We need to observe the Sabbath and not just follow our own
pursuits. People are into a real busy work week and do not even go to church.
Do we make time for God? Do we reflect on God and worship Him? Are we endlessly
just trying to do as much as we can in order to have as much as we can? We need
to realize that once we recognize God’s law then we quickly recognize our need
for grace that brings us to prayer life. There is a constant force of the
culture, the temptations to live an extravagant and impure life, and the force
of our fallen human nature that make us give in to sin. We better recognize sin
in our life. Things can get difficult and we can not do all in our strength. We
struggle with sin most of the time. Our sins isolate us. We’ve got to change,
admit to ourselves and then to a priest. We should avail of the sacrament of
confession and do away with fear of what the priest might think. This is our
human nature. Confession is a beautiful experience when we hear those words of
absolution. Our sins are gone and forgotten and we are forgiven. To tell
another person could be so liberating, it helps us to believe in God’s
acceptance and forgiveness. It awakens something in us to help us believe in
God’s love for us. The priest in the confession is like the father in the
Prodigal son. Waiting in the confession chamber is a duty to the priest. He
makes himself available for us and just be there for people to experience God’s
forgiveness. God's faithful people will always find consolation and assurance
as stated in today's 1st reading which reminds me of the several experiences I
had. First, it was my visit to this monastery with a friend. We were about to
get lost because my friend forgot the map and was not able to search in the
internet prior to our trip the directions to the place. Although she's been
there once already she felt that we are not going the right way as we were
driving down the road. Though, we've been thinking already that not a lot of
people know about that place and we might not be able to find it. We continued
to be positive and hoped in our God who sends angels ahead of us to lead us to
the right path. She decided to stop over
at McDonald's to use the restroom and ask somebody who might know the
directions going there. We never expected that the first person whom we came
across to ask for directions knows exactly the way. He was sitting there like
an angel waiting for us to come in order for us to find our way and not get
lost. It was a very wonderful feeling on our way to the monastery that despite
the still long road, twists and turns that we traveled we never got lost for
the directions given to us were so precise and without a slight mistake from the time calculation,
streets and landmarks. Considering that the man whom we talked to was maybe
already in his early 80s and yet he was able to direct and guide us without
fail. Another overwhelming treat for us in going to that place was when we were
welcomed by the scenic beauty that envelopes this monastery in Valyermo. The
long and winding roads which lead to the monastery are along the mountain
ranges and it was simply exhilarating just looking at the breathtaking and
awesome views that surround us. Upon arriving the place we were greeted by the
major changes in the monastery which used to be according to my friend,
secluded and undeveloped, but has underwent several improvements including the
newly built buildings and chapels. There was also an additional building for
the Arts & Crafts
Center
Another thing that I am reminded of are my 2 sons, Allan and Jude. They have
always been a light and inspiration for me. I just shared about how my eldest
son, Jude when he was still a little child showed me a bible passage which contains
the same message that is in today's 1st reading, on the day my mother died. It
happened too that the bible he showed me has a picture of a beautiful garden by
the spring with animals grazing in it and looks like paradise. I was suddenly
reminded too of how my mother used to spearhead an activity in church. She used
to solicit for the poor and distribute the goods to them during the Christmas
season. This I just realized upon reading a part of today's 1st reading,
"...if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the
afflicted..." which I guess is part of the exact bible passage that my son
Jude showed me on the day my mother died. Although it happened quite a long
time ago already I could never forget it. As for my younger son, Allan, I have always
been inspired by his pacifying and assuring words whenever a conflict is about
to break out. He has in several occasions became cool and refreshing water for
me whenever I am about to get fired up by worry, panic and anger. We all
have a tendency to, accuse people, pigeon hole them and succumb to malicious
speech and sarcasm. And in today’s
1st reading we find a warning for the people to stop false
accusation. These occasions
with my 2 sons I have always treasured in my heart which I have always been
reminded of through the words of God in the scripture. The endless
connections, signs and wonders that God continues to display is just too much
of a coincidence since there is no such thing as coincidence with God only
divine intervention. Amen. Hallelujah!
