THE ANSWER

Nothing could be truer than this explanation stated in Companion about the 1st reading. It is written: "The wisdom of God is always attached to truth and holiness. In fact, I do not believe it can be separated from these two aspects of the spiritual life. Until we are willing to embrace the truth and surrender ourselves to the call of holiness, the fullness of the wisdom of God will remain an elusive concept that we chase from left to right and back again! To be a disciple of Jesus means forsaking the ways and glamour of the world and embracing the truth as God delivers it to us in the moral law. The world is not willing to accept this sort of truth – I hope and pray you are ready to accept it." Well, we should all fervently hope and pray so. Amen. Hallelujah!

Sirach 51:12-20

12 I thank him and I praise him; I bless the name of the LORD. 13 When I was young and innocent, I sought wisdom. 14 She came to me in her beauty, and until the end I will cultivate her. 15 As the blossoms yielded to ripening grapes, the heart’s joy, my feet kept to the level path because from earliest youth I was familiar with her. 16 In the short time I paid heed, I met with great instruction. 17 Since in this way I have profited, I will give my teacher grateful praise. 18 I became resolutely devoted to her — the good I persistently strove for. 19 I burned with desire for her, never turning back. I became  preoccupied with her, never weary of extolling her. My hand opened her gate and I came to know her secrets. 20 For her I purified my hands; in cleanness I attained to her. At first acquaintance with her, I gained understanding such that I will never forsake her.

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 1^st 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!  

Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 11

R: The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

7 [8] The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. (R) 8 [9] The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the command of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eye. (R) 9 [10] The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true, all of them just. (R) 10 [11] They are more precious than gold, than a heap of purest gold; sweeter also than syrup or honey from the comb.

We ought to realize by now that only God can give us the right and perfect answers we are all in search of. Unless we truly believe this and live it in our life then we all run the risk of leading down the path to nowhere. Today's gospel shows us how the learned and prominent people in Jesus' time refuse to become part of the genuine family of God. As children of God we must acquire a childlike fearlessness that is appropriate to exercise our faith and trust in God our Father. We have to nurture the childlike faith in us so we become what God calls us to be. We are all attracted to the wisdom of God and are tormented by seeking her.  It is a profound attribute because we can see things in the way God sees things. We become enlightened in our hearts and minds. We want to know how God thinks and we can achieve this by uniting our minds with Jesus. In today’s gospel the scribes and Pharisees wanted to elicit information from Jesus but He denied them. We have to go to God with a clean and humble heart. We are reminded today as it is the 1^st Saturday of the month, dedicated to devotion to the Blessed Mother that Jesus sat on the lap of His mother. We want to draw close to Him. Our souls are tormented by seeking this wisdom and this is only possible as we are freed from this sin in this life. We approach Mary who is the seat of wisdom. Mary draws us closer to her heart and reveal to us Jesus who is in her heart and makes Him more known to us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 1:27-33

...“By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.” 31 They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” — they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet. 33 So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” Then Jesus said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”