THE KEY & SIGN

Our God is incomparable for He loves us with a love greater than any other. From the moment we were conceived in our mother's womb, even before we were born, God already knows each one of us by name. Let us always align our will, intentions, motives and actions with God. It is always good to check ourselves constantly and regularly at every given opportunity. Nothing is ever wasted nor considered useless for as long as we offer it to God. The readings for today continue to reflect on the Holy Servant Songs of Jesus. The mention of being called even from a mother’s womb, the 2 edged sword and polished arrow are symbols of God’s words. The Word that reaches to the ends of the earth, penetrates the hearts of people and able to separate soul and spirit. What we are going to witness these coming days are not just a series of special events in our faith but the fulfillment of prophecies more than 500 years before the event took place. It is part of the plan that God revealed to the world. We have to develop an awareness of these things and Jesus Christ Himself. Today’s gospel from John begins after the foot washing and Christ has already told them and given them a clue that there’s betrayer. Jesus was deeply troubled of this betrayal and bothers him. We might think that this disturbance started in the agony in the garden but the greater disturbance begins in the last supper and just continued to the garden. This betrayal is not something that He takes lightly. The fact that His betrayer is one of His chosen to lead Israel must be very hard on Him. He kept on mentioning that one of his chosen will betray him even in His teaching of the Eucharist, He mentioned that Judas will betray him. Nobody knows whom He meant for Jesus never mentioned his name. Peter & John are frequently in the Lord’s presence and can read and indicated in today’s gospel that they are the only ones who knew as it is mentioned, that Peter instructed John to find out who the betrayer is. John leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and [took it and] handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. We can see written in John 1 that Jesus is in the bosom of the father and we can see that the same word is used in the gospel today. This closeness as in leaning back against Jesus’ chest is key to understanding why it is to John that he gives the sign. In the Middle East it is a sign of friendship if someone gets a piece of bread, dip and offered it. Christ does this sign to Judas as a last attempt to win him back over. But when he takes and eats the bread, satan entered him and it did not become a source of friendship but an alliance with satan. We have to be careful when receiving the Eucharist and always be in a state of grace and maintain a position of closeness as in the bosom of God. This is a sign for all of us to stay away from darkness. Judas took the morsel and left and it became his hour of darkness. We need to avoid that and enter into reconciliation with true repentance. This should be our attitude. Peter also betrayed Christ because he said that he will always be faithful but denied Christ. The difference is that Peter repented but Judas despaired of forgiveness. This should never be our attitude rather always have hope of reconciliation and be a penitent. Let us constantly build our confidence in God who never fails. There is really nowhere else to go but to Him alone. By just looking back at our past and present we can only come up with just one thing which is God is constantly at work and in charge of our lives for as long as we live even unto death. Amen. Hallelujah!

Isaiah 49:1-6
...The LORD called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name. 2 He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. 3 You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory. 4 Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God. 5 For now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb,...

Evangelization is defined with a very broad meaning and although preaching is its core there's more to it than just that. It is crucial that we reflect the values of Jesus. There is the so called "Equipping the Saints". We need to go through a process to achieve this. We process information in the mind, it is mind centered since it is a quest for knowledge. Formation is soul centered, it is a quest for wisdom and go through it by making decisions in the heart. Transformation is the meeting of mind and soul since it is a quest for spirituality. Propagation is the fullness of mind, body and soul resulting to authentic and meaningful faith in action. It is sometimes called Evangelization. The Balloon Story tells us of a child who saw balloons of different colors rising up in the sky. The child exclaimed how beautiful it looked up there with all the different colors. An old man told the child that it's not the colors that makes the balloons rise up but what's inside of it. As we become formed and equipped for evangelization we become Good messengers of the Good News. Furthermore, we need to differentiate between good and great leaders. A good leader when the company is doing good, is one who faces the mirror and look back at the reason why the company is doing well but looks out of the window and to others when the company is performing bad. On the other hand, a great leader is one who looks out of the window and point to others as the reason why the company is doing well but when things are bad, looks at himself and ask what he can do to help. Jesus is a great leader because when things got really bad for humankind, He did not point any finger but instead came as man and redeemed us all. Evangelization should work towards making humanity whole again and free men and women from things that hinder them from being whole again. We should treasure the salvation that Jesus has given us. Do away with sin that makes us broken. Avoid not just sin but the occasions of sin. When we speak of the 5th commandment which is, "Thou shall not kill" there is an unwritten command too, that we need to be peacemakers. There is no peace without justice. We need to fight injustice and unjust structures.
The Principles of Catholic Evangelization
1. Live the gospel-use words only when necessary. Walk the talk
2. Challenge others by one's example and lifestyle
3. Uphold true values. People first than profit. Embrace peace and justice. A Capitalist value works differently, it upholds profit at all cost.
4. Open our hearts to the saving power of God. From a distance foolishness and wisdom look alike but if we come closer we'll find that foolishness is an open mouth and wisdom is an open mind. In evangelization we need to approach it in a manner of discovery with an element of surprise rather than deciding which means we already have an idea of it. In discovery, God brought us to where we are although not fully revealing but trusting. We discover God and the wonders of His wisdom.
5. Build community
6. Identify and really call injustice as injustice. Accept and handle the truth. Sometimes the closer we are to power the farther we become to truth.
7. Work for a better society. Life is a gift from God but what we make of it is our gift to God. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalms 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15, 17
R: I will sing of your salvation.
1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your justice rescue me, and deliver me; incline your ear to me, and save me...My mouth shall declare your justice, ...On you I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength...

To top it all, we need to realize that God is the Primary Agent of Evangelization. It is not about us but about God. He is the Chief Architect of it all. God is indeed at work in us always but we also have to cooperate at every given opportunity. As told by the gospel today 2 people were both given a warning by God as to their upcoming betrayal and denial and eventually did as foretold. They could have taken the warning seriously and decided to do the right thing. Sometimes in our lives we are like that, God is already giving us the people and circumstances that is obviously there to serve our purpose but due to our pride or whatever is holding us back to accept the right thing we are misled and choose to be stubborn. It is good to know that no matter how many times we fall God in His goodness never gives up on us. As we all know today, Peter who betrayed Jesus 3x is now the head of the Church just because He decided to repair the damage and repent. Let us always choose to do the right thing and not remain in our stubborn ways because there is always a bright future ahead of us in God the Almighty. If we are to measure the tears we have shed in our lifetime we may all come to the conclusion that it could fill up a full bucket. Peter also shed tears when he denied Jesus. “...He denied a third time; Jesus looked at him and he wept very bitterly.” (Lk 22,62). It gives a feeling of great consolation knowing that Peter was able to rise up from his denials of Jesus. He even became the first Pope of the Catholic Church and is considered as the rock where the Church is built. We, too in our weaknesses and denials of Christ can still rise up from it as we shed tears of repentance and gather all our strength to follow the example of Peter. We can not deny the fact that we are no different from Peter and Judas in our denials and betrayals. But we always have a choice, we can either choose to be Peter or Judas Iscariot. We can either rise up from our denials or choose to die in our betrayals. Amen. Hallelujah!

John 13:21-33, 36-38
21 Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. 23 One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. 24 So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. 25 He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and [took it and] handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. 27 After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor. 30 So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night. 31 When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. 33 My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you. 36 Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” 37 Peter said to him, “Master, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”