If we take time to study about the bible and our faith then
we will discover things we never knew existed before. We will come to a deep
and profound understanding of it which will bring us to greater heights in terms
of our knowledge of God. This will lead us to love and service in a very
meaningful way. Do you know that there is a commandment before the Decalogue or
10 commandments of God? Yes, there is and it is called Pre-Sinai. It is
noteworthy that today's 1st reading points to the reason behind this. I learned
this from a Lenten Retreat. When the people of Israel complained to God, He sent
them quail and manna as their food in the desert. Every morning they gathered
food from the ground and whenever they get more than they could eat for a day
they discovered the following morning that the excess got spoiled or rotten.
The moral lesson of this commandment is social justice. We should remove greed
in our midst and learn to care for others. We should also live within our means
and not desire something that is beyond our reach. The Israelites were so
discontented despite of the presence of manna in their midst. They did not
appreciate and were not grateful that God has provided them food. They sinned
against the Lord and directly rejected God's grace. Thus placing themselves
outside the protection of God and being predisposed to danger and calamity
which was exactly what happened to them when bitten by serpents in the desert.
In their journey to the Promised land, Canaan, the 5th gospel which is now
known as Palestine ,
the Israelites strayed away from God's path and went their own way. We should
learn the lesson of their story and choose to always stay within the protective
grace of God so as to attain the 5th gospel and Promised Land of God in our own
lives. The bible covers a span of more or less, 2000 years. Basing it on the
outline of the salvation history or covenant history which goes back to the
time of Adam & Eve and Noah and dates way back to 1800 BC during the time
of Abraham, Moses (1200), David (means the favored one,1000), Exodus (600) to
the birth of our Lord Jesus. We can see from this time line significant events
that happened from the time of Creation when God created man who fell into sin
and became unfaithful and how God continuously called us back to Him by showing
us who He really is throughout the length of time. It is so amazing how events
which are more than a thousand years apart can be connected and how God was
able to make things fall into perfect place like signs, wonders and miracles
made by His mighty hand throughout the length of time. Today's 1st reading is
one of the many discoveries I had or should I say made me look at things with a
new perspective. It is a foreshadowing
of Jesus crucified on the Cross and its power which became a source of healing
and salvation for us all. Ever since I have joined a bible study group,
Apologetics class and the like I have been discovering the wealth and treasure
of our Catholic faith. Thank and praise God for activities like these that
continue to shed light on our faith. I have always heard bible teachers say
that in order to have a better understanding of the scriptures we have to read
the bible starting from the New Testament before proceeding to the Old
Testament. It is true that the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of the New
Testament which is the full revelation of God's great love for us. Just like in
today's 1st reading we can establish a relationship between Jesus Christ dying
on the cross up on Mt.
Calvary Egypt and should speak confidence.
In our present time we should believe that we can overcome, social injustice,
sin and the culture of death. We have to believe in that because it is Almighty
God telling them to come. We don't fault them for seeing those realities, the giants
and scary things in the promised land but we fault them for not trusting. When
they complained against God, it is an insult to God for 2 reasons, first they
forgot that God provides and God did provide the manna all the time and also of
water from the rock through God's power. In fact in 1 Cor. St Paul speaks of
this water from the rock that followed them as they journeyed and the rock was
Christ, "I AM" Jesus was with them in the desert. He is the same God
as yesterday. We must trust God at all times. These people in the desert lost
their patience however, was worn out and complained. We do an examination of
conscience, do we grumble like this? Sometimes we doubt if Jesus is really with
us in this journey. When we are trying to live the faith, being ridiculed, made
fun of while others are having all the fun. Whenever we are fasting and
resisting temptation we also may come to a point when like these people would
rather go back to Egypt
and slavery. When we embark the journey of the Christian faith and indeed try
to live up to all the teachings of the church, time will come when it is easier
to say to say “Let's go back to our own Egypt.” But Jesus said, my yoke is easy
and burden light. Let us not be fooled for the sins are the heavier burden. We
have to embrace Jesus, the one who comes to save and have more confidence than
ever in “I AM” that sets us free and truly believe we have eternal life. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Numbers 21:4b-9
...LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a
pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover.” 9 Moses
accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone
who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Today’s psalm tells us not to forget the works of the Lord.
What better way to do that than to keep our eyes focused on the price that God
paid for us on the cross and the eternal benefits it has brought upon us. In
order to attain this we need to constantly listen to the teachings of the Church.
We have to familiarize ourselves to the words of God in scriptures and the
mysteries they hold. We have seen and witnessed so much already to even doubt
God's goodness. We hope and pray that we will always remember and never forget.
