THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

Man has a spirit and a body that are equally important. But having a spirit sets man apart from all other creation. Everything else has a body, but Adam received an infused knowledge of God and self consciousness that can make us distinguish one thing from the other and transforms it to experience. God created the garden with the tree of good and evil. Man is a person and is subject to God but we are invited to experience a relationship with God unlike any other beings. Man has the glory of being on top of creation. We are called to respond to this privilege in order to participate with God and enjoy being good, submissive, obedient, humble and all other virtues. It is just sad that this is something that sometimes we all don’t do. We still suffer from the weakness of original sin. As in Romans 7:19, For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. We have been given the tree to make a choice to do right or wrong. That is theoretical and practical as we experience this personal awareness of this tree. This establishes what man should be but what we experience in life now is not characterized with a life of good. We have the freedom of choice from within through our self consciousness and self determination that has a will through intelligence. This allow us to demonstrate that man alone being on top among all other creation possess these qualities in the entire world to dominate others and makes us able to be in relationship with God. In sin we lose grace and break this relationship which is manifested as earth resists our possessive domination when we try to use and abuse creation in contrary to the Creator’s will. This we have seen in various natural calamities. The Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts where our will is formed in grace with loving obedience to God and form actions that show integrity. Although this should be the case we sometimes do not reflect it but act in rebellion and contrary to how God created the universe. In order for us to realize what we’re created to be, we have been permitted by God to form our knowledge and experiences to manipulate our feelings.  Let us fervently hope and pray that what comes out of us is His word, His love and not our own so as to be, rather than just to seem to be, a friend of God. Sometimes we are so obsessed of something without realizing that God has given us a lot of things, everything we need.  In today's 1st reading we are reminded that we need not insist on that one single thing that we are completely aware is forbidden and instead divert our attention on the many opportunities and blessings that are already within our reach.

We’ve got to straighten up some things about God. Who He is and what He wants for our life. What is our picture of God? It’s not surprising to know that most of us think that God doesn’t want us to have fun. It’s like all the things that we want to do with our friends that are interesting and exciting when we were young are against God’s commandments. It may seem like we have to settle for less. What’s worse is that all the faithful Catholics get less out of life. This is part of the propaganda way back in the Garden of Eden. God gave us a magnificent paradise wherein there is perfect intimacy and no shame with each other. In the Garden they have everything they need but gave just one limit, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is very interesting because God said, “Don’t do this because you will die.” The reason why God commands us something is because He is a loving Father who cares for us. He wants us to have the best. But then came the serpent, he didn’t create Adam & Eve, nor gave the garden or anything at all. All the serpent gave was a lie and told Adam & Eve not to listen to God or they’ll lose out and won’t become like God. They were made to believe that God is holding out something from them and is actually their rival because God doesn’t want them to have what He has. So instead of trusting the one who gave them everything, they trusted a stranger. They disobeyed God and listened to the liar. They were hooked into a downward spiral of destruction. This is what sin is all about. It is a trap. It is disguised as an apparent good because the fruit looks good and desirable but it ends in disaster. The relationship with God is messed up and so creation turned against them, thorns and thistles appear and things in life become hard. This is what sin does, it seemed small but it gets out of control. Things get worse and worse and there are broken lives everywhere. This is the reality about sin. We are draining life out of ourselves. It's time we know who we should listen to for the enemy is wise and deceiving so let us not be duped any longer.  Amen. Hallelujah!

Genesis 2:4-9, 15-17

But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! 5 No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it...

The LORD God gave man this order: “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden 17 except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die.”