Isaiah 58:9-14
...If you remove from your midst oppression, false
accusation and malicious speech; 10 if you bestow your bread on the hungry and
satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the
gloom shall become for you like midday; 11 then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and
you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails...If
you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my
holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable;
if you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or
speaking with malice — 14 Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make
you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of
Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
We have to be grateful to God for He is indeed merciful and
gracious in all His ways. He gives us not just one but various options when it
comes to accessing the graces He is dispensing and showering upon us. God
provides all means in order for us to avail of all the blessings He wants to
give us. When things are about
to come to an end or maybe has reached its final stages and been waiting for
quite a long time already and yet things are still uncertain as to how it will
all turn out then we are placed in a very challenging situation as to how we
are to react. Whether in despair or continue to hope in the Lord is always a
choice we have to make. But oftentimes, things are easier said than done but it
is always a consolation to know that we have a God who always show us the way. It
is a reality that we have to attend to a lot of things waiting for us to be
done. God wants us to become individuals capable of handling things in our
lives with balance, in whatever we do, He is always with us. We may have been surprised by some kind of
news from somebody while thinking about a particular concern and even before we
can come up with a solution it was already addressed. It is a blessing from the
Lord that when times like these come when we are having a dilemma or unable to
access of one option there are still other choices left that we can make use
of. God never leaves us empty handed, He always has reinforcement and a back
up. Let us not lose sight of the Lord who loves us and will always rescue us in
our miseries and make us glad. Life is not all about rules and regulations. God
did not just give us a bunch of rules and regulations that we are supposed to
obey like machines. What we do does not just proceed from who we are but also
makes us who we are. The actions we
engage, the words that we say and the things that we do have an impact on us.
We are making ourselves all the time. God created us when we came out of the
womb, our mothers and father have a great role in that but our creation
continues every single day of our lives. We’re even becoming someone more
beautiful, mature and stronger or someone weaker and more despicable. There’s
no middle ground. We’re going one way or another. Life leads either to heaven
or to hell. That’s what the acts that we commit do. Virtuous acts build in us
strength. The word virtue comes from the word manly which is strength and
power. Virtue is a habit that makes it easy and pleasurable to do the right
thing. Golden virtue isn’t always easy. It is hard. But what is vice, it is a habit
that makes it easy to do the wrong and evil thing. Let’s take exercise as an
example. People make it their New Year’s resolution and people who go to the
gym noticed that it’s packed on January but they’re gone by the 3rd week. If
we’ve ever engaged in an exercise program for the first time, we know that we
feel bad, tired, exhausted and wake up sore. This is because we do not have the
habit of exercise. We have not trained and our bodies are not used to it. It
hurts and it’s hard the first time we work out. If we persevere past the first
few weeks and developed a habit of regular exercise then we end up getting used
to it and become easy that when we don’t exercise we feel bad. What happens is
that we build up the power or the virtue. We’ve conditioned ourselves so that
it becomes second nature to us. If we want a progressive course we need to do
something hard. No pain no gain. The next time we work out we add up a little
bit more since we are stronger. We can move forward and grow in our ability to
lift weights. This is the deal. The actions we do have an impact of what we
are. It’s like when we start lifting weights we start to change and look
different. We look like someone who has strength, power and endurance. This is
the point, God is about building champions. The goal of the Christian life is
to build champions. Well, not necessarily athletic champions but spiritually. A
real champion in every aspect of life. God wants us to be strong, loving, wise
and to have the power to live. It’s not so much what we do that counts but it’s
who we become. That’s what the commandments, teachings and God is all about. Nowadays,
a fatal disease is no longer fatal but just a life threatening disease if left
uncared for. Modern Science has come up with several interventions to combat
these diseases. When we don’t feel well, we consult a doctor for advice on how
to care for ourselves. An example could be hypertension, before people just die
of it without prior treatment but since the dawn of anti hypertensive medicines
and proper care to maintain a good blood pressure there has been significant
improvement on such cases. The same with our souls we have a disease that if
left uncared for can cause death. It would be better to think of our souls as
such. It’s easier to be receptive to the gospel if we consider ourselves lost.
