TOP PRIORITY

There are many distractions all around us. Whether we admit or not, we too succumb to it and sometimes fail to act in accordance to what is right. We need to know what our priorities are in life. It is of prime importance that we know what needs to be on top of our list because everything else will come second and just trail behind. What we focus on grows. Today's 1st reading leaves us with a very important word of advice that we really ought to take seriously and act on. Amen. Hallelujah!

Acts 6:1-7

...the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. 3 Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, 4 whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Nothing is hidden from God and everything is known to Him. It pays to always consult our plans to God in prayers and everything we intend to do we should lay down before Him and seek His approval. He will never deprive us nor withhold from us the answers that we seek. If we sometimes forget these and tend to stray away from the right path then we should always be aware that everything that we say, think and do must always have reference to God our Creator. It may have happened to most of us when we get disappointed at how we still miss something so quickly despite our close watch. We sometimes end up confused and discouraged when things don’t happen the way we expect it despite our accurate and strict monitoring. We even ask ourselves how it could have happened. We may have heard and seen some terrible and frightening things in our life but we should always hold on to the truth that no matter how horrible the things that are happening around us they don't change the fact that our Lord is God and always in charge and in control. It doesn't matter that much how we think and feel but what matters most is how to feel and think just like God. We can always rely and depend on it, 100%, fail proof and success guaranteed. We should place our trust not in men or in things but in God alone. What is wisdom to men is folly to God. The Lord did not promise us to be totally problem free but He gave His assurance that He will always be our Savior and Redeemer. God's power is beyond our full comprehension. He is Holy, Mighty, Immortal and Infinitely Great. Did it ever occur to us how all these things that surround us, from the skies, to the mountains, plains, the seas, the wind, all the heavenly bodies above, the things down below, all the creatures of the earth especially us, human beings came to be. Not a single theory about creation could suffice and would ever satisfy the wonders and marvelous things that God has done. Just thinking about all these things should make us always put our hope in Him, feel confident and assured that we are safe under His care, to help us from all our problems and shield us from all harm. It is a consolation to know that we are constantly assured by God especially in today's psalm to never doubt His power and goodness. His loving eyes is always upon us not leaving us for a single moment nor removing his stare even with a wink of an eye. It feels good to know that someone's eyes are upon us and looking after us. When we come to a point of despair and feel like things are not getting better, we ought to remember always that we are God's people and we are His own. We have to realize this one most important truth that we should all subscribe to, which is to constantly align ourselves and conform to the will and plan of God in our lives. Let us ask the Lord to lead us to the right path and decisions that we may work toward the building of God’s kingdom here on earth. We should not give room to any doubt, fear, anxiety, impatience, irritability, hatred, sadness, iniquity, unfaithfulness, disloyalty, pride and loss of self control. Let us not choose to give in to these. They are all characteristics that should not be found in a people the Lord has chosen to be His own. Our present situation may not be a perfect picture yet but we should all rejoice and be glad knowing that God was the one who chose us first and He will carry us through. All we have to do is just trust that the Lord will carry out with perfection all His plans for us no matter what situations or circumstances may arise in our midst. When God created this world and everything in it including us, He did not ask permission from anybody. It means that He has chosen us to be His own and not the other way around. This is the reason why the fallen angels/demons are so jealous of men. We are indeed special in the eyes of God for it is written in Gen 1:26, "Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion..." We are not just chosen by God to be His own even before everything came to be but we are on top of His creation. Let us never lose sight of this wonderful plan that God has for all of us. We may not be seeing it right now, having doubts about it, not paying attention to it or unable to commit to it. Whatever it may be, these are all hindrances that prevent us from gaining access to the goodness of the Lord. Never allow ourselves to miss out on this privilege that is accorded to all of us as the children of God. God chose us first and it is only right and fitting that we choose Him too. If we always focus on the Lord and put His words in our presence at all times then we can be assured that we have a lamp unto our feet that is lighting our path. We have to entrust all our cares and worries to the Lord for He can do better things for our lives than all our works combined. No matter how hard we try to succeed in what we do if it's not in accordance to God's plan then nothing will ever come out of it. We may succeed in one aspect but we will never be totally at peace for in the end it will always be the will and plan of God that will prevail. We just have to acknowledge that we are sparing ourselves of all the trouble and heartaches if we will just be obedient and completely trust in the Lord's plan. Let us truly be wise in the real sense of the word rather than of the world and not forfeit all our benefits from the Lord. We all have our personal plans and designs and we may not be able to fully understand what is going on at the present time. It is not easy for the wisdom in the eyes of God is foolishness to the world but what's most important is that we should always consult everything to God first, just believe and surrender everything to Him for He knows best. We have to realize this one most important truth that we should all subscribe to, which is to constantly align ourselves and conform to the will and plan of God in our lives. The power of God knows no limits and we can always rely on Him for anything that we are in need. Let us rely on God's power and completely trust Him to bring to fulfillment everything that He has promised. Just like the Blessed Mother Mary, who is Queen of heaven and earth, we too are destined for victory and royalty. If only we live out the example of her obedient life and carry Jesus in our hearts. Let us not lose hope and have faith in the Master Plan and Grand Design that God has for all of us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19

