SINNER TO SAINT

 The readings for today point to a very important realization about God. It reveals to us the mystery of God's choice. He does not always choose the perfect ones. Sometimes God's choice even seem unbelievable or scandalous. God chooses freely always out of love and not according to human but divine logic. As we can see from today's 1st reading, Jacob chose among his sons, Judah the 4th son. He did not choose Reuben, his first born son nor Joseph, the beloved son who became ruler in Egypt and saved his people from famine. Judah was also one of the brothers who sold Joseph as a slave. If we go back further, we know that even Isaac, Jacob's father was not the 1st born son of Abraham but Ishmael. Jacob himself was not the 1st born son but Esau. We may all know the story how Jacob ended up getting the blessing instead of Esau. It all points to the mystery of God's choice based on His Divine logic. God's love and mercy rule and call our attention to shed light in the mystery of our own vocation to be disciples of Jesus Christ. The Lord called us even when we were still in our mother's womb and He has offered us His everlasting love. When I got news of a friend who is sick of cancer I felt really sad partly because of her sickness but more of the fact that she's succumbing to the threats and her fears of this illness. It is a pity that it has the power to eat up all our courage and strength and turn us into a helpless prey under the paws of a big lion. We lose sight of the real Lion King that is supposed to prevail and reign in our hearts and is able to vanquish all our fears because we belong to a race of conquerors and victors. Today’s 1^st reading also brought back memories of how I fondly call my sons with pet names like Tarzanggol for Allan and Lion of Judah for Jude. When Allan was still very young his favorite cartoon movie was Tarzan which I have shared in my reflections for quite a number of times already since it holds a lot of special meanings for us, by the way sanggol means infant or baby and since Allan is the youngest, I also call him that which is why I connected it to Tarzan making it Tarzanggol. If I remember it right I even entitled that reflection "My Beloved Son" which even called the attention of my sister in law Ate Monic. I even made a video link way back in Feb 2008 in my Multiply website of the MTV "You'll be in my Heart" the Tarzan movie soundtrack. With regards to my calling Jude, Lion of Judah this is because of the fact that when he was a child (5 yrs old) his favorite cartoon movie, I suppose, although I never heard him said that, is Lion King.  In fact I also made a  link in my multiply website of the MTV of "Circle of Life" which is the theme song of the Lion King Movie at the same time I did the Tarzan MTV. I even placed this caption or heading with the "Lion King" video link: I dedicate this video link to Jude. Just like King Mufasa we also take great pride in having him as our first born son and like Simba we also hope and pray that he too will take his rightful place in the Circle of Life. As a family we had a great time watching this film and the experience was unforgettable that I always find myself in tears whenever I recall those times. I can still remember when we watched this movie in Robinson's Galleria, we were all in chaos because Allan was barely 3 yrs old that he just can't keep still but Jude was all eyes on the screen and did not move an inch while watching. Another reason that I can attribute to calling him Lion of Judah is the fact that his name Jude when pronounced with "a" will sound like Judah which I know I have called him with that name too before. I am just amazed that with God there is really no such thing as coincidence only divine intervention. I’ve been telling him often since he just graduated from College and was still applying for a job at that time, that he can get a good job because he is the greatest and most intelligent Chemical Engineer in the whole wide world as a way of pronouncing a blessing upon him and encouraging him. Jude worked as a Process Development Engineer for a chemical company and had passed the board exam making his chemical engineer title official . Today's 1st reading talks about Jacob pronouncing a blessing to his son Judah and compared him to a lion’s whelp. It is undeniable that God makes everything fall into place and connect in a special way. Amen. Hallelujah!

Genesis 49:2. 8-10

2 Jacob called his sons and said to them: “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father. 8 “You, Judah, shall your brothers praise — your hand on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down to you. 9 Judah, like a lion’s whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son. He crouches like a lion recumbent, the king of beasts — who would dare rouse him? 10 The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, while tribute is brought to him, and he receives the peoples’ homage.”

