Even before things happen to us we already knew. In women,
they call it intuition when even before finding out or seeing it with our very
own eyes we already had a hunch or clue that it is going to happen. In people
who are consistently loyal to God, it may not be called intuition but it is
definitely something greater that this or the so called ESP (extra sensory
power). Some people may doubt or question the credibility or authenticity of
some things, circumstances and events following, surrounding or accompanying
our faith in God. We can just let them be and continue on just like our fathers
in today's 1st reading when they knew beforehand, not perhaps or maybe but with
sure knowledge. Amen. Hallelujah!
Wisdom 18:6-9
6 The night of the passover was known beforehand to our
fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith,
they might have courage. 7 Your people awaited the salvation of the just...
Nothing is hidden from God and everything is known to Him.
It pays to always consult our plans to God in prayers and everything we intend
to do we should lay down before Him and seek His approval. He will never
deprive us nor withhold from us the answers that we seek. If we sometimes
forget these and tend to stray away from the right path then we should always
be aware that everything that we say, think and do must always have reference
to God our Creator. It may have happened to most of us when we get disappointed
at how we still miss something so quickly despite our close watch. We sometimes
end up confused and discouraged when things don’t happen the way we expect it
despite our accurate and strict monitoring. We even ask ourselves how it could
have happened. We may have heard and seen some terrible and frightening things
in our life but we should always hold on to the truth that no matter how
horrible the things that are happening around us they don't change the fact
that our Lord is God and always in charge and in control. It doesn't matter
that much how we think and feel but what matters most is how to feel and think
just like God. For we can always rely and depend on it, 100%, fail proof and
success guaranteed. We should place our trust not in men or in things but in
God alone. The Lord did not promise us to be totally problem free but He gave
His assurance that He will always be our Savior and Redeemer. God's power is
beyond our full comprehension. He is Holy, Mighty, Immortal and Infinitely
Great. Did it ever occur to you how all these things that surround us, from the
skies, to the mountains, plains, the seas, the wind, all the heavenly bodies
above, the things down below, all the creatures of the earth especially us,
human beings came to be. Not a single theory about creation could suffice and
would ever satisfy the wonders and marvelous things that God has done. Just
thinking about all these things should make us always put our hope in Him, feel
confident and assured that we are safe under His care, to help us from all our
problems and shield us from all harm. It is a consolation to know that we are
constantly assured by God especially in today's psalm to never doubt His power
and goodness. His loving eyes is always upon us not leaving us for a single
moment nor removing his stare even with a wink of an eye. It feels good to know
that someone's eyes are upon us and looking after us. When we come to a point
of despair and feel like things are not getting better, we ought to remember
always that we are God's people and we are His own. Let us ask the Lord to lead
us to the right path and decisions that we may work toward the building of God’s
kingdom here on earth. We should not give room to any
doubt, fear, anxiety, impatience, irritability, hatred, sadness, iniquity,
unfaithfulness, disloyalty, pride and loss of self control. Let us not choose
to give in to these. They are all characteristics that should not be found in a
people the Lord has chosen to be His own. Our present situation may not
be a perfect picture yet but we should all rejoice and be glad knowing that God
was the one who chose us first and He will carry us through. All we have to do
is just trust that the Lord will carry out with perfection all His plans for us
no matter what situations or circumstances may arise in our midst. When God
created this world and everything in it including us, He did not ask permission
from anybody. It means that He has chosen us to be His own and not the other
way around. This is the reason why the fallen angels/demons are so jealous of
men. We are indeed special in the eyes of God for it is written in Gen 1:26,
"Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Let them have dominion..." We are not just chosen by God to be His own
even before everything came to be but we are on top of His creation. Let us never lose sight of this wonderful plan that God has
for all of us. We may not be seeing it right now, having doubts about it, not
paying attention to it or unable to commit to it. Whatever it may be, these are
all hindrances that prevent us from gaining access to the goodness of the Lord.
