We should all strive to be pleasing before the Lord. No matter how much the world, the flesh and the enemy try to lure us away from our God given destiny we must not give in. The saints did it and we are also invited to live a life headed for that destiny and must not be deceived into believing that we are meant for anything less. As it is written in John 10:10 A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Let us guard well and not allow ourselves to be robbed of our true identity as the beloved children of God. We may ask ourselves how saints do it? St. Therese had the habit of smiling whenever her work was interrupted by a nun coming whether with or without good reason to ask for help. Most are annoyed and impatient especially when they don’t have a good reason. Just like St. Therese we have to master a willed reaction like a habit of smiling when she is annoyed. She does it quite naturally. At the beginning of a free period which Carmelite nuns do not have a lot of, she prepares herself ahead of time to react in a loving manner. Thus nothing took her by surprise, she is ready to be disturbed, counts on being disturbed, thus she is always happy. That is determination, practicing it and does something about it. It is a process to change from good to better to best. Holiness and sanctity is not an emotion, the thing itself is in the will. Jesus said, he who does the will of my Father is the one who loves me. As St. Thomas said, “will it,” light the fire and do something about it. Fidelity is all we need. Daily conversation with the Lord is crucial. One of the traits of geniuses is that they can say the deepest things in just a few words. We must keep on doing it until we reach perfection. St. Augustine , said “Every Christian should be an Alleluia from head to toe.” The people who live and buy completely the message of the Catholic Church are the saints. They live the Lord’s message and the most beautiful people in the planet.
The saints are the one who really live by the truth, walking in the living form and really work enthusiastically. They are present in the world but not at home in this world. Living the divine message as perfectly as they can and eager to act and yet devoted to contemplation. They say that the only way to criticize fairly any organization is for those who criticize to buy what the organization is about and live it. It is not fair if you just buy it somewhat and do not live it completely. Today’s 1st reading is taken from the letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. He did live and buy the faith of the Church and makes him authentically credible to speak the way he did to fellow believers. Amen. Hallelujah!
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our reception among you was not without effect. Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated, as you know, in Philippi,
we drew courage through our God to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle.
Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives, nor did it work through deception. But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, that is how we speak, not as trying to please men, but rather God, who judges our hearts. Nor, indeed, did we ever appear with flattering speech, as you know, or with a pretext for greed–God is witness– nor did we seek praise from men, either from you or from others,
although we were able to impose our weight as Apostles of Christ. Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.
Technology has become so advanced nowadays that nothing remains unknown for long. With the latest in probes, sensors and the like in just one click of the computer everything is laid before us. Sometimes it just goes too far and out of bounds and we fail to conform and align all these innovations to the Author and Inventor of all these things. Let us not forget, He is the source of everything there was, is and will be. In the midst of all the trouble we're going through it is always a consolation to know that we have a God who knows every single thing that is going on with us and He cares and loves us a lot. For indeed in today's psalm reading is another confirmation that God knows our deepest thoughts and longings. We should always be aware of this undeniable truth that God's Spirit dwells in each one of us. There is no reason to doubt what today's psalm speaks about with regards to our relationship with our Creator. May we not forget and always remember who we are before the eyes of God. We can never allow our flesh, things of this world and the enemy to lure, confuse and deceive us any longer. It helps to always remember what St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:11-13, "Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day..." We are who we are in the eyes of God and not what the flesh, the world and the destructive enemy wants us to believe. We are special to God, He calls each one of us by name. We should all value the special care and attention that God has given to us as His most valued among all of His creation.
