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FEAST AND BIRTHDAY (OCT 21) OF THE 2 CHAMPIONS IN MY LIFE ❤️

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  Today is Oct 21, it is the feast day and birthday of 2 champions in my life. When we celebrated San Pedro Calunsod feast celebration at St Martha and was given the honor to be narrator of his story 🙏 🙏 🙏 The night before, Phil said that if Dodgers don’t win Friday night they need to play again Saturday and it means bad traffic when we go to St Martha so we asked San Pedro intercession to make the Dodgers win so it will not be really heavy traffic when we go to St Martha and guess what, the Dodgers won which is extraordinary because it was a sweep win ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ And while reading his story it struck me that one of his skills is to *dodge* the arrows of the enemy 🙏 🙏 🙏 It turns out that San Pedro Calunsod is a Dodger 😃 And one more extraordinary thing, the Catholic Church changed his feast day from April 2 to October 21 which is also my nanay’s birthday ❤️ 🙏 With God there’s no coincidence only Divine Providence. 🙏 In 2017 when Phil and I first went to the Philippines, ...
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TREASURES IN HEAVEN

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   What people commonly refer to as coincidence is in truth undeniable proof that we have a God of perfect timing and precision. In today's 1 st  reading, it is emphasized that apart from God’s ability to fulfill His promise we are also expected to not doubt in unbelief. Jesus is the seed of Abraham. When baptized we are joined to Jesus and confirmed when Jesus even said to St. Paul on the road to Damascus, whatever Saul is doing to the Christians is being done to Himself. (Acts 9:4) We are members of the body of Christ. We belong to Abraham by virtue of baptism and Jesus being seed of Abraham. Through Christ we belong to the people of the promise. We who belong to Him are the new chosen people. But it was not for him alone that it was written that “it was credited to him”; it was also for us, to whom it will be credited, who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead who was handed over for our transgressions and was raised for our justification. The read...
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TEAMWORK

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   Even during the time of Moses, teamwork was already being practiced by believers and they benefitted a lot from it. It is surely better to work together as family of God by supporting rather than pulling each other down. When we engage ourselves into something it is always a good question to ask this. Do we pull someone down or do we lift them up? Today's 1st reading shows us how the support they gave to each other made them win the fight. In a way the Lord is telling us also to always keep our hands raised up to him in prayer and never grow weary or tired and all our battles will be won. So whatever it is, we have been praying for, God is telling us right now to persevere and He will never forsake us in our persistence.    Amen. Hallelujah!   Exodus 17:8-13 ...As long as Moses kept his hands raised up,  Israel  had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight. Moses’ hands, however, grew tired; so they...
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TAKE THE CHALLENGE

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      Don't worry, the Lord will understand you if you do it. Have you heard this famous and overused line before? Sometimes we Christians are like that. We tend to rationalize and justify every action that we do. Although, it is already obvious that among all the choices that we have in life we can always decide for the ultimate good we still settle for something less or worse choose what is bad. Have you been into a situation wherein nobody seems to understand or agree with your decision? There is no reason to fret for we have a God who knows exactly what we're going through, He is always with us to love and support us. Somehow, this also reflects the message of Bro. Bo Sanchez in one of his talks. He said that there are 3 Cs that we obtain when we go through trials and sufferings. The first C is comfort. As the bible tells us, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Come to think of it but this is in fact very true. Looking back at those times when we a...
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THE ARCH

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  Today’s readings reminded me about the architectural structure of Mark's gospel which I learned from our bible study. This structure would reveal to us the intended level which is one of the 4 pillars of Mark's gospel (1.Literal (Peschat) 2.Intended (Derush) 3.Personal (Remaz) 4.Communal (Sod)). The intended level is the hardest part and where exegesis is done. Mark's reputation as a gospel writer is not as impeccable as that of the other gospel writers like Matthew, Luke, John and Paul when it comes to educational background and attainment since they are all well educated and learned in the study of the scriptures. Although this is true, there is something about the gospel of Mark that is distinctly his. Exploring the nature of Mark as a gospel writer revealed to us the exciting way in which Mark presents Jesus to us. This is known as Kai parataxis or the rapid movement and change of scenes. Rapid succession of event joined simply by "and" and constant use of ...
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SOLA FIDE

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    Today's 1st reading reminds me of a teaching in our Catholicism class entitled, "Rebutting the Principle of Protestantism: Faith Alone (Sola Fide)" There is no doubt to the truth that Man needs to be saved because of his "fallen nature"    We read in Roman 7:21-24: So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? Catechism of the Catholic church (CCC) 1949: Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him: Philippians 2:12-13:Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good...
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