SINNER TO SAINT

The readings for today point to a very important realization about God. It reveals to us the mystery of God's choice. He does not always choose the perfect ones. Sometimes God's choice even seem unbelievable or scandalous. God chooses freely always out of love and not according to human but divine logic. As we can see from today's 1st reading, Jacob chose among his sons, Judah the 4th son. He did not choose Reuben, his first born son nor Joseph, the beloved son who became ruler in Egypt and saved his people from famine. Judah was also one of the brothers who sold Joseph as a slave. If we go back further, we know that even Isaac, Jacob's father was not the 1st born son of Abraham but Ishmael. Jacob himself was not the 1st born son but Esau. We may all know the story how Jacob ended up getting the blessing instead of Esau. It all points to the mystery of God's choice based on His Divine logic. God's love and mercy rule and call our attention to shed light in the mystery of our own vocation to be disciples of Jesus Christ. The Lord called us even when we were still in our mother's womb and He has offered us His everlasting love. Amen. Hallelujah!

Genesis 49:2, 8-10
2 Jacob called his sons and said to them: “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father. 8 “You, Judah, shall your brothers praise — your hand on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down to you. 9 Judah, like a lion’s whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son. He crouches like a lion recumbent, the king of beasts — who would dare rouse him? 10 The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, while tribute is brought to him, and he receives the peoples’ homage.”

There is no denying to the truth that God can always make all things work for good. No matter how messed up things may seem to be something good can always be brought forth from it. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 72:1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17
R: Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
1 O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king’s son; 2 he shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment.

Today's gospel may seem to appear like a meaningless, annoying repetition and unending reading of strange names that gives us the impression that the reader might want to read it quickly to get it over with. But getting to know the characters, one realizes the mystery of God's choice concerning the ancestors of the Messiah. The book of geneology is divided in 3 parts, 1st the patriarchs, 2nd the kings before the exile and 3rd the kings after the exile. The geneology started with the patriarchs, with Abraham to be specific, who is the father of Isaac which I have mentioned earlier. Making us realize the mystery of God's choice based on Divine logic. Furthermore we can see from this long line of ancestry that only Hezekiah and Josiah who were both kings at the time of the exile were righteous people. And only two kings also from the time after the exile namely Shealtiel and Zerubbabel remained faithful to the Lord. We can also see how King David lived in sin and sanctity when he committed adultery and murder as he had confessed in the Psalms. Even the name of Bathsheba who King David committed adultery with was not mentioned in this geneology. We can also see the names of Tamar, who disguised herself as a prostitute to deceive Judah and Rahab who originally worked as a prostitute but played a vital role in the fall of Wall of Jericho. Another thing worth mentioning with regards to this geneology is this, in the Jewish tradition the # 3 and 7 stands for perfection and completeness. It is interesting 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. The list could just go on and on and we would never run out of amazements. We can see from this long line of ancestors that God does not always choose the perfect ones. Putting aside, Mary who is the Immaculate Conception and Joseph the foster father of Jesus, who are the most perfect people who ever lived on earth. We are all part of a particular family. No matter how broken our lives and race may be we must never lose sight of this membership in the family of God that we are all invited to be a part of. By becoming one we too, are healed. Jesus came from an imperfect race as we can see various personalities that are sinners but His family tree was healed in Joseph and Mary. They are the 2 most holy people that ever walked on earth aside from Jesus of course. Mary is the Immaculate Conception as we all know and believe as Catholics which further justifies the birth of God who is without sin. It is important that we are aware that we are part of this Holy Family (Jesus, Joseph and Mary) that God has given us. The awe and wonder of this truth should never leave us and carry it always in our hearts and minds for it is written, "God is with us." On top of all these we can draw inspiration from the fact that God is able to make all things beautiful. What seemed to be insignificant and of low worth at first God can turn into something great. Sinners though we all are, we can still turn into saints. Amen. Hallelujah!

Matthew 1:1-17
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, 6 Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. 8 Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile. 12 After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan
the father of Jacob, 16 Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah. 17 Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah, fourteen generations.