Our minds are limited and can not comprehend beyond what can be explained by
reason. God gave up His only begotten Son, Jesus and allowed Him to be
sacrificed on the cross. This could never be explained by our logical and
rational minds especially if we are parents ourselves and have only one child.
Who would give up an only child to die a cruel and humiliating death for the
sake of another and sinners at that? But God did that and the only reason is
His immeasurable and unfathomable love for all of us. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
R: Do not forget the works of the Lord!
1 Hearken, my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to
the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter
mysteries from of old...
What hold our attention and interest range from a variety of
people, places and things and we express them by engaging in various ways and
means. Some are hooked in business, sports, entertainment, romance, travel,
food, fashion, current events, issues with nature, outer space and all other
things we can think about that we can consider profitable, enjoyable, fun and
worthwhile to do. We had our moments and stages wherein we’ve been there and
done that. Coming from this point of view, we eventually realize whether now,
soon or later that ultimately we must acknowledge the fact that if there’s one
thing that should hold not just our
attention and interest but our constant admiration is the truth that is stated
in today’s 2nd reading because it has definitely got it all. It is reminding us
of the things God has to go through just to show His great love. It sounds
impossible when we hear about this kind of love that God is sharing to each one
of us. This should give us the confidence and courage to carry on. Jesus is
God, King of Heaven and earth and the Master of all creation but took the form
of a slave and obeyed to the point of death. If we are to look at ourselves and
try to figure out who we really are as compared to God's greatness then we
should not even think of boasting anything about ourselves but rather we should
always be compelled to follow His example in our own little way. No matter how
inadequate and insufficient we are as a people we still try our very best to
bridge our gaps in the best human way we can. This should make us realize how
much more can the Lord do for us in His Godly power, resources and love. Christ
divested Himself of His dazzling glory and majesty. He was lost in the crowd,
lived in obscurity for the majority of His life and was thought to be Mary’s
boy and Joseph’s son since it was only in the last 3 years of His life that He
went public. When we are on top of everything there is greater danger of
turning away from God knowing that we have lesser need for God. Humanity has
become so full of themselves that there is a need to be empty although a
painful and difficult process is the only way we can fill up ourselves with
God's grace and breathe life into us. We are asked to empty ourselves of all
that is false, ignoble, and unreal so that we may become filled with Christ.
Because nature abhors a vacuum and so does grace. We must be filled with
something. Tragically we are filled with all kinds of desire, we want to be
applauded, be promoted, be consulted, be loved and be preferred to others. John
the Baptist gave us our ideal , I must decrease and He must increase (John
3:30) . All the foolishness, unreality, intolerance, selfishness and the sin
that is in us must decrease so that we must fill the vacuum with our Lord who
wants to share our life. Whatever happens to us happens to Him and He wants us
to let Him share because only then will we find the rest that we pray for. A
long time ago St. Francis cried out loud, “He comes to His own today and
receives Him not.” And so we live lives that are restless, confused, frustrated
and unfulfilled because we do not share our lonely life with Him. So the prayer
we learn as children and the prayer that is said all over the world among
Christians should be our prayer now, Make our hearts like the meek and humble
heart of Jesus. The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI points out this route through Jesus as the
way to ascend to God. The orientation of the believer changed when Jesus came.
When Jesus offered Himself as the Lamb of sacrifice, He forever reconciled man
to God. Jesus goes out to Jerusalem as a lamb
without blemish to be sacrificed in the eyes of Israel . He goes beyond to a New
Jerusalem which opened for us the frontier from earth to heaven. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Philippians 2:6-11
Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the
form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. 7
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human
likeness; and found human in appearance, 8 he humbled himself, becoming
obedient to death, even death on a cross...
Today's gospel is an evidence of the concrete relationship
of the scriptures in the Old Testament with the New Testament. They are
interconnected in a very amazing way. If there's one thing that amazes me even
more, it is the thousands of years apart in terms of BC (Before the time of
Christ) and AD (Anno Domini/During and after Christ) that separates these
events and the tremendous power of God that defies the length of time by
connecting them and allowing every single thing in the entire history of
mankind to fall into its perfect place and pattern. We are just set to discover
wonderful and marvelous things that are beyond our imagination if we let God
just like Nicodemus in today’s gospel. He was a skeptic before but eventually
became a firm believer. It also contains
the most famous words of Jesus in the Gospel of John, “For God so loved the
world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not
perish but might have eternal life.” The purpose of the Gospel is stated in Jn.
20:31: “These things have been written so that you may go on believing that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in His
name.” Everything comes through God’s grace
in the form of the scriptures as it is written from of old and revealed right
before our very eyes and within our hearing. Amen. Hallelujah!
John 3:13-17
13 Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so
that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” 16 For God so loved
the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might
not perish but might have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
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