THE KEY TO THE ANSWER

We complain when we are dissatisfied and discontented. There are many instances in our lives when we are in this kind of situation and we can’t help but complain, grumble and question. It has become automatic and natural for us to do. Sometimes we succumb to a defeatist attitude and entertain negative thoughts that are inevitably invading our mind. Today's 1st reading should jolt us back to reality. We do not realize that we are going against this call of St. Paul to the Philippians to be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Gratitude is something we can practice. It is the ability to focus on what we have rather than what we lack. It is a form of thanksgiving when we are offering up our pains and suffering to the Lord. An effective way of taking up our cross is by putting a name in our suffering, it could be the name of someone we love and offer it up instead of whine about it. We ought to shine like lights in the world. We have to make a difference and not be just like the others or be without a care in the world. Paul encourages us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling for the enemy is waging war on us and we need to be very aware of this and claim God's protection over us at all times. If we truly have Christ in our hearts, there should be nothing else we should want. For only Jesus can satisfy our soul. The New Passover can be understood by looking at what Jesus did on Maundy Thursday. He instituted the Eucharist before He died on Good Friday. He is the victim of Divine love. He did not do it as a substitute but as a representative so that He could reproduce himself in us and share his sonship.  It is an act of reproducing His living sacrifice that transforms our bodies into His body. Suffering without love is unendurable. Love is precisely what transforms suffering into sacrifice. The Holy sacrifice of the Eucharist transforms the suffering into a sacrifice for us to partake the resurrected body of Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah!

Philippians 2:12-18

12 My beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. 14 Do everything without grumbling or questioning, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, 16 as you hold on to the word of life, so that my boast for the day of Christ may be that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Brothers and sisters, if we are confident that we are where we are supposed to be and the Lord allowed things to happen in our life the way they are happening right now then we should be still and know that God is in control. We need to understand the mysteries of our faith in order to appreciate it better. We have to go near as much as possible to the Word of God and experience it come to life and see His glory shining on us. As we go near Him we see his face and feel His love. We always have hope in the Lord who knows what's best for each one of us. There should be no doubt in our minds that He answers prayers. All we have to do is call on the Lord, trust that He hears the sound of our call and wait for Him with courage. When we get carried away by all the commotion there is a tendency that we neglect the essential and most central issue which is to always believe that we shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. There is really nothing that we should worry about if we always hold in our hearts the truth about Jesus. There may be times when we encounter disappointments and setbacks in life but this doesn't mean that God has stopped becoming the Loving God that He is, who suffered His only Begotten Son to die on the cross for our sake. Our focus should be on the truth of this love and everything that it stands for. This reminded me of a mini play staged in EWTN of a passenger waiting to be boarded on the airplane. He was the 1st and only person in the boarding area waiting patiently for his seat reservation to be called. He got surprised when someone came along and hardly ever waited when his seat number was called. He felt somehow annoyed at the idea of someone who just came and did not wait but got on the plane first although he managed to stop himself from making a scene. A lady with her young child also came and looked very excited to board the plane but he tried to warn them not to keep their hopes up too much because it would definitely take time and said that he had been waiting for a long time and came early but his number had not been called yet. To his surprise their numbers were called and happily boarded while he was once again left behind. He simply couldn't stand it anymore when a pleasant young lady came with all smiles on her face and speaking of how excited she is to board an airplane for the first time. The company of this nice lady kept her impatience at bay. She advised him to stop thinking about how the others were able to get there quickly but rather think of the joy he would have once he gets there. She assured him to just relax and make the most of his time because he has a reservation and a ticket all he needs to do is just wait. He did exactly just that and found himself at peace until the time his number was called. The same thing happens to the best of us when we are confronted with a tedious and exasperating process of waiting. We tend to lose our peace and joy and succumb to worry and doubt. If we are holding on to something that was assured to us by a trustworthy and reliable source we can put our worries to rest. Although sometimes anxiety can still find its way to our hearts and forget on whom our confidence lies.  If we remain in the Lord and put our trust in Him then there is nothing we should worry about. In life, there are 4 things which are 1. sin 2. grace 3. forgiveness 4. reconciliation that we could all learn a lot from. The 1st 3 are all a reality but #4 is only a possibility. Reconciliation calls us to true conversion. An example that fits this is a snake and caterpillar since both of them undergoes conversion. The snake sheds off its old skin but comes out the same while the caterpillar emerges into a butterfly. We have to ponder and think about setting our goals high, keeping our thoughts positive and coming up with new solutions. There is no room for fear for He is consistent to His nature as God. Let us strive to become the child He has meant us to be. Another thing we could learn something about is a puzzle. I am one person who never even thought of working on a jigsaw puzzle. I am not the type of person who would bother to even buy one. It just happened that when I was in Japan and saw all sorts of things which are being sold in a bazaar, I ended up buying one for no reason at all. In fact it took years before I finally opened it and put the puzzle together. That was when I actually experienced how to do it. It takes patience and perseverance to do it especially with the complicated puzzles. Sometimes in life we just back out and give up when things become complicated and when we do, we fail to witness the bounty of the Lord. As today psalm tells us, we've got to wait with courage and be stout hearted. We should all long for the day when we will have 100% confidence level in all our decisions for God. When the time comes it will totally remove all forms of anxiety and fear and incline ourselves to Him at all times. It should be our ultimate desire and nothing else, to always be in the presence of the Lord. To abide in Him at all times even when things are not very good. I could never forget and would always remember those times when I used to pick figs at Sis Loreta's garden. It was then that a thought came to my mind while I was climbing a ladder in order to get the figs in hard to reach places. Despite the fact that I was already on top of the ladder there were still some figs that I was not able to see and pick up right away although it was already right in front of me. They are being covered by the leaves of the tree and some are hidden in between branches. I just realized that it could be compared to how God showers us with all the blessings and graces that we need. There are times when we fail to see it though it is already right in front of us. Sometimes we have to really look very closely and try to turn our gaze into different angles in order to see it. What's funny was that when I thought that I've got almost every ripe fig in the tree, I noticed one big ripe fruit at the lowest part of the tree, there was even no need to use a ladder in order to get it. Sometimes in life we resort to a lot of means that are sometimes no longer necessary. All we have to do is believe that we will see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living if we will just be patient and full of courage. We ought to realize that if we wait on the Lord patiently and persevere long enough we will never be disappointed for He alone is our light and salvation. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14

