In whatever state of life we are in we should all be aware
that God has given us everything. There is nothing more that He should give
that He has not given to us. We should always glory in this truth that we have
a God who is more than enough, Yahweh, El Shaddai. Today's 1st reading focuses
us to this unsurpassed and everlasting gift that God has given us which is love
that conquers all. Love is Christ. Christ is patient, kind and we must
substitute with our name. This is the garment that we must wear in order to be
adopted sons and daughters of God. We pray that the Lord will give us strength
to love and hope that the Lord is our final glory. Amen. Hallelujah!
31 Brothers and sisters: Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way...Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, 5 it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, 6 it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails...So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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. 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. 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. 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 33:2-3, 4-5, 12, 22
R: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
2 Give thanks to the LORD on the harp; with the ten-stringed
lyre chant his praises. 3 Sing to him a new song; pluck the strings skillfully,
with shouts of gladness. (R) 4 For upright is the word of the LORD, and all his
works are trustworthy. 5 He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the
LORD the earth is full. (R) 12 Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD, the
people he has chosen for his own inheritance. 22 May your kindness, O LORD, be
upon us who have put our hope in you.
Everything we intend to do must be laid down before Him to
seek His approval. He will never deprive us nor withhold from us the answers
that we seek if we strive to do what is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. 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 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. 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. 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. Let us not end up to be an
unfeeling generation. Let us not lose the awe in the loving feeling that God
has shown and given us through His ultimate sacrifice of His own Son on the
Cross. I got this reflection from Companion and it captures the essence of the
message of today's gospel. It says, "Jesus is more than a little
frustrated with the superficial nature of the faith of the people, and
challenges them to look beyond the appearances of faith and into the depths of
faith, where truth is embraced and righteousness is lived. We live in a world
that embraces superficial values to the nth degree. There is always the danger
that we transpose this attitude to our faith. This would potentially have
disastrous consequences for us. We must not allow the world to trivialize our
faith and maintain our belief no matter what the cost to us may be in the eyes
of the world." Nothing is hidden from God and everything is known to Him.
It pays to always consult our plans to God in prayers. Prayer is very important
in maintaining a good relationship with the Lord. There are different forms of
prayer and the kind of prayer that God wants from us is the prayer of our very
own life. The kind of life we live if lived in accordance to God's will is the
best kind of prayer we can offer to God. Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 7:31-35
31 Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare the
people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children who
sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you,
but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’ 33 For John the
Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is
possessed by a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
35 But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
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