I love this song. "God's got an army. It's marching
through this land. Deliverance is their song. There's healing in their hands.
There's everlasting joy and gladness in their hearts. And in this army I've got
a part!" When I first heard it I felt like I really want to belong. Well,
it is our mission and call. We should really belong. It is nice to know that we
are part of a family whom we can call our own and get support from. All of us
want to belong to a family which can be a source of inspiration, love and strength.
Today's 1st reading tells us that we are blessed that aside from the family
that we have been born with we also have a holy family in which we become
members of the household of God.
It can be told, we are God's children and 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 2:19-22
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. 21 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.
It always pays to be watchful and alert at all times.
Although we sometimes fail to measure up due to our own shortcomings or could
be the doing of another, God assures us in today's psalm that if we fall into
the trap of the enemy we can always repent with a deep remorse for our sins and
resolve to make the precepts of the Lord the joy of our hearts. In doing so, we
find ourselves naturally restrained from sin and maintain our innocence. It is
so hard to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord if we do not know exactly
how to go about with it. It's just like when we have to comply to certain
requirements in school and follow the standard set by it. We need to have a
pattern or outline from which we can base our work. Just as it is so in other
things, the more we are all in need of God's precepts. The absolute bedrock of
spiritual life is to follow the 10 commandments. We are sometimes misled into
thinking that when we have a type of prayer then we think that we already have
a spiritual life. We’ve got to have the humility to admit that God is smarter
than we are and we need to follow and obey what we are told in the 10
commandments. We should be totally and absolutely convinced that He knows best.
Satan uses half truths and half lies in his devilish tricks. Satan’s claims
seem to come true in one level. Take the example of our 1st parents
after eating of the forbidden fruit their eyes were opened and did become in
one sense like God. The fallen angels made their free choice by radically and
irrevocably rejecting God so in turn they seduce and mislead Adam & Eve. It
was through sin that humanity was afflicted by death. Because of one man’s
disobedience many were made sinners. When tempted in the Garden, Adam failed to
remain faithful to God and His commands. Jesus, the New Adam, is God’s servant
totally obedient to the Divine will. Jesus is the devil’s conqueror and takes
back the plunder. What the devil has stolen from us, Jesus has recovered for
us. Pope Benedict XVI commented about what the Lord experienced in the desert
and said that at the heart of all temptations is the act of pushing God aside
because we conceive Him as secondary. It is an act of constructing our world
with our own lights and building our own foundation and setting God aside as an
allusion. Temptations come in many varied forms but one thing is sure, it does
not invite us to directly do evil because it is too blatant and would outright
turn us off. It is very subtle and yet an act of pushing God’s commands aside
and placing the devil’s temptation as primary. If we want to remain victorious
throughout life, we have to keep Him in the center of our life and hold on to
His words which are Spirit and life. God’s ever present help can be found in
the scriptures. It's just like a soldier going to battle wearing the armor of
God. It never fails and always there to defend and protect from the snares of
the evil one. So always take up our sword which is the word of God. God's
perfect word can refresh the soul. Have you ever wondered really how it feels to
be refreshed? Whenever we take a shower or a warm bath and put on clothes that
are well fitted and comfortable it refreshes our body. It could also be
whenever we go to a place where we can unwind, relax, be away from the
tensions, stresses, noise and turmoil of the fast paced lives that we lead and
just appreciate the beauty of nature that surrounds us and the peace and quiet
it offers to our tired bodies in order to be more in touch with God's voice in
us. It is so refreshing it gives our minds and hearts a better view and
perspective of how to live our lives. The same thing with our souls, we should
always keep it clean, healthy and clothed with maximum security, protection but
comfortable enough we don't even know it's there. Like it has become fused in
us, there's nothing more right than following and obeying the law of God.
Today's psalm reading guides us on how we should go about with our lives by
always keeping in mind God's laws. None of us is perfect but through our
imperfections we can always run to God for help and guidance. He will never
refuse nor forsake us for He can only love and care for us. There are people
who have alienated themselves from God and we can’t just force them to go back.
God does not do that, it’s not how the Lord works, instead we pray and pray for
them. If we wait long enough and adhere to God’s precepts then we will finally
obtain joy in our hearts. As water prevails over the rock throughout the course
of time so does the Holy Spirit that is continuously flooding or washing over
the man’s heart. The Holy Spirit moves
in and continues to work upon us and tenderizes us. The song entitled,
"Your Words Are Spirit and Life" by Bernadette Farrell was impressed
to me. It is a beautiful song that I have always loved to sing and I just
realized that the words of this song are taken from this psalm which made me
start singing it. Well, we just have to fully discover what the words of God
can make us do. When things get out of hand we have no one to blame but
ourselves for God is surely not lacking in everything that He has given us for
our own welfare. We've got everything we need because there's nothing more that
God could and should do for us that He has not done. All we have to do is
completely trust and obey the judgments of the Lord. GOD'S LAW MAKES US LIVE A
VIRTUOUS LIFE (CCC 1803 "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever
is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there
is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these
things.") May we truly recognize the genuine and precious treasures that
we should all strive to achieve and work for which is none other than these
things spoken of in today's psalm. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5
R: Their message goes out through all the earth.
1 [2] The heavens declare the glory of God, and the
firmament proclaims his handiwork. 2 [3] Day pours out the word to day, and
night to night imparts knowledge. (R) 3 [4] Not a word nora discourse whose
voice is not heard; 4 [5] through all the earth their voice resounds, and to
the ends of the world, their message.
It should always bring us great joy and pleasure to look
back and recall how things happen in our life and how they all connect and make
more sense. This is what happens when we pray at all times even without
completely getting the whole picture. Time will come when things will take its
perfect form and be more clearly presented to us. In today's gospel, Jesus went
up to the mountain to pray and spent the night in prayer to God before He chose
the Twelve. Jesus demonstrated the importance of prayer before making decisions
and coming up with choices. Looking back more than 2,000 years ago, what Jesus
did was a very important decision. He appointed the leaders of the Church that
still stands to this very day. But we also know that among those He had chosen
one of them betrayed Him. Despite of this I don’t think Jesus regretted it
because He knows that it was part of the Father’s plan. There is really a need
to always connect to God in prayer. There are various ways we can pray to God
and we are left with less and less excuses not to pray. Aside from the “as is
where is’ option in giving praise and glory to God, today's gospel presents to
us a different approach which is to go to the mountain to pray. Though, God is
always near and with us, it is us who move away/close and choose what position
to take in relation to Him. It is through prayer that we maintain an atmosphere
of proximity to the Lord so we can always reach out and touch Him. It is also
the feast day of Sts. Simon and Jude. A lot of people may not know it but I
named my son Jude after this apostle of Jesus. I have encountered several
miracles already in my lifetime through the intercession of this great saint. I
would like to honor him for the countless times he has extended his assistance
to me and my family ever since I had this devotion to St. Jude Thaddeus, With
much confidence and trust I say, St. Jude Thaddeus, pray for us. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Luke 6:12-16
12 Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the
night in prayer to God. 13 When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he
named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, 16
and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
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