to God and never doubt His mercy. He cited the example of 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 can either choose to be the snake or the caterpillar. Take your pick. It is important that we always maintain a clean heart and a steadfast spirit so that we are constantly in God's presence. It's not that God loves us any less, no matter what we do, He will always love us. It's just that a Holy and Loving God can not dwell in an impure heart and spirit. The sacred heart of Jesus should be our model and guide as we strive to live out the call to be a genuine follower of God. “When we open our heart to the love of God and to others, it makes us capable of shaping history according to God’s plan.”  - said Pope John Paul II. In His fourth apparition to St. Margaret Mary, our Lord revealed His Sacred Heart, declaring: "Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love.” The center of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Enthronement of the image of the Sacred Heart in the home. By the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart, we link the tabernacle of our parish church to our home, inviting our Lord to be our constant and most intimate companion.  The Enthronement is a way of life. It means that Christ is King of our hearts, and we desire Him to be present with us always. In other words, by the Enthronement we signify our desire to make our hearts and our homes holy, to sanctify our lives in every aspect. God will not refuse nor turn His back on us if we are truly sorry for our sins and are willing to mend our ways. Let us not be so naive into thinking that we can get away with anything and cheat God. Let us be fair and truly square in dealing with things that concern not just our future but our eternal destiny. Whether it's heaven or hell, we would have to decide for that not God. If we choose to do evil then we are surely headed where it's bound but if we remain faithful to God and all that He represents then we are headed to a place prepared for us by God in heaven. We are sure to go where our hearts lead us. The problem is that there is a great propaganda out there. It makes sin appear with all its fun, excitement and glamour. It makes virtue appear boring, lame, bland and unexciting. But the truth of the matter is, it’s not. The pleasures that God created in this world are enjoyed the most by those who don’t abuse them and use it simply. Who do we think enjoys food most? The person who doesn’t know how to fast and engorges all the time or a person after a fast experiences a feast? The virtuous person enjoys life the most. The person who uses creation and all things according to God’s plan enjoys it the most. It is because pleasure is God’s idea. All the good things in the world that people want are God’s idea. Satan can’t invent even one bit of pleasure.  But God commands them to be used so that it leads to life and a part of life is joy. The way to enjoy life is to follow God’s commands. Life is not all about rules and regulations. God did not just give us a bunch of rules and regulations that we are supposed to obey like machines. What we do does not just proceed from who we are but also makes us who we are.  The actions we engage, the words that we say and the things that we do have an impact on us. We are making ourselves all the time. God created us when we came out of the womb, our mothers and father have a great role in that but our creation continues every single day of our lives. We’re even becoming someone more beautiful, mature and stronger or someone weaker and more despicable. There’s no middle ground. We’re going one way or another. Life leads either to heaven or to hell. That’s what the acts that we commit do. Let us always ask God's mercy for our sins and repent of it. The Lord said that He is not sent for the well but for the sick. We have a disease in our souls that if left uncared for can cause death. We all have a terminal disease called sin, we need a doctor to give us advice. We have been saved by God but we can lose it just as we can lose our human life for not caring for it. We go to God who is our Divine Physician to be healed. He alone can make us whole. God's presence in our lives is inevitable just like the coming of dawn before the break of day and if we have mastered the art of loving back God then we become a pleasing sacrifice before Him. And in his good pleasure makes us prosper, then we find ourselves rebuilding the walls of our boundaries as we expand our borders. It is of prime importance that we take extra care in attending not only to our temporal needs but our spiritual as well. We have this mindset that it pleases God whenever He sees us going through hardships and difficulties in life. We tend to equate God to an oppressing tyrant that would pin us down for every wrong move. Or worst to a slave driver that would not be satisfied unless his subjects exhaust all their strength to his service. The people during the time in the Old Testament could borrow a good excuse for having this kind of mindset because Jesus has not come yet. We who live in this time of the New Testament do not have a good alibi because God already demonstrated the greatest expression of His love for mankind when He sacrificed His only begotten son, Jesus, to suffer and die for our sake. With this truth always engraved in our hearts and minds we could no longer harbor wrong impressions and mindsets of our God. Whenever a particular human right is being violated certain activist groups passionately rally to defend such right that is in question. What about the right of God? We are so concerned about our own personal agenda and we fail to realize that we need to address it more than anything else. According to Pope Benedict XVI, Jus Divinum is the right of God which constitutes the proper and correct response of God’s creatures such as man to his Creator. This we ought to realize and take action. We should