1 Kings 21:17-29
“Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the
LORD’S sight, 21 I am bringing evil upon you. I will destroy you and will cut
off every male in Ahab's line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel...27
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth over his
bare flesh. He fasted, slept in sackcloth, and went about subdued. 28 Then the
LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, 29 "Have you seen that Ahab has humbled
himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the
evil in his time. I will bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his
son."
Organizing all my daily reflections since 2007 made it easier for me to locate and retrieve them. I have found it very rewarding and beneficial. It has given me the opportunity to access with ease, the insights and reflections I wrote in the past. Thus paving the way to recall, reflect, and share it again. In light of the readings today I am reminded of Fr. Alex Amayin, the associate priest in St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. His talk was about reconciliation which is very much in line with the 1st & psalm readings for today. It was centered on 4 things which is 1. SIN 2. GRACE 3. FORGIVENESS 4. RECONCILIATION. He said that the 1st 3 are all a reality but #4 is only a possibility. There is no doubt that SIN happens but the GRACE of God is always present and available for us even before we ask for FORGIVENESS. When we ask FORGIVENESS, God is always ready to give it. RECONCILIATION calls us to true conversion. We should always find our way back to God and never doubt His mercy. He cited the example of a snake and caterpillar since both of them undergoes conversion. The snake sheds off its old skin but comes out the same while the caterpillar emerges into a butterfly. We can either choose to be the snake or the caterpillar. Take your pick. It is important that we always maintain a clean heart and a steadfast spirit so that we are constantly in God's presence. It's not that God loves us any less, no matter what we do, He will always love us. It's just that a Holy and Loving God can not dwell in an impure heart and spirit. The sacred heart of Jesus should be our model and guide as we strive to live out the call to be a genuine follower of God. “When we open our heart to the love of God and to others, it makes us capable of shaping history according to God’s plan.” - said Pope John Paul II. In His fourth apparition to St. Margaret Mary, our Lord revealed His Sacred Heart, declaring: "Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love.” The center of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Enthronement of the image of the Sacred Heart in the home. By the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart, we link the tabernacle of our parish church to our home, inviting our Lord to be our constant and most intimate companion. The Enthronement is a way of life. It means that Christ is King of our hearts, and we desire Him to be present with us always. In other words, by the Enthronement we signify our desire to make our hearts and our homes holy, to sanctify our lives in every aspect. God will not refuse nor turn His back on us if we are truly sorry for our sins and are willing to mend our ways. Let us not be so naive into thinking that we can get away with anything and cheat God. Let us be fair and truly square in dealing with things that concern not just our future but our eternal destiny. Whether it's heaven or hell, we would have to decide for that not God. If we choose to do evil then we are surely headed where it's bound but if we remain faithful to God and all that He represents then we are headed to a place prepared for us by God in heaven. We are sure to go where our hearts lead us. 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. Let us always ask God's mercy for our sins and repent of it. The Lord said that He is not sent for the well but for the sick. We have a disease in our souls that if left uncared for can cause death. We all have a terminal disease called sin, we need a doctor to give us advice. We have been saved by God but we can lose it just as we can lose our human life for not caring for it. We go to God who is our Divine Physician to be healed. He alone can make us whole. God's presence in our lives is inevitable just like the coming of dawn before the break of day and if we have mastered the art of loving back God then we become a pleasing sacrifice before Him. And in his good pleasure makes us prosper, then we find ourselves rebuilding the walls of our boundaries as we expand our borders. It is of prime importance that we take extra care in attending not only to our temporal needs but our spiritual as well. We have this mindset that it pleases God whenever He sees us going through hardships and difficulties in life. We tend to equate God to an oppressing tyrant that would pin us down for every wrong move. Or worst to a slave driver that would not be satisfied unless his subjects exhaust all their strength to his service. The people during the time in the Old Testament could borrow a good excuse for having this kind of mindset because Jesus has not come yet. We who live in this time of the New Testament do not have a good alibi because God already demonstrated the greatest expression of His love for mankind when He sacrificed His only begotten son, Jesus, to suffer and die for our sake. With this truth always engraved in our hearts and minds we could no longer harbor wrong impressions and mindsets of our God. Whenever a particular human right is being violated certain activist groups passionately rally to defend such right that is in question. What about the right of God? We are so concerned about our own personal agenda and we fail to realize that we need to address it more than anything else. According to Pope Benedict XVI, Jus Divinum is the right of God which constitutes the proper and correct response of God’s creatures such as man to his Creator. This we ought to realize and take action. We should do all the good that we are supposed to do to a God who created us. There is something more to what we see, hear and feel about people. We really couldn't judge a book by its cover. It's in knowing what is hidden in the heart that