LIVE IN THE LIGHT

If there are bible passages that should be known by heart and mind by a Christian then one of them is from today's 1st reading. It is about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. During my first Life in the Spirit Seminar (LSS) this bible passage was one of the things discussed intensively in the LSS. It was something that never left me and always served as a reminder and guideline. I am very grateful for that and feel that it should always be included in similar activities. In this way we could always refer to it like a checklist so that we can immediately dismiss or exchange whatever it is we bear in our heart, mind and soul that is not a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hallelujah!

Galatians 5:18-25

...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.

Today’s psalm brought back memories of my son Jude when he was just a little boy aged 6. When my mother was hospitalized I was the one taking care of her during the day and my brother who is the eldest is the one who slept in the hospital at night and stayed by her bedside. When she died we were both not by her side or no one for that matter because she was brought to a different room for removal of water in her lungs and also the time when my brother and I had changed shift. I just arrived home coming from the hospital and had no thought whatsoever that my mother already passed away. I was in complete denial of the fact that she would be leaving us soon during that time, I had always hoped for a miracle and extension of her life although my mother kept on telling us back then that she is ready to go anytime. I could never forget when I was just entering our home, my son Jude suddenly came up to me while holding a bible in his hand and opened a page in front of me with a picture of a tree beside a river and animals grazing on the land. What my son told me was this, "Nanay (Mother) let’s do a bible study." Since I was so tired, I got the bible from him closed it and told him that we'll do it later. But he was persistent he opened the bible again and lo and behold saw the same picture and page that he showed me a few seconds ago. He did it again for the 3rd time and the same page in the bible was showing up. Because of that I was prompted to finally give in to his persistence and read the bible passage underneath the picture. It was exactly the same message in today's psalm reading. After reading it something in me prompted me to say to him that her grandmother is already healed and will soon be coming home to us from the hospital. This is without knowing yet that it was the same time too when she passed away. Later on I realized that it was God's way of telling us that indeed my mother is healed and has gone home although not to our earthly house but to a place of eternal rest and perpetual light, in paradise. Another thing I am reminded of is what I witnessed on television in 2010 when miners in Chile had to be rescued in a mine. Nobody would ever want to be trapped in a dark mine that is 2000 feet below. What caught my attention was the fact that although some of them had been rescued and brought up to the light they were still prevented from exposing their eyes to the light and were given dark shades to wear to protect them. This is what happens when we dare to step into the darkness and stay there too long we adapt to it and wanting to go back to the light instantly could be harmful. Let us not be led into the dark and imbibe it for too long that we find it difficult to adapt to light. Until now, we have no idea who we are and still in a conflict. Look at the things we do and engage in. This is because we don’t understand who we are. We will be judged by God according to our behavior. We should have God in the core of our identity. What builds our confidence? Think about it. This same reason should apply in our relationship with God. If we know and are aware of how we look right before God, then we should have the confidence of a beloved child of the God most high. How can we not be, knowing that we are covered by the Most precious blood of His Son Jesus who took all our sins and died on the cross for our sake then we should be the most confident person of all. Remember, we have the composure of a child of God.  Nothing should stop us from behaving in the way He has meant us to be, lifted up on a pedestal as His very dear children. Today's psalm tells us that if we follow the Lord we will not be in darkness and will have the light of life. God is true to His word and we can always hold on to it more than we can hold to our life. Just like any person striving to maintain a good standing in any aspect of life there are some rules to be followed. People nowadays have become increasingly divided, there are the poor and the wealthy and sometimes we see the not so good, arrogant, bad people cheat in order to get money and get away with it. We must always have this hope in God and not be tempted by the evildoers of their taunting that despite the goodness we do we are not getting anything out of our sacrifices. God knows the private conversations and thoughts and He exposes them and records everything. The idea that we can get away with anything we do is not a good idea. God knows our words, thoughts and deeds. Fear of the Lord in a positive way is one of the greatest virtues as in the book of Wisdom. It is stated that it is the beginning of wisdom if it is paralleled with trust that we will not be put to shame. Those wicked people who think that they have a lot of money, power, disobey God and don't use their resources in accordance to God's will can be compared to chaff that can easily be burned. If we have the right relationship with God then we too can be exposed to the heat of God's love like the sun that can make things go on fire but instead of burning becomes a source of healing like the rays of light shown in a monstrance which symbolizes being in God's presence. We should never lose hope nor fall into despair. Whenever we sin, we must not just acknowledge it. The lesson we always have to remember is to have humility to approach Christ as we acknowledge our sins. This should remind us of Peter and Judas, they both sinned and acknowledged it. Peter wept bitterly after denying Jesus 3x while Judas threw away the silver coins that were paid to him. The difference lies in the fact that Peter as the scriptures say, when he wept, looked at Jesus with a heart, humble and contrite, which God would not despise and ran to Mary. While Judas, fell into despair and hanged himself. Thus we remember these things and always run to God with humility and also to Mary, the mother of Christ who will obtain for us true contrition. We've got to always keep ourselves motivated to do all in our power for the glory of God. All other things fade in the background and should not get our attentions any more than we ought to believe that God is our only hope. We may have started at the peak but as time goes by we may have started to lag or worse go on a downward path. Or could have started off but never worked our way up then it's time we get things straight and be focused so as not to lose sight of the unsurpassed and unfading trophy and blessing that await those who are victorious in the Lord. Today’s psalm continues to give us the guidelines we need to live by to truly prosper in the Lord. God assures us that even though life may bring us so many heartaches and pains we can still stand firm and hope that we will have the light of life if we will persevere, not waver nor falter in following the Lord. Let us choose to live in the light rather than stay in the dark.  God gave us the freedom to choose let us hope and pray that we are always inclined to do the will of God in our lives to carry out His plan of prosperity in our life. It has been impressed to me that God has already given us the gift, all we have to do is open it and use it as intended to serve its purpose. Sometimes we remain stubborn in our old ways we don't realize that everything is just within our reach, it's just a matter of committing and deciding what is right before God. We all know that life becomes difficult when it comes to commitments and making decisions but it will always be worth it after all the hard work as implied in the psalm reading. It doesn't matter who or what we are, whether young or grown up, God will always find a way to bless us in various ways. We just have to open ourselves to Him and always draw near to Him and never stray away from His side. The scriptures say it all. We need not hesitate, stall, delay nor look for anything else further but just follow what the scriptures tell us to do. In fact the bible has an acronym which stands for (B) Basic (I) Instructions (B) Before (L) Leaving (E) Earth. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6

