SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES

  We sometimes make certain decisions that we are not totally sure of and would just have to constantly pray to God for things to turn out for the good. When we have decided to do something that somehow contradicted what we have earlier planned and our decisions bring us to where we are right now and could not help but think that we could have decided otherwise and could have done exactly what we have planned to do but there are some things and issues in our life that we have to confront, live and deal with that make all the difference. Although things did not turn out the way it should have been, we find that it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. We always have to be grateful that we had the chance of being where we are standing right now. We just got to have the faith of Paul in his letter to the Romans that everything works for good for those who love and serve God.    This reminds me of a lady whom I met several years ago. If not for this opportunity, I wouldn’t...

  We have always heard priests use these words in today’s 1st reading to pronounce a blessing to the church people usually during the end of the mass. It always give us a feeling of unexplainable joy and peace in our heart even at times when we just read it and chance upon it in most religious cards, prayer books and the like. Thus, we have always felt good about it. Now we know why. These very words according to the 1st reading are the Lord’s words to Moses, thousands of generations before and still hold the same efficacy that goes with God’s spoken word. It never loses its impact and meaning even up to the present time. Peace is a gift that we get from Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God and through Him we become sons and daughters of God not of the world. The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":(2 Pet 1:4) "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and t...

 It will soon be goodbye to the year 2020 and hello 2021. Today's 1st reading made me think about predestiny. We may have heard about this from people of our faith but it remains a mystery for us. Since I have encountered an argument about this saying that if we have been predestined to be saved then what's the use of striving to do what's good since we are already saved so nothing that we do can change that. We can come up with a lot of debatable issues regarding predestiny and even twist it in accordance to our own personal convictions, beliefs and sad to say for our own conveniences and justification. I believe that what matters most is what truly lies in the unseen and deepest recesses of our hearts where only God can see. Mother Angelica in her EWTN program said to a lady who called that no one has the right to stop her from her devotion like kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament. For it is written in Rom. 14:11, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend be...

  We have to be aware of the fact that we are engaged in a battle every single day of our lives. There is a competition going on whether we admit it or not. It is like a campaign period when everybody is soliciting for our votes. The world continues to lure us with its major attractions that sometimes get a hold of us. One crucial thing that we have to keep in mind is that the battle has already been won but it is up to us to claim the victory for ourselves or be deceived by the false propaganda that this world is continuously campaigning for. Do we truly vote for God or not?    The battle is actually more within ourselves, to follow the ways of God or the world because we have already been assured that whoever does the will of God remains forever. Every now and then we are being confronted with choices and decisions that we have to make. We can not deny the fact that we are still in this world and we exist sometimes in accordance to its demands. Although these things are...

  The recurring words in today's readings speak of light. We may have encountered people who have experienced the saints and heaven and they always have one thing in common to say, they describe the presence of a brilliant light and likewise when people speak of an encounter with evil it is associated with darkness. When we encounter light we develop a sense of joy in us. When we speak of the Lord and proclaimed the Lord it should not just be for the sake of good feelings but most importantly to make us better men and women. Pope Benedict XVI once said in one of the books he has written that what made him believe in what he believes in is the presence of the luminous trail of saints and lives of people who lived as Jesus lived. They served as a light that pierced the darkness in this world. Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Thomas Becket, pray for us. No matter how dark it may seem for as long as we commit to doing what is right and love one another then there is always hope...