We have been saved by God but we can lose it just as we can lose our human life
for not caring for it. We all have a terminal disease called sin, we need a
doctor to give us advice. Our souls need a Divine Physician and consult the
sacred scriptures in order to know the things to follow. The sacraments serve
as the medication that we can compare to medicine from the doctor that we don’t
understand how it works. It is the same with the sacraments although we may not
understand fully how it works just like how medicines work to cure our
diseases. In the spiritual life our physician is Jesus Christ, He tells us what
to do on how to be healed. We must not follow quacks and pseudo scientists. We
must trust our souls not to quacks but to God. We follow the saints who have
lived their life in an exemplary nature. We should also follow the example of
the great men in the bible who never doubted God's goodness and mercy. In this
way we become free of the serious symptoms of the sicknesses of the soul like
pride, covetousness, envy, lust, sloth, anger and gluttony. We seek the truth
and the truth will make us free. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalms 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R: Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
1 Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me, for I am afflicted
and poor. 2 Keep my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts
in you. 3 You are my God. (R) Have mercy on me, O Lord, for to you I call all
the day. 4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my
soul. (R) 5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to
all who call upon you. 6 Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer and attend to the sound
of my pleading.
We have to
check ourselves for any disease of the soul like that of harboring guilt and
mistakenly taking it as a form of repentance which is not. We should make a
distinction between a contrite heart and a heart full of guilt. We should have
a disposition that though we are sinners, we know that we have been forgiven
and should maintain a spirit of joy and love in response to this. Whereas, if
we wallow in guilt and misery then we remain despondent of the great love and
overwhelming affection that God has given us all. The greatness of God's love
and sacrifice for all of us can overcome and can make all things well. All is
well with Jesus. God is the greatest physician of all times, no matter
what our ailments are, be it physical, emotional or mental He can cure our
infirmities and make us whole again. God reminds us though, in order to find
our way back to perfect health in all aspects of our life we have to repent and
not just be sorry for our sins but repair what we've done and resolve to become
the person God has meant us to be because no matter how broken we are God can
do wonders with us if we only trust in Him and be confident that He will make
us new. He has already paid the price for our sins when He took it upon Himself
by dying on the cross. Today’s gospel brings our focus on the life of Levi the
tax collector or more popularly known as St. Matthew. Pope Benedict XVI on
reflecting on his life said that Jesus does not exclude anyone from His
friendship. Tax collectors and prostitutes during the time of Jesus are
considered public sinners. They work for Rome
and can set their own commission from taxes they collect from the locals. They
are despised for this no less than the prostitutes. Jesus called Peter, James
& John while they were fishing and did the same for the tax collectors. We
are mistaken to think that God thinks as men do. He chooses whom He wills and
gives grace to those He wills to Himself. This is the heart of the good news of
the gospel. God does not abandon us to our sins. He offers grace to sinners. We
may want to recall the story in the gospel of the Pharisee praying in the front
row of the temple and the tax collector at the farthest end beating his breast.
He prays to God as a repentant sinner would and felt closer and came out
justified to God. The repentant tax collector can be a model for us. Although
he sinned, he did not stay in his sinful habit and converted. We can experience
God’s forgiveness in the confession. This is one way we can draw closer to Him
and come to know Him in an amazing way. For all of us, to some degree we can
come up with reasons not to go to confession. As Pope John Paul II said, the
sin of modernity is that people have lost the sense of sin. We have to
recognize the evil that we have done and must repent. The absolute bedrock of
spiritual life is to follow the 10 commandments, work against sin and stop
sinning. We are sometimes misled and think that if we have a type of prayer we
think that we already have a spiritual life. We’ve got to have the humility to
say that God is smarter than we are and follow and obey what we are told in the
10 commandments. Matthew is a model of conversion and change. He did not just
stay where he was at. Faith led him to change, he got up and followed him. He
left his livelihood and left his post.
What false idols do we have in our life? Let us pray for grace to see in
our lives clearly what we’re attached to and pour them down. Are we really in
God’s disposal? Can He do to us what He wants to do with us? Or are we still
caught up in sin? Let’s pray for freedom and imitate St. Matthew. It is not
impossible to really be in touch with God's wonderful and amazing ways. If only
we will have the courage to be just like St. Matthew/Levi in today's gospel who
got up, followed Jesus and left everything behind. Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 5:27-32
Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs
post. He said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything behind, he got up
and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, ...“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus
said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the
sick do. 32 I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
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