CARRY ON

If we are to read the entire 1^st reading which is taken from the Old Testament we can not help but think that we have a God who is vindictive. This is due to the fact that it shows an entirely different and ancient understanding of morality and punishment. This is why people who intend to read the entire bible are advised to read backwards, start with the New Testament before reading the Old Testament. We, the present day Christians are truly and deeply blessed when it comes to attaining a better understanding of God than the Israelites during those ancient times. The coming of Jesus in the New Testament made all the difference for us in terms of God's revelation of mercy and love. Just imagine our God coming to us in the form of man to suffer, die on the cross and resurrect after 3 days to show His great love and save us from our sins. Throughout all the ages we have never seen a much greater sacrifice than this. We have a glorious background and history for our faith and this is what puts us ahead of King David and all the others. With this ever prevailing truth and reality which persisted for more than 2000 years. Have we truly come to this point of realizing the implication of this undeniable and proven fact about Jesus? It is good to ask ourselves where we are right now in terms of this understanding. Have we progressed or retrogressed? May we find ourselves in the progressive end, moving forward in our love and knowledge of God. Amen. Hallelujah!

2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17
The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel from morning until the time appointed,

and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died. But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD regretted the calamity

and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people, "Enough now! Stay your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the LORD: "It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these are sheep; what have they done? Punish me and my kindred."

Jesus is fully human and fully divine. These are the 2 opposite parts that make up the arch of Mark's gospel and joined in the fulcrum or apex of its architectural structure.

 The first half of the gospel represents the Jesus as the Son of God and image of power and might and can be found in Chapters1-8:26, Jesus who is in charge, giving orders, an exorcist, and walks on water. Jesus is in control and source of strength, drive and power. The Son of God focused on His mission who engages into rapid phase of exorcisms and healing. He is truly the Son of God. Second half of the gospel (Ch. 11:1-15:47), Jesus as the Son of Man and image of weakness and suffering. No longer in charge and the one receiving orders, suffered greatly which is the prelude to the Paschal Mystery, the suffering, dying and rising of Jesus from the dead. We can often encounter in Mark's gospel, Jesus ordering them not to tell anyone about the miracles He had done. It's because they won't understand until Jesus is nailed on the cross. This is core purpose of Jesus' becoming man to save mankind. The fulcrum or apex of the arch is found in the middle of the gospel, Jesus as Savior which is the central theme of Mark's gospel where Jesus' divinity meets His humanity in the cross as the perfect victim (sacrificial lamb/scapegoat) of man's salvation. Mark is telling us and intended for us to discover the arch in ourselves that will bring us closer to the center/apex/fulcrum of our lives who is Jesus. We are too preoccupied with our physical and material needs that we end up neglecting the most important need, that of our eternal soul. When we get sick, we try to look for cure and treatment in order to bring our bodies back in shape. We even resort to different means in order to maintain our health and keep it in perfect shape by eating the right kind of food and exercising. This kind of care that we give our bodies should also be the same and even more for our spiritual bodies, our souls. There is not much difference, when our souls are inflicted with wounds of our sins, we must try to cure ourselves by going to God and asking forgiveness right away before it gets any worse. We have to treat our souls with utmost care and diligence. Though, nothing is ever impossible for God because He can make us whole. The problem lies with us when we are deeply stuck in our sins or we could also be just comfortably wading in the seashore of sins. When these happen we either fall into the trap of false impressions that little things won't hurt but before we know it we have become entangled in those little things that we thought we could easily get away with. As scriptures say, we ought to be ready at all times we might be caught unaware and empty handed just like the Parable of the Virgins and the song which says, "Give me oil in my lamp keep me burning until the break of day." We don't want to be found with no more oil in our lamps. Or we could be too deeply stuck in the mud of our sins that we tend to choose just to be left in our misery. The small and unnoticeable wounds that we inflict on ourselves can eventually amount into a big and ugly scar so it would be easier for us not to wait until we're in a total wreck before we go to God. Leprosy is a disease that makes a person look very ugly and unwanted. I remember this time when a friend and I shared some thoughts about physical beauty when we met a priest from Italy. Just by looking at him, one could not help but think that he could really pass off as an actor in Hollywood. He is very tall and handsome. During our conversation we both came up with this thought that physical beauty could sometimes obstruct a person's holiness if the person is not careful of his/her choices. It could lure him/her to a lot of worldly options that are presented to him/her. It is a lot better to have a beautiful soul for eternity than to be physically beautiful for a limited time. We admired this priest for offering himself to God for he was not only handsome physically but surely very wise for he realized the importance of making it big in the kingdom of God and chose it over the glitter and glamour that this temporary world can offer. We should not ignore or overlook this truth about our God who is loving, merciful and forgiving. Let us not delay any longer and go back to Him with a contrite and repentant heart. No matter how big our sins are, we are blessed to have a God bigger than any of our sins. No matter how big a mess our first parents got into, no sin is bigger than God's mercy. Let us just do as the psalm tells us today. Let us not lose confidence in a God who forgives all our sins. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7
R: Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.
1 Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile. (R) 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not. I said, "I confess my faults to the LORD," and you took away the guilt of my sin. (R) 6 For this shall every faithful man pray to you in time of stress. Though deep waters overflow, they shall not reach him. (R) 7 You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.

Sometimes the most unlikely things happen to us with people and in places where we least expect them to happen. Jesus lived and grew up for the majority of His life here on earth with his relatives and in his native place. How can it possibly be that the Most Perfect Human being who ever lived on earth was rejected by his own kin? But that's how it was for Him and could possibly be also for us. This should encourage us to become better Christians knowing that if He was rejected we should not expect a special treatment for ourselves. We are just setting ourselves up for a big disappointment if we always have big expectations from others most especially from people very close to us. It would be well for all of us if we just carry on with whatever good we can do and leave the rest to God. If we have decided to really follow Jesus then we have to be ready for trials and persecutions for even Him the Son of God, who resides in His Heavenly kingdom, All Holy, Powerful, Immortal, and Creator of heaven and earth was rejected and mocked by His own kin and household. If we haven't fully decided yet and still holding back from Him and still lack the faith then we should realize that it's really to our greatest loss and disadvantage for Jesus can not perform His mighty deeds in our lives without our cooperation. Bottom line again, it is always our choice. We should make Jesus our choice in our thoughts, words and in deeds. And it should be a firm, clear and unwavering one, no ifs and no buts. Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 6:1-6
...And they took offense at him. 4 Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." 5 So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. He went around to the villages in the vicinity teaching.