When athletes train hard and focus well on their goals they
have one thing in mind, to win the prize. It is something that every sportsman
aim and work for. It is just the same for a man of God as today's 1st reading
tells us. This also reminded me of a very special person in my life who had
been instrumental in the building up and growth of my faith during the first
year of my Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Her name is Mrs. Teofista Tan Tena or
Sis Pat, she is my boss in the very first regular job I had. We worked for more
than a year and continued to keep in touch with her for years even after I
transferred to another company. She had always been very enthusiastic in
sharing to me a lot of things about the Catholic faith and was reminded me of
her sharing about what happen to our souls after death. She said that the
moment we breathe our last our souls will automatically and immediately return
to God our Creator and the source of the breath of life. She said that during
that moment when our souls hurry back to God, we will be confronted by this
blinding & shining brightness of God's light that nothing can be hidden and
everything in ourselves is exposed. That is when we'll see the impurities of
our souls stained by our unconfessed and unrepented sins. Although it may sound
a bit farfetched or difficult to prove today's 2nd reading somehow gave me an
inkling of what it might be like. Amen. Hallelujah!
1 Timothy 6:13-16
I charge (you) before God, who gives life to all things, and
before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble
confession, to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the
appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ 15 that the blessed and only ruler will
make manifest at the proper time, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who
alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom no human
being has seen or can see...
The Jews knew of the prophecy that from King David’s lineage
would come forth a King, the foretold Messiah of Israel. During the reign of King
Ahaz and all other kings of Israel
who did evil things the royalty was cut off. During the Babylonian captivity
and in exile, those born of the line of David, of royal blood went in hiding
for fear of being killed. Even though the divinic dynasty was cut off, from the
tree of Jesse, the father of King David, came forth the shoot that brought
forth the King. We remember that it was prophesied in Isaiah 11:1 And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots.” The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 tells of this family tree. We
would find at the end of this lineage, Joseph who is the husband of Mary the
mother of Jesus. Joseph is not king but a carpenter and being Jew knew of the
prophecy as foretold by the prophet including this one from Isaiah 7:14 … the
Lord Himself shall give you a sign, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a
son and shall call His name Emmanuel.” as spoken to him by the angel who
appeared to him. He finally understood the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel .
Isaiah is important to better understand Jesus. Joseph knew of the need for
secrecy and not to make public these things because the reigning king at that
time is Herod. He is not Jew but an Edomite who was just appointed by the Romans
to be king. He is king not for the Jews but for the Romans to collect taxes for
them. This is mainly the reason why Herod wants all male babies born at the
time of Jesus, dead. Joseph dreamed a lot of dreams and it was through them
that Joseph was able to successfully carry out his mission as the protector of
the baby Jesus. Another point of reference here is the fact that in the Old
Testament (OT) there was a foreshadowing of the Magi or Wise Men who came to
worship Jesus in the manger. It was at the time of the reign of Balak an evil
king in the OT when Balaam also a wise man from the East prophesied in Numbers
24:15,18 that there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out
of Israel who will
dispossess Edom .
He was asked to exact a curse upon Israel but from his mouth came
forth a blessing. A star and a scepter signifies kingship. In parallel, it was
also the 3 wise men who were looking for a star that would direct them to the
newborn King of Israel who would inform Herod of his whereabouts but warned in
a dream not to go back to him in a dream. Jesus is truly our King. The Kingship
of Jesus is accompanied by many more wonderful things that we still have to
know of. In the Jewish tradition the # 3 and 7 stands for perfection and completeness.
It is somehow puzzling to know that there are 3 sets of 14 generations from the
time of Abraham to the exile to the time of Jesus. So why the #14? The
significance of the #14 stands for the name of King David which is equivalent
to 14 in Hebrew. The 3 sets of 14 stands
for perfect royalty and king that all leads to Jesus. It could also be
equivalent to 6 sets of 7. The #6 signifies the date when the beast is made or
the beginning thus the #666 which signifies the beast of all beasts. The 6 of 7
sets could mean the beginning of the 7th set. 7 is also the Sabbath. The new 7
is the new creation. Jesus is the beginning of the 7th set. Why the fuss in all
of these? It is a consolation to know that we have a God who is King. The King
of kings and the Lord of lords. We will eventually come face to face with our
Creator and God who made heaven and earth. The time is now to make a conscious
move to be in touch with this truth. It is such a waste that we don't always
realize God's presence among us. When there is nothing more rewarding than to
always be aware of God's presence and cry out to Him in joy. Whenever we are in
a relationship with someone and give our 100% into it then we can not help but
expect it to work. But there are times too when we have given our all and yet
it doesn't seem to be enough. We sometimes are bound for disappointments. When
these things happen then is really no reason to be sad for we can always go to
God for consolation whose love for us endures forever. We are all called to
become partakers and residents of the eternal Kingdom of God Elm Street " every time the girl in
this movie falls asleep, her nightmare begins and Freddie Krueger appears to
wreak evil and havoc in her life. She has to stay awake or else something
really bad happens to her and the people around her. Somehow this should make
us realize the importance of being awake, conscious and in touch with reality.
If there's one thing that we have to always be aware of, that is God has our
best interest in mind. It may not be easy to see, understand and have a grip on
this reality always especially at times when we seem down and out as in falling
flat on bed without a care in the world like dumb sleepyheads. We have to rise,
wake up and shine. We ought to always get a hold of this truth in today's psalm
and never let it leave our consciousness. We will eventually come face to face
with our Creator, and the time is now to make a conscious move to be in touch
with this truth. Our devotion to God should have no limits for He is Almighty,
All Powerful and Holy. We should remain faithful to God and never stray away
from the path where He leads us. Let us stay within the flock that God has
formed for us. When we are being cared for by God who is constantly and
consistently good, kind and faithful forever and ever then we are confident
that we are safe and secure in the fold where we belong like a flock tended by
the Good Shepherd. We should always remember that we have a God who cares for
all our needs for we belong to Him. May we all take part in the grand banquet
that God has prepared for us in heaven. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 5
R: Come with joy into the presence of the Lord..
1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; 2 serve the LORD
with gladness; come before him with joyful song. (R) 3 Know that the LORD is
God; he made us, his we are; his people, the flock he tends. (R) 4 Enter his
gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise; Give thanks to him; bless his
name. (R) 5 The LORD is good: his kindness endures forever, and his
faithfulness, to all generations.
I used to experience shoulder pains when I was in the Philippines and it recurred again here in the US .
Due to this I have been traumatized by the experience that I never want it to
happen again. The only thing that the doctors could offer at that time was pain
relievers. I tried to do some research about it and there have been some wrong
information, too that I got but as I continue to study more and after several
trial and error I guess I finally found the right cure and the appropriate
regimen for my condition. What I'm trying to say here is that we should not just
sit and wait for things to happen. We've got to be like the ones referred to in
today's gospel who took the right course of action. We find that there are
people who don’t go to the doctor or they continue to ignore the signs unless
their symptoms have become so severe. Some people refuse to go to the doctor
unless they discover the truth. This is surely the way we react to the word of
God. The truth for us is that we are the children of God. We are here on earth
for only a few fleeting years. Our names have already been written down in the
palm of God’s hand before we were born but we refuse to think about it. Our
instinct tells us of these things but we refuse to listen. The word of God
never penetrates our minds. The devil tempts us by saying there is no heaven or
hell but our instincts tell us that there is indeed heaven and hell. We say
instead there is still time, there is no need to hurry the world is at my feet,
when I’m old and sick then I will have time to think about it. All we have is
today, yesterday and tomorrow is a word. This is the sacrament of the present
moment, our lives are given to us moment by moment in love. We only have the
present moment to be aware of who we are. Our good resolutions are not good
enough. What are we doing today? Today is all we have. The seed that fell on
hard ground grows but was choked. How easily it happens to us whenever we are
preoccupied, worried and distracted. The words of God and their idealism are
stunted when we never become what God intended us to be. The seed that falls on
good ground brings forth a great harvest. Every one of us can love. We must
learn to love a person that is demanding and unlovable. We must learn to
understand that every human being has their own problem. We have not walked in
their shoes and must learn to love them right at this moment. Today it is all
we have. Living is giving and giving is living. We must go on living and giving
again. We only stop giving when God stops giving. We all know that God speaks
to us in many unique and different ways through circumstances and people we
meet everyday. These should inspire us always, though it may have been a long
time ago, our experiences with people like whom we can consider an instrument
of God in placing the seed in our hearts during that planting season should
always remain there, continue to grow and nurture whether in or out of season
as in seed planted in rich soil. It may be a bit confusing at first. Jesus
says, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” Then after a few statements he
said,"...‘they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.’"
He first asks us to hear his words and then later on say we could not
understand. Isn't it contradictory why would He ask us to listen if He knows we
can't understand. Which of these are true, we might say or think. They are both
Jesus' words and they are both true and correct. In fact both are not
contradicting the other. We are all called to open our ears to God's words,
there is no doubt. As to the understanding we are warned as if saying that we
may not understand right away but it doesn't mean that we should stop there.
Can we remember the times when we fail to grasp the meaning of the things that
are happening to us at first. Only after experiencing and going through some
things did we come to a better understanding. Jesus simply tells us not to give
up so easily rather we should put up a good fight. We simply have to trust God
and have a firm faith. No matter how confusing things may seem to be or how
difficult it is for us to understand the things that are happening to us we
just ought to walk on and put our best foot forward. God will not put us
through something without seeing us through it. This is based on the truth and
knowledge that we can always count on God 100% of the time. Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 8:4-15
...“Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” 9 Then his
disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. 10 He answered,
“Knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been granted to you; but
to the rest, they are made known through parables so that ‘they may look but
not see, and hear but not understand.’ ...“This is the meaning of the parable.
The seed is the word of God...But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they
are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and
good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.”...
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