SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES

      Trials, hardships and tribulations are all part of a Christian's life. As gold is tested through fire and so must we if we are indeed true followers of Christ. We may be at a time of difficulty in life when one failure and one disappointment come after another like an endless stream of misfortunes as a person of this world may view it. There are times when we resort to ungodly practices and get carried away by the lure of the extraordinary that arouses our curiosity and wonder. Sometimes we justify our acts by saying that it's just for the fun of it. We do not realize that we are exposing ourselves to danger and allowing the power of the dark side to get a hold of us. We simply take these things for granted and it's a pity that we fail to grasp more than anything else the wonderful and awesome truth of a God who became man for His great love for us. There is nothing more exciting, fun filled and awesome than the truth in this song that says that we ha...

    If we take time to study about the bible and our faith then we will discover things we never knew existed before. We will come to a deep and profound understanding of it which will bring us to greater heights in terms of our knowledge of God. This will lead us to love and service in a very meaningful way. Do you know that there is a commandment before the Decalogue or 10 commandments of God? Yes, there is and it is called Pre-Sinai. It is noteworthy that today's 1st reading points to the reason behind this. I learned this from a Lenten Retreat. When the people of Israel complained to God, He sent them quail and manna as their food in the desert. Every morning they gathered food from the ground and whenever they get more than they could eat for a day they discovered the following morning that the excess got spoiled or rotten. The moral lesson of this commandment is social justice. We should remove greed in our midst and learn to care for others. We should also liv...

     The story of Susanna in today's 1st reading tells us that we are always confronted with choices and decisions to make in our lives. Although hers was a matter of life and death and of a grave and serious matter we should not take for granted the fact that daily we are given choices and decisions to make that reflect and speak of our stand in life. We may have been praying to God for guidance and direction for a specific intention and it was not easy that although some things are already obvious and implied we still have to consider one important thing which is to be patient and learn how to wait. We may have the impression that we are already bombarded by signs and instances that point to a decision but trusting and waiting for the right time before we act on something is always good. This could teach us a lot of things especially with our impatient nature that always seek for immediate and instant results. Just like Susanna although she will be justified in whatever...

    The readings for today permeate the truth about life and death. In Ezekiel’s vision which is from today's 1st reading, he saw the release of the Jews from their captivity which is likened to rising from the dead. It is a promise that they will experience new life that springs from God's own spirit. The same is true for us, when our battle on earth is over, then we, too can settle upon the land and kingdom that God has prepared for us. We may all be going through some kind of difficulty in our lives and things look like they will not get any better. When we come to this point and feel like the world is crumbling right before our eyes then we can always remember these powerful words in today's 1st reading. Ezekiel prophesied to the dry bones and saw before his very eyes the rattling bones that came together. Bone joining bone, sinews and the flesh came upon them, the skin covered them, the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army. These may ...