CALL OF DUTY

Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. It's a good thing we have a Good Shepherd in the Lord Jesus who never fails. If He is our Shepherd then that is very consoling. If we look closely around us we can still find good shepherds among us who continue the work of God tirelessly. There is no indication that the hired hand is a bad shepherd. Not all the money in the world could compel a man to give his life for the sheep. Our Lord tells us that He is the Good Shepherd willing to lay down His life for the sheep. Remember the Good Shepherd knew each sheep by name. He loves the sheep and would die for the sheep. When our Lord went to Calvary he was going away beyond the call of duty. No one could compel or coerce any man to give his life for others. But our Lord made it clear that no one was taking away His life away from Him freely He was laying it down as a sacrifice of love to the Father for you and for me. I wonder if we in our lives have learned that lesson. There are certain demands, certain duties imposed on everyone on this earth. The employee has to go to work every morning, spends a certain number of hours on the job and performs certain duties as expected. It is the same with the mother and father. They must feed and cloth their children, educate them and treat them humanely. And so it is with the husband and wife, certain obligations are laid to them by the fact that they are one and two in one. It is the same with the priest, with the lawyer, doctor and student. There is another dimension to life that we have to learn if we are going to live radiantly on this earth. The student will never learn the meaning of education until he goes to the library himself beyond what is demanded of him by the professor and study and research on his own. Then will he begin to enjoy learning in itself. The mother and the father and the children will never become a family as such until they could go beyond what the law demands. And the man who works would never enjoy his occupation until he stops thinking about the paycheck. In every country and every community there are 3 kinds of people, 1st the lawless who break the law, refuse to do their duty and have to be taken care of with the penal system. 2nd there is the man and the woman who are the people who do what the law demands. Everyday they are the salt of the earth (Mt. 5:13). Last, there are the volunteers who go beyond the call of duty. They are the backbone of every country and every community. But isn’t it what Christianity is all about. Isn’t this what our Lord has taught us, to give our cloak as well as our coat and to go the extra mile. Not to turn away from him who would borrow from us. To forgive not 7x but 70x7 (Mt. 18:21-22) that same person who does the same stupid things all the time who is indifferent and callous who never says thank you and takes us for granted. Our Lord said if you love those who love you what is there to that? The pagans do that. You and I must love our enemies, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who persecute us that we may be the child of our Father in heaven who causes the rain to fall on the good and the bad (Mt. 5:45) and the sun to shine on the just and the unjust. We have been tutored by the years that all the good things and its loveliness is not of our own making. This comes only from our union with God who lives within us. We can not be loving to our enemies, forgiving to those who hurt us, understanding and compassionate on our own. These are all a gift of God to us. It comes from the union with our Lord as we try to live day after day. Who compels Mother Teresa to do the things she does. Who compels the mother and the father to sacrifice themselves and do without so their children can be educated, grow up and take their place in life? All of this comes from the Lord in whom we believe lives within us. Day after monotonous day, we must go on striving, failing, falling and beginning again. The Lord doesn’t ask us to succeed in anything, success is His gift. What we are asked to do is to try and to go on trying all the days of our lives. And so we pray, “Lord lift us up of our lethargy, apathy, coldness, and indifference and make us so aware of your love for us that we may learn to love you in return.” We are set apart from the very beginning even before we were born for a specific mission in life. There are times when we feel useless and unworthy when we do not measure up to the accepted truths, perceived and set criteria or popular opinion of the majority but no matter how great or small, significant or insignificant it may seem we must not hesitate to do it. For as long as we've committed to doing and fulfilling it then it becomes an offering of ourselves. Let us take time to spend it on things that give glory to God. The power of praying and fasting stood the test of time. The early Christians were practicing it already as they gathered in order to receive guidance and direction from God. Let us make this very first statement in today's 1st reading our main reason and goal to achieve. Amen. Hallelujah!

Acts 12:24 -13:5a
The word of God continued to spread and grow...“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”...

We can give glory and praise to God right from where we are. All we have to do is be faithful to the One and True God. We may not be living in that time of the Maccabees when the Jews were forced to embrace pagan practices. It was at that time when the ruler of the land wanted to eliminate Jewish tradition and replace it with Greek. When they failed to carry this out, Greek ways were imposed by force. This was at the time before Jesus came when Jerusalem was torn down. Anyone who owns a Torah and those who circumcise their children were sentenced to capital punishment. It was period of great struggle and difficulty. A man named Judas Maccabeus became the leader of a Jewish revolt against the repressive policies of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the king of Syria. He led the Jewish people in recapturing their temple from Syrian occupying forces in 164 B.C. preventing the imposition of Hellenism upon Judaea, and preserving the Jewish religion. Those who followed him arose and won in their struggle. The temple was reclaimed and purified from the stain of idolatry. Thus the institution of the Hanukkah (Festival of Lights) , when the temple was rededicated. We have to maintain our fidelity to the Lord. It is in doing this that we truly attain freedom by following and staying in the way of the Lord. We need a Helper in the person of God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit dwelling within us should be unleashed in order to dispel all kinds of darkness in order to see God's face shining upon us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
R: O God, let all the nations praise you!
May God have pity on us and bless us; may he let his face shine upon us. 2 [3] So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation...

Are you afraid of the dark? I often hear people say and warn others to stay away from the dark. A lot of terrible things happen in the dark that we should always stay under the protecting and guiding light of Jesus. Pagan altars may not be in our midst anymore unlike in those days of the Maccabees. But we have to guard ourselves from this masquerade of these seemingly valid laws and policies against human life. We have to resist it and try to remove this culture of death that has gripped the human race. We have to resist the idea that degrades human life. Our helpless brothers and sisters in the womb are being slaughtered by the millions every day. Abortion has to end. People are being torn apart by the abortion industry. We have to stand up for these rights that are being trampled upon. We can only attain freedom when we serve and do the right thing. We have to be Pro-Life. All these things and efforts make sense only if we are able to stand up for these rights. All people are equal and no one is less than others. Let us not remain in this cloud of deception that segregates, classifies and downgrades people of who we really are. Freedom from this lie is for everyone not only for those who has done what is right but also for those who did wrong as we aim to follow Jesus to eternal life. Amen. Hallelujah!

John 12:44-50
44 Jesus cried out and said: “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, 45 and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. 46 I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. 47 And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. 48 Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, 49 because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”