Micah 6: 1-4, 6-8
You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God...You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.
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!
Psalm 50:5-6, 8-9, 16bc-17, 21, 23
R: To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Gather my faithful ones before me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” And the heavens proclaim his justice; for God himself is the judge. R....“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.”
Have we become an evil and unfaithful generation? We tend to doubt some things unless we have proof. What God expects of us is to believe even in the midst of uncertainty. Let us just focus on the truth that God will always give what's best for us. If we maintain an open communication line with God, there is indeed no more need for proof and sign. Everything that happens to us should be considered as God’s way of calling us to Himself. We must not be doubtful or unbelieving anymore like the scribes and Pharisees in today’s gospel. What could be greater than the sign of God’s infinite love for us, Jesus who became man, suffered, died and resurrected for our sake. The gospel also reminds us once again of the sign of Jonah. Whatever signs or significant meaning it remind us of or could be none at all, there's something to learn here which we must all come to know. Fr. Tony's said in his teachings that Jonah is an entertaining lesson of the great capacity of people to do good and evil. Even the Ninevites or our enemies for that matter can still be a source of goodness since repentance and salvation is not a monopoly. We must not lose sight of God's image of love and mercy first before that of a just and a punishing God. Sometimes we tend to label people as hopeless or just like Jonah who was very prejudiced against the Ninevites. And we can't blame him for they can be considered as enemies of their race and an adulterous and filthy nation incapable of change and conversion. This is why Jonah is also a pointed message to all "righteous/holier-than-thou people" that if an evil, good for nothing and messed-up Nineveh can put on ashes/sackcloth" and repent, more so can a "God knowing, fearing, righteous and good Jerusalem." This time instead of always looking at those people who hurt us or in our opinion do not measure up, let us try to look at ourselves, who claim to believe and follow God if we are able to recognize the very signs that God send us every day in every event that is happening in our own lives. We need not look any further for we ourselves and the daily circumstance is more than enough sign that we need not ask for more. Like Jonah who refused to bring the good news to the Ninevites since he felt that he would just be endangering his life by doing so. Although it was a legitimate concern knowing how cruel and barbaric the Ninevites were during that time he finally obeyed after so much resistance. Sometimes we are like Jonah, too, when we resist and refuse to do what God is telling us to do since we are so fearful and maybe traumatized. This happens when we like Jonah already know that he had to face a people capable of great evil and in the same manner have to face someone whom we know is capable of hurting us or has already caused us a great source of pain and trauma that we feel like we don't even want to see or talk with them anymore or just fight back. We may already know who or what the "Ninevites or Nineveh" in our lives are, and no matter what it is, there are times when somehow we've got to follow Jonah's example. We have to brave through our fears by not running away from it, do the right thing and be the sign. Just like any other sign or symptom, our thoughts, words and actions should be pointing to just one greater sign which is to be tested and confirmed positive to have J-E-S-U-S in our lives. Amen. Hallelujah!
Matthew 12:38-42
Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here...
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