Sirach 5:1-8
1 Rely not on your wealth; say not: “I have the power.” 2
Rely not on your strength in following the desires of your heart. 3 Say not:
“Who can prevail against me?” for the LORD will exact the punishment. 4 Say
not: “I have sinned, yet what has befallen me?” for the LORD bides his time. 5
Of forgiveness be not overconfident, adding sin upon sin. 6 Say not: “Great is
his mercy; my many sins he will forgive.” 7 For mercy and anger alike are with
him; upon the wicked alights his wrath. 8 Delay not your conversion to the
LORD, put it not off from day to day.
Today’s psalm brought back memories of 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. There is
really a need for God's people to always be connected to Him in order to
survive whatever is going on at present and what is to come. 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. Another thing I am reminded of is 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. Also it is worth mentioning that tomorrow is Jude's wedding and the venue happens to be called St. Cecilia and also the name of Jude's grandmother. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6
R: Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
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.
Mark the writer where today’s gospel is taken from was very
much around the very people whom we usually look up to as the leaders of the
community but fail to reach the mark. In Mark 9: 49-50 it is written,
"Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes
insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you
will have peace with one another." During his time, salt was stored in a
bag and used in the cooking the way in the same manner tea bags are used. This
is to filter the impurities so after use the taste is gone and what's left is
just a bag of dirt. Mark was very much around these kinds of people and this is
what he was trying to convey in his writings. We should promote the improvement
and betterment of our fellow men instead of being suspicious or jealous of
them. I t is God's will for us that we all become better and improved people
and eventually become the best. We may be encountering some problems at the
moment but this should inspire us to see beyond the imperfections of our
present situation for God is always at work in our lives and we should not lose
sight of what God has in store for those who obey and follow Him. Jesus tells
His disciples not to prevent those who drive out demons in His name. Although
they are not part of their group, they are not doing something against them.
Sometimes we get offensive and instead of attracting people to the faith we
tend to drive them away. We can not claim to know everything so it is better to
just give people the benefit of the doubt or not judge them outright and just
entrust them to Jesus who definitely knows best. Jesus also warns us of hell. Let us recall
also that it is also written in the scriptures about the fig tree which bears
no fruit and was thrown into fire to burn. We have to realize that in every sin
there is pride. Our sins can bring us to hell if left unrepented. There is a real need to live in virtue and
strive to bear fruit as a Christian. Amen. Hallelujah!
Mark 9:41-50
Jesus said to his disciples: “Anyone who gives you a cup
of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely
not lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in
me] to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his
neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it
off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go
into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you
to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with
two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin,
pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God
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