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 was 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 doubted and disobeyed God. Instead they 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 unless we recognize the One, True and Living God. The
problem is that there is a great propaganda out there. It makes sin appear with
all its fun, excitement and glamour. It makes virtue appear boring, lame, bland
and unexciting. But the truth of the matter is, it’s not. The pleasures that
God created in this world are enjoyed the most by those who don’t abuse them
and use it simply. Who do we think enjoys food most? The person who doesn’t
know how to fast and engorges all the time or a person after a fast experiences
a feast? The virtuous person enjoys life the most. The person who uses creation
and all things according to God’s plan enjoys it the most. It is because
pleasure is God’s idea. All the good things in the world that people want are
God’s idea. Satan can’t invent even one bit of pleasure. But God commands them to be used so that it
leads to life and a part of life is joy. The way to enjoy life is to follow
God’s commands. Life is not all about rules and regulations. God did not just
give us a bunch of rules and regulations that we are supposed to obey like
machines. What we do does not just proceed from who we are but also makes us
who we are. The actions we engage, the
words that we say and the things that we do have an impact on us. We are making
ourselves all the time. God created us when we came out of the womb, our
mothers and father have a great role in that but our creation continues every
single day of our lives. We’re even becoming someone more beautiful, mature and
stronger or someone weaker and more despicable. There’s no middle ground. We’re
going one way or another. Life leads either to heaven or to hell. That’s what
the acts that we commit do. Virtuous acts build in us strength. The word virtue
comes from the word manly which is strength and power. Virtue is a habit that
makes it easy and pleasurable to do the right thing. Golden virtue isn’t always
easy. It is hard. But what is vice, it is a habit that makes it easy to do the
wrong and evil thing. Let’s take exercise as an example. People make it their
New Year’s resolution and people who go to the gym noticed that it’s packed on
January but they’re gone by the 3rd week. If we’ve ever engaged in an exercise
program for the first time, we know that we feel bad, tired, exhausted and wake
up sore. This is because we do not have the habit of exercise. We have not
trained and our bodies are not used to it. It hurts and it’s hard the first
time we work out. If we persevere past the first few weeks and developed a
habit of regular exercise then we end up getting used to it and become easy
that when we don’t exercise we feel bad. What happens is that we build up the
power or the virtue. We’ve conditioned ourselves so that it becomes second nature
to us. If we want a progressive course we need to do something hard. No pain no
gain. The next time we work out we add up a little bit more since we are
stronger. We can move forward and grow in our ability to lift weights. This is
the deal. The actions we do have an impact of what we are. It’s like when we
start lifting weights we start to change and look different. We look like
someone who has strength, power and endurance. This is the point, God is about
building champions. The goal of the Christian life is to build champions. Well,
not necessarily athletic champions but spiritually. A real champion in every
aspect of life, God wants us to be strong, loving and wise and to have the
power to live life to the full for that is what God created us for. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
... 14 For he fashioned all things that they might have
being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome,...
We sometimes think that God does not answer our prayers but
He does. Let us not fall into this wrong notion, lose hope and turn into
different kinds of addictions which cause so much wasted pain and suffering.
This is a wicked age and our life should redeem. Only the Lord our God can
bring about this redemption in our lives. If the Son of God had His enormous
and most unbearable share of suffering for our sake don't we think that we
should also bear our own daily crosses? We should have the courage and the
strength to suffer for the gospel most especially at this time of the world
when there is great hostility to the gospel. To suffer always with the
confidence that God who sees and knows all would definitely see us through it
all. God is above all our troubles, fears and anxieties, whatever it may be,
our ills and even death itself. The "culture of death" and its
kingdom has been robbed of its power. Jesus has resurrected from the dead and
the kingdom of God
Psalms 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-13
R: I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
1 [2] I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear and did not let my
enemies rejoice over me. 3 [4] O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit... For his anger
lasts but a moment; a lifetime, his good will. At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing. (R) 10 [11] “Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me; O
LORD, be my helper.” 11 [12] You changed my mourning into dancing; 12 [13] O
LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
If we are living according to God's Divine Providence and
firmly believe in it then our situations and circumstances should not bother us
at all for He surely provides. Amen. Hallelujah!
