ABOVE SOME POINT OF VIEW

God permitted our present situations and for sure after all we've been through and done with much prayers and supplications that whatever may be the outcome it will always be for the best. We should always believe that if God deemed it necessary that we go through something then it is for the best. This is what most of us fail to understand when we have to go through some challenges and trials. We should thank God for the experience gained and lessons learned during these times. Although we sometimes still feel uncertain and anxious but what should keep us going is the assurance that God is giving us daily in His word. Just like Paul who had to go through a mountain load of problems and be faced with difficult decisions and compelled to take a specific action in response to God's call we should take courage because the Lord said so. We bear the name of Jesus and with that come the courage to take each step to go forward and beyond the road where God brings us. We believe in God and we have a reverence that God is greater than ourselves. We should exemplify all virtues and radiate them. The truth of our faith is so important and so true that nothing can change them no matter where you are and who you are. We must believe to the point that we are willing to die for God. We should believe and show the world that we know what is true and nothing can change that. We have to take courage because it is not enough that we know the truth but that it is harder to keep the truth and make an impact in our lives. Amen. Hallelujah!

Acts 22:30; 23: 6-11
...the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”

There may be some negative speculations and forecasts that are being hurled right in front of us about our present situations most especially with the uncertainty and unpredictability of prevailing conditions. We need to keep this in mind, only God can keep us safe from all harm. A holy man once said this, "If we don't go to the desert I have nothing to bring in the marketplace." If we have no prayer then nothing works. We have to pray. We need to take time to be alone with God because if we don't, then we make ourselves vulnerable to the enemy. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 16:1-2a and 5. 7-8. 9-10. 11
R: Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. (R) 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; 10 because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. (R) 11 You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever...

Our confidence lies in the truth in today's gospel. Jesus cares for us, he even prayed for us. If only we will truly be one with Jesus in all aspects of our lives and be totally united with Him then there is no more room for doubt that God who is Almighty, All Powerful, Immortal and Holy is able to make good things happen in our life and be a living testimony and reflection of God. What binds all the virtues together is love. All virtues should be motivated by love which articulates them all. We can use love for the service of God. Love is our motivation that makes the machine of an organism move and to speak God and His will. Love inspired in our hearts makes us give ourselves to others. We have to guard ourselves, too. There are times when we fight for a good cause which takes anger to keep us moving. We become driven by anger and we need to be above these things. It must be humble work and we have to be above some point of view. It should exactly be the kind of love that today's gospel speaks about. Amen. Hallelujah!

John 17:20-26
20 Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me… I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”