The knowledge of God is encompassing and strives to reach
the height and depth of God's unfathomable love. Abraham is the 1st recipient
of God's revelation of Himself to mankind. He is considered as one of the
Patriarchs to whom God chose to establish his covenant. Salvation history tells
us of God's faithful love and continues to restore and bring back the broken
relationship of God and man. It was through Abraham's total surrender to God's
will to offer his son Isaac that he
foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus as
the Lamb of God. It is true that God started to reveal Himself to us through
Abraham and the ultimate revelation was in Jesus. God spared Isaac, Abraham’s
son but did not spare His only begotten for our sake. The victimhood of Jesus
to conquer evil not by slaying evil but by allowing Himself to be killed is the
height of God's love. It should always be a treasure embedded in our hearts. Let
us make this clear, it is God who first took the initiative and not the other
way around. He was the one who first loved us and we are just responding to
that love. Sometimes we get confused when we think that blessings and graces
only come our way because we obeyed God. We sometimes fall into the trap of
believing that it's because we are righteous and obedient that God blesses us. We
may have encountered people who believe that in order for God to answer our
prayers we should do this and that. It is like having a list of dos and don’ts and
treats God like a vending machine that if we place the right amount of money or
pressed on the right button we will get exactly what we wanted. There is
nothing wrong with it if we have a programmed way of serving and praying to God
but it sometimes keeps us off track when we start to focus more on our efforts
that can produce results rather than on this most important truth, it is not
God who changes but us who needs to change. God is good all the time and there
is nothing wrong with Him for He is All Perfect, Almighty and All Powerful. He
is perfectly able to do everything in His power all He has to do is will it.
His wisdom and understanding surpasses all knowledge. It would be best if we
try to look at the whole scenario of God's great goodness and love from the
very beginning. Abraham knew it from the start that's why he was willing to
give up his son, Isaac. He is very aware of the truth that only He can give and
take, it is not for us to question His will. We maintain our belief that God
knows best and all we have to do is obey. Amen. Hallelujah!
Genesis 22:1-19
1 God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one,
whom you love, and go to the land
of Moriah
We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. We do not have the
Holy Spirit as a birth right but a gift. We are born with original sin and this
redemption from sin and the kingdom of darkness is what makes it possible for
us to receive of the Holy Spirit. A lot of people in our society do like the
part that we are temples. We claim that our bodies are temples so we have to
treat it well and take care of it by doing exercise. But too often we say that
we are temples but we don’t say of what. When we listen to the way we speak we
find that we are temples of ourselves. Like the New Agers who consider
themselves to be god. We see our bodies as the temple of ourselves because we
see ourselves to be god. Each body should be treated with respect since it is
the place where God can be worshipped which is derived from the presence of the
Holy Spirit. This should be our purpose when taking all the aspects of our body
with its wide variety of urges and desires. We can bring it all under the power
of the Holy Spirit if only the body is well oriented to the worship of the Holy
Spirit.
Despite the unpleasant situation in the world's point of
view that we may be in right now we continue to see and look beyond what this
present situation is showing us by remaining steadfast in our faith in God just
like Abraham who never doubted God's protection for his family. May we all see
God as our family's help and shield. We’ve got to straighten up some things
about God. Who He is and what He wants for our life. What is our picture of
God? It’s not surprising to know that most of us think that God doesn’t want us
to have fun. It’s like all the things that we want to do with our friends that
are interesting and exciting when we were young are against God’s commandments.
It may seem like we have to settle for less. What’s worse is that all the
faithful Catholics get less out of life. This is part of the propaganda way
back in the Garden of Eden. God gave us a magnificent paradise wherein there is
perfect intimacy and no shame with each other. In the Garden they have
everything they need but gave just one limit, not to eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. This is very interesting because God said, “Don’t
do this because you will die.” The reason why God commands us something is
because He is a loving Father who cares for us. He wants us to have the best.
But then came the serpent, he didn’t create Adam & Eve, nor gave the garden
or anything at all. All the serpent gave was a lie and told Adam & Eve not
to listen to God or they’ll lose out and won’t become like God. They were made
to believe that God is holding out something from them and is actually their
rival because God doesn’t want them to have what He has. So instead of trusting
the one who gave them everything, they trusted a stranger. They disobeyed God
and listened to the liar. They were hooked into a downward spiral of
destruction. This is what sin is all about. It is a trap. It is disguised as an
apparent good because the fruit looks good and desirable but it ends in
disaster. The relationship with God is messed up and so creation turned against
them, thorns and thistles appear and things in life become hard. This is what
sin does, it seemed small but it gets out of control. Things get worse and
worse and there are broken lives everywhere. This is the reality about sin. We
are draining life out of ourselves unless we recognize the One, True and Living
God. God is very persistent in reminding us not to stray away from the path and
persevere in the true faith. Sometimes we associate God with all the nice and
wonderful things in our lives which is right but we should also keep in mind to
focus most on the Giver and not on the gift. As the psalm tells us today, “All
glory and honor we give to you alone.” Always remind us Lord to keep our feet
on the ground for everything comes to us in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Psalms 115:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
R: I will walk in the presence of the Lord, in the Land of
the living.