R: Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

1 Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, 2 but delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night. (R) 3 He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers. (R) 4 Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes.

God wants us first and foremost to put into practice and good use the things that we've known and learned about God. It is not easy to do what is right and stay in the light but it is never easier to do the wrong thing and be in the dark. Whether we know about this already or we would still have to find out sooner or later is not as important as the warning that Jesus tells us in today's gospel. The Pharisees and Scholars in the time of Jesus are the most respected and looked up to as the righteous people. We may be able to justify ourselves and fool the people around us but we can never camouflage the wrong that we do from the Lord. If we choose to do what is right all the way through as in the most genuine sense of it then we need not be bothered at all. It is like being under the guiding light of the Lord and bathing in the endless shower of His graces. God will surely endow us with true blessings rather than woe. The gospel reminds me of the things I have witnessed in Sis Joy's case way back in 2009. Sis Joy Manipis has been a loyal and faithful member of the God's Children Prayer Group. For years she has been tirelessly and selflessly servicing the seniors by bringing them to and from the prayer meeting and back to their homes. In the process of doing this they met an accident when a motorcycle crashed into her car. Although no one got hurt in her van and the man riding the motorcycle was not seriously hurt, inaccurate reports were made with regards to the accident which almost caused Sis Joy to lose the case. In fact it was because of her natural tendency or instinct to be of help that caused the inaccurate reports. Sis Joy was about to change to her right lane and had her signals on already but hadn't changed lane yet when the motorcycle crashed into her van but when she saw the man overthrown into the pavement she did not think anymore and immediately shifted to the right most portion of the road in order to help the man. The witness and the policeman who saw her in the right most lane did not know any better. There were negative feedbacks with regards to the status of the case since the police report and witness' statement do not favor her and could mean losing the case. There were several people in the community who cited similar cases and lost as if to warn not to put our hopes up too much and just be disappointed. Though in the end the truth has indeed prevailed for the judge has finally given his verdict and it is not guilty. Despite of this, I have noticed that the laws and technicalities being followed can become twisted or crooked at times. In fact, 3 lawyers had declined on handling her case before she was finally able to get the lawyer who handled her case. They thought they would just lose based on the police report and witness statement which was filed. There is a tendency for people to put their faith and confidence in the wise tactics and strategies that this world offers rather than banking on the truth and what is pleasing before God. We sometimes lose sight of what is truly important and vital. Let us not be carried away or influenced by this wrong motivation in carrying out the rules and regulations that we follow. May we truly appreciate the law of God in the light of His truth, justice, goodness, mercy and love for all of us. Amen. Hallelujah! 

Luke 11:42-46

...And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”