R: The Lord is my light and my salvation.

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid? (R) 4 One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek, to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD and contemplate his temple. (R) 13 I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD with courage; be stout-hearted, and wait for the LORD.

If we will take the literal meaning of today's gospel passage we'll find that another difficult task is at hand. Just imagine hating our own life and family just to be a disciple of Jesus. Whether we should take it literally or figuratively is beside the point what matters here is that we are 100% convinced that we have an Almighty and Loving God who wants what is best for us beyond our imagination and would not wish for us to end up miserable. He is able to make all things possible, nothing is too difficult for Him and we are in the palm of His hands. The Lord is not being unreasonable when he said this statement from the gospel. He is simply stressing a point with regards to making God the center and driving force of everything that we do. In this respect there should be a balance in everything we do and know the art of detachment. Life of detachment is the pathway to a simple life. There is a Jewish expression found in Luke 9: 57-62  "Let the dead bury the dead!" which can be interpreted in English as the dead being the "slow pokes and half hearted people"  in Filipino are the so called " mga papatay-patay" This can also be related to God's call to us in in the Book of Revelation 3:14-19 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write this: " ...I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth..." This is a picture of hypocrisy and duplicity which the Lord rejects. Also in Luke 12:32-34- store treasures in heaven, let go of posessions as spoken of in the gospel today (Luke 14:25-35) and Luke 16:13 which is about God and mammon. Money is not evil in itself but the love of money. Resources not shared is greed and talents not shared is lust.  Whatever may be our situation in life we've got to know how to let go of it and trust God who makes all our efforts worthwhile. Before we expect to benefit from the gifts and reap the fruits there is a need to respond and take full responsibility in a manner that is comparative to God's tremendous blessing to all of us. True enough, today's gospel calls us to always be prepared and not just embark on something without much thought. Whatever we're going through and wherever we are now, there is no doubt that there is a reason for everything. God has a lot in store for us just consider everything as preparation for He is just waiting whenever we are truly ready. Today's gospel also reminds me of this story about a newly wed couple who were asked to choose their wedding present. They can only choose one out of the three which are love, health and wealth. It took some time before they finally decided to make a choice. It was something they both thought about and chosen carefully before they came up with a decision. They should both agree and unanimously vote for only one thing. Just like in today's gospel, Jesus said, "Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’” It was almost like it, in the sense that they too sat down and calculated the impact of the values of the wedding presents in their life. Upon careful scrutiny they finally decided to set aside health and wealth and choose love instead. If we ourselves are to be asked, we would find that it wasn't an easy decision to make. If we know the key to the answer then it would be easier to decide. The married couple knew of it, God is love and where there is love, there is health and wealth. They made the right choice because when they invited love to come into their home, health and wealth followed. The wisdom of God is folly to the world but in the end God will always prevail thus we look forward to His deliverance. Amen. Hallelujah!

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 14,25-33.

Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them, If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? ...In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.