THE WIDOW & THE ORPHAN

Every time I encounter this bible passage from today’s 1^st reading which speaks of the orphan and the widow I am always reminded of my mother. She is a woman of great faith and courage. I have witnessed as I was growing up how she was able to storm through all the trials and difficulties of a widow left with the care of her 3 very young children.  She had a great responsibility in her hands at that time. Although she told us that there were moments when she was overwhelmed by the sudden shift of all responsibilities and felt inadequate and incapable of carrying out all the things that needed to be done. Through it all she saw how God looked after our welfare and never left us. He directed her steps to the right path and led her to the right people and situations. It was exactly what made her hold on God’s word and promise. It was also due to this faith of my mother that I got confidence and assurance that God hears all our prayers, confirms it and makes us feel that we have a very personal relationship with Him. What she relied, held on and constantly believed in is written in today's 1st reading that the Lord would never forsake the widow and the orphan.  The other verses contained in the 1^st reading today also reminds me of the time when I was just new in the Catholic Charismatic. It is this part stating, “Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.” It has become one of my favorites due to the fact that I often heard it from my prayer group leader during our prayer meetings and had naturally quoted and said it over and over myself even without knowing exactly where is it in the bible. It was quite a number of years already before I learned where to find it because I didn't memorize it, all I cared about before was the message that it brings to us, unconditional love and forgiveness. It was all I ever needed to hear and be assured of and nothing else matters. It was this impression that God is so forgiving that no sin is big and grave enough not to be forgiven. In fact, in one of the lenten retreats I attended I heard a speaker said that he has this personal belief that God's love is so great, no one will go to hell since Jesus said that it is the will of the Father that none that was given to Him will get lost. I agree with him since it is the will of God the Father, but the question lies in the truth that only we can answer. Is it also our own free and honest will? It's time we answer this question truthfully and really set things right. Amen. Hallelujah!

Isaiah 1:10, 16-20

10 Hear the word of the Lord, princes of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, people of Gomorrah! 16 Wash yourselves clean! Put away  misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; 17 learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow. 18 Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. 19 If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land; 20 but if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you for the mouth of the Lord has spoken!

God saves. There is no question about that but we have to also be diligent in fulfilling our part of the bargain. This reminds me of the vow I have made when it was impressed to me way back Oct. 7, 2007 in the reading from Book of Habakkuk 1,2-3.2,2-4. “Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.”

From then on I've been writing daily reflections that can be read by everybody and to my surprise it has become integrated in my daily activities. As time and days go by, a lot of things started to unfold before me, most especially the enormous message contained in that prophecy in Habbakuk. This has given me inspiration and joy to continue doing it. Definitely God is not asking us to resort to some extreme or out of this world act. The emphasis is on the importance of following the commandments of God and doing what we've got to do. We need not wait any longer and see any further for God wants us to start paying attention to His commandments and apply it in our very own lives in order to make a return for all the good He has done. There are times when we just have to ignore what other people may say or think and continue in the belief that we are God's people and have to be obedient in what He has asked us to do and stay loyal to Him no matter what the cost is. We've got to make things very clear for us. Sometimes we insist on doing things our way and more often than not we end up in trouble. It's about time we realize that there is no other way but the Lord's way. We get the impression that if we do one good thing for the Lord then the rest of our actions are already covered and justified. Well, that's what the enemy wants us to think so we can go on doing our own thing without much care whether is it really pleasing to God or not. Our God is perfectly and wholly good in every aspect and we can't expect Him to yield to a partly good and bad child. Because He loves us, we need to be disciplined in order for us to straighten up. There is this Catholic convert who was raised in the belief that the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon. When he encountered for the first time listening to the Palestrina, he said that it doesn't sound like it came from hell and sounded much more like what the angels sound in heaven. When he visited for the first time, St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, he figured that the whore of Babylon could not be something this beautiful. He realized and understood that there could not be such a disconnection of what could be so beautiful and what is good and true. He could find all of these elements of goodness, beauty and truth in the Catholic church and what eventually brought him to the faith. The beauty that the faith produces is something that shines throughout more than 2000 years of the Church. We are not supposed to engage in a battle that is not destined to win at all. If we know that we are losing in the first place why pursue it? There are so many battles in life that we have to face everyday but there is no need to fight them all. It is not about us but about God. The only guarantee that we are going to win it through and through is to be sure first which side we are on and make sure that it is God's side. Let our words coincide with our work and action so that men will see and become convinced that we are God's obedient people. Sometimes we say one thing and mean something else. If we can confuse, convince and win people over to our side then we are definitely wrong if we think that we can do the same with God or even get away with it. If there's something we should be doing with our life then that is to be upright before the Lord first and foremost and everything will follow. It is not wise to gain the admiration of men at the expense of losing the approval of God. Nothing else matters more than being upright in the eyes of God. No matter how difficult things may seem to be at present we can always count on God at all times. The Lord hears our cries and supplications. He knows and sees all and He will surely make things right for us. No matter what happens to us we can always be assured of a God who will always look after us and will make sure that we are not taken advantage of. If God is for us, who can be against us? If we respond to His call and faithfully follow His precepts and be the person He has meant us to be then we are assured of His saving power. There are moments in our life when things happen to us and we feel that God is touching us in a special way. It seems so obvious that God is speaking to us in a variety of ways through our situations and circumstances. Today’s psalm reading tells us something very specific. It says that God will not just make us feel that we can somehow conclude that He is trying to communicate something to us but really show and demonstrate to the upright His saving power. There will always be times when we seem to not know where to go. No matter how difficult our situations may be, God will never leave us groping in the dark. All we have to do is to really take into serious consideration the words in today's psalm reading. The present civilization is in decline. There is so much moral decline and decay going on around us. The solution can be found in the psalm today. We have to have self discipline and will power to put a stop to the atheistic society that is on the rise. We need to become an active participant of the on going seminar for self restraint to control our appetites. To not pursue our own selfish good but the common good in order to rebuild our society and witness the saving power of God. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalms 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23

