A LOVE THAT NEVER FADES

Nothing beats the kind of love that God has for all of us. It is a love that never fades and is there to stay. Amen. Hallelujah!

Jeremiah 31:1-7

...“With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you...

We can always take courage in the fact that we have a Loving Father who is like a Good Shepherd. He will surely lead us to the right path. There are significant events in our life that we can associate with certain major decisions we made and can never forget. In everything let us always lift it to God in prayer.  The place where we are right now is exactly where God wants us to be. If God brings us here then He will bring us through it. God knows exactly and with perfection what is being allowed to happen to us in our life at this precise moment. God's purpose for us is simply perfect. He wants to show us things that only we can understand by living what we are living and by being in the place where we are now. That's God, He passes us through a lot of things for us to see His glory. Today's psalm can really make our hearts swell with joy and pride knowing that the Lord guards us as a shepherd guards his flock. Amen. Hallelujah!

P S A L M

Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13

R: The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

10 Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, proclaim it on distant isles, and say: He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd his flock. (R) 11 The LORD shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror. 12 Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings: The grain, the wine, and the oil, the sheep and the oxen. (R) 13 Then the virgins shall make merry and dance, and young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

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.” 26 He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” 28 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.