A day of blessing

Today's 1st reading is a picture of a family reunited and endowed with God's healing and blessings. Their joy was overflowing and they were praising and thanking God for the marvelous signs and wonders wrought by God's mighty hand. I never thought that the story of Tobit would have this great impact on my personal life due to several reasons which are somehow related in a way since my son, Jude has been wearing eyeglasses since he was 6 years old. It is also my prayer that soon my 2 sons with their respective families will come to join me and Phil and my son's eyesight will be a perfect 20. I know that it is God's desire to see all families happily reunited and greatly blessed and healed but the best part should be on each family's realization that above all these successes and joys should arise a deep and genuine sense of gratitude for a God who makes all things possible. Amen. Hallelujah!

Tobit 11:5-17

...When Tobit saw his son, he threw his arms around him 14 and wept. He exclaimed, “I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!” Then he said: “Blessed be God, and praised be his great name, and blessed be all His holy angels. May His Holy Name be praised throughout all the ages, 15 because it was He who scourged me, and it is He who has had mercy on me. Behold, I now see my son Tobiah!” Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice. Tobiah told his father that his journey had been a success; that he had brought back the money; and that he had married Raguel’s daughter Sarah, who would arrive shortly, for she was approaching the gate of Nineveh. 16 Rejoicing and praising God, Tobit went out to the gate of Nineveh to meet his daughter-in-law. When the people of Nineveh saw him walking along briskly, with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed. 17 Before them all Tobit proclaimed how God had mercifully restored sight to his eyes. When Tobit reached Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah, he greeted her: “Welcome, my daughter! Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter! Blessed are your father and your mother. Blessed is my son Tobiah, and blessed are you, daughter! Welcome to your home with blessing and joy. Come in, daughter!” That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh.

Not once did the word of God ever failed. My mother used to say that God loves the fatherless and the widow in a very special way as if nothing else matters. I grew up as a child constantly hearing her say this and believing it myself as I was growing up and knowing more about the Lord. She has greatly influenced my faith in God. I should say that wherever she may be right now, which I feel, think and believe is in the company of God with all His angels and saints in heaven, her memory will live on forever in my heart and the hearts of the people whose lives she touched. According to St. Therese, the poorer you are the more Jesus will love you. The world's point of view is very contradictory to the beatitudes. The world chooses strength over weakness and poverty. What seems to be foolish for the world and folly to man is wisdom to God. Jesus is attracted to our poverty and weakness because it is where we meet Jesus. Unlike the world who is attracted to strength and hires the smartest and world’s greatest. We have all kinds of difficulties and struggles. These are what drive us to Christ to cling to Him. Instead of always trying to complain and talk about it what we do is keep our eyes on the Lord. Sometimes He places something before us that He wants us to do. The challenge for us is to turn to Him in our weakness and cling to Him in prayer, faith, hope, love and abandon ourselves to Him. Let us trust God's mastery and expertise to mold and make of us a masterpiece, a genuine work of His hands. Today’s psalm reading mentioned the word captives which reminded me of priest’s talk on “New Kind of War” several years ago. There are always captives in war and he mentioned that we, Christians must be aware of the war that our adversary, the devil is waging on us. We have a very committed and determined adversary. Looking at the present moral condition of people here in the US he said that he is not surprised at all at how things are turning out in the present moment since the moral demise of a country precedes the ultimate demise. Whatever may be happening around us and could be getting worse with each passing day, we can be assured that God will help His friends but not His enemies. We need to know on which side we are. It is indeed a difficult battle we are facing in our lives but we must remember that human beings do not do well when all is well. We are strengthened by the trials just like steel that is subjected to heat in order to temper it. Greatness is forced on a lot of people just like what happened to those people after the incident in the Sept. 11 tragedy. It is pushed in the crucible of tribulation but despite of it we can be assured of the promises stated in today psalm. We should continue to rely on our one true source of help for only Him can satisfy our soul. God's help is all the help we need, nothing more and nothing less. We ought to realize by now what the wisest thing to do is not based in the standard of the world but of the Lord our God. Our confidence and trust must rest on the Lord alone who makes all good things possible. If we will always fill our hearts with gratitude and praise for the Lord then we will realize how things in our life turned out for good which seem to be not the case at the time it was happening for our God is faithful and everything that is said in today's psalm. Our hope should only be in the Lord for He alone keeps faith, secures justice, gives good, sets captives free, gives sight to the blind and raises up the lowly. It is a consolation to know and be reminded of it so as to always keep in mind that we have a God who is everything that we ever need, want and long for.

If God is able to do all things then there is really nothing to fear. We can always count on God to make things turn out for the best. Let us not be dismayed or discouraged by our circumstances for He will surely fulfill what He has promised. Amen. Hallelujah!

P S A L M

Psalm 146:1b-2. 6c-7. 8-9a. 9bc-10

R: Praise the Lord, my soul!

...The LORD keeps faith forever, 7 secures justice for the oppressed, gives good to the hungry. The LORD sets captives free. (R) 8 The LORD gives sight to the blind. The LORD raises up those that were bowed down; the LORD loves the just. 9 The LORD protects strangers. (R) The fatherless and the widow he sustains,...

Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ. Woe to all of us who do not know sacred scriptures. We need to know the bible and know Jesus Christ. We all have this golden opportunity to widen our understanding of the scriptures not only based on what we read but in a broader perspective. Our attitude should be with gratitude in our hearts  whenever we are able to listen to the generosity of speakers imparting their knowledge of the scriptures. We should thank God for every opportunity that not everybody gets to have everyday. Praise the Lord. Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 12:35-37

As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, “How do the scribes claim that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the holy Spirit, said: “The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’ ” David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” The great crowd heard this with delight.