R: Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

...Upright is the word of the LORD, and all his works are trustworthy. 5 He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full. (R) 18 See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, 19 to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine...

The covenant in Mt. Sinai is compared with the new covenant in Christ as in Mt. Zion. As written in Hebrews, where there are things that describe which could not be touched and approached in Mt. Sinai which showed the fearfulness of touching the holy mountain. This covenant in Mt. Sinai deserves great respect and gives us a sense of awe with a feeling of being terrified and much trembling as described of Moses. , In contrast Mt Zion is where the temple is and where anybody could approach. It is described with concentric circles as in levels wherein anybody could come in. It symbolizes the Promised Land to come, in which God dwells among his chosen people. Peace offerings are being burned and fill the place with a certain sense of festive mood and scent of cooking meat. This could be taken to mean as a symbol of heaven which is mentioned  also in 1 Peter 2:6 For it says in scripture: "Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame."  and Revelation 5:8, "The victor I will make into a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again. On him I will inscribe the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, as well as my new name. Heaven is our true citizenship where countless angels are in festal gathering. They are in a kind of celebratory gathering, cooking with great joy in the presence of angels also celebrating with great joy. The ecclesia of the 1^st born enrolled in heaven applies to all of us. Christ has been spoken of throughout this letter as the high priest who offered Himself as a sacrifice, enter into the Holy of holies in Heavenly Jerusalem, sit at the right hand and accomplishes something that Moses could not do so that both the angels, saints and we can celebrate in heaven. The saints and angels in heaven sing holy (3x) as in Isaiah 6:3,” Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft. "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!" they cried one to the other. "All the earth is filled with his glory!" Angels teach us how to worship, same as the Gloria, when they appeared to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth. As said in the Maranite liturgy, praise of God make our mouths holy by joining with the angels in worshipping God every time we come to mass. God the Father can’t be approached but Christ’s death won for us the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus has born the guilt for us so we can approach God the Father and Judge with confidence. We approach the spirit of the righteous who have been made perfect. Their spirits are no longer in their body and gained righteousness. It is by faith with our good works that we are made righteous as He is righteous. It is a result of acting and believing and maintaining both. Saints have been made righteous, notice the passive verb, they did not make themselves righteous by their own power, but by faith which is a theological virtue granted only by the grace of God. We are doing the righteous deeds we do because God gives us the grace to be righteous. Being righteous is something passive in our part the grace of God is the bigger part. How come we struggle to be righteous based on our true experience.  We should realize the power of God’s grace to get us through the temptations and struggles that makes us righteous. God does this to us although we struggle against it but we falsify the experience if we believe that we do this on our own. . The bible tells us to approach the saints. We ask the intercession of the saints most especially the Virgin Mary. We should never back away from the scriptural injunction to approach the saints. It is not in conflict with approaching Jesus. As in heavenly Jerusalem, we approach the saints. We have a communion with them as in Rev 5:8 When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.  The elders have golden bowls of incense which are the prayer of the saints who are so close to God’s throne. They set our prayers on fire and release its full power. Jesus is the New Moses, seals the covenant in His own blood. We come with our prayers and ask the saints to pray for us. Christ is the one who forgives our sins, the saints can not do that.  His sprinkled blood, speaks more eloquently than that of Abel’s blood as it cried out from the earth for justice. The blood of Christ cried out mercy and forgiveness of sins. This is what Christ’s blood cries out for. The imperfect can’t enter heaven. God made them perfect which is all part of this New Jerusalem. God answers prayers through intercession of saints and angels and through the mediation of Christ with His sprinkled blood. Believe, believe and believe! It has been the constant message of God to us. Amen. Hallelujah!

