God have long ago established everything there is for us to follow and do. It is now just a matter of choice since we are always given a choice and the free will to decide. Today's 1st reading speaks of Joshua's declaration to serve the Lord and the obvious firmness in his decision without considering whether they will follow him or not. He made it clear that his decision to serve the Lord is his personal commitment and will not have anything to do with the decision of others. He is so convinced of it that he did not have to say anything more to win them over to his side rather left them all to decide for themselves. God will never force Himself on us and will always be the Perfect Gentleman. It is all up to us to decide. Amen. Hallelujah!
Joshua 24:14-29
...Joshua addressed all the people 15 “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” ...
I have always been amazed of the fact that the scriptures of the Old Testament has always been spoken of as the foreshadowing of the New Testament which is the fulfillment of everything that was written. The apostles were able to connect Jesus to the scriptures in the Old Testament and became very convinced that He is indeed the Messiah and Savior of the world. The 1st reading and the Psalm reading for today were written almost 500 years apart. This is judging from the timeline of the reign of King David (1000BC) to whom the Psalms were attributed. Despite the time gap we can detect the uniformity of the messages. We live in a dynamic world and it changes so fast. They say that nowadays, whatever we hold true for now may not be the case later. It is a consolation to know that in the midst of this unsure world we still have something that we can hold on to. The words of God can stand the test of time and will remain to be true from generation to generation. There may be some negative speculations and forecasts that are being hurled right in front of us about our present situations most especially with the uncertainty and unpredictability of prevailing conditions. We need to keep this in mind, only God can keep us safe from all harm. A holy man once said this, "If we don't go to the desert we have nothing to bring in the marketplace." If we have no prayer then nothing works. We have to pray. We need to take time to be alone with God because if we don't, then we make ourselves vulnerable to the enemy. The scriptures tell us of stories based on real life experiences of holy men and women who lived at a different time and period than today. It is a consolation to know that the God of yesterday is still God of today and tomorrow. This gives us the confidence to really hold on to Him for He is living and true now and forevermore. The message of the readings tells us to turn our gaze on the inevitable which is sure to come. If we try to look at the facts of life there are very few things that we can permanently hold on to. All these things will come to pass and we will all eventually leave this world no matter how long we may have lived already, it will eventually come to an end. When that final day comes we must be found prepared and ready for the inheritance that God gives us. When we went to Las Vegas I saw that one of the shows we can watch for entertainment is a magician named Angel. I was reminded of the time when he was a guest in Oprah. He wowed the viewers and the crowd by being able to predict 5 days before the show the things that Oprah and 2 random guests from thousands of people from the audience are going to say. He wrote in a piece of paper these three things: delicious, John and Kevin and kept them in a suitcase with a surveillance camera on for 5 days so that no one can see it or even come near it before the show. What’s very interesting was the fact that on the day of the show when Oprah was asked what word comes to her mind she answered, “delicious” and the other 2 who were chosen randomly from almost more than a thousand crowd along Michigan Ave. in Chicago. It was done by throwing a ball and whoever catches it will be the one who will be asked. The man from the crowd who got the ball was asked the name of his first pet and he answered, “John” while the woman who got the other ball was asked who was her first kiss and she answered, “ Kevin”. All of their answers matched the 3 things that he wrote 5 days in advance. It was kind of unbelievable to see something like this and couldn’t quite come up with a good explanation how it came to be. If it was just a trick he did make a good presentation because it appeared very convincing. How can a man predict in advance the things that these people are going to say? If this man who claims to have the power of prediction was able to do it all the more can a powerful God predict our future. But we must keep in mind that it’s choice not chance that determines our destiny. There is only one real failure in life that is possible and that is not to be true to the best one knows. We should always settle for best and make God our choice. For there is nothing more assuring than the fact that we have a loving God and Father who surely has our destiny secure. We must be secured in the knowledge that as children of God our Father we are heirs of His Kingdom and co-owners of this vast creation. May we find the Lord as the only treasure in our lives worth keeping. When God calls us for a task we should always be ready, willing and able to follow Him no matter what the cost. Always follow where the Lord leads us. Nothing else could be worth more than God's inheritance. Sometimes we are confronted with so many allurements that we begin to be influenced by the way the world judges things. Let us always hold fast to God's views and ideals that we may not lose sight of the path to life and our inheritance. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
R: You are my inheritance, O Lord.
1 Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge; 2 I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you. 5 O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot.”… I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. (R) 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; 10 because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. (R) 11 You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.
Let us strive to become like the children who are always open to the truth and do not settle for lies. We ought to be like the little children who possess a clean and totally surrendered heart to the Lord in order to get a hold of our inheritance and belong to the kingdom of heaven. Today’s gospel should also make us realize how true and correct the Church teaching is with regards to children. The world’s point of view is totally different from this. According to a social scientist named Stephen Mosher who works for the Population Institute in the US he was struck by the fact that the Church does not only have the fullness of the truth in matters of faith and morals but also in the socioeconomic and all possible truth seeking levels. He cited the example whether the children are burden or a blessing. He quoted the Church and bible saying that children are a blessing from God and made in the image of God. The world does not see it this way because it says that it takes $200,000 to raise an infant to adulthood and so they are a burden on family, society and the planet. But he also said that if calculated we’ll see that the average child in the US
Matthew 19:13-15
Children were brought to Jesus that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” After he placed his hands on them, he went away.
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