I am full of hope and confidence that God is pouring out His blessings on my sons because they are not just my sons but first and foremost sons of God. We all are! There is no denying to the truth that God can always make all things work for good. No matter how messed up things may seem to be something good can always be brought forth from it. God is our stronghold and our defender. His strength and power is beyond all telling. In Him alone should we trust and depend. There are times when it is easier for us to just be angry and fight back but the psalm reading tells us otherwise. We must always develop a kind of surrender and dependence on the Lord that is total and be confident that He is our Savior. The psalm reading should inspire us even more because it is a confirmation of God's abiding presence in our thoughts, feelings, sight and hearing. We should experience peace in the midst of all the problems and concerns that beset us knowing that we have a God who knows, hears and sees all. We may be thinking of certain circumstances that has brought us one way or another to our present situation and everything surrounding it and may come up with “what ifs and could have been/s”. If this is so then we should come to this realization that nothing could really be better than to rely on God's Divine Providence, Wisdom and Will in our lives. Real change is happening. God is the mover and it is objectively happening. It is up to us subjectively, to make room for God in our lives. He can not force Himself on us. We have to turn back to God and away from sin. This we need to do if we want to see the psalm reading fulfilled in our lives.  Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 72:1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17

R: Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.

1 O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king’s son; 2 he shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment. 3 The mountains shall yield peace for the people, and the hills justice. 4 He shall defend the afflicted among the people, save the children of the poor. (R) 7 Justice shall flower in his days, and profound peace, till the moon be no more. May he rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. May his name be blessed forever; as long as the sun his name shall remain. In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed; all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.

Today's gospel may seem to appear like a meaningless, annoying repetition and unending reading of strange names that gives us the impression that the reader might want to read it quickly to get it over with. But getting to know the characters, one realizes the mystery of God's choice concerning the ancestors of the Messiah. The book of geneology is divided in 3 parts, 1st the patriarchs, 2nd the kings before the exile and 3rd the kings after the exile. The geneology started with the patriarchs, with Abraham, who is the father of Isaac. This makes us realize the mystery of God's choice based on Divine logic. Furthermore we can see from this long line of ancestry that only Hezekiah and Josiah who were both kings at the time of the exile were righteous people. And only two kings also from the time after the exile namely Shealtiel and Zerubbabel remained faithful to the Lord. We can also see how King David lived in sin and sanctity when he committed adultery and murder as he had confessed in the Psalms. Even the name of Bathsheba who King David committed adultery with was not mentioned in this geneology. We can also see the names of Tamar, who disguised herself as a prostitute to deceive Judah and Rahab who originally worked as a prostitute but played a vital role in the fall of the Wall of Jericho. Another thing worth mentioning with regards to this geneology is this, in the Jewish tradition the # 3 and 7 stands for perfection and completeness. It is interesting 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. The list could just go on and on and we would never run out of amazements. Nothing in the life of Jesus happened by accident everything that was foretold by the prophets came to fulfillment. We can see from this long line of ancestors that God does not always choose the perfect ones. Putting aside, Mary who is the Immaculate Conception and Joseph the foster father of Jesus, who are the most perfect people who ever lived on earth as we all know and believe as Catholics which further justifies the birth of God who is without sin. There is no doubt that Mama Mary will always be our link to Jesus. For the Almighty, All Knowing and Holy God deemed it best to choose Mary to bring forth Jesus into the world that we too in our lowliness should never doubt in believing God's choice as the best and follow after Him. We are reminded of this wonderful story of the holiest family who ever lived on earth. We are all part of a particular family. No matter how broken our lives and race may be we must never lose sight of this membership in the family of God that we are all invited to be a part of. By becoming one we too, are healed. Jesus came from an imperfect race as we can see various personalities that are sinners but His family tree was healed in Joseph and Mary. It is important that we are aware that we are part of this Holy Family (Jesus, Joseph and Mary) that God has given us. The awe and wonder of this truth should never leave us. We should carry it always in our hearts and minds since it is written, "God is with us." On top of all these we can draw inspiration from the fact that God is able to make all things beautiful. What seemed to be insignificant and of low worth at first God can turn into something great. Sinners though we all are, we can still turn into saints. Everything has a reason and a mission and is in transition. The fulfillment of all our prayers is at hand as we joyfully await the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Hallelujah!

Matthew 1:1-17

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab  became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, 6 Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. 8 Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile. 12 After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah. 17 Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah, fourteen generations.