SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES

   Today's 1st reading tells us of the prophecy of Jeremiah pointing to Jesus. We can see this through thousands of years in the outline of the salvation history or covenant history which goes back to the time of Adam & Eve and Noah and dates way back to 1800 BC during the time of Abraham, Moses (1200), David (means the favored one,1000), Exodus (600) to the birth of our Lord Jesus. God throughout time has sent emissaries, patriarchs, prophets and kings to declare His great love for us and in the fullness of time has ultimately revealed His love in its entirety by sending His only begotten Son Jesus who was not spared to suffer and die on the cross just to show His great love for us. All the things that have been foretold from of old have been fulfilled in Jesus. When I attended the San Lorenzo Bible Ministry Christmas party many years ago the highlight of the party was the White Elephant. It is a kind of exchange gift but not exactly like that. It's almost like a game in ...

    The readings for today point to a very important realization about God. It reveals to us the mystery of God's choice. He does not always choose the perfect ones. Sometimes God's choice even seem unbelievable or scandalous. God chooses freely always out of love and not according to human but divine logic. As we can see from today's 1st reading, Jacob chose among his sons, Judah the 4th son. He did not choose Reuben, his first born son nor Joseph, the beloved son who became ruler in  Egypt  and saved his people from famine.  Judah  was also one of the brothers who sold Joseph as a slave. If we go back further, we know that even Isaac, Jacob's father was not the 1st born son of Abraham but Ishmael. Jacob himself was not the 1st born son but Esau. We may all know the story how Jacob ended up getting the blessing instead of Esau. It all points to the mystery of God's choice based on His Divine logic. God's love and mercy rule and call our attention to shed l...

   We are all aware of the existence of the irony of things. Today's 1st reading is a picture of incongruity that in the 1st few statements the Lord is pronouncing a judgment of woe to a rebellious and polluted nation that seemed so hopeless and could not be subject to conversion but in the next had suddenly changed and purified them. There is a lot more to learn in life than we really come to know. God is presenting to us a variety of scenarios and situations in its diversified forms which in turn widens and broadens our perspective and points of view. If there's something not going right somewhere in our life it is important that we press our ears closer to hear God's voice. We may be very busy doing things our own way that we sometimes neglect to heed what God is telling us. Or the trials and difficulties we are experiencing in life should work in a way that we become closer to God rather than stray away from Him. Whatever it is that is happening to us we should always...

   Things that are meant for our harm can be turned into a blessing by God. In today's 1st reading, Balaam a pagan prophet is supposed to prophecy ill fate to  Israel  but ended up declaring good things. The Jews knew of the prophecy that from King David’s lineage would come forth a King, the foretold Messiah of Israel. During the reign of King Ahaz and all other kings of  Israel  who did evil things the royalty was cut off. During the Babylonian captivity and in exile, those born of the line of David, of royal blood went in hiding for fear of being killed. Even though the divinic dynasty was cut off, from the tree of Jesse, the father of King David, came forth the shoot that brought forth the King. We remember that it was prophesied in Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew tells of this family tree. We would find at the end of this lineage is Josep...