we can truly say for sure what is real. But who can see through our hearts? Nobody but God alone. What is unknown and hidden from us, God knows. We may be able to hide from men but never from God. We can only pray to God to create in us a clean heart. For where our treasure is, there also will be our hearts. This should all be our prayer, “Change me Oh God, mold me in accordance to your pattern and plan and not mine” Dirt stain in clothes sometimes doesn't want to come off even after several times it has been machine washed. There are really some dirt and stain that do not go away that easily with regular washing. There is a need to scrub it manually with soap and water so that it will come out clean. Our souls are just like clothes which are stainable by our sins. It is a consolation to know that our sins are washable in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can always come to Him and acknowledge our sins with a sincere and repentant heart so He can cleanse us, wipe out our offenses and blot out all our guilt. There is nothing that could separate us from the love of God. Let us not be deceived nor dissuaded to believe otherwise. Just like clothes that need to be washed after being worn and got dirty so our souls need to be cleansed too by the blood of the Lamb. God’s love ever present in the body and blood of Christ is always present and available for us. All we need to do is reach out for it because God is a gentleman and would never force Himself on us. There has always been a raging battle between God and satan. Though it has already been won, satan just won’t give up. He continues to wreak havoc and evil among us in his desperation to bring misery into our lives and share in his condemnation. He doesn’t have the tiniest power over us and he can only have it if and only if we give in to his lies, deceptions and false promises. We need to make this conscious decision each and every single day for the Lord. We need to purge ourselves of the impurities of our souls we have to go through a certain process that will render us with a clean heart. As we strive to nurture a heart that beats for God alone we also go through a process of cleansing as stated in the psalm today. God's mercy is greater than any of our sins. If we are to repent and turn away from our sins then we've got to do it right now and really do it fast. God sees through our hearts, our motives and intentions. What God wants of us is to truly acknowledge His great mercy and goodness to us that in doing so will abound a natural inclination to repent and repair all our iniquities and lead to a brand new, wholesome and clean Christian in the truest sense of the word. We need to stand in all humility before God and confess our sins. The body and soul are good but it demands a need for physical asceticism. We have to submit our bodies to an act of sacrifice without neglecting that conversion is first of all interior. Total conversion demands not only expression in works of penance but also of the heart. God is able to do anything. All the more should we be full of confidence that He can create a clean heart and steadfast spirit for us if we truly ask for it. God our Father will never turn His back on us. Let us get this straight, it is the sin that God hates and not the sinner. If we are in sin then that's the time we drive away God's Holy Spirit dwelling in us for it is impossible for God's presence to exist with sin. It's our call then to respond to the psalm's invitation to rise and go to God or remain slumped in the mud of sin. Our God will always be the best Father a child could ever have, the best Brother/Friend and the best Comforter and Guide all in one. Bottom line, to Him alone shall we go because we don't know that much and if we don’t then we end up doing one of these things, take for granted, ignore, forget or neglect the things God is telling us to do. What's worse it could be all of the above! We get blinded and become preoccupied with a lot of things that lure us away from doing what God wants us to do. We are deceived into believing all the lies of this world disguised and packaged by the enemy in an inviting and convincing truth. We should realize that it is always for our own good that He commands us to do the right thing. It is not merely to impose but for us to freely decide for a life lived to the full. There is no other way to maintain the Holy Spirit dwelling in us but to let it reside in a clean heart. We drive away God's Spirit in us if we don't strive to let our hearts remain clean. Today's psalm is a song that I have come to know and sing by heart without the aid of a song book. I always love to sing it and hear it being sung most especially by the choir during mass. It is well for us to not just love to sing it with our voices but with the sincerity of our hearts. The words "take not your Holy Spirit from me" made me realize that God has the power to give and take. The thought of the Holy Spirit being taken away from us is the worst thing that could ever happen. If we don't feel God's presence in our life anymore and we've become numb and insensitive to the promptings and guidance of the Holy Spirit then now is the time to reconnect and realign ourselves to God's Spirit. It is important that we always maintain a clean heart and a steadfast spirit so that we are constantly in the God's presence. It's not that God loves us any less, no matter what we do He will always love us. It's just that a Holy and Loving God can not dwell in an impure heart and spirit. It is of prime importance that we take extra care in attending not only to our temporal needs but our spiritual as well. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 11, 16
R: Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
1 [3] Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the
greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. 2 [4] Thoroughly wash me from
my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. (R) 3 [5] For I acknowledge my offense, and
my sin is before me always. 4 [6] “Against you only have I sinned, and done
what is evil in your sight.” (R) 9 [11] Turn away your face from my sins, and
blot out all my guilt. 14 [16] Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God;
then my tongue shall revel in your justice.