2 Corinthians 8:7. 9. 13-15
...As it is written: “Whoever had much did not have more,
and whoever had little did not have less.”
Two miracles took place in today's gospel and it should
leave us in awe at the tremendous power of Jesus. There is no room for doubt
all we have to do is just have faith. The woman in today’s gospel with
hemorrhages for twelve years and Jairus whose daughter is at the point of death
have something in common. They have faith in Christ. A woman was considered of
no social standing during that time, and to be a pagan/Gentile only added to
her worthlessness she wan not even addressed with her own name. The woman
touched the tassel of Jesus in the midst of the crowd bustling about trying to
push and touch Him. As specifically written, Jesus was aware at once that power
had gone out from him. The crowd tries to get a hold of Jesus but doesn’t allow
the power of Jesus to go out of Him. . How come Jesus feels one woman touched
him. What made the difference is her faith. The result of her faith is power.
He is present in the sacraments. We touch Jesus in the Eucharist but we have to
approach the Eucharist with this hemorrhagic woman’s kind of faith, expecting
Jesus to do something for us, as we receive Him. Allow Him to come to our
heart, make life better spiritually, give us the power to rid us of the burden
of sin. We may not have lived at the time when Jesus walked about the earth and
healed the sick but we can touch Him in the flesh. It is true that we are
touching Jesus in the sacraments especially the Eucharist but when we do not
have faith there is no effect. Let us
not fall into the trap of becoming overly familiar with Jesus as we receive the
sacraments regularly or even daily for some. This familiarity makes us lose the
awe and wonder of our faith that it wears off. We have to maintain and sustain
our faith. Whenever we come in contact with Him let us ask Him to give us
greater things, to heal us and change us as we touch him. Jesus is healing us
in the way that the doctors can not do and is made possible through the
sacraments. Is there anything else that Jesus is not capable of doing? We
should answer these questions ourselves and really feel in our heart and
impress in our mind the resounding truth about Jesus. If we are to imagine that
woman touching the cloak of Jesus to the point that it really feels so real
that we could almost feel the cloak of Jesus flowing around Him and touching
our skin we would surely feel goose bumps all over. Somehow we could identify
with the woman since she has been longing and desiring for a cure to her
disease for quite a long time already and we in our lives sometimes encounter
situations when we've been waiting for the answer to our prayers for a long
time and have utilized every possible means and yet things did not get any
better and felt that we were not helped at all but instead made things grew
worse. One way or another we may all have felt that way. As days, weeks, months
and even years go by we should come to a point when we can also develop that
same faith of the woman in the gospel who got cured just by touching the cloak
of Jesus and in turn will finally receive the long awaited blessing we all have
been waiting for. Another important thing that is being pointed out today is
the certainty and reality of death and our desire to live forever. There is
indeed an explanation as to why people doesn't want to die and wanted to avoid
even talk or mention about death. It goes way back to the time of creation when
God never meant for us to die at all but because of our consent to sin, death
entered the world. It's a good thing that despite all of these we are assured
in Jesus that we can still take part in God's original plan to live life to the
full for eternity. Amen. Hallelujah!
Mark 5:21-43
21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other
side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. 22 One
of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at
his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the
point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and
live.” 24 He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon
him. 25 There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She
had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she
had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus
and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. 28 She said, “If I
but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” 29 Immediately her flow of blood
dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Jesus,
aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and
asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” 31 But his disciples said to him, “You see
how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 And
he looked around to see who had done it. 33 The woman, realizing what had
happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus
and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has
saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.” 35 While he was still
speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your
daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” 36 Disregarding the
message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be
afraid; just have faith.” 37 He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they arrived at
the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people
weeping and wailing loudly. 39 So he went in and said to them, “Why this
commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 And they ridiculed
him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and
those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. 41 He took
the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little
girl, I say to you, arise!” 42 The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately
and walked around. [At that] they were utterly astounded. 43 He gave strict
orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something
to eat.
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