This reminds me of this lady who used to ask me, "How do I look?" I would always reply, "You're beautiful." But she would say in return, "Oh you're full of baloney" and every time I would just laugh back at her. Eventually I got inspired to respond to her differently when I told her that it is not baloney but it's biblical that we are all beautiful. In fact the Tagalog translation in text message that I have received is quite funny, it goes something like this, "Kilabot sa ganda, nanginginig pa" (I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works.) which is stated right here in today's psalm. As man, we have the concupiscence or the natural inclination to the flesh, lust, greed and pride. The perfect formula for self destruction is based on this popular and well subscribed saying that goes like this, "If it feels good just do it." Pope John Paul II in his book, "Splendor of Truth" said that the power to decide what is good and evil is not within the power of man. This is clear in the book of Genesis when He forbid our 1st parents to eat of the fruit from the tree of good and evil. God gave us the free will and the source of conflict came from the inability to acknowledge God as our Creator and that only Him can define morality. Man doesn't make rules of morality, we only discover it. The 10 commandments are an expression of God's love and the means to have true freedom which means the ability to do what we ought to do and not what we want to do. Catholic Morality is under attack as issues on abortion and artificial contraception have become so liberated. We should be firm in our stand not give in or budge an inch as we stand by the teachings of the Church. We should all value the special care and attention that God has given to us as His most valued among all of His creation. Our life is precious this we know is true as stated in today's psalm. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 139:1-3. 4-6
R: You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
1 O LORD, you have probed me and you know me; 2 you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. 3 My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar. (R) 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it. 5 Behind me and before, you hem me in and rest your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain. (R)
It is just very sad that despite the many times God tries to
convey His love to us, we still sometimes back away. We've got to stand firm,
hold our ground and not give in to the world's pressures. Let us not end up
like Herod who came as close to knowing what is righteousness and holiness but
never really got to the doing and acting part. In the Philippines we have a habit of
calling people names. For someone to be called Herod or Herodes means being
really naughty and bad. We may all claim to know what is right but we have to
realize that we may never be able to come to a point where we can claim to be a
better person than Herod. We may have this impression that we are far better
Christians than any of the others we know but we may be wrong. For all we know
we are not far from being like Herod or much worse. Let us hope not. For there
is really more to being a Christian than what we actually know. As what have
been mentioned in the 1st reading about the sanctity of marriage, it is now
being emphasized once more in today's gospel. John the Baptist paid a great
price for this truth. We sometimes don't realize it, but we may also be guilty
just like Herodias. We may not be committing adultery like her but we too
succumb to the temptation of eliminating the people and circumstances around us
that is a source of inconvenience or simply not conformed to our personal
statement and views. We also make use of other people to camouflage or hide our
true intentions in order for us to carry out our plans without the guilt of
having participated in it. We resort to all kinds of disguise without knowing
that in the process of doing so we are headed for the worst kind of
situation. Let us not further aggravate
it and know in our heart, mind and soul that all areas of our life needs to be
totally surrendered to God not just a part, half but our entire being. In doing so with the gift of free will we
allow ourselves to enjoy life at its fullness because we are not bound or tied
and can exercise this gift as much as we want and never run out. We should not
be too carried away though and forget that it is also because of this free will
that we are also presented with horrible things as in today's gospel that are
products of the wrong use of this gift. It is of prime importance that we
exercise, use and handle this gift with much care. This is the reflection
question and prayer that I read in Didache: What do you do when you are under
pressure? Do you stand up for what is right or you just go with the crowd
because everyone else is doing it? Lord, grant me the wisdom and the courage to
do what is pleasing in Your sight even if the world laughs at me. And in
Companion, Fr. Martin Macasaet said the following words. "Yes, we, too,
are called and challenged to imitate John the Baptist’s courageous act of
witnessing —not necessarily in the form of a bloody beheading, of course.
Today’s Christian martyrdoms are certainly more of a subtle and sophisticated
kind. But perhaps, they are just as compelling and exigent — as when our moral
principles are tested in our workplaces, or when our senses are bombarded by
sexually suggestive images, or when we are scandalized by the bad examples of
our leaders and celebrities, and so on." We all have our own personal Herod,
Salome and worst our Herodias tendencies in life. Only we ourselves know these
and what specific aspect it is in our lives. Unless we acknowledge them, firmly
reject and stand up against it instead of yielding to it then we are no better
than any of them. In today's gospel we are also reminded of our stubbornness
when we insist on doing things our way. We could somehow relate this to those
who insist on wearing something even if it doesn't fit them just because it is
the "in" thing. The same way with our life we end up looking foolish
when we insist on keeping up with the latest trend and fashion that this world
offers when the only thing that is well fitted to us is to always wear the
clothes of Jesus which is fashioned in the passion of the cross in order to be
the best dressed Christian. People may not be able to know it by just looking
at us and we can easily get away with our wrong doings which we have kept in
secret or hidden in our thoughts and feelings which no human person can see but
God does. We’ve got to believe that there is really somebody watching us as the
song says. Sometimes we forget that God can see through us and knows exactly
what's inside our hearts and minds. Let us not wait for the time when we like
the scribes and Pharisees will be spoken to by God in this manner. Let us
choose to hear words of commendation from the Lord rather than be called a
hypocrite. Let us truly be the person that God wants us to be, whether there
are people who can see our goodness or not. Amen. Hallelujah!
Mark 6:17-29
...John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to
have your brother's wife."
Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill
him... “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the
Baptist.”26 The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the
guests he did not wish to break his word to her. 27 So he promptly dispatched
an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him
in the prison. 28 He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl.
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