It can be told, we are God's dwelling place. Thus we ought
to do everything in our power to make ourselves pleasing and holy before the
Lord. When we speak of physically constructing something like a temple we've
got to have all the necessary funds and materials to build it. It really costs
a lot to build especially at this time when there is economic distress all over
the world. Spiritually, it is not like we are lacking in resources of any kind
to fulfill this. The Holy Spirit has the gifts, well equipped and will never
run low to carry out this task of building us into a temple of God
Ephesians 2:12-22
19 Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and
sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the
household of God, 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is
held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; 22 in him you also
are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
What a wonderful world this place that we live in could be
if only we listen to the instructions constantly being given to us in the
scriptures. We have an awesome God who always speaks to us in a very timely and
specific manner. His messages are fitted to the situation we are presently
experiencing right now. We should remain confident that God will make a way.
There is really nothing more that God can do for us that He has not done. God
is never short of blessings to shower on us. He has made it all available to us
through His Son. All that is needed is for us to make our move. Let us open
ourselves to God's presence in our lives and know that there is never a moment
in our life when He is away from us for it is always the other way around. For
we are the ones turning away from Him and placing blocks and hindrances between
us whenever we can't find Him.
We are constantly being faced by challenges to our faith
especially at this present time. It is easier to be firm in our faith when
times are easy but when tough times come that is when we are put to the test.
No matter how difficult things may seem we should never give in to the pressure
and remain steadfast. We can always choose to do the right thing if we
safeguard in our hearts the truth about God knowing that it is always for the
best. We need not be afraid of anything although this is something that we all
find very difficult to do. They say faith and reason do not work together just
like science and religion. This is not a fact but a fallacy. These things in
fact compliment each other because one supports the other. There is no faith
without reason and vice versa. We can not just have one and lack the other.
This has to be very clear in our heads. We should always try to condition
ourselves in the atmosphere of God's presence. We should gear ourselves toward
that direction so that we place ourselves within His reach, it's not that God
can not reach us but we hinder God from reaching out to us. When we do not
respond to His call and shut off our ears although we are within hearing range,
we fail to get the message. Which reminds me of Bernadette's ear, when we went
to her doctor she underwent a procedure (ear lavage) in order to unclog her
left ear but prior to that she was already instilling ear meds for 4 days. The
nurse explained to her that it can be painful and can cause her to feel dizzy
and asked her if she still wants it done and she agreed. Sometimes we have to
resort to very uncomfortable measures in order to be cured in the same way we
should maintain such condition spiritually so that we can always keep our ears
open to God's word. Wherever God is, there is always peace and prosperity. It
is only natural that we have longings and desires because God Himself planted
it in our hearts. We all long for the good things in life and God Himself can
provide for all these things. It is just sad that we reach out for other things
that we thought are good for us. We do not realize that we have to seek first
the Kingdom of God
Psalm 85:9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14
R: The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
...9 [10] Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear
him, glory dwelling in our land...The LORD himself will give his benefits; our
land shall yield its increase.
Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss.
11 [12] Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from
heaven. (R) 12 [13] The LORD himself will give his benefits; our land shall
yield its increase. 13 [14] Justice shall walk before him, and salvation, along
the way of his steps.
God is fair and just in all His ways. We can rely on Him to
carry out everything perfectly. We should be relieved in the fact that
everything will come to pass in His perfect time in accordance to God's
standard and not ours. In the meantime, we should always be prepared. If we
don't know what to expect then we are at a loss. Jesus in today's gospel tells
us that sooner or later we will all come face to face with God on our last day
here on earth. No one can deny the fact that we will all die and it is
something that we must not be afraid of. Instead we should all be ready for it
when it comes and while we still have time. There is always hope as long as we
live. Those who have prepared and acted in vigilance will never be caught
unaware. Nothing beats those who are always ready and prepared. We have a
responsibility in our hands and we are accountable for it. Let us do all in our
power to measure up and give it our best. We sometimes get shocked at how this
modern world of ours have drifted further down the pit of moral decay and got
into the lure of what seemed to be the accepted and existing norms of our
society. It is so difficult most especially for us trying to live the call of
Jesus in our lives. It looks like wherever we go we are faced by these
challenges. Sometimes we feel like people have no more room for godly talk.
Just when we thought that we're running out of godly resources in our
environment today's gospel served as a reminder of the movie,
"Spiderman". The following words of Spiderman, "With great power
comes great responsibility" is a modern version of the bible passage from
today’s gospel. Although we are sometimes overwhelmed by the discouraging
reality of the kind of world we live in, God never runs out of occasions and
circumstances to always reinforce His words which serve as guiding principles
in life that can always keep us attuned and conformed to Him rather than to
this present world. Although there are times when we find ourselves overwhelmed
by the tasks in our hands, we should be glad and rejoice that we are
continuously being entrusted with responsibilities knowing that God will not
give us anything that we can not accomplish. There is a need to be really
vigilant at all times. Being always on the watch and careful of our actions at
all cost. We must admit that there are moments when we become out of focus but
God has always been faithful in giving us reminders. We need to have the
confidence and conviction that we are where we are and doing what we are doing
today because God has lead us to it. If such is the case then there is no
reason to be afraid for we will surely be blessed. Today we should commit
ourselves to the vigilant waiting for the Lord, for in Him alone, we place our
trust. Doing God's will in our lives at all times is a sure way of preparing
for the 2nd coming or the return of Jesus. There were lots of predictions as to
when will this day come. Sometimes we lose track of what the 2nd coming of
Jesus is all about and tend to be out of focus. Instead of focusing on the end
of the world or the Armageddon in which the signs of the times that accompany
the 2nd coming of Christ being proclaimed like the so called earthquakes,
floods, fire and hailstorms and tornadoes are already happening and rattle us
by causing so much fear, anxiety and confusion it would be better if we focus
more on the reality that the Kingdom of God is at hand and is here right now
within our individual selves. It would help us stay in focus and more in
control if we concentrate more on our personal lives and mind our very own
armageddon on our last day here on earth that we should all prepare for. Each
day of our life is a battle being fought for the ownership of our souls that we
really have to be mindful of right now, whether we will come to see the end of
the world or not and it is coming soon or later that we really don't know. One
thing is sure, we will all leave this earth and die and that is the reality
that we all have to face and prepare for. During my nursing student days we
used to make a lot of NCPs (Nursing Care Plan) especially in our clinical
rotations in different hospitals. These NCPs based on our instructor's format
are composed of 5 columns namely, ADPIE which stands for A- Assessment, D-
Diagnosis, P-Planning, I-Implementation and E - Evaluation. We are able to
carry out our duties well and give the optimum care to patients if we can come
up with priority NCPs. It's just as the name itself says, nursing care plan
with its important components (ADPIE). We all need to have a good NCP not just
in the hospital setting but in our daily lives. In doing so we are well
prepared and ready for anything that might or is bound to come up. If we are
always on the look out and well equipped then we can picture ourselves just
like those servants in today's gospel, truly blessed. There is really much and
still more to learn from today's gospel. Jesus has left us with a vast resource
of learning to attain to the kingdom
of God
Luke 12:35-38
35 Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light
your lamps 36 and be like servants who await their master’s return from a
wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are
those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to
you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on
them. 38 And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared
in this way, blessed are those servants.”
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