LOOK BACK & RECALL

One of the things I have to change about myself is my being forgetful. I get myself in trouble because of this. One way or another, I know that forgetting about something has happened to you before and I'm sure it also crossed your mind that if only someone reminded you about it then it wouldn't have happened. In today's 1st reading it suddenly hit me that our God is the most persistent when it comes to reminding us of the things we're supposed to do. We lack gratitude in God’s untiring ways of drawing us to a relationship with Him and one ingratitude leads to another and so on and so forth. This is what happened in today's 1st reading. King Joash was protected and hidden so he would be spared of sure death and live to take his rightful place as king but did not remember that Jehoiada was instrumental to this and failed to look back and pay his respects and gratitude. He dishonored the memory of his ancestors by staining his hands of the blood of the very people who seated him on the throne of King David. But more than anything else is the fact that he turned his back on the Lord. He worshipped other gods and did evil in the sight of the Lord. He should have maintained and preserved the favor of God upon him if he had only been faithful to God's commands. Unfortunately, he failed to live up to God's tremendous blessings and graces and trampled on it. We have a responsibility in our hands handed down to us, to live the calling as God's people. Amen. Hallelujah!

2 Chronicles 24:17-25

...19 Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the LORD, the people would not listen to their warnings. 20 Then the spirit of God possessed Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He took his stand above the people and said to them: “God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the LORD’s commands, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you. ’” 21 But they conspired against him, and at the king’s order they stoned him to death in the court of the LORD’s temple. 22 Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown him by Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, and slew his son.

Even if there are times when we don't just forget but completely and deliberately neglect and violate God, He remains faithful, merciful and loving to us. God will never be without mercy and remain faithful to us. No matter what we do if we just always remember and honor the memory of our holy ancestors we will eventually find ourselves striving to live a life patterned after the goodness of God. Amen. Hallelujah! 

Psalm 89:4-5, 29-30, 31-32, 33-34

R: For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

3 [4] “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: 4 [5] Forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations.” (R) 28 [29] “Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him, and my covenant with him stands firm. 29 [30] I will make his posterity endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven.” (R) 30 [31] “If his sons forsake my law and walk not according to my ordinances, 31 [32] if they violate my statutes and keep not my commands.” (R) 32 [33] “I will punish their crime with a rod and their guilt with stripes. 33 [34] Yet my mercy I will not take from him, nor will I belie my faithfulness.”

There is a need to focus on God alone so that we will not be led astray. In everything we do, we have to make sure that we are completely aware of who the real Master of our life is, the God for whom our hearts beat, the motive and reason for our every action and the Light and Shepherd that leads our paths. There is this little piece of doggerel about a sparrow that says to the robin, “Do you really like to know what motivates those foolish mortals as they rush around and worry so? The robin says to the sparrow, “I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father such as one that cares for you and me.” We say we believe in God as not some vague deity above the tower but the God of love who took us out of nothingness in love. Who came down and died for us in love. Who sustains us in love. Who has destined us for an eternity of love. Do we really believe in Him? When trouble comes, we wring our hands, we furrow our brows, we get sleepless nights and headaches. In the official thanksgiving of the priest after mass every morning, there is the use of the Canticle of Daniel, when Daniel calls all creation to praise and worship God, the sun, the moon, the stars, the valleys and the hills. Then there is this line that every bird in the sky bless the Lord. There are birds that fly by very often and sometimes one will alight by my window, rustle the leaves of the bushes and peck the glass in the window to remind me that we neither sow nor spin nor gather into barn and our Heavenly Father takes care of them. How much more will He take care of us? I have always loved this passage from today's gospel. Whenever I encounter it I am always reminded of a good friend of mine during my high school days. I just got into College then and was totally unfamiliar of the hardships and difficulties it entailed. This friend always wrote to me words of wisdom that left me with a certain kind of peace and serenity in me. I have always drawn inspiration and strength from it.  It has been like that for as long as I could remember. What has been planted in my heart remained in me from that time on until this present time. As I look back and recall, I know that I would always be grateful to this friend who is already a priest. Thanks, Father Mike Samaniego. What amazes me is the fact that I never knew back then that those words were taken from the bible. It was for quite some time already when I found out. The words of God has proven once more its double edged quality that never fails to cut through the flesh, bone and to the depths of our soul. The gospel for today is also part of the sermon on the mount and contains valuable information on how to be successful in life. This is what Fr. Glenn said in one of his homilies in The Filipino Channel (TFC) He asked the audience, "Do you want to be successful in life?" The answers and tips to this can be found in the gospel today. The first tip is from Mt 6:24. No one can serve 2 masters. According to Biblical literature mammon is described as greed, avarice, excessive materialism and also referred in the New Testament as a false god. Money if used properly is not mammon. The 2nd tip is from Mt. 6:25 which tells us, "Do not worry." Look at the birds in the sky and the wild flowers as written in the gospel. Did you get it? Did you feel it? There's no reason to worry anymore. The 3rd tip is Mt 6:33, "Seek 1st God’s kingdom..." We must look at the Source and Creator and everything will be added unto us. Let's just take the example of the air we breathe. We are not being charged for every breath of air we take. We are God’s children and we belong to God, what God owns we also own. According to Sis Del Vitangcol, we have to serve the real master if we want to become successful. She gave us the acronym UNLAD meaning Unahin Natin Lagi Ang Dios. Unlad in English is progress and its acronym meaning can be translated as, "Always put God first." Amen. Hallelujah!

 

Matthew 6:24-34

...“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? 27 Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? 28 Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. 29 But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. 30 If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ 32 All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. 34 Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.