We have been wonderfully created by God. This is something
that we all so often neglect or sometimes do not realize. Let us live up to this image that He made us
to be and show forth the beauty of God's creation. Amen. Hallelujah!
Sirach 17:1-15
God from the earth created man, and in his own image he made
him...He endows man with a strength of his own, and with power over all things
else on earth. 4 He puts the fear of him in all flesh, and gives him rule over
beasts and birds. 5 He forms men’s tongues and eyes and ears, and imparts to
them an understanding heart. 6 With wisdom and knowledge he fills them; good
and evil he shows them.
We can never fathom the wisdom of God but we can always
remain confident in the truth that His kindness is perfect and everlasting. He
makes all things work for good. When we feel so helpless, miserable and alone,
never ever doubt that He can't help but be the loving God that He is. God loves
us so much that he will adjust to our needs and make things work for good.
There is no reason for us to even doubt and hold back anything from the Lord
for nothing is too difficult for Him. If we are confident of God's Providence in our lives
then nothing should even make us doubt that God is able to redeem us and take
us out of misery. God has made known His kindness, mercy and secures justice
for all. He knows exactly what we need at the precise moment and brings forth
everything in its appointed time. Furthermore, God wanted to take our
transgressions as far as the east is from the west. How far is the east from
the west? Only God knows. We know that the distance is unfathomable, that’s
what the Lord does with our sins. How much does He loves us? We know that His
love and mercy is immeasurable. There is really none like our God. And reading
part of the psalm reading made me remember the song "Loving and Forgiving".
He is our best bet for always and there is no one or nothing else that could or
should take first place in our lives more than the Lord. Whenever we receive
goodness and kindness from people we meet we are very much delighted and
pleased with it. How much more would we feel if we have God's favor resting
upon us. There is nothing else better compared to this. We may search long and
hard but we can never really find true satisfaction and remain restless unless
we have God in our life. We only have to believe in God's kindness and mercy
and we will surely see it happen in our life before our very eyes. He is our
refuge and strength. To whom can we go but to God alone. The world’s point of
view is very contradictory to the message that God wanted us to live by. We need to pray hard for the desire to always
follow what is pleasing before the Lord and not forget that it is what really
matters first and foremost. We are so blessed that we did not live during the
time when Christians were being persecuted and martyred and what we are
enjoying right now are already the benefits of God's marvelous work wrought by
His mighty hand. This is why we should stop complaining and just keep our hope
if we truly believe that we have a God and Father who is full of kindness and
goodness. This reminds me of the prophet Amos. He is a prosperous
herdsman/farmer, well educated and traveled. His time (746-786) was an age of
prosperity but severely marked with moral decay and spiritual bankruptcy. He
experienced a luxurious life, lived in the garrison city a place dominated by
people of power and had all the time to study the scriptures. He lived in
affluence, belonged and embraced the "clan system/wisdom" which is a
guild or crusade to maintain the purity of the tradition of the temple of Jerusalem
Psalms 103:13-14, 15-16, 17-18
R: The Lord’s kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD
has compassion on those who fear him, 14 for he knows how we are formed; he
remembers that we are dust. (R) 15 Man’s days are like those of grass; like a
flower of the field he blooms; 16 the wind sweeps over him and he is gone, and
his place knows him no more. (R) 17 But the kindness of the LORD is from
eternity to eternity toward those who fear him, and his justice toward
children’s children 18 among those who keep his covenant.
If God said so then we should know better than to disobey.
Actually this kind of thinking and belief has a tendency to make us react
negatively. It's not because obeying God entails a lot of hardships and trials
but in truth our human nature is inclined to rebel whenever we are being told
by someone of what to do. We sometimes assert our independence in the wrong
way. It would help us if we first assess the situation before we react. If
somebody not trustworthy or not knowledgeable tells us something it would
really benefit us if we just ignore and let the words that our left ear heard
just pass through our right ear. We should be careful in dealing with other
people and could really help if we lessen our interactions with them. But if
our God speaks to us about something then we can never question the credibility
of His words because He is a God who knows best. And if we are hoping and
looking forward to a life of peace and joy we just better have to take His word
for it and be like the children spoken of in the gospel today. Children have
the gift to just receive and let their minds go to a place where adults don’t.
They have the ability to animate things and have joy. They are always intently
listening and receiving. This is the key to having access to the continuous
existence of the flow of grace. If we look at the world around us and hear the
news of what’s happening then we could lose hope if we listen to everything that’s
going on around us. Unless we’re grounded in faith we could not survive it. We
should pray that we continue to mature as
Christians. We have always come to mass and witness in the altar what
priests are doing all over the world. We have to come into touch with the
reality that the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament is what’s redeeming
the world. The world is fragile and unstable. We need to be around this table
in the altar for constant infusion of God’s life and grace. This is our life,
destiny and future. We need to be grounded in this truth and be able to say
that we are stable in our relationship with God. We need to have a conviction
in this world that the Lord is present to us in the altars of sacrifice. The
Lord Himself established this act of worship that contains incredible power. We
need to be grounded to our faith in the Eucharist and truly enter completely
for us to be nourished and strengthened. It should not become just an act of
routine. If this happens then this could be very sad and empty of its true
meaning. Being grounded to the truth of the Eucharist could really change our
faith and belief and therefore bring forth change in our lives. We always go to
mass but our act of worship in the Eucharist table should change us for the
better. We have to believe that the Lord is working in our lives whenever we
come to receive the Eucharist. This should be firmly based on the stability of
the truth that God is really present for us. It is like when we run in the sand
and mud, we become unsteady because it is unstable, our feet can sink. We need
stability in order to stand. We need a firm ground to walk on and find
something to anchor ourselves to. We look at a child's heart that is fully
grounded. We need to follow its example so that no matter what we see in our
experiences, the trials and the tests, if we’re grounded and stable we can
always surrender our life to God and live in peace. We have to be firmly
grounded on the truth of the Lord's presence in the Eucharist in order for a fountain
of joy and excitement to burst forth from us. This is in the knowledge that
something new is going to happen each time we receive Him in the Eucharist. Let
us pray that we be like children and utilize our inventive hearts so as to
enter into an act of worship and believe.
We are always confronted with the greatest temptation of not entering
into the act of worship and know in our hearts and minds that God is present
completely in this Most Blessed Sacrament.
We have to develop this attitude that the Eucharist is indispensable and
what’s most real and powerful for us. We need to be able to say that this is
what matters most to us. In doing so we can make decisions that needs to be
done and say, "Here I am Lord here is what I’ve done help me to be better
tomorrow." Amen. Hallelujah!
Mark 10:13-16
People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch
them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became
indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them,
for the kingdom
of God kingdom of God
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