THE FAITH MASTER

We can see from the readings today that the big moments of history are based on the simple, intuitive comprehension of the faith of David, Abraham and Joseph, the so called the Anawim of God. We have all the reasons to rejoice and be glad. God is always true to His word and fulfills His promises to the poor in spirit. We can trust God to always bring about the best situation for us. Especially when we look back at the times when we think we are in big trouble. God has the ability to bring about good in everything. The will of God is really wide between choices that are good and good. It is always a consolation to know that whichever way we go, granted of course that these choices are all good, we can also be assured of the wide array of good things waiting to happen to us. If our God is faithful, so must we be faithful, too. God guarantees to fulfill all His promises to those who remain steadfast in their faith. Believe and have faith, push aside all doubts that God is able to fulfill all his promises. Be proud and shout to the whole world of his goodness. Today's 1st reading should make us realize that we have a God who guarantees to fulfill all His promises for as long as we have faith in Him. We should believe what has been promised to us and it shall be done. Amen. Hallelujah! 

Romans 4:13, 16-18

It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith.

For this reason, it depends on faith,so that it may be a gift, and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not to those who only adhere to the law but to those who follow the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us,…He believed, hoping against hope, that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “Thus shall your descendants be.”

There is a lot to learn from the life of Abraham especially the part when he kept on with his faith in God. He was already of age when God promised him to be the father of all nations. All we need to keep in mind is that our time will come and all we have to do is just continue to trust God in His goodness and mercy and never let go of our faith. Just imagine what Abraham had to go through. If it were us and not Abraham who had fallen into this kind of fate we could have responded and reacted to this situation differently. Are these words familiar to us? I do not deserve to be treated this way. I did not do anything bad for God to punish me like this, as if God is a tyrant that is ready to strike us with every wrong move. Why me and not the others who are a lot more sinful than I am. And all these kind of things that we say without much thought. If we are to look at the life of Abraham very closely we would discover that he never let go of his faith in God despite the seemingly irrational and hopeless situation he went through. Imagine in his old age when his wife Sarah finally bore him a son God asked him to offer him as a sacrifice which meant losing his son. He remained firm in his faith and continued to trust in the word of the Lord. Abraham was tested and found to be true. In our own lives, we too are called to prove ourselves worthy before the Lord in order for all of the blessings to flow freely without any block or hindrance. We don't expect a mango fruit if we planted a banana tree. It is pretty much the same with our lives. If we strive to live up to the expectations of a child of the Lord by giving Him honor and praise then we will surely be not disappointed with the outcome. For God inhabits the praises of His people. Although we have a tendency to forget or become out of focus since we are surrounded in this world we are in by elements most especially the physical ones that make us more inclined to pursue worldly things. We become sidetracked or worse completely off track of the path where God is leading us. Let us live every single day of our life conscious of the wonderful truth that we are God's people and He has made a covenant with us. Almost everybody knows this famous Christian song from kindergarten, “Father Abraham has many children, some of them are small, some of them are tall, all of them are beautiful...” We remain beautiful as long as we keep God's covenant and remain obedient and faithful to God. He is the reason for everything and the source of all good things. Sometimes morbid thoughts enter into our mind and immediately we'd think that it is always the devil who does it but whether it is true or not this thought could be a wake up call and reminder that in worst case scenarios or life and death situations there is always a God ready to help us at any time. All we have to do is call on Him. It is indeed good advice to always look intently on God and find all the joys waiting for us. There is really no doubt that we need to further explore, know and understand our faith. In doing so we have to constantly look to the Lord, seek Him and recall His goodness. Jesus' name is undeniably powerful and beyond measure. Its worth is more than all the riches we can gain in this world. There is really nothing we can find even if we search far and wide, high and low, more than what the Lord can offer. We could go on and on with so many options we are confronted with daily in our lives. There is an endless list of "To Do Things" but what comes first and last is always dependent on our priorities. In deciding on our priorities we have to always involve God in all the things happening around us. We would  be so glad to discover that as we place Him in the center of our heart, body and soul He never fails in guiding and directing us. There is indeed great power in the name of Jesus. There is a need to go through the different seasons throughout the year for there is indeed a time and a season for everything. Thus, we all go through different situations and circumstances in life. Some of them do not make any sense if we fail to acknowledge the power of God moving in it. There are numerous things that we can think, focus and decide on but there’s only one thing I am sure of. We’ve got to acknowledge that despite of it all God’s power remains to be above all things no matter what it may seem to be. We should always keep in mind all the wonderful things He has done for us. The Lord will never forsake nor abandon us. In the midst of all the turmoil we inevitably face in our daily lives may we remain hopeful in the Lord who is Almighty, provides for all means and prevails now and forever. Whenever we experience difficulties in life we tend to question God right away and somehow blame Him for what came upon us. Sometimes we come to a point in our lives when we tend to question the will of God in our lives. I have plans and you have plans but sometimes things do not fall into place and ask why things happened the way it did and not the way we planned and expected. We just need to always remember the marvels the Lord has done and always hold on to it. If we live by the word of God which is perfect and remains forever then nothing could go wrong. Our hearts will abound with joy and gladness as we further explore, know and understand about our faith. In doing so we have to constantly look to the Lord, seek Him, recall His goodness, keep our spirits up and make our hearts rejoice like what today's psalm is telling us about. We may have experienced a situation in our life when we encountered a lot of trials and difficulties. Just when we're about to give up and lose hope, suddenly we came across a particular incident or inspiration that perfectly fits or matches our specific problem which gave us this hope and feeling that God knows exactly what we're going through and promises to see us through it. The Lord is telling us is in today's psalm and assures us that He remembers what He has promised and will surely bring about what He said to us that He would do. If God remembers, so must we. Every single day we are confronted with so many challenges in life and we have to be always hopeful that the fulfillment of everything that we have been praying for has come. We should believe that whatever delays or setbacks we are encountering serve as lessons to be learned that benefit our spiritual journey with Jesus. There is a need to go through the different seasons throughout the year before the dawning of a new beginning. There is indeed a time and a season for everything. It has the same message which is hope and victory for after the passion and death of Christ is His resurrection. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 105:6-7, 8-9, 42-43

R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

You descendants of Abraham, his servants, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones! He, the LORD, is our God; throughout the earth his judgments prevail. R. He remembers forever his covenant which he made binding for a thousand generations – Which he entered into with Abraham and by his oath to Isaac. R. For he remembered his holy word to his servant Abraham. And he led forth his people with joy; with shouts of joy, his chosen ones. R.

We are God's most precious ones and our worth never diminishes nor do we lose our value. No matter what this imperfect world that we are in at the moment throw in front of us, we shall not be moved. We are worth more than anything in this world. There is no reason to fear or be afraid for we are the sons and daughters of the Most High God and the Holy Spirit is with us. Another thing that was impressed to me and reminded of is Josie. I could still remember when she sort of got very amused of me and smiled from ear to ear when I shared to her things about the Lord Jesus. I could tell by the way she looked then that she found it strange that I am openly and boldly declaring my faith to our Lord although she did not say anything. I could never forget the words that I quoted to her during our conversation because they are the very words found in the first sentence in today’s gospel. Amen. Hallelujah! 

Luke 12:8-12

8 Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God... When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. 12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”