Today's 1st reading impressed in my heart the words requests
and favoring. This made me remember the many works of charity and mercy that I
have witnessed in the community of God. We have all been to a point in our
lives when we have experienced that our requests are granted and are given
favors. It feels good when we encounter brothers and sisters in Christ, who
have in one way or another shown their dependability and being an accommodating
friend to us. We must not forget and always remember that these are all coming
from the Lord and as we appreciate them we are also giving glory to God whose
favoring hand is upon us. Amen. Hallelujah!
Nehemiah 2:1-8
...The king granted my requests, for the favoring hand of my
God was upon me.
The psalm reading reminded me of my co-participant in a
training that I attended in Japan .
He is from Korea .
The duration of the training is almost one year so it is important to have a
good rapport among the participants. Unfortunately, our personalities do not go
well together. I sensed something different about him and was confirmed when I
found out that he didn't believe that there is a God. He claimed to be an
atheist. At first, I was trying to be really extra careful and nice to him and
was even injecting discreetly some Christian values and ideas to him whenever
we are engaged in a conversation. I should say that next to the challenge of my
research work there in Japan ,
he posed to me a difficulty that I never thought I would be able to handle and
surpass. Everyday especially during our 1st few months in Japan , I would pray hard for
strength in order to withstand whatever challenges that lie ahead of me during
the day. This involves putting up with his manners and attitude on top of the
fact that we are from different countries with very diverse cultural background
and beliefs. After several weeks of constantly praying and putting on hold my
temper and practicing patience, gentleness and courtesy to the best of my
ability, I finally succumbed to the pressures I've been experiencing then and
blurted out all my repressed and bottled up anger. Whew! You could just imagine
what I did by how everybody who saw me reacted. They had the impression that I
am the Filipina who can pulverize people with an iron fist like Pacquiao.
Although it worked since he stopped bothering me from then on, I also regretted
what I did for I know that getting back at someone in that manner is not
pleasing before the Lord. I am a professed believer of God and should embody
this faith. Just like what the 1st reading tells us, I am sure that
what I did is not a reflection of a person who believes in God. It is
imperative that we act what we believe in our thoughts and words. God arranged
for something else to happen. Another participant got very sick and was
hospitalized and we ended up visiting her together. On our way to the hospital,
I started a conversation with him which unexpectedly led to his unbelief in God
and the theory of the evolution. Judging from where it was going I thought it
would end up in disaster that is why I am still in awe at how things happened
the way it did. I could never understand or figure out up to this time how I
was able to speak those words that I spoke to him. It was as if someone else
was speaking in my behalf. Instead of opposing his ideas I just found myself
even agreeing with him. This is what I said, “Let us say the evolution theory
is true, but consider even for a moment the hardship with my research work
wherein I needed to transform the microorganism or simply put it as, improve
the strain. I need not change the microorganism which was a fungus to another
microbe like a bacterium but just introduce a tiny bit (DNA) of characteristic
to improve it. Just the thought of changing fungi into bacteria is already an
impossibility that I could never even think about since the transformation
alone and the maintenance in itself is already hard work. I told him I've been
putting all my efforts and whatever intelligence left in my brains after
slaving myself to work beyond midnight just to succeed in my experiments and
there was no room for mistake or even a short period of neglect for timing and
strict maintenance is a must or else everything I worked for will be gone. I
asked him in the light of his being a science researcher himself, that if he
believes that humans evolved from a single cell to a very complicated human
body like we have right now, a genius must have sustained, maintained and
watched over our evolution to our present condition, wonderfully made and
crafted by none other than the greatest Genius, Researcher and Scientist of all
time.
Today's psalm encourages us to be firm in our beliefs in
God. This is especially true during times when terrible things happen and
causes us so much sorrow. We can not help but be full of grief. In spite of all
of these we can always look to God and not forget that He never forsakes nor
abandon. There are times when we forget or simply keep silent about the goodness
done to us by other people and the Lord. Though, it doesn't mean that we don't
appreciate or have gratitude to them. What's most important is that every good
thing done whether in secret or public can not escape the notice or attention
of God who will definitely act according to what an All Knowing, Almighty, Holy
and Immortal God deem fit and proper. We have our own personal reasons for not
making it known or just simply forgetting about it and making it known. The
psalm reading encourages us to always give praise to God in words, thoughts and
deeds. It is indeed very unfortunate if we are not aware of how great our God
is. There is no greater joy and treasure than having the full knowledge about
God. Which makes me think of Tita Neds right now. We both have the computer and
the internet connection but Tita Neds doesn't know how to use it. There was a
time when my 2 sons were not home for our chat time. Though, they gave her
already the instructions to just accept my call to their Yahoo Messenger but
she was not able to do it. She's been texting me in my cellphone that she
doesn't know how to accept the call so I gave up and forgo of our chat that
day. There ere times when everything is already within our reach and right
before us, what's keeping us from doing the right thing although we're taught
how to do it, is that we forget and do not remember.
Amen. Hallelujah!
P S A L M
Psalm 137:1-2. 3. 4-5. 6
R: Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon we
sat and wept when we remembered Zion .
On the aspens of that land we hung up our harps. R. Though there our captors
asked of us the lyrics of our songs, And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
“Sing for us the songs of Zion !”
R. How could we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem , may my right
hand be forgotten! R. May my tongue cleave to my palate if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy. R.
“I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back. Though no
one follows, still I will follow.” This is part of the lyrics of a song that
contains the message of what God wants to convey in today's gospel. We may want
to ask ourselves, who is fit for the kingdom
of God kingdom
of God kingdom of God
We should always do things for the greater glory of God
without any hesitation or doubt. Every single day we are always confronted with
a lot of decisions that demonstrate where our loyalty lies. We may have decided
on something but as we go along the way we find things that do not suit our
comfort and expectations. This may cause us to have 2nd thoughts and doubts
whether we really made the right decision or worse whether we still maintain
the same conviction that we have before encountering a discouraging situation.
For as long as we honestly and sincerely know in our hearts and minds that we
intended to follow Jesus and acted on it then we should make a decision to
really stick to it and never back out for to be fit for the kingdom of God Jerusalem .
We should follow His example when he resolutely determined to go to Jerusalem even though He
is aware, being God, that it is where the passion of the cross awaits Him.
Sometimes we doubt God's Providence
when we encounter difficulties but in today's gospel it is clearly stated that
Jesus is firmly resolved or determined to do the will of God the Father. His
total obedience and commitment to fulfill His mission on earth did not spare
Him from experiencing rejection and despite of it all He maintained in Him a
spirit of mercy and forgiveness. He did not have a trace of vengefulness in
Him. There is really a lot to learn from Jesus' life here on earth. Jesus was
focused on God's will and was determined to fulfill it. Nothing stopped Him
from fulfilling it although He pleaded to the Father in the Garden of
Gethsemane (Mt. 26:39, He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer,
saying, "My Father, 25 if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet,
not as I will, but as you will." and in verse 42 he repeated it again,
"Withdrawing a second time, he prayed again, "My Father, if it is not
possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!" We
can all learn from Jesus to be persevering in the problems and difficulties
that we face in life for we all know that in the end Jesus triumphed and
conquered it all. Let us not forget, He has paid the price and we have all been
saved. Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 9:51-56
51 When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he
resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem ,
52 and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan
village to prepare for his reception there, 53 but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem . 54 When the disciples James and
John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?” 55 Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they journeyed to
another village.
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