Only to God should we place our trust. He is a God who will never forsake nor abandon and will do for us much more than we can ever know. I am reminded of the talk delivered by Fr. John Hampsch, CMF entitled, "Don't take woe for an answer". He discussed not only about optimism per se but within the context of the Christian virtue, hope. He quoted Rom 5:5 which describes hope in God as something that doesn't disappoint. It is good to always put our hope in the Lord who make all things work together for good for all those who love Him.(Rom. 8:28) He said that we should always face the sun for the shadows to go behind. Come to think of it, I only realized it when I heard it, I guess it's another way of making us realize that if we are always facing the Son of God, Jesus who is the Light of the World, then every shadow that darkens and blocks the light in our lives will go behind us. He said there is only one place where there is only complete total disappointment for there is no hope of relief and that is hell or Dante's inferno. He further described Christian hope as not confined to the standards of this world and transcends emotional hope. It is an assurance or certainty of something good as in Ps. 42 where several times the words, "Put your hope in God" were repeated. Hope is a virtue infused by God in our wills not only in our emotions. Trust God with complete certainty. He quoted, the Council of Trent declaring that, "No one is certain of salvation.” This is somehow contradictory to what St. Augustine said that "You should think of salvation as if it were already certain." The certainty of salvation is as certain as our own existence. He explained that there is really no contradiction in the sense that the uncertainty comes from our side as human beings and not from God. He said we have the free will to choose our salvation. He reiterated the importance to see to it that the truth we heard remains in us and if it remains in us then God is surely assuring us of the certainty that He is on our side. It's just like finding something beautiful that we would never want to let go and remains forever. He mentioned the forces of evil that tempts us to become unfaithful. But God assured us that no one can snatch us out of His hands but the problem is if we choose to pull away from God. In the face of real challenges only those who stay firm in God's promises will hold and survive. It is given that God never abandons us, only we can abandon Him through the choices we make. In this present time of great trial and hardships we have to discover the grounds of hope which is rooted in the so called "Tripod of Hope" by St. Thomas Aquinas: 1. faith in the power of God (2 Thes. 1:11-12) 2. faith in the goodness of God (Ps. 146) 3. faith in the promises of God (Heb.11:1-2; Ps. 145:13) Sometimes this tripod is placed in a slippery floor of despair, conclusion of fools, neglect of faith and the like. We are called to always have faith and hope in God as written in the 1st book of Peter. If we feel like we are experiencing a hardship just like Job and starting to lose hope then we are called by God to stand firm and be joyful in hope. (2 Cor 1:5-6; Rom 12:2) Nothing or no one else can make or break us, only God gives and takes, this is something we have to realize, first and foremost. Everything is by the grace of God. It's about time we stop using words and saying things about our being human other than what we are in the eyes of God. May our thoughts, words and action be inclined to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. There is really no more denying that we have a God who created all of us including everything here on earth which has been appointed and assigned in its designated time and place for our continuous guidance and reminder. All the beautiful things around us speak of the greatness of God's creation He is great and Almighty. Thus we should always give thanks and praise to God as we say the psalm today. May we all have a grasp of this great and wonderful relationship that exists between God and the world or His creation. Jesus is intimately present in Creation as the wind and air like a force of love. All that is good is a reflection of divine love. It is infinite and eternal that generates from nothing and from the beginning of time and creation does not merely occur and end there but an eternal support of the Holy Trinity present in all creation. Especially in us, present in a special way since we have a soul and spirit. The Holy Spirit is the moving force when God speaks with His word. This is something we lost in original sin but was restored through the action of the word made flesh in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 104:1-2, 27-28, 29-30

R: O bless the Lord, my soul!

...All creatures look to you to give them food in due time. 28 When you give it to them, they gather it; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. (R) 29 If you take away their breath, they perish and return to their dust. 30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.

We ought to be very careful in the conduct of our affairs. We may think that we are good enough Christians and not missing on the obligations we are all expected to fulfill. Today's gospel gives us a specific account of the things we must avoid doing. These are things that stain our soul. If we don't watch it, we may be going through life without realizing that we've made a mess of our souls. We may be looking all good on the outside but full of filth in the inside. When we leave earth we don't bring our bodies with us. We leave them behind what we bring with us is our soul. Only God’s love can transform us. It draws us from the gravity of sin that pulls us away from God. The heart is the center of man. Let us make sure we render it clean all the time so that when the time comes we can finally inherit the gift of eternal life. As in Rev. 7:14, "These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Every single thing has been spelled out for us by Jesus in order for us not to be led astray. We can no longer make excuses and justifications. No need to confuse ourselves any further with the rigid rules of our faith. All we have to do is come to Him in prayer at all times. God can make all things possible. We simply have to decide for God who is love in all our actions. We should always trust that God would do for us exactly what He deemed is best for all of us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 7:14-23

14 Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15 Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” ...“But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. 21 From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, 22  adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. 23