FINDING JESUS

We have a serious matter in our hands. What's at stake here is not just a lifetime but eternity. If we still do not realize it by now then we ought to start thinking about it. It's like putting too much sugar coating and icing on the cake that we tend to mask the real thing. Today's 1st reading speaks of the tragic fate met by the Israelites, the chosen people of God, due to their leniency and corruption. If we continue to live like good times believers and treat our faith like a buffet table wherein we can just pick out the things suited to our taste and leave out what is not then we are heading for real disaster. We can also liken ourselves to good Sunday Catholics but the rest of the week is a different story. We are being reminded by God to follow Him not half way, nor halfheartedly but all the way. Meditating on the Sorrowful mysteries of the Holy Rosary make us think of how Jesus went through the agony in the garden praying with much fear knowing what awaits Him saying, “Let this cup pass me by, but not Mine, Thy will be done!”  When we experience extreme emotions like fear we can sometimes feel goose bumps all over but more than that, blood vessels can rupture which is what happened to Jesus, he bled in his perspirations. Any human person capable of emotions would surely feel the same way knowing that in a few hours He has to go through the flesh tearing scourging at the pillar, the humiliating mockery of the crowning with thorns coupled with spits and insults, the heavy cross which scraped off the flesh in His shoulders and the several falls due to its heavy load, and the ultimate sacrifice of the crucifixion and His death while picturing in our mind every blow on the nail being hammered on His hands and feet. If we have questions in our mind with regards our trials and problems we may want to consider this question, “Why does it have to happen to the only Son of God?” We look at the Blessed Mother's heart being pierced with a sword as she witnessed the merciless slaughter of her only Son whom she carried in her womb for nine months and cared for like any good mother would. In doing so, we learn from the Most Sorrowful Heart of Mary. Amen. Hallelujah!

Lamentation 2:2, 10-14, 18-19

...Your prophets had for you false and specious visions; they did not lay bare your guilt, to avert your fate; they beheld for you in vision false and misleading portents. Cry out to the Lord; moan, O daughter Zion! Let your tears flow like a torrent day and night; Let there be no respite for you, no repose for your eyes.

When we are bent on doing something we have a tendency to be oblivious of everything that is going on around us. We are too focused on one thing that all other things just fade in the background. This happens when we value something very important and precious to us that we can't afford to mess it up. It's funny how we can become like this for the fancy and fleeting things of the world but so indifferent when it comes to matters of our soul. I guess we are all guilty of misplaced values. This could be due to the fact that we are still in this world and what we see, feel, hear and hold takes first place and our priority is the here and now. It is sad that we neglect what should clearly come first. May we be ready at all times for we really never know the day or the hour.  Whatever answers we seek can not be found elsewhere but only in the tremendous love of God for all of us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 74:1b-2, 3-5, 6-7, 20-21

R: Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

1 Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?...Let not the oppressed turn back in shame; may the poor and needy praise your name.

Sometimes we come to a point when we can not fully understand the things that are happening in our lives but what matters most is to always follow the example of our Blessed Mother. She is one woman whom we can surely rely, depend and follow if we truly want to be closer to Jesus and be able to do what God wants us to do. Who should come to our mind whenever we speak of Mary? Jesus. If it's not the case then we are misled and on the wrong path. Mary brings us closer to Jesus who tells us what to do as we keep all these things in our heart. After all it was in the Blessed Mother's womb that God became man. Literally speaking it was in her womb that He took on the form of a human being and had a feeling, pumping, viable and bloody heart. This is a revealed God who had manifested Himself. Our Blessed Mother carried Him in her womb. We know she pondered the mysteries in her life which is in today's gospel. Poetically speaking even in cross cultures, the human heart has always been seemed as a profound symbol of love, faithfulness, steadfastness, commitment, passion, loyalty, diligence, and the very anchor of the feelings, passions and emotions. When Mary was a teenager we know that she said to Angel Gabriel, "Let it be done unto me according to your word." If we may analyze this very closely, the word "it" in her response made her the Mother of God. At the same time it meant execution during 1st century Palestine if a woman gets pregnant outside wedlock. Her "it" meant that and yet she was willing to take that because of her love, faithfulness, steadfastness, commitment, passion, loyalty, diligence and the very anchor of her balanced feelings, passions and emotions. Then her "it" meant having her baby in a stable, soon her "it" meant her flee to Egypt with Joseph and her baby in the middle of the night. Twelve years later meant losing Jesus in the Passover in Jerusalem as narrated in today's gospel which prefigures about 20 years later, Jesus slain as the Passover Lamb when she witnessed her Son slain while she was standing at the foot of the cross. Eventually her "it" led her to Pentecost with the Apostles, her assumption into heaven and ultimately her coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth.  Her "it" to Gabriel meant the seemingly negative events in her life before her crowning. But how did she endure all of these elements of sorrow involved in the life of her Son? The answer is her Immaculate Heart, that's how and why she sustained her being a perfect Christian disciple and example. She is a model for our own hearts believing in the words of the Archangel Gabriel, Mary maintained or retained all these things that the profound human heart speaks of and symbolizes. The passion which is the love that is willing to suffer for the other. Think of the Pieta, steadfast at the foot of the cross, or the Stabat Mater (Standing Mother) Traditionally speaking, Mary remained steadfast, she was sorrowful no doubt but never did she faint nor swoon. She was the standing mother at the foot of the cross. This is an example for us in a time of sorrow. We can also live our "it" whenever our "it" may seem like what Mary endured.  She is an example to us of a heart with a strong balanced emotion. All of us modeled after Mary should be able to say with Mary, "I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to Thy word." When we find out the details of this total commitment and what it truly means, we must accept God's grace to be like Mary and to be faithful to our "it" or unconditional commitment to the Lord our God. We have to consecrate our lives to the Holy Family then never ever turn back. Pope Benedict XVI gave an insight with regards to the proper, sincere, authentic and true devotion to popular piety in the Catholic Church especially to Mary, he said that Mary's womb is the place where God was able to gain access into humanity.  We celebrate our personal relationship with Mary because it has fostered so profoundly the ultimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If we have fallen in love with the bridegroom, Jesus we appreciate and honor His mother Mary immensely. Indeed, Mary helps us to love Jesus, to yield to the Spirit and to let "it" be done to us according to God's word. Mary tells us to do whatever Jesus tells us from the wedding feast in Cana in John 2. Mary will never rest until we rest in her Son.  Our relationship with Mary and Joseph focuses us on Jesus because of this we value our relationship with the Holy Family. Amen. Hallelujah!

Luke 2:41-52

...“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man.