Today's gospel is another mission impossible based on human standards. But let us not forget that we are not the children of God for nothing. I have seen many people who were able to transform themselves and have inspired many people to change. There was one friend of mine when I was still in college who used to be very skinny and weak, he was the laughing stock of the group and called "Palito" because they say he is as thin as a matchstick. After several years that we haven't seen each other I got the shock of my life when I finally saw him. He is so physically fit with all the works and the muscles almost a perfect 10. I couldn't have recognized him if he hadn't called my attention. When I asked him what he did, he said he enrolled in a gym and worked out. He hired a fitness trainer who coached him with the proper diet and exercise. The most important thing of all was he followed and did everything that was required of him. He said it wasn't easy but he said "no pain, no gain!" If we really want to be perfect like our Father in heaven then it's time we start working out by engaging in an aerobics of faith and feeding ourselves with all the nutritious and healthy stuff and stay away from food that is not beneficial not only to our physical but our spiritual bodies as well. Let us start developing not only physical but spiritual muscles as well. Jesus came not to destroy but to fulfill the law of the prophets. He came that we may have life and have it abundantly. We have to exceed the letter of the law and know that the Spirit of the law gives life and understand it better. St. Augustine said, "Love and obey God then do what you will." We must be united to the will of God to the best of our abilities in order to always be aligned to His will.
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."
A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good. It
allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of
himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and
spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The
goal of a virtuous life is to become like God. Today’s gospel also teaches us
what Christianity is all about. Here it goes again. The mind boggling and
endless train of thoughts that follow once the faith and reason argument
ensues. Not a lot of people will agree with its recommendation and may even end
up twisting its real meaning by adding up some justifications and excuses. To
love one's enemies and be perfect just God is perfect may seem impossible. But
our God is very clear in this and if we will also be serious and really commit
to it then nothing is hard and impossible since we can do all things through
Christ who strengthens us. We need not be told dear friends since we have been tutored
by the years that all of this loveliness is not of our own making. The ability
to love our enemies and pray for those who hate us comes only from our union
with God who lives within us. We can not be loving to our enemies, forgiving to
those who hurt us and understanding and compassionate on our own. These are all
a gift of God to us. It comes from the union with our Lord as we try to live
day after day. Who compelled Mother Teresa to do the things she did? Who
compels the mothers and the fathers to sacrifice themselves and do without so
their children can be educated and grow up and take their place in life. All of
this comes from the Lord in whom we believe lives within us. Day after
monotonous day we must go on striving, failing, falling and beginning again.
The Lord doesn’t ask us to succeed in anything, success is His gift. What we
are asked to do is to try and to go on trying all the days of our lives. And so
we pray, “Lord lift us up of our lethargy, apathy, coldness, and indifference
and make us so aware of your love for us that we may learn to love you in
return.” Another very significant event I could associate with the gospel today
is an incident in a graduation party almost 3 years ago where all the God's
Children members were gathered together seated in a big table. There was a very
interesting conversation among us. We all actually didn't know how it started
but the topic shifted to purgatory. There was one person there who said there
is no such thing as purgatory. The Catholic Church teaches us that all of us
whether living or dead belong to the Church. The living are members of the
militant church, those in heaven are the Church triumphant and those who are
yet to enter heaven or in the so called "purgatory" are the Church
suffering. We are taught that people who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior
but die with unrepented sins and have not asked forgiveness are in purgatory to
be purged and made clean before facing God. It was said that God is All Holy
and Ever Bright and Shining in Perfection that just a single stain of sin left
in our soul makes us shy away from His presence. It is said that we, ourselves
would rather be purged first than stand not properly clothed of holiness before
God. This reminds me of the Parable of the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22:11-14,
"But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not
dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you
came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the
king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the
darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are
invited, but few are chosen." Although this passage depicts being thrown
in hell it is implied that we have to be properly dressed before we face God.
The only thing left when we die is our soul because our mortal bodies are left
to rot on earth and turned to dust. We have a merciful God that is why we have
purgatory. God knows that it is not easy for man to maintain a perfect, free of
stains and spotless soul at all times during our lifetime and could still have
the hope of being with God in heaven. Based on our Catholic teachings and in
the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:32-35, this place being
spoken of here where the servant was tortured until he was able to pay back the
whole debt is like purgatory. It is written, “You wicked servant! I forgave you
your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your
fellow servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over
to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly
Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."
In this place he was given the chance to pay back the whole debt unlike in the
Parable of the Wedding Feast when he was immediately thrown away in darkness.
Before this story gets any longer and even more elaborate without the main
point being stressed, the emphasis lies in the fact that we are all called, as
the gospel today tells us and what I also mentioned to the unbelieving person
in purgatory, to be perfect just as our Heavenly Father is Perfect. For the
purpose of giving glory to God, it is noteworthy to mention that this person who
was so antagonistic at that time and had already distanced herself to the
Catholic faith is now back to the fold. Amen. Hallelujah!
Matthew 5:43-48
43 Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was
said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you,
love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for
he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the
just and the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what recompense
will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your
brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? 48 So
be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
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