When athletes train hard and focus well on their goals they have one thing in mind, to win the prize. It is something that every sportsman aim and work for. It is just the same for a man of God as today's 1st reading tells us. This also reminded me of a very special person in my life who had been instrumental in the building up and growth of my faith during the first year of my Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Her name is Mrs. Teofista Tan Tena or Sis Pat, she is my boss in the very first regular job I had. We worked for more than a year and continued to keep in touch with her for years even after I transferred to another company. She had always been very enthusiastic in sharing to me a lot of things about the Catholic faith and was reminded me of her sharing about what happen to our souls after death. She said that the moment we breathe our last our souls will automatically and immediately return to God our Creator and the source of the breath of life. She said that during that moment when our souls hurry back to God, we will be confronted by this blinding & shining brightness of God's light that nothing can be hidden and everything in ourselves is exposed. That is when we'll see the impurities of our souls stained by our unconfessed and unrepented sins. Although it may sound a bit farfetched or difficult to prove today's 2nd reading somehow gave me an inkling of what it might be like. Amen. Hallelujah!
1 Timothy 6:13-16
I charge (you) before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession, to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ 15 that the blessed and only ruler will make manifest at the proper time, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom no human being has seen or can see...
The Jews knew of the prophecy that from King David’s lineage would come forth a King, the foretold Messiah of Israel. During the reign of King Ahaz and all other kings of Israel who did evil things the royalty was cut off. During the Babylonian captivity and in exile, those born of the line of David, of royal blood went in hiding for fear of being killed. Even though the divinic dynasty was cut off, from the tree of Jesse, the father of King David, came forth the shoot that brought forth the King. We remember that it was prophesied in Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 tells of this family tree. We would find at the end of this lineage, Joseph who is the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus. Joseph is not king but a carpenter and being Jew knew of the prophecy as foretold by the prophet including this one from Isaiah 7:14 … the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Emmanuel.” as spoken to him by the angel who appeared to him. He finally understood the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel . Isaiah is important to better understand Jesus. Joseph knew of the need for secrecy and not to make public these things because the reigning king at that time is Herod. He is not Jew but an Edomite who was just appointed by the Romans to be king. He is king not for the Jews but for the Romans to collect taxes for them. This is mainly the reason why Herod wants all male babies born at the time of Jesus, dead. Joseph dreamed a lot of dreams and it was through them that Joseph was able to successfully carry out his mission as the protector of the baby Jesus. Another point of reference here is the fact that in the Old Testament (OT) there was a foreshadowing of the Magi or Wise Men who came to worship Jesus in the manger. It was at the time of the reign of Balak an evil king in the OT when Balaam also a wise man from the East prophesied in Numbers 24:15,18 that there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel who will dispossess Edom . He was asked to exact a curse upon Israel but from his mouth came forth a blessing. A star and a scepter signifies kingship. In parallel, it was also the 3 wise men who were looking for a star that would direct them to the newborn King of Israel who would inform Herod of his whereabouts but warned in a dream not to go back to him in a dream. Jesus is truly our King. The Kingship of Jesus is accompanied by many more wonderful things that we still have to know of. In the Jewish tradition the # 3 and 7 stands for perfection and completeness. It is somehow puzzling to know that there are 3 sets of 14 generations from the time of Abraham to the exile to the time of Jesus. So why the #14? The significance of the #14 stands for the name of King David which is equivalent to 14 in Hebrew. The 3 sets of 14 stands for perfect royalty and king that all leads to Jesus. It could also be equivalent to 6 sets of 7. The #6 signifies the date when the beast is made or the beginning thus the #666 which signifies the beast of all beasts. The 6 of 7 sets could mean the beginning of the 7th set. 7 is also the Sabbath. The new 7 is the new creation. Jesus is the beginning of the 7th set. Why the fuss in all of these? It is a consolation to know that we have a God who is King. The King of kings and the Lord of lords. We will eventually come face to face with our Creator and God who made heaven and earth. The time is now to make a conscious move to be in touch with this truth. It is such a waste that we don't always realize God's presence among us. When there is nothing more rewarding than to always be aware of God's presence and cry out to Him in joy. Whenever we are in a relationship with someone and give our 100% into it then we can not help but expect it to work. But there are times too when we have given our all and yet it doesn't seem to be enough. We sometimes are bound for disappointments. When these things happen then is really no reason to be sad for we can always go to God for consolation whose love for us endures forever. We are all called to become partakers and residents of the eternal Kingdom of God Elm Street " every time the girl in this movie falls asleep, her nightmare begins and Freddie Krueger appears to wreak evil and havoc in her life. She has to stay awake or else something really bad happens to her and the people around her. Somehow this should make us realize the importance of being awake, conscious and in touch with reality. If there's one thing that we have to always be aware of, that is God has our best interest in mind. It may not be easy to see, understand and have a grip on this reality always especially at times when we seem down and out as in falling flat on bed without a care in the world like dumb sleepyheads. We have to rise, wake up and shine. We ought to always get a hold of this truth in today's psalm and never let it leave our consciousness. We will eventually come face to face with our Creator, and the time is now to make a conscious move to be in touch with this truth. Our devotion to God should have no limits for He is Almighty, All Powerful and Holy. We should remain faithful to God and never stray away from the path where He leads us. Let us stay within the flock that God has formed for us. When we are being cared for by God who is constantly and consistently good, kind and faithful forever and ever then we are confident that we are safe and secure in the fold where we belong like a flock tended by the Good Shepherd. We should always remember that we have a God who cares for all our needs for we belong to Him. May we all take part in the grand banquet that God has prepared for us in heaven. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 5
R: Come with joy into the presence of the Lord..
