BLESSED

 I am reminded of the time when a lady asked me if I feel like a princess because I told her that we are God's children. I answered that we are more than royalty because God is our Father. We are the children of the Almighty.  Nelson Mandela in his Nobel peace prize speech said. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~ 

 We are indeed very precious, thanks be to God. Amen. Hallejuah!

1 Chronicles 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2
...Then they offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings to God.
When David had finished offering up the burnt offerings and peace offerings,
he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.

There is no doubt that God is able to fulfill all His promises and carry out everything that He said. I consider it very special whenever we chance upon Fr. Mike Barry. We used to follow him wherever he has a healing session nearby and to have an unexpected chance of attending mass celebrated by him is something I consider a great blessing and indeed a very pleasant surprise. It has always brought joy to all of us most especially to me. He is a priest whom I consider my personal prophet due to the many times I have personally experienced his gift of discernment and prophecy which I have shared several times already in my previous reflections. I have been getting messages of confirmation through the things he said to me about my PAST and affirmation through the things that are happening to me at the PRESENT thus giving me hope for the things that I have been praying for and are bound to come in the FUTURE. These things happen one after the other in an orderly sequence every time he prays over me despite the fact that he doesn't know a single thing about me. Although he didn't say the homily and did not conduct a healing session I was able to get another confirmation through Fr. Alex Amayin who said in his homily at that same time that, "The Word of God is like rain, it will not go back to the clouds without fulfilling first its purpose of watering and nourishing the earth and its vegetation in the same way that His words will not go back to Him without doing what it said it would do. We should also be proud of our parents. They may not be perfect but they are the arms that cradled us when we were still babies, guided us through the different stages of our lives and stood with us through thick and thin. So wherever they may be now whether still living or resting in peace let us give back to them the honor and praise they deserve. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 132:11, 12, 13-14, 17-18

R: The Lord has chosen Zion for his dwelling.

11 The LORD swore to David a firm promise from which he will not withdraw...

These past few days we've been getting very valuable information from Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. What he said in today's 2nd reading makes a lot of sense and we should give credit and spend some time thinking about seriously. We are all aware of our natural body and could easily comprehend its presence through the 5 senses we got. It is our spiritual body that we have a hard time being aware of. We simply tend to neglect, overlook or worse ignore its existence. We've got to be aware of the fact that our spirit has power over our physical bodies more than we ever know. As the song goes, "a joyful heart is good medicine but a broken spirit dries up the bones". As years pass by, we come to realize that we are not getting any younger and what we used to do before is no longer applicable to us now. We may have started drinking vitamins already but we still encounter some imbalances in us that we need decided to pay attention to and give remedy. There are some things we have to modify as we go on with our lives if we want to maintain a healthy body and avoid sicknesses. It is perfectly alright to be health conscious and do everything to maintain a good body but it is of prime importance that we attend to our spiritual needs. Our physical bodies will eventually rot away when we die. Our body grows old, weak and dies but the spirit lives on. The same is true with our spiritual life. We just can't go on doing the same thing over and over again. We need to improve and become better each day if we want to maintain a healthy spirit. Amen. Hallelujah!

1 Corinthians 15:54-58

Brothers and sisters:
When this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility
and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality,
then the word that is written shall come about:
 Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The study of the scriptures is one of the best ways to be really blessed. God consistently reminds and shows us that if there's one thing we should prioritize that is to be mindful of the things that will make us truly blessed. Today's gospel shows us that, we like Mary, who is Mother of God, full of grace, blessed among women, and bore Jesus in her womb can also be blessed if we listen and observe the word of God. Mary's privilege and honor as the Mother of God is no doubt a singular grace given to her alone. She has been greatly blessed by God for being chosen to carry Jesus in her womb and nurse her. It has been written and foretold from generations past. There is no question about this as it is written in Luke 1:48, "For he has looked upon his lowly servant; from this day all generation will call me blessed."  Though, Jesus in today's gospel tells us that we are not far from attaining it. Predestination is one thing but to hear the word of God and observe it is another thing. We have all been given this option of being blessed as Mary is. All we have to do is to hear the word of God and observe it. Amen. Hallelujah!

Luke 11:27-28

While he was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”