1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name give glory
because of your kindness, because of your truth. 2 Why should the pagans say,
“Where is their God?” (R) 3 Our God is in heaven; whatever he wills, he does. 4
Their idols are silver and gold, the handiwork of men. (R) 5 They have mouths
but speak not; they have eyes but see not; 6 they have ears but hear not; they
have noses but smell not. (R) 8 Their makers shall be like them, everyone that
trusts in them. 9 The house of Israel
trusts in the LORD; he is their help and their shield. (R)
The gospel for today urges us once again to look beyond not
only what the situation suggests but beyond the words being said to us by
Jesus. The scribes were not only very shortsighted and but also short of hearing in the sense that
they chose to entertain evil thoughts rather than on the most essential and
most important things which are the only ones that could bring healing and
fulfillment in our lives. Sometimes we fail to understand and see what the
situation or words being said to us really meant. We should always think that
God who is Holy and All Good can never be capable of willing something bad to
happen to us. Although it is a truth that almost all Christian believers would
agree to, it is not always the case when it comes to the kind of life we live.
Sometimes our own lives do not reflect the faith that we profess. Just like the
scribes in today's gospel who are supposed to be the learned and well versed
when it comes to the word of God but failed to live it in their lives. We are
also guilty of this despite our frequent attendance to prayer meetings, bible,
Catholicism studies and having experienced and witnessed the wonders and
miracles God has done in our life, still there is a moment when we succumb to
despair and doubt. May we always focus on the goodness of God and disregard the
evil tendencies and inclinations that we often harbor in ourselves. The problem
is that there is a great propaganda out there. It makes sin appear with all its
fun, excitement and glamour. It makes virtue appear boring, lame, bland and
unexciting. But the truth of the matter is, it’s not. The pleasures that God
created in this world are enjoyed the most by those who don’t abuse them and
use it simply. Who do we think enjoys food most? The person who doesn’t know
how to fast and engorges all the time or a person after a fast experiences a
feast? The virtuous person enjoys life the most. The person who uses creation
and all things according to God’s plan enjoys it the most. It is because
pleasure is God’s idea. All the good things in the world that people want are
God’s idea. Satan can’t invent even one bit of pleasure. But God commands them to be used so that it
leads to life and a part of life is joy. The way to enjoy life is to follow
God’s commands. 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.
Heaven is the realization of being a champion. In heaven we
will be glorified magnificently. We will live forever with strength, power and
beauty sharing a new humanity with Jesus. What about hell? Let’s look what vice
is about. A habit that instead of building up, deteriorates us. It starts small
just like exercise. There was a guy named Ted Bundy, who was executed in the
State of Florida
for horrible sexual crimes, murder and all sorts of perversion. He was sorry for
what he did. He didn’t ask for mercy but he warned people before he died. He
was interviewed and narrated how did this road begin. It began with looking at
pornographic books which incited in him the wrong kind of attitude towards other human beings and the opposite
sex. It became in his mind, instruments and play things. One thing led to
another and just gradually led him to murder, rape and all sorts of horrible
things. That’s the way it is with every sin. Sins that we commit are traps and
tricks that will lead us to habits and patterns of behavior that will change
us. When we tell the first lie we may not be a liar yet but it makes a lot more
prone to lie again. We start with kids maybe stealing a pack of candies from
the store. If we don’t stop that, the next time it will be bigger. Maybe for
teens it may be something like breaking in to a house and steal things. It just
keeps on going and it becomes easier and easier to do more horrible things.