1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; 2 serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful song. (R) 3 Know that the LORD is God; he made us, his we are; his people, the flock he tends. (R) 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise; Give thanks to him; bless his name. (R) 5 The LORD is good: his kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness, to all generations.
I used to experience shoulder pains when I was in the Philippines and it recurred again here in the US . Due to this I have been traumatized by the experience that I never want it to happen again. The only thing that the doctors could offer at that time was pain relievers. I tried to do some research about it and there have been some wrong information, too that I got but as I continue to study more and after several trial and error I guess I finally found the right cure and the appropriate regimen for my condition. What I'm trying to say here is that we should not just sit and wait for things to happen. We've got to be like the ones referred to in today's gospel who took the right course of action. We find that there are people who don’t go to the doctor or they continue to ignore the signs unless their symptoms have become so severe. Some people refuse to go to the doctor unless they discover the truth. This is surely the way we react to the word of God. The truth for us is that we are the children of God. We are here on earth for only a few fleeting years. Our names have already been written down in the palm of God’s hand before we were born but we refuse to think about it. Our instinct tells us of these things but we refuse to listen. The word of God never penetrates our minds. The devil tempts us by saying there is no heaven or hell but our instincts tell us that there is indeed heaven and hell. We say instead there is still time, there is no need to hurry the world is at my feet, when I’m old and sick then I will have time to think about it. All we have is today, yesterday and tomorrow is a word. This is the sacrament of the present moment, our lives are given to us moment by moment in love. We only have the present moment to be aware of who we are. Our good resolutions are not good enough. What are we doing today? Today is all we have. The seed that fell on hard ground grows but was choked. How easily it happens to us whenever we are preoccupied, worried and distracted. The words of God and their idealism are stunted when we never become what God intended us to be. The seed that falls on good ground brings forth a great harvest. Every one of us can love. We must learn to love a person that is demanding and unlovable. We must learn to understand that every human being has their own problem. We have not walked in their shoes and must learn to love them right at this moment. Today it is all we have. Living is giving and giving is living. We must go on living and giving again. We only stop giving when God stops giving. We all know that God speaks to us in many unique and different ways through circumstances and people we meet everyday. These should inspire us always, though it may have been a long time ago, our experiences with people like whom we can consider an instrument of God in placing the seed in our hearts during that planting season should always remain there, continue to grow and nurture whether in or out of season as in seed planted in rich soil. It may be a bit confusing at first. Jesus says, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” Then after a few statements he said,"...‘they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.’" He first asks us to hear his words and then later on say we could not understand. Isn't it contradictory why would He ask us to listen if He knows we can't understand. Which of these are true, we might say or think. They are both Jesus' words and they are both true and correct. In fact both are not contradicting the other. We are all called to open our ears to God's words, there is no doubt. As to the understanding we are warned as if saying that we may not understand right away but it doesn't mean that we should stop there. Can we remember the times when we fail to grasp the meaning of the things that are happening to us at first. Only after experiencing and going through some things did we come to a better understanding. Jesus simply tells us not to give up so easily rather we should put up a good fight. We simply have to trust God and have a firm faith. No matter how confusing things may seem to be or how difficult it is for us to understand the things that are happening to us we just ought to walk on and put our best foot forward. God will not put us through something without seeing us through it. This is based on the truth and knowledge that we can always count on God 100% of the time. Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 8:4-15
...“Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. He answered, “Knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that ‘they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.’ ...“This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God...But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.”...
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