1Peter 2:4-9

Beloved: Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house

to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it says in Scripture: Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame. Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith: The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone, and A stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall. They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny. You are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Today's gospel is very appropriate especially when we grieve for the loss of a loved. It confirms and is a consoling truth for us who believes in Jesus, the Son of God. For those who do not, then life would all be meaningless in the end. If this present life that we have in this world is the only thing we hold on to then we are the most pathetic people ever known. There is a great schism going on daily within our midst, of people who know, believe and live the truth and those who do not. Those who are in between do not exist or are considered gone as the Lord said in Revelation 3:16, "So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." It's one or the other. I just hope that all of us have a clear, genuine and broad understanding of this mind blowing but awesome reality and live it in our lives. We must thank God for all the people He sends our way and uses to be instruments of His love, care and concern. We look at every single day as very significant because of the circumstances and events that make possible for us to still live the following day. It is a testimony and constant reminder of this bible verse in today's gospel and assurance that He is always mindful of us, His most precious creation. We are the child of God and God the Son lives in us. Everyone can sing “I am special”. As stated in Psalm 8:2-9 ...What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea, and whatever swims the paths of the seas.” God created us especially with something to do on this earth that no one else can do and we must love ourselves for who we are. We have to realize the dignity of being a child of God. So we must love our neighbor for God lives in each one of us. C.S. Lewis said that there are 4 kinds of love, 1^st the love of a mother for a child which is beautiful, 2^nd of a man for a woman which is romantic, 3^rd of a friend for a friend which is inspiring, and 4^th is the agape love which tells us to do good to those who hate us because we are the child of God and Christ is in him. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the person who was robbed and left for dead has no name and it doesn’t matter. Love is no respecter of persons. We have to do our task to love beyond the call of duty. God never have to create us but He created us. He did it and destined us for glory. There are times when we speak words that we don't really mean or speak words out of anger, desperation and any other strong emotion which can cloud our judgment. Let us always be reminded that our words are powerful and we should have a conscious effort to mirror God in us by always speaking in behalf of our Father in heaven. We are created by God for a special place in heaven even before we were born and gave each one of us a name. In fact I have heard a couple of times already that when we die, God utters our name and so we will fly to Him faster than sound. The big question that God would ask is not, why aren’t we like Pope JPII, St. Francis of Assisi or St. Therese of the Little Flower. Rather He would ask each one of us, “Why aren’t you like you? My unique creation and that radiant human being I put in this earth in who I can shine?” How disappointed we can be if we find that we have disappointed God and find ourselves not the person for which we are created, for glory and honor. We must all pray St. Ignatius’ prayer: Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous; teach me to serve You as You deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward save that of knowing I am doing Your Will. Amen. Hallelujah!

John 14: 1-12

...The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works... ...Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?... The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works... Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.