Then we become a thief, an unjust person with just one little act. There’s a
little thing that illustrates all these. Sow a thought, reap an act, sow an
act, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap a lifestyle, sow a lifestyle, reap a
destiny. It all begins with a decision or thought, an act and then it becomes a
pattern. It has dared us to become who we are. There are 7 habits that have
been identified for the last 2000 years that will lead us to success,
excellence in every aspect of human life and holiness. The most important of
human life is our relationship with God. But every other aspect like our
relationship with other people, family, the way we are in the work place and
all these things are governed by these 7 habits, patterns or qualities. These
habits we can find in scriptures and see it in the life of saints. Even before
God begin to reveal Himself to His people in Israel , human nature is smart and
wise enough to see some things on its own. We, Catholics believe that God gave
human beings reason although it sometimes gets darkened by sin but still human
reason can figure out some things. One of the things that human beings figure
out without God having to reveal it, is that human beings need to meet 4
qualities to be deemed a human being. The philosopher, before even Plato,
Aristotle and Socrates, had this figured out. We find it mentioned in Wisdom
8:7, the 4 virtues or qualities are also called the hinge virtues because it is
where all the other virtues or qualities of good people would hinge. The word
cardinal means hinge. The Cardinals who surround the Pope are the doorway to
the Pope. They are also the ones whom he rely the most for advice. Everything
else depends on the cardinal virtues. (Prudence or wisdom, justice, temperance
and courage or fortitude) Prudence is the ability to make right decisions in complex
situations. Decisions that lead to the best and right thing. Without this we
can be in big trouble. We’ve got to be able to decide in a situation that we’re
in what the right thing to do which is the best thing to do. How do we get
something done? There are some folks who probably just can’t figure out what to
do. There are other folks who look at the problem and they can figure out a
solution. It’s a core and they execute that core. It’s practical wisdom. We’ll
find in the Book of Proverbs a lot of things about wisdom even in Sirach,
Ecclesiastes and all the wisdom literature in scriptures. We can also find all
the other 3 cardinal virtues, like justice which means giving each person his
or her due. We all know even as kids instinctively how important justice is.
The first thing that a kid cries out as soon as he learns how to talk if he has
brothers and sisters is “Not fair, he got more than I did” or “You ask me to do
more than what that person is doing.” This is because we have instinctively or
natively offensive justice. Each person has rights and ought to get their due.
There’s also another part of justice that we forget, that is, we have
obligations and duties to everyone. A person who is unjust is not a good
person. To be just, we need to control our passions. Temperance is a virtue
that balances and controls our passions. It is like controlling our desire for that last piece of cake if we
know that it belongs to our sister. In order to be just, we’ve got to control
our appetites. Make our appetites come into line with justice, truth and
goodness. We’ve got to have that balance in our life in order to be a good and
effective person. Temperance makes this happen. We also have to be courageous.
If we are not courageous then every time a difficulty arises we’re going to
shrink back. If there’s any danger involved in doing the right, just and wise
thing then we’re just going to crack out and find an excuse because we’re
afraid. Courage or fortitude helps us to master fear and not let fear keep us
from doing what’s right. We’ve got have all these things but here’s the
problem. When Adam & Eve decided to sin they let loose a weakness into our
race and nature that impacts all of us. We call it original sin. Sin is not so
original, we just copy what other people have done. There’s nothing creative
about sin. Adam & Eve’s sin was the only original sin. What they did has an
impact on us. By weakening their own nature, sin weakened man’s nature. They
passed on to us a weakened nature. They separated themselves and the whole
human race from friendship with God and were born into that. There’s a tendency
in our nature to go on a downward drift, a drift off course and a tendency to a
great degree is dealt with through grace. How do we get grace? Through the
death and resurrection of Jesus, God has made possible for us, healing of our
humanity. He gives us other gifts, faith, hope and charity that make it
possible for us to really have wisdom, justice, temperance and courage. Without
faith, hope and charity in this life, no one can really become truly wise.
All throughout human history we see people who exercise
these gifts. They may not be Christians, deeply spiritual people, or in a state
of grace and can exercise some of these potentials here and there. But
ultimately original sin means we are going to sin seriously and mess up. We
need God’s grace for those 4 great virtues to be perfected. Faith, hope and
charity are supernatural. These are things that human beings would never know
that they need or could have without God giving them supernaturally that’s why
they are called the theological virtues. We only know about them through divine
revelation and we couldn’t know about them by reason. We can only have them
through God’s grace. The theological virtues, faith, hope and charity are the
crown of the first 4 cardinal virtues that transform and make them possible.
God doesn’t want us just to be whole human beings and restore us to what Adam
& Eve were when they blew it in the Garden. God wants us to be more than that.
He wants to elevate our human nature and divinize it. He wants us to share in
His own Divine nature. Charity is all about loving with God’s love. Loving as
the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity love each other and sharing in that goes way
beyond human nature. This is an incredible thing and call. It was only possible
because God became man and we can share in his virtue. This is what the real
Catholic life is all about. It’s not just about making it or going to heaven by
the skin of your teeth after struggling. It’s about growing in holiness and
becoming like Jesus all throughout our life, a champion not without struggles.
As a matter of fact without the struggles we can never become a champion. But
with victory and excellence not with hopelessness, despair and frustration.
This is God’s desire for us which is a fantastic calling. The power to do this
is given to us. It is by knowing the virtues and the habits of a champion.
Amen. Hallelujah!
Matthew 9:1-8
...When Jesus saw their faith, he
said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.” 3 At that,
some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” 4 Jesus knew
what they were thinking, and said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts? ...
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