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THE SEED

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  Don't we feel good that we have a God who can always bring to fulfillment what He has promised? The Lord has spoken and it is our duty to nurture and always remember the words He has spoken to us. Just like the seasons that we always experience one after another all year round, God will fulfill all His promises just like the blooming of the flowers in springtime. He sees our hearts and knows our thoughts; we simply have to trust in His great power that He is able to make all things beautiful. We have a very rich treasure of faith as Catholics and one of them is our belief in life after death. We all know that our faithful departed loved ones are now enjoying the beatific vision of God and are constantly praying and interceding in our behalf. As Catholics, we believe that one’s death anniversary is a person’s birth to eternity. Everyday we get blessings from the Lord there is no doubt about it but for these blessings to be explicitly shown and demonstrated to us in a very spe...
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HOW DEEP?

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    We have always heard people say that we are just human and somehow made to believe and accept that we are unworthy and could not stand before a Holy God. But we can't go on with this mindset forever. We've got to change this and start to shift our belief in a God who became man in order to save us. The blood of Jesus has already cleansed and purged us clean. We should always be reminded of this above all others. If there's something we should always be focused on and work for really hard in maintaining, then that is the reality that the Lamb of God has taken away all our sins. 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. The Catholic Church has 3 cycles for each Liturgical Year, which is A,B and C.  This is of significance to me after real...
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CHRISTIAN REVOLUTION

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    Let us not harbor any ill feelings, negative thoughts and guilt in us. It is a very heavy burden that we are needlessly carrying along with us. We may not be fully aware of it but these things are going to pull us down if not abruptly then gradually. Before we even know it we are already stuck in the mud of this vicious and malicious deception of the enemy.    Let us always maintain a good disposition no matter how difficult and wearisome our situations are. Whatever painful or hard situations we are going through right now is just part of God's plan to bring out the best in us. If we stay in faith and turn away from sin with a firm and good heart then we will surely see the path of the Lord very clearly before us. The East San Gabriel/Pomona Valley Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women District Meeting (ACCW) was a very rewarding and productive experience because the speakers were all good. Sister Rose Marie Tulacz of the Sisters of Notre Dame gave a talk entit...
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SHAKE IT OFF

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    If God will make an accounting of all our sins then we will all end up in hell. No one deserves heaven if we will be judged according to human standard. Thank God, He is God. And yet we still have doubts and uncertainties in life. We go through life and encounter so many things that we put our spirits down. God assures in today’s 1 st reading that we need not be disappointed or discouraged for we are depending on a God who is not like man. We can always maintain a high level of confidence that we are a people of God well taken care of. Amen. Hallelujah! Hosea 11: 1-4, 8c-9 ... 9 I will not give vent to my blazing anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again; For I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames consume you. As we continue to be confronted with the mystery of our everyday living, may it gives us a better view and understanding of what life should be all about here on earth. May our perspective about our existence here on earth cont...
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THE COVENANT

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    The cross is not just a sacrifice but God's expression of His desire for love, relationship and a covenant with His people. There are many qualities of the covenant but there are 3 qualities unique only to the Book of Hosea where today's 1st reading is taken from. The time of Hosea which is calculated 721 BC was a hard and difficult time to prophesy. It was when assassinations happened, political upheaval and adulterated worship characterized by mixed worship of Yahweh and Baal was taking place. Hosea's style of prophecy is a parable of married love to describe Yahweh's relationship with His people. Hosea is a proponent of Yahwism. It is a doctrine of repetitious reminder (pescher) to the Jews that Yahweh has only been the savior of the chosen people in their history. The formula of Yahwism:"I am Yahweh who brought you out of Egypt." This evolved into what is later called "Salvation Theology", the covenant. This could be expressed as God after ha...
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TEMPLES

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     Do we have this feeling that we are toiling in vain? Nowadays, some people are working endlessly most especially here in the US but for most of them it's just like work, spend, work cycle and nothing seems to be of worth in what they do. The missing link or the most essential part is to know the driving force behind every action, the wind beneath the wings and the focus of every endeavor which should be for God alone, first and foremost. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and everything will be given to you. Some of us have been very conscious of the food we eat and doing exercise because of some health issues like diabetes, hypertension and the like. Fr. Mitch Pacwa in his homily said that it is important that we take good care of our bodies because it is a temple. The problem lies in the fact that sometimes we are no longer sure if we really make our bodies temples of God. He said that our bodies are made for God and God for our bodies because we are memb...
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BE BRAVE

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    Today’s 1 st reading is taken from Hosea chapter 2 which according to Fr. Tony from our bible study is the key to the whole book. Hosea married Gomer, a prostitute whom he loves but was unfaithful and deserted him. His painful relationship with his wife symbolizes the covenant relationship of God's love and relationship to man. Hosea can be described as a book of relationship and fidelity, God's faithfulness despite our unfaithfulness. Chapters 1-3 is about the life of Hosea focusing on his failed and broken marriage, chapters 4-13 about his preaching, oracles against infidelity and adultery in relation to worship to "Baal", chapter 14 is about the return to hope after judgment. God's fidelity to his people is described in terms of marriage, a divine love, fiery and affectionate for Israel as the "bride of God." From the time of Creation when God created man who fell into sin and became unfaithful, God continuously calls us back to Him in order to s...
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