do all the good that we are supposed to do to a God who created us. There is something more to what we see, hear and feel about people. We really couldn't judge a book by its cover. It's in knowing what is hidden in the heart that we can truly say for sure what is real. But who can see through our hearts? Nobody but God alone. What is unknown and hidden from us, God knows. We may be able to hide from men but never from God. We can only pray to God to create in us a clean heart. For where our treasure is, there also will be our hearts. This should all be our prayer, “Change me Oh God, mold me in accordance to your pattern and plan and not mine” Dirt stain in clothes sometimes doesn't want to come off even after several times it has been machine washed. There are really some dirt and stain that do not go away that easily with regular washing. There is a need to scrub it manually with soap and water so that it will come out clean. Our souls are just like clothes which are stainable by our sins. It is a consolation to know that our sins are washable in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can always come to Him and acknowledge our sins with a sincere and repentant heart so He can cleanse us, wipe out our offenses and blot out all our guilt. There is nothing that could separate us from the love of God. Let us not be deceived nor dissuaded to believe otherwise. Just like clothes that need to be washed after being worn and got dirty so our souls need to be cleansed too by the blood of the Lamb. God’s love ever present in the body and blood of Christ is always present and available for us. All we need to do is reach out for it because God is a gentleman and would never force Himself on us. There has always been a raging battle between God and satan. Though it has already been won, satan just won’t give up. He continues to wreak havoc and evil among us in his desperation to bring misery into our lives and share in his condemnation. He doesn’t have the tiniest power over us and he can only have it if and only if we give in to his lies, deceptions and false promises. We need to make this conscious decision each and every single day for the Lord. We need to purge ourselves of the impurities of our souls we have to go through a certain process that will render us with a clean heart. As we strive to nurture a heart that beats for God alone we also go through a process of cleansing as stated in the psalm today. God's mercy is greater than any of our sins. If we are to repent and turn away from our sins then we've got to do it right now and really do it fast. God sees through our hearts, our motives and intentions. What God wants of us is to truly acknowledge His great mercy and goodness to us that in doing so will abound a natural inclination to repent and repair all our iniquities and lead to a brand new, wholesome and clean Christian in the truest sense of the word. We need to stand in all humility before God and confess our sins. The body and soul are good but it demands a need for physical asceticism. We have to submit our bodies to an act of sacrifice without neglecting that conversion is first of all interior. Total conversion demands not only expression in works of penance but also of the heart. God is able to do anything. All the more should we be full of confidence that He can create a clean heart and steadfast spirit for us if we truly ask for it. God our Father will never turn His back on us. Let us get this straight, it is the sin that God hates and not the sinner. If we are in sin then that's the time we drive away God's Holy Spirit dwelling in us for it is impossible for God's presence to exist with sin. It's our call then to respond to the psalm's invitation to rise and go to God or remain slumped in the mud of sin. Our God will always be the best Father a child could ever have, the best Brother/Friend and the best Comforter and Guide all in one. Bottom line, to Him alone shall we go because we don't know that much and if we don’t then we end up doing one of these things, take for granted, ignore, forget or neglect the things God is telling us to do. What's worse it could be all of the above! We get blinded and become preoccupied with a lot of things that lure us away from doing what God wants us to do. We are deceived into believing all the lies of this world disguised and packaged by the enemy in an inviting and convincing truth. We should realize that it is always for our own good that He commands us to do the right thing. It is not merely to impose but for us to freely decide for a life lived to the full. There is no other way to maintain the Holy Spirit dwelling in us but to let it reside in a clean heart.  We drive away God's Spirit in us if we don't strive to let our hearts remain clean. Today's psalm is a song that I have come to know and sing by heart without the aid of a song book. I always love to sing it and hear it being sung most especially by the choir during mass. It is well for us to not just love to sing it with our voices but with the sincerity of our hearts. The words "take not your Holy Spirit from me" made me realize that God has the power to give and take. The thought of the Holy Spirit being taken away from us is the worst thing that could ever happen. If we don't feel God's presence in our life anymore and we've become numb and insensitive to the promptings and guidance of the Holy Spirit then now is the time to reconnect and realign ourselves to God's Spirit most especially during this Lenten season. It is important that we always maintain a clean heart and a steadfast spirit so that we are constantly in God's presence. It's not that God loves us any less, no matter what we do He will always love us. It's just that a Holy and Loving God can not dwell in an impure heart and spirit.  It is of prime importance that we take extra care in attending not only to our temporal needs but our spiritual as well. Amen. Hallelujah!  

Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19

R: I will rise and go to my father.

1 [3] Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. 2 [4] Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. (R) 10 [12] A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. 11 [13] Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

Is there anything more that God could have done for us that He has not done? After accepting freely, the most humiliating death on the cross more than 2000 years ago, this act of love has not lost its effect and continues to benefit us in the most amazing and unfathomable way. If only we fully accept what Paul is telling us in today's 1st reading then we are all saved. It is a consolation to know that though we are sinners God will always have mercy on us because He knows exactly what our hearts are made of and filled with. We may not be doing the right thing because we are totally unaware of the truth but God will never leave us in our ignorance. I remember one time when I attended a Catholicism Study and learned a lot of things that I thought I already know. I was shocked to find out that even though I was educated as a Catholic from Kinder to College there are still some things that I do not know of yet. Since the times are changing fast there are also other issues in the Church which are non- existent before but is now a major issue like the stem cell research and in vitro fertilization. There is really a need to update and upgrade our knowledge in our faith so that we can be truly effective in the ministry that God has appointed to us in the same way that Paul was in today’s 2nd reading.

1 Timothy 1:12-17

...Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...To the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

We will never ever come to the full realization of this great and immense love that is above all and what God has for us until the time we come into perfect union with Him in heaven. For that to happen we have to die first, leave our human bodies and depart from earth. For the mean time God is trying to get this across to us in a variety of ways that we can relate to, in the things that we are familiar of, here on earth. Today's gospel, Jesus cited not just 1 but 3 parables like the love of the Holy Trinity, just to get His message across. The story of the Prodigal son never ceases to amaze us. By man's standards what the son did was unforgivable for it is an act of disrespect and dishonor for a father. By God's standards we may not fully understand for it is simply His nature to love us with such careless abandon even if we don't measure up. In other words we have a God who loves us to the max, no holds bar. Thus, these passages of the Parable of the Prodigal Son from the gospel today invite us especially during this Lent to be like the son who rehearses his lines when he said “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” In response, his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Or we could be like the older son who became angry and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. Judging from these we can say that neither of these sons younger or old truly knew their father. When the younger son squanders the property and said "I am not worthy, just treat me like your hired hands." He did not grasp the depth of His father's love and mercy. Sometimes we are like this when we are not totally convinced that God will receive us back. Many of us can identify with the older son upon coming back and hearing the celebration instead of welcoming back his younger brother was dominated with the hardness of his heart. When his father came to him, the oldest son reveals his depravity and voices out his bitterness as he recounts the sins of the younger brother. This is what resentment does, he makes his own the sins of his brother. He was not able to welcome back the younger brother. He is in fact like the younger brother to a certain degree. This is because every single thing that he does he will calculate as shown by his words as he said that all these years the father hasn’t given him a darn thing. This is deep seated resentment and bitterness. Both sons wanted to lay claim of all that their father possess. They just wanted to take hold of what their father has. All that the father wanted them to do is to be like him. This is very important in our relationship with God our Father. We need to become better in whatever relationship we presently have with God. We could be one of the 2 sons and could definitely learn a lesson from this. There is a need for us to assess what kind of relationship we have with God. We might think we are in a higher level of relationship with God but we could be wrong. In the same way that the older son taught that what he and his father had was the real thing. It turned out that he had not perfected yet the kind of love that God wanted us to have in our hearts. We sometimes fall into the same trap when we think we are doing everything that is good. Our love should know no boundaries in the same way that God loves us. We should realize that if we become like God the Father that’s when we truly inherit everything. Do we truly know our heavenly father? Well, we can do better than these two sons, if we wish to lay hold of heaven and the glory that is His.  The beautiful thing to effect here is that God has given us Jesus and the way to do it is through Him. Jesus knows the Father and He and the Father are one. Since the story tells us of a father's great and unconditional love for his son this reminds me of the 4 levels of happiness. The 1st level is known as laetus which is short lived just like eating a favorite dish. The 2nd one is felix and is much like the 1st one also. It could be something that we've been hoping to have and received as a gift from someone. Although the happiness here is not as short lived as the 1st and may last longer it would still eventually wear off. The 3rd is beatitudo which is the happiness coming from service to others and emanates from the joy that we feel when we help other people. We could probably take the example of the saints who lead a selfless life dedicated to others. This is long lasting happiness. Although this definitely lasts longer than the 1st and 2nd it is still not everlasting happiness. The 4th level of happiness is gaude which is perfect since it is depicted by agape, unconditional love of God. This produces everlasting happiness. Let us not settle for anything less. It should drive all of us to attain and reach this level as the father who loves his son so dearly in today's parable in the gospel. Amen. Hallelujah!

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

...“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5 And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy 6 and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance...“A man had two sons, 12 and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. 13 After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. 14 When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. 15 So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. 16 And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. 17 Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. 18 I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ 22 But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began. 25 Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. 27 The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. 30 But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ 31 He said to him, ‘My son, youare here with me always; everything I have is yours. 32 But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ ”