The Lord has become more persistent in His messages about us doing what is right and just. These were the same words that struck me in yesterday's 1st reading. There seemed to be an urgency to it for it is also stated that the time of justice is at hand. Jesus deserves our total obedience. We should stop living in sin, live faithfully and be not afraid to embrace the light. What we see Jesus is doing is what the Father is doing. Having come into the world, some believe and some disobey. We have to remind ourselves that Christ is meant to be shared and is the beginning of heaven for human beings. We should believe and entrust our life to God. We prize the access to material things and connections to people holding a high position in an office. God is above all our prized possessions. As St. Paul says, all things were created for Him. He has the primacy in everything. Our relationship with Him is primary before all other relationships. Whatever relationship we have that of Jesus is above all. God is above all our troubles, fears and anxieties, whatever it may be, our ills and even death itself. The "culture of death" and its kingdom has been robbed of its power. Jesus is born to us and the kingdom of God
Isaiah 56:1, 6-71 Thus says the LORD: Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed. The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants— all who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
God has indeed demonstrated his love and mercy to us in so many ways for always. Sometimes we tend to overlook and take it for granted. What I have been writing and sharing these past years since 2007 made me realize to not overlook nor take for granted the very obvious fact that God never leaves, forsakes nor abandon us 100% of the time. Just looking back at what happened from the moment I started to commit to writing reflections up to the present makes me see very clearly the significance of those events in my life in relation to the life of Jesus here on earth. This is not just for me but is a calling for all of us who believes in Jesus the Son of God who became man. In October 7, 2007 which I mark as my 1st day, I received this message from Habakkuk 2:2-3, Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. It all started with the realization that I am headed for the unknown especially with frightening consequences that followed when I found out some information that are not in accordance to my personal plans and expectation. After careful thought of these series of events it impressed several significant occasions related to the scriptures and the life of Jesus. I decided to document all my reflections as recommended in Habakkuk. Thanks to Jesus being presented to us in every possible and even impossible means especially at times when we encounter trials and difficulties. Every turn of events should make us think of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus who was born as man, suffered, died and resurrected on the 3rd day. These things should really open up a lot of thoughts in our hearts. It proves that we have a God who constantly wants to connect with us in countless and various ways. In God's persistence He has to repeatedly announce His blessing upon us so that we will be surely reminded of how much He wishes to make us prosper this year. In Romans 8:14-15 it is written, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, Father!" We can give glory and praise to God right from where we are. All we have to do is be faithful to the One and True God. We may not be living in that time of the Maccabees when the Jews were forced to embrace pagan practices. It was at that time when the ruler of the land wanted to eliminate Jewish tradition and replace it with Greek. When they failed to carry this out, Greek ways were imposed by force. This was at the time before Jesus came when Jerusalem was torn down. Anyone who owns a Torah and those who circumcise their children were sentenced to capital punishment. It was a period of great struggle and difficulty. A man named Judas Maccabeus became the leader of a Jewish revolt against the repressive policies of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the king of Syria . He led the Jewish people in recapturing their temple from Syrian occupying forces in 164 B.C. preventing the imposition of Hellenism upon Judaea, and preserving the Jewish religion. Those who followed him arose and won in their struggle. The temple was reclaimed and purified from the stain of idolatry. Thus the institution of the Hanukkah (Festival of Lights) , when the temple was rededicated. We have to maintain our fidelity to the Lord. It is in doing this that we truly attain freedom by following and staying in the way of the Lord. We need a Helper in the person of God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit dwelling within us should be unleashed in order to dispel all kinds of darkness in order to see God's face shining upon us. All our thoughts, words and deeds should be directed to giving praise and honor to God. It may sound so easy to say but it is not an easy thing to do. But we must realize that directing it to anyone or anything other than God makes it all the more difficult and complicated in the long run. We must not be tempted to make the short cut and take the easy and well travelled road. Most often people will choose this path but we may be surprised at what is waiting for us at the end of the road. We should choose the less travelled road although it is narrow and small. As in Mt. 7:13-14, “"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” Mother Mary serves as a special road or channel that God has given to humanity to go to God and receive His graces. It does not obscure or diminishes the one and only Mediator, Jesus Christ, rather she shows God's power even more. Jesus, the Son loves His mother and gives her the greatest grocery of graces in heaven. Mary totally depends on her Son as in the wedding feast in Cana by saying, "Do whatever He tells you." Mary knows that her Son is the ultimate source that's why she leads us to Him, the true Mediator. God Himself ordained that His only Begotten Son be born of a human mother through Mary's obedience and perfect surrender. When the angel appeared to Mary, he wasn't speaking his own thoughts and words. He was sent by God to speak God's words. In Greek, the Hail Mary is translated as Hail most highly graced one, meaning so completely graced. Mary truly is filled with God's grace. When Jesus is conceived and born of Mary, she was free from the stain of original sin. He is getting ready the 1st tabernacle of His Son here on earth. She is made holy, unstained and created in the fullness of grace. God has placed in Mary the fullness of grace. Mary conceived by her virginity and humility. It should be in our hearts to honor Mother Mary because the Son is within her body. The Father is in the Son. It is by grace that we are saved. Through Jesus and Mary all things are restored. Everything is possible with God. Who are we to defy the manner that God Himself has chosen for His Son to come to this world. This pattern of going to the Son through the mother is a fool proof plan after all it is the plan of God. Do you feel at times that there is something that God can do for us that He has not done? I don't think so, He has done everything through Jesus Christ His Son. But if we sometimes feel this way then maybe it's time to check our blocked list and start unblocking those that keep us from receiving God's blessings. This sharing by Bro. Bo Sanchez in Didache really touched me and I'm sure it will touch you, too.
