How we live our life in each passing day is a testimony of how we follow the will of God in our lives. There is a need to constantly and regularly connect to God everything that we do. If we make a conscious effort to do this everyday then we'll surely find it easier to obey the things that God wants us to do and be more sensitive in knowing the will of God in our lives. If we will just honestly and sincerely seek God then we will surely find Him. As we do this we will eventually discover a lot of things that we need to know in order to live our faith in accordance to God's will and be able to overcome all trials and difficulties that come our way. It is really important that we know and follow the instructions of God. Amen. Hallelujah.
Exodus 16:2-4. 12-15
...Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not...“This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”
The Lord has already given us everything we need but we still crave for something else. We sometimes doubt and question God's ability to get us through it all. We tend to resort to means that is of our own and not of God. Our rationalizing mind gets the better in us when we exclude in the equation the awesome truth of who really God is and what He is capable of doing in our life. Today’s psalm tells us not to forget the works of the Lord. What better way to do that than to keep our eyes focused on the price that God paid for us on the cross and the eternal benefits it has brought upon us. In order to attain this we need to constantly listen to the teachings of the Church. We have to familiarize ourselves to the words of God in scriptures and the mysteries they hold. We have seen and witnessed so much already to even doubt God's goodness. We hope and pray that we will always remember and never forget. Our minds are limited and can not comprehend beyond what can be explained by reason. God gave up His only begotten Son, Jesus and allowed Him to be sacrificed on the cross. This could never be explained by our logical and rational minds especially if we are parents ourselves and have only one child. Who would give up an only child to die a cruel and humiliating death for the sake of another and sinners at that? But God did that and the only reason is His immeasurable and unfathomable love for all of us. Today's psalm teaches a very important lesson and guideline that we should always live by. If we want to maintain our strength and not be susceptible to captivity in the hands of the enemy then we should always remember and not forget the wonderful things that God has done to us. This makes sense because God's works are holy and perfect we can surely rely on it for everything. When the Israelites decided to follow Moses when they were led out of Egypt to the Promised Land and traveled a long time through the desert they discovered that it was not an easy but a wearying and tedious journey. In the same way when we travel through life we encounter challenges that sometimes drive us to despair. However, we can draw inspiration from the readings today. Just like the Israelites we should always have the hope of a new and better life and be assured of the fact that with God on our side we will never be defeated in battle, nor will we be allowed to starve and be fed with bread from heaven. We easily forget things and become preoccupied with so many other things. This happens to most of us and we tend to neglect what is truly essential. Let us not focus on the lesser things but on what should dominate our consciousness and awareness. We should always be alert and not easily distracted and dissuaded by what is going on around us. Nowadays, we tend to just rely on our own strength and understanding because we are living in a very materialistic and advanced world and forget what's most important is to focus on how God can be fully at work in our lives. We have seen and witnessed so much already to even doubt God's goodness. We hope and pray that we will always remember and never forget the works of the Lord. Amen. Hallelujah!
P S A L M
Psalm 78:3-4. 23-24. 25. 54 (24b)
R: The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
...He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven; 24 he rained manna upon them for food and gave them heavenly bread. (R) 25 Man ate the bread of angels. Food he sent them in abundance...
We have to go through a kind of spiritual revolution, turn our backs on all our evil ways and follow what the 2nd reading is telling us. Amen. Hallelujah!
Ephesians 4:17. 20-24
...you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.
There is a conflict of interest here. The people in today's gospel are not getting the whole idea of Jesus' miracle. It is such a pity that we sometimes fall into the same trap of missing the point. We sometimes overlook and set aside what's really essential. We can't help it at times since we are still bound to this world. The things that happen to us and all other events in our own lives should makes us more open to the word of God and enable us to read the signs of the times that point to the world which endures for eternal life. Sometimes we find ourselves very tired because we keep on working to the point of exhaustion just to find out that we only toil in vain. We should invest all our efforts in working for something that will not perish. And in so doing we should align our wills to God and set our motives right. We are all guilty at times of seeking God because we long to fulfill our own selfish desires without realizing that all we need is Jesus and everything will follow. It is more important to focus on what is eternal rather on things that perish. When we ask God for something in prayer we should always question the purity of our desire. This world that we live in can never give what can truly make us happy. We always long for something but we will never be satisfied and continue to grow hungry unless we go to Jesus who alone can satisfy all our needs. What Jesus said in today's gospel is very true. If we always draw near Him, seek Him and come to Him then He in turn draws near to us, makes Himself available to us and stays with us. If this is so then there is nothing more we need for we will never thirst nor hunger for anything else. It is just like we are sitting at the right hand of God and someday we will. Only Jesus can satisfy our souls. He is fortified with all the essential things we ever need in our lives for everything that we long for can only be fulfilled by Him. He who has God wants nothing. Every human heart longs and desires for something that can satisfy us. A sick person follows what the doctor says in order to prolong his or her life. Fr. Leo Clifford in his reflections in EWTN narrated the story of "My Fair Lady" or the famous play "Pygmalion". Pygmalion is the legendary Greek story of a sculptor who fell in love with his sculpture which was turned into a play and inspired George Bernard Shaw to write a similar story. It was about a young lady named Eliza who was taken out of the rut and placed in a pedestal. We should realize that like Eliza we have also been taken out of the rut and made partakers of the Divine Nature of God in Baptism. God created us and fell deeply in love with us. If there's one truth that should never leave our minds then this is it. We are placed in a pedestal and sharing God's own life. Amen. Hallelujah!
John 6:24- 35
...“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” 28 So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” ...So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
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