1 Corinthians 15:1-8
1 I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I
preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. 2
Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to
you, unless you believed in vain.
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 1st 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!
Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5
R: Their message goes out through all the earth.
1 [2] The heavens declare the glory of God, and the
firmament proclaims his handiwork. 2 [3] Day pours out the word to day, and
night to night imparts knowledge. (R) 3 [4] Not a word nor a discourse whose
voice is not heard; 4 [5] through all the earth their voice resounds, and to
the ends of the world, their message.
The readings for today and the truth it conveys reminds of
the many times I almost got bitten by a dog. It happened several times in the
past and these experiences made me easily scared of dogs. And this incident
that happened while I was jogging almost knocked me out when a very big black
dog suddenly appeared before me from behind a parked car. It rushed to my side
and saw that its height came to as high as my shoulders. It started sniffing me
and sensing my fear started to bully me by barking at me and when I tried to
walk away suddenly jumped behind me as if trying to push me around. I couldn’t
move and just prayed and that was when its owner came to the rescue. I have
been telling myself that I must overcome this fear of dogs. I realized that it
is time that I should and reminded myself once again of this bible passage in Genesis
1:26 “...Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the
cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the
ground.” It tells us that we are over and above them all. We are on top of
everything that God created and have dominion over them. This truth should
always give us confidence to be strong and of good courage. It is further
emphasized and affirmed in today’s gospel as Jesus said, “Amen, amen, I say to
you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater
ones than these…” There is no reason to cower in fear. We have to work our way
to progress because we are destined for greatness in Jesus name. Let us follow
our God given destiny. Whenever we are under attack and in an off guard
situation, it is always good to know that we are just like soldiers who should
always be in full battle gear fresh from rigid training, physically and
spiritually inspired by the works of our one and only most brilliant mentor,
Jesus Christ. If we are just to make sense of everything that goes on around us
each and every single day then we can never be far away nor get lost in this
reality that Jesus is telling us in today's gospel. It is undeniable what God
has done for all of us from the dawn of man to this present age of modern
civilization. Let us not continue to be negligent, mindless, thoughtless,
careless and apathetic of the truth in the gospel that the Church is teaching
us. Until when will we remain deaf and blind to all of these things that have
been for a long time being conveyed to us from time immemorial, from the time
of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, the Judges, the Kings, the Prophets, in exile until
the return and ultimately to the time of Jesus more than 2,000 years ago when
God did the unimaginable and stooped down to become man. The bible itself
speaks for the long span of time that God has been trying to lure us into an
intimate relationship with Him. Are we really that dumb not to see all of these
and remain unaffected by this astounding truth? Can we afford to play hard to
get with God, who is as irresistible as He is. The time to enter into that
relationship is now, not later nor tomorrow. Let us not waste any more of the
precious time we still have in our hands. Amen. Hallelujah!
John 14:6-14
… Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that
will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long
a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the
Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am
in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not
speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. 11 Believe me
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of
the works themselves. 12 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will
do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going
to the Father. 13 And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the
Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything of me in my name, I
will do it.”
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