Never allow ourselves to miss out on this privilege that is accorded to all of
us as the children of God. God chose us first and it is only right and fitting
that we choose Him too. If we always focus on the Lord and put His words in our
presence at all times then we can be assured that we have a lamp unto our feet
that is lighting our path. We have to entrust all our cares and worries to the
Lord for He can do better things for our lives than all our works combined. No
matter how hard we try to succeed in what we do if it's not in accordance to
God's plan then nothing will ever come out of it. We may succeed in one aspect
but we will never be totally at peace for in the end it will always be the will
and plan of God that will prevail. We just have to acknowledge that we are sparing
ourselves of all the trouble and heartaches if we will just be obedient and
completely trust in the Lord's plan. Let us truly be wise in the real
sense of the word rather than of the world and not forfeit all our benefits
from the Lord. We all have our personal plans and
designs and we may not be able to fully understand what is going on at the
present time. It is not easy for the wisdom in the eyes of God is foolishness
to the world but what's most important is that we should always consult everything
to God first, just believe and surrender everything to Him for He knows best.
We have to realize this one most important truth that we should all subscribe
to, which is to constantly align ourselves and conform to the will and plan of
God in our lives. The power of God knows no limits and we can always rely on
Him for anything that we are in need. Let us rely on God's power and completely
trust Him to bring to fulfillment everything that He has promised. Just
like the Blessed Mother Mary, who is Queen of heaven and earth, we too are
destined for victory and royalty. If only we live out the example of her
obedient life and carry Jesus in our hearts. Let us not lose hope and have
faith in the Master Plan and Grand Design that God has for all of us. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 33:1, 12, 18-19, 20, 22 (12b)
R: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
...See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness, 19 to deliver them from death and
preserve them in spite of famine. (R) 20 Our soul waits for the LORD, who is
our help and our shield. 22 May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us who have put
our hope in you.
Father Abraham has indeed set a good example of faith for us
all to follow. It was evidenced by his willingness to go forth even without
knowing where he was to go, remaining faithful in a God who is trustworthy and
being rewarded with Isaac as a symbol. When we were young we just follow where
our parents lead us. We ought to be like little children with hands clasped by
our loving parents trusting that they will not lead us to a place of danger.
This should be our attitude towards God knowing that He will not allow us to go
through something without seeing us through it. Just like Abraham in today's
1st reading when he went out not knowing where he was to go but by faith he
sojourned. This reminds me of Father Benedict’s homily about Isaac. He said
that Isaac was very unsuspecting and very trusting. He was already being led by
his own father, Abraham to his death but he still asked in the most innocent
way in Genesis 22:7-8, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. “Father!” he said.
“Yes, son,” he replied. Isaac continued, “Here are the fire and the wood, but
where is the sheep for the holocaust?” “Son,” Abraham answered, “God himself
will provide the sheep for the holocaust.” Then the two continued going
forward. We must also develop this same kind of trust in God for us to get to
where God has destined us. This is where the theory of decide vs. discover
apply. We can’t say that we know everything. We only decide on what we know.
Only God knows everything. In times when we are at a loss it is best to trust
God to decide for us while we discover. A distinguishing mark of Christians is
the fact that they have a future it is not that they know the details of what
awaits them, but they know in general that their life will not end in
emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become
possible to live the present as well. The Pope reminds us that this perspective
does not mean that we live only for the future. People of hope are building up
a kingdom on earth but is also on a pilgrimage to that eternal kingdom God has
in store for those who follow Him. Poet Robert Browning said, “our reach must
be beyond our grasp or what’s a heaven for.” Hope is a future oriented virtue.