R: To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

...“Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, 17 though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?” (R) 21 “When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it? Or do you think that I am like yourself? I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes. 23 He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me; and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”

We should always maintain a humble spirit and heart before God. Only God knows what's going on inside our minds and hearts. He will always lift up those who trust in Him. Let us offer to God all our brokenness and downtrodden selves and He will be the one to lift us out of it. God loves everybody but more so those who are being oppressed.  Do not despair. If we sometimes feel that life is so unfair and things have become so unfortunate that nothing or no one can help us then still be thankful that we've arrived in this situation for God who sees all things will definitely not allow such injustice and will surely uphold what is right and the truth. It is not enough that we follow and obey without understanding. There is a need to know our motivations and intentions in doing something. We should live by example. It is not enough that we claim to be good Christians for there is something more to that than just being called one but to live like one is another and most important at that. God's persistent reminder to constantly hear the word of God must compel us to really put it in our hearts and minds and drive us to act on it. There are so many points to consider in life. There are various faces and appearances that seem to present a certain thing but could bring about an entirely different or opposite thing. Just like in today's gospel, how could one thing mean something and bring about the opposite. It's all a mystery and behind all of it is a God who can make all things beautiful. He is able to bring about good things even in the most unlikely situations when we least expect it. In the gospel Jesus addressed the scribes and the Pharisees, He compliments but criticizes strongly. The Pharisees represent the lay party and the priesthood the Sadducees. At the time of Jesus during the Roman rule, they figured the way to peace is through adaptation. The houses of priests are decorated just as the Romans, as in Pompeii and very much like it. They had identified themselves with the oppressive dominant culture and though they kept some Jewish law they denied judgment, heaven, hell, and eternity. On the other hand, the Pharisees or the lay counteract the way priests are living. They had 2 principles, to take the rules of ritual purity so that the laity would be pure as they offer sacrifices like a kingdom of priests as in Exodus 19:6 “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. That is what you must tell the Israelites."  The people of Israel is a kingdom of priests and they put a fence around the law so that no one would break the law. An example is “Thou shall not use the Lord’s name in vain” In order to make sure they don’t break the law, no one is allowed to say the Lord’s name. A death penalty is given to those who break it. This is precisely the oral tradition that our Lord is talking about in the gospel. The Pharisees were not helping people live the law because they didn’t practice it themselves and made life complicated. In Chorazin, there was a seat of Moses for the Rabbi, which symbolizes the authority to teach in the synagogue. The Lord said pay attention to what they teach but don’t do what they do. One of the things they were being criticized for is pride and arrogance. Jesus warns us against that vice especially for religious people although not so much for the people outside. Church people just like us can try to show that we are holy so that people would compliment us and they would think that we’re religious and others are not. This is a constant problem for religious people at all levels, whether laity or the priesthood. The devil will try to tempt us with whatever works, if we’re not religious he can use things of the flesh to tempt us, but if we are religious then he can tempt us with our pride and change it into something spiritual. It is impossible to detect pride in ourselves. People around us will know so it’s important to pay attention to what they say to us so that so we learn from it. It is too difficult to detect a vice on our own because it is easier to detect it in other people or to listen to what other people say. Jesus mentions about those who widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. Jewish men wear a phylactery which is a small leather box that they wear on their forehead and one on their left arm as in Deut 6:8, Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.  They took it literally as a part of the way to obey the law. They made it really big so to show people that they are more pious than others and because it is bigger they stand out more than them. The tassel is a sign of royalty in the ancient times. Jewish men wear this to show that they are a kingdom of priests for God. They even tie 613 knots in the tassel which represents one tie for every 613 laws as a sign of obeying the entire commandment. Jesus wears a tassel Himself if we can recall the woman who touched the tassel of Jesus and got healed. He’s not against it, but feeding the pride is the issue. He mentioned not to be called Rabbi or teacher which is important in this context because at that time there were different rabbis that start various sects called a House. They are rival sects of Pharisees and disagree among themselves which can be found in the collection of Rabbinic sayings, the Mishnah. What He is speaking about here is that we may not call anyone a Rabbi for He did not want us to be divided. Oneness is an important virtue that He commends among His disciples. He did not want Christianity to be divided and wanted us to submit to the oneness of the Church. Humility is the antidote to the pride as He said that the least is the greatest. We have to keep in mind the division among the Pharisees is the underlying reason for this restriction of why they should not be called rabbi or father. In Corinthians, Paul insists on being called a Father because he preaches to them. There is nothing wrong with it because he knows that the real work is done by the Holy Spirit and he is part of a community and known as a spiritual father but not in the sense of a father that Christ is speaking of in the gospel like sects which is something that we’re not supposed to do. Christ calls us to respond out of the ordinary and set things right. All of us need to have the sense to rid ourselves of religious pride. The readings call us to humility. It does not mean putting ourselves down but rather saying the truth about ourselves, not more not less. Pride is looking down at other people who are below us. We need to think of it in a way that when we look down on people, Christ hits us at the back of the head. J We better just look up at people. When we are looking up at the skies, we feel small, so how much more would we feel looking up to God. That’s when we realize what humility is all about. We see our sinfulness and smallness in reference to God, which is the antidote to our pride. If we do, then Christ will save us and bring us to the joys of heaven. Amen. Hallelujah!

Matthew 23:1-12

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”