THE CLOAK

St. Martha's Church have been sponsoring the sheltering and feeding of the homeless. In fact several volunteers coming from different ministries and prayer groups in the parish have made themselves available for this activity. It is a pooling of resources which amounted to something big. It became a venue of good works where the Lord abides forever for where there is love there is God. Amen. Hallelujah!

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13
...Then Solomon said, “The LORD intends to dwell in the dark cloud; 13 I have truly built you a princely house, a dwelling where you may abide forever.”

There is no doubt that God is able to fulfill all His promises and carry out everything that He said. A confirming event that I consider very special was whenever we chance upon Fr. Mike Barry. We have been following him wherever he has a healing session nearby and to have an unexpected chance of attending mass celebrated by him is something I consider a great blessing and indeed a very pleasant surprise. It has always brought joy to all of us most especially to me. He is a priest whom I consider my personal prophet due to the many times I have personally experienced his gift of discernment and prophecy which I have shared several times already in my previous reflections. I have been getting messages of confirmation through the things he said to me about my PAST and affirmation through the things that are happening to me at the PRESENT thus giving me hope for the things that I have been praying for and are bound to come in the FUTURE. These things happen one after the other in an orderly sequence every time he prays over me despite the fact that he doesn't know a single thing about me. Although he didn't say the homily and did not conduct a healing session I was able to get another confirmation through Fr. Alex Amayin who said in his homily at that same time that, "The Word of God is like rain, it will not go back to the clouds without fulfilling first its purpose of watering and nourishing the earth and its vegetation in the same way that His words will not go back to Him without doing what it said it would do. We should also be proud of our parents. They may not be perfect but they are the arms that cradled us when we were still babies, guided us through the different stages of our lives and stood with us through thick and thin. So wherever they may be now whether still living or resting in peace let us give back to them the honor and praise they deserve. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 132:6-7, 8-10
R: Lord, go up to the place of your rest!

Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. Let us enter into his dwelling,

let us worship at his footstool. R. Advance, O LORD, to your resting place, you and the ark of your majesty. May your priests be clothed with justice; let your faithful ones shout merrily for joy.

For the sake of David your servant, reject not the plea of your anointed. R.

The homeless people are everywhere there's an activity like the Coalition for the Homeless. They have flocked around at St. Martha's for days so as to avail of these services and benefits being provided for them. In fact several prayer groups and ministries are not able to conduct their regular meetings there because the rooms are being used for this purpose. In the same way the people in today's gospel scurried about just to get near Jesus and be healed. They are both in need of something they lack thus they scurry about to get near the source of this need. We may not be homeless and sick as these people in the gospel and in St. Martha's but just like them we, too need to scurry about to Jesus who is the source of all healing be it physical or spiritual. More than 2000 years ago, Jesus in His earthly ministry was perceived by the crowd as Healer. They believed that even the tassel of His clothes can bring about healing. Jesus may not be present to us anymore walking in physical form of flesh and blood like He did before but we must realize that He makes Himself available to us to be touched through the sacraments. In the pouring of the water and oil those things themselves, heal not because of the properties it has but because of Christ. He instituted these things as an extension of His flesh. He took flesh in the womb of Mary in order that we may be recreated through the experience of His flesh. It is nice to think about the connection of the pen and the hand to write a book. The ability to write in connection to the soul acts through the hand with a tool such as the pen. Today's gospel illustrates us these wonderful connections that we can benefit from as believers of Jesus. The tassel connected to the human body of Jesus has the ability to heal. In the same way that the 7 sacraments is God and the presence of Jesus’ flesh that heals. We must thank God for the sacraments that we can each receive to fulfill what creation was meant for from the beginning. The 7 days of creation and the 7th day, the Sabbath. We must not neglect this truth and through grace we must prepare ourselves for this. We thank God that we can touch His cloak in the sacraments. Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 6:53-56
...They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.