BLESSING ACCOUNT
Imagine if one day I ask for your bank account number and tell you, “I’ve deposited one million dollars in your bank account.” Naturally, you’d laugh and say, “Sure, Bo. Thanks. That’s a good one.” Of course, you don’t believe I can give you a million bucks.
But let’s just say I really did put a million dollars in your account. Would you benefit from it?
No, you wouldn’t. Unless you believe that I really gave you a million dollars and withdrew it.
I believe God has deposited zillions of heaven’s resources to your Blessing Account. You’ve got all the love, joy, peace, wisdom, holiness and, yes — finances — that you need in this world to serve Him and live a happy life.
But much of these zillions of blessings are unclaimed because you say to yourself, “There are no blessings. God won’t bless me.”
Believe that your Blessing Account is full and withdraw from your account.
God created the entire universe for you — a universe of blessings that are only waiting to be claimed. Bo Sanchez
REFLECTION:
Have you claimed from your Blessing Account?
Today, I claim from my Blessing Account all that I need. In Jesus’ name!
It boils down to one thing, only God can truly bless us in the most wonderful and everlasting way. Although God's mercy is enormous and endless, we should not take it for granted and think that we can do what we want right now in a wayward manner. It is only wise that we avail of God's mercy while we still can. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 (4)
R: O God, let all the nations praise you!
1 [2] May God have pity on us and bless us; may he let his face shine upon us. 2 [3] So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation. (R) 4 [5] May the nations be glad and exult because you rule the peoples in equity; the nations on the earth you guide. (R) 5 [6] May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you! 7 [8] May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
There is a time for everything. Although I have mentioned earlier that the time of justice is at hand, right now, God is inviting us to be immersed in His ocean of mercy. Today’s 2nd reading suddenly reminded me of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”. He was so devastated by the fact that a lot of people are sacrificing their lives for his sake and so he thought of leaving to spare them from harm. But his friend Ron stopped him from doing so and told him that if he thought that it was just because of him then he is wrong because it is something bigger than what he thought. Sometimes we succumb to despair whenever we are confronted with very disappointing situations and when we fail to reach the mark we set for ourselves. It may sound confusing that it is stated that God delivered all to disobedience. Could there be some misunderstanding here in St. Paul ’s words? The truth is there isn’t. Just like Harry Potter we must not be too hard on ourselves when we run into trouble. There is a reason for everything. We just have to continue trusting the Lord no matter how inscrutable His judgments and how unsearchable His ways are. We can always rely on God to bring to fulfillment and completion whatever He has begun for He is a God of tremendous power. Amen. Hallelujah!
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. 30 Just as you once disobeyed God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they have now disobeyed in order that, by virtue of the mercy shown to you, they too may [now] receive mercy. 32 For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.
It pays to always have a strong faith in God. No matter what our situation may be. We should follow the example of this woman in the gospel where she lowered down her pride, and was very humble in coming before Jesus. This same woman got the answer to her prayer and got her heart's desire because of her perseverance and persistence. Whatever we’ve been through, are going through and will still go through, let us have the great faith of this Canaanite woman who never gave up against all odds and received the answer to her request to Jesus. There are times in our life when we are pushed to the limits and we sometimes give in to pressure and pride because we want to save face and protect our ego. We learned from the prayer meeting that EGO stands for E = edge, G = God and O = out. If we are being egoistic then what we do is edge God out. We put God aside and put ourselves in the center instead. This happens when instead of taking things that come to us with a heart of faith we end up responding in an ill mannered way which always makes things worse. When we hear unpleasant things being said to us we can always learn something from the wise humility of this woman. We should always try to look at things in a positive and constructive way rather than in the offensive way. Today's gospel shows us how this woman really stood up for her faith despite of it all. She openly professed in public her great faith and confidence in God's power by maintaining her belief that everyone can take part in God's grace. The covenant of God with the chosen people is extended also to the Gentiles and all people of faith. It is open to all and no one is excluded. Amen. Hallelujah!
Matthew 15:21-28
...“Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.
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