It acknowledges that there is a future awaiting us that there is much much
better than the present. The virtue of hope and its orientation in the future
enables us to handle present distresses and struggles in a positive way. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19
1 Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is
hoped for and evidence of things not seen...By faith Abraham obeyed when he was
called to go out to a place...he went out, not knowing where he was to go...By
faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age —
and Sarah herself was sterile — for he thought that the one who had made the
promise was trustworthy...By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up
Isaac,...He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he
received Isaac back as a symbol. All these died in faith. They did not receive
what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged
themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show
that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from
which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they
desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be
called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
God is fair and just in all His ways. We can rely on Him to
carry out everything perfectly. We should be relieved in the fact that
everything will come to pass in His perfect time in accordance to God's
standard and not ours. In the meantime, we should always be prepared. If we
don't know what to expect then we are at a loss. Jesus in today's gospel tells
us that sooner or later we will all come face to face with God on our last day
here on earth. No one can deny the fact that we will all die and it is
something that we must not be afraid of. Instead we should all be ready for it
when it comes and while we still have time. There is always hope as long as we
live. Those who have prepared and acted in vigilance will never be caught
unaware. Nothing beats those who are always ready and prepared. We have a
responsibility in our hands and we are accountable for it. Let us do all in our
power to measure up and give it our best. We sometimes get shocked at how this
modern world of ours have drifted further down the pit of moral decay and got
into the lure of what seemed to be the accepted and existing norms of our
society. It is so difficult most especially for us trying to live the call of
Jesus in our lives. It looks like wherever we go we are faced by these
challenges. Sometimes we feel like people have no more room for godly talk.
Just when I thought that we're running out of godly resources in our environment
today's gospel suddenly reminded me of the movie, "Spiderman". I can
consider the following words of Spiderman, "With great power comes great
responsibility" a modern version of this bible passage that I have quoted
below. Although we are sometimes overwhelmed by the discouraging reality of the
kind of world we live in, God never runs out of occasions and circumstances to
always reinforce His words which serve as guiding principles in life that can
always keep us attuned and conformed to Him rather than to this present world. Although
there are times when we find ourselves overwhelmed by the tasks in our hands,
we should be glad and rejoice that we are continuously being entrusted with
responsibilities knowing that God will not give us anything that we can not
accomplish. There is a need to be really vigilant at all times. Being always on
the watch and careful of our actions at all cost. We must admit that there are
moments when we become out of focus but God has always been faithful in giving
us reminders. We need to have the confidence and conviction that we are where
we are and doing what we are doing today because God has lead us to it. If such
is the case then there is no reason to be afraid for we will surely be blessed.
Today we should commit ourselves to the vigilant waiting for the Lord, for in
Him alone, we place our trust. Doing God's will in our lives at all times is a
sure way of preparing for the 2nd coming or the return of Jesus. There were
lots of predictions as to when will this day come. Sometimes we lose track of
what the 2nd coming of Jesus is all about and tend to be out of focus. Instead
of focusing on the end of the world or the Armageddon in which the signs of the
times that accompany the 2nd coming of Christ being proclaimed like the so
called earthquakes, floods, fire and hailstorms and tornadoes are already
happening and rattles us by causing so much fear, anxiety and confusion it
would be better if we focus more on the reality that the Kingdom of God is at
hand and is here right now within our individual selves. It would help us stay
in focus and more in control if we concentrate more on our personal lives and
mind our very own armageddon on our last day here on earth that we should all
prepare for. Each day of our life is a battle being fought for the ownership of
our souls that we really have to be mindful of right now, whether we will come
to see the end of the world or not and it is coming soon or later that we
really don't know. One thing is sure, we will all leave this earth and die and
that is the reality that we all have to face and prepare for. During my nursing
student days we used to make a lot of NCPs (Nursing Care Plan) especially in
our clinical rotations in different hospitals. These NCPs based on our
instructor's format are composed of 5 columns namely, ADPIE which stands for A-
Assessment, D- Diagnosis, P-Planning, I-Implementation and E - Evaluation. We
are able to carry out our duties well and give the optimum care to patients if
we can come up with priority NCPs. It's just as the name itself says, nursing
care plan with its important components (ADPIE). We all need to have a good NCP
not just in the hospital setting but in our daily lives. In doing so we are
well prepared and ready for anything that might or is bound to come up. If we
are always on the look out and well equipped then we can picture ourselves just
like those servants in today's gospel, truly blessed. There is really much and
still more to learn from today's gospel. Jesus has left us with a vast resource
of learning to attain to the kingdom
of God
Luke 12:32-48
...Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out,
an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
34 For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be...Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he
would not have let his house be broken into. 35 Jesus said to his disciples:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps 36 and be like servants who await their
master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and
knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his
arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table,
and proceed to wait on them. 38 And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.” 40 You also
must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” .....Blessed
is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you,
he will put him in charge of all his property. .....Much will be required of
the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person
entrusted with more.
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