THE PATH TO LIFE

God rewards those who are holy. Stories about saints whose bodies are not subject to corruption after their death, is not new to us. Today's 1st reading is proof of this reality.

The more we strive to know more about Jesus the greater our awe and amazement of the things we discover about Him. There are moments in our lives when we encounter and witness events that make us utterly amazed at how things ever came to be. Given the circumstances we have, we can sometimes predict or project the outcome of the things ahead of us or in the near future. Although sometimes things do not happen as expected because we are not capable of seeing the exact future we can only hope in God who does. Today’s 1^st reading mentions the prophecy of David which is taken from today’s psalm reading. The time gap between these scriptural readings is almost 1000 years. No matter how long and far apart they are, God could still make things fall into perfect place. Heaven and earth will fail but His words will remain. Every single second, minute, hour and day of our lives is undeniably a manifestation of God's power and might accompanied by signs, wonders and miracles as He pours out His Spirit on us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Acts 2:14, 22-33

… For David says of him: ‘I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. 26 Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, 27 because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence. ...he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. 33 Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you both see and hear...

I have always been amazed of the fact that the scriptures of the Old Testament has always been spoken of as the foreshadowing of the New Testament which is the fulfillment of everything that was written. The apostles were able to connect Jesus to the scriptures in the Old Testament and became very convinced that He is indeed the Messiah and Savior of the world. The 1st reading taken from Acts and the Psalm reading for today were written several hundred years apart. This is judging from the timeline of the reign of King David (1000BC) to whom the Psalms were attributed but we can detect the uniformity of the message regarding the end times and the resurrection. We live in a dynamic world and it changes so fast. They say that nowadays, whatever we hold true for now may not be the case later. It is a consolation to know that in the midst of this unsure world we still have something that we can hold on to. The words of God can stand the test of time and will remain to be true from generation to generation. There may be some negative speculations and forecasts that are being hurled right in front of us about our present situations most especially with the uncertainty and unpredictability of prevailing conditions. We need to keep this in mind, only God can keep us safe from all harm. A holy man once said this, "If we don't go to the desert we have nothing to bring in the marketplace." If we have no prayer then nothing works. We have to pray. We need to take time to be alone with God because if we don't, then we make ourselves vulnerable to the enemy. The scriptures tell us of stories based on real life experiences of holy men and women who lived at a different time and period than today. It is a consolation to know that the God of yesterday is still God of today and tomorrow. This gives us the confidence to really hold on to Him for He is living and true now and forevermore. The message of the readings tells us to turn our gaze on the inevitable which is sure to come. If we try to look at the facts of life there are very few things that we can permanently hold on to. All these things will come to pass and we will all eventually leave this world no matter how long we may have lived already, it will eventually come to an end. When that final day comes we must be found prepared and ready for the inheritance that God gives us. When we went to Las Vegas I saw that one of the shows we can watch for entertainment is a magician named Angel. I was reminded of the time when he was a guest in Oprah. He wowed the viewers and the crowd by being able to predict 5 days before the show the things that Oprah and 2 random guests from thousands of people from  the audience are going to say. He wrote in a piece of paper these three things: delicious, John and Kevin and kept them in a suitcase with a surveillance camera on for 5 days so that no one can see it or even come near it before the show. What’s very interesting was the fact that on the day of the show when Oprah was asked what word comes to her mind she answered, “delicious” and the other 2 who were chosen randomly from almost more than a thousand crowd along Michigan Ave. in Chicago. It was done by throwing a ball and whoever catches it will be the one who will be asked. The man from the crowd who got the ball was asked the name of his first pet and he answered, “John” while the woman who  got the other ball was asked who was her first kiss and she answered, “ Kevin”. All of their answers matched the 3 things that he wrote 5 days in advance. It was kind of unbelievable to see something like this and couldn’t quite come up with a good explanation how it came to be. If it was just a trick he did make a good presentation because it appeared very convincing. How can a man predict in advance the things that these people are going to say? If this man who claims to have the power of prediction was able to do it all the more can a powerful God predict our future. But we must keep in mind that it’s choice not chance that determines our destiny. There is only one real failure in life that is possible and that is not to be true to the best one knows. We should always settle for best and make God our choice. For there is nothing more assuring than the fact that we have a loving God and Father who surely has our destiny secure. We must be secured in the knowledge that as children of God our Father we are heirs of His Kingdom and co-owners of this vast creation. May we find the Lord as the only treasure in our lives worth keeping. When God calls us for a task we should always be ready, willing and able to follow Him no matter what the cost. Always follow where the Lord leads us. Nothing else could be worth more than God's inheritance. Sometimes we are confronted with so many allurements that we begin to be influenced by the way the world judges things. Let us always hold fast to God's views and ideals that we may not lose sight of the path to life and our inheritance. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalms 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

R: Lord, you will show us the path of life.

1 Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge; 2 I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you. 5 O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot. ...LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you have made my destiny secure...

 I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. (R) 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; 10 because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. (R) 11 You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.

We are worth more than any silver or gold, it is only right that we live up to that dignity that God has endowed us. We may have read numerous stories and poems, or even watched lots of movies with very inspiring and beautiful content but all of them is just part and parcel of, a glimpse of or just a tiny bit of the enormous love of God. Amen. Hallelujah!

1 Peter 1: 17-21

...conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb...

The mere mention of Jesus' name can bring healing and blessings. Just think of what He can bring to us if He is with us. Let us urge Jesus to stay with us for He is a God who doesn't impose but would rather wait for us to invite Him. But we only invite people whom we recognize and are close to us. Today's gospel is related to the 1st and psalm reading because it speaks of the sense of sight which is to look and see. It speaks of a particular incident wherein their eyes were opened and recognized Jesus. This is impossible if our eyesight is impaired or blocked. There are so many things to take into consideration why we sometimes fail to recognize people. It could be a lot of different things that we ourselves have encountered and experienced. In yesterday’s gospel, Mary of Magdala did not recognize Jesus right away. More than anybody, we ourselves are in the position to recognize and identify these things that prevent us from recognizing Jesus taking part in our lives. Jesus reminded us to always dwell on the mysteries of His Life, Death & Resurrection as stated in the scriptures. If you are Catholic then the rosary is a big help also the Divine Mercy Chaplet whose feast we just celebrated last Sunday. We have to avail of the sacraments as much as we can, most especially of the Holy Mass. There are so many ways, given our own specific condition and situation in life in which we can always see God present in our lives. Let us not wait for the time to come when we can no longer see no matter how much we look because God has turned into someone beyond recognition. Let us always look intently at God to prevent Him from totally fading in our life. We really got to go back to the basics of the Catholic Church. In today's gospel we are reminded that there is so much dialogue and debate going on around us today we sometimes fail to recognize God in our midst. There is really a need to read scriptures, understand it well and experience it daily in our lives so as not to forget. God's ultimate call as shown in the gospel is to avail of the sacraments most especially of the Eucharist. God is always present and visible during the breaking of bread, the consecration part of the Eucharistic celebration. As we can see that it was when Jesus took bread and break it that their eyes were opened.  This is Jesus' will that we always do in memory of Him. Amen. Hallelujah!

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 24,13-35.

...And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, 16 but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that  happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. 21 But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. 22 Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning 23 and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. 24 Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” 25 And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther.  29 But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. 31 With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. 32 Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” 33 So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them 34 who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.