THE FORMULA OF A HAPPY LIFE

 The commandments are not given to us to limit our freedom but in fact it is the formula for a truly happy life and enhances our freedom even more. Imagine someone driving in the freeway and the kind of scenario if there are no rules and regulations to be followed. There would be a lot of chaos. Can we imagine leaving our children in a day care with a playground without any fences? These are the words of our Apologetics teacher who shared to us the guidelines to a truly happy life. These rules help us enjoy life and have more peace and joy. God's commandments can be outlined as principles of moral life (CCC 2033: The Magisterium of the Pastors of the Church in moral matters is ordinarily exercised in catechesis and preaching, with the help of the works of theologians and spiritual authors. Thus from generation to generation, under the aegis and vigilance of the pastors, the "deposit" of Christian moral teaching has been handed on, a deposit composed of a characteristic body of rules, commandments, and virtues proceeding from faith in Christ and animated by charity. Alongside the Creed and the Our Father, the basis for this catechesis has traditionally been the Decalogue which sets out the principles of moral life valid for all men.)

They are but One Law of Love (Jn. 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.; 1 Jn 4:20 If anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God 5 whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.; CCC 2055: When someone asks him, "Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?"8 Jesus replies: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets."9 The Decalogue must be interpreted in light of this twofold yet single commandment of love, the fullness of the Law. The commandments: "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.) They do not limit but protect freedom. To the extent that you can follow the 10 commandments and become free. Since the more we disobey the more we become bound and become a slave of sin.

Jesus came not to destroy but to fulfill the law of the prophets. He came that we may life and have it abundantly. We have to exceed the letter of the law and know that the Spirit of the law gives life and understand it better. St. Augustine said, "Love and obey God then do what you will." We must be united to the will of God to the best of our abilities in order to always be aligned to His will. Jesus unfolds all the demands of the commandments. (Mt. 5:20 I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.) He freed us from 613 regulations of the Torah.

The Opus Dei means "The Work of God" and in everything we do God should be in it and participating in it. We have to go beyond what is written in the law. An example was about righteous anger and unrighteous anger. The latter is no different than killing since hatred is also homicide of the heart. When we hate a person even if we don't kill them physically we are still guilty of killing that person in our hearts.

GOD'S LAW MAKES US LIVE A VIRTUOUS LIFE (CCC 1803 "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Deuteronomy 6:2-6
 Moses spoke to the people, saying: “Fear the Lord, your God and keep, throughout the days of your lives, all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you, and thus have long life. Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that you may grow and prosper the more, in keeping with the promise of the Lord, the God of your fathers, to give you a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.”

It is from our love for God that we should gather our strength. We should focus on that alone and everything will follow. There is no doubt that God has already won the crown for us, all we have to do is defend our title as heirs of the kingdom of God from the snatchers of this grace. Show forth God's power in our lives. All we need to do is always call upon the Lord and we are safe. We are constantly beset by troubles in life but we should never forget that God is always with us and for us to win all our battles. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 18: 2-3, 3-4, 47, 51(2 )

R: I love you, Lord, my strength.

1 [2] I love you, O LORD, my strength, 2 [3] O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. (R) My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold! 3 [4] Praised be the LORD, I exclaim, and I am safe from my enemies...

50 [51] You who gave great victories to your king and showed kindness to your anointed.

Jesus is always there to save. He sanctifies us and makes us holy. Holiness is one of the being of God or God is holiness Himself. Being with contact with God makes us live, we can not touch God on our own. He was the one who came down to us. We see in the Old Testament the cultic practices that they have to do as stated in the 2^nd reading, in order to be in contact with God. On the day of atonement, a high priest go to the holy of holies. God’s mysterious presence is simply uncontainable. An altar is sometimes referred to as God’s footstool. Pope Benedict XVI said that this rite is an expression of the desire to cast off sins. This appointed contact of God and man took place in the cross of Christ which took away our sins. It allowed human wretchedness and God’s Holiness to meet. God touches us today through material things, the outward sign of water and wine in the Holy Eucharist, in the water in Baptism, the oil in the Anointing, the Holy Orders and all other sacraments. This is what helps us to touch Him 2000 years later. We touch the Divine, through the sacraments and the proclamation of God’s word. This is how we make contact with God. Jesus makes us holy through the sacraments and builds us as a people of God. The priest is the representative of Christ here on earth. We, the baptized also share in the priesthood of Christ. He calls some to be with Him in the Holy Orders as stewards of the ministries in His mediation of the people to God. As in John 20:21, “He who receives you receives God who sent me. As the Father sent me so I sent you. “ Acts 6:6-7, They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them. The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly; even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.  Acts 20:28, Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood. 1Tim 4:14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate,” These are passed on gifts for the continuation of the Kingdom of God. Amen. Hallelujah!

Hebrews 7:25-8:6

 25 Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them. 26 It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. 27 He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests, but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law, appoints a son, who has been made perfect forever.

In today's gospel Jesus said to the man who answered with understanding that the kingdom  of God is not far from him. We may wonder why He didn't say he belong to the kingdom of God instead. It's because there's still a lot of work to do after the understanding is the part where we live it which comprises the greater challenge. Things that are happening around us may not be very pleasing and acceptable the way we all wanted it to be. Life is never easy but there is really no need to complicate it further by trying to figure it out and rationalize it with our limited minds and comprehension. When Jesus ascended to heaven He has promised to send us the Helper and the Comforter. Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to endow us with the gift of understanding so that we can truly appreciate and grasp in our minds the true and most essential things that should matter in the Kingdom of God. The gospel is known to all people whether learned or not because it is the law that God has inscribed in our hearts. The problem lies in the hardening of our hearts and pollution of our minds. Whenever we allow ourselves to stray farther away from God and fall deeper into the pit of sin then it becomes very difficult for us to always grasp this truth. It helps to always be in touch with this truth so we don't end up forgetting and neglecting it the way we usually do when we are bombarded with so many different and contradicting things that we encounter every day. It is a wise move to take advantage of every opportunity God is sending our way to always be surrounded by God's reminders instead of being carried away by the world's enticing but empty promises. We've often heard people say that in a relationship we should never put everything in it and should leave some for ourselves. This is quite true in a way because we can only give what we have and if we end up empty and with nothing at all left to ourselves then we become unable to love anybody in the process. But with God, the more we love Him, the fuller and more abundant we become thus enabling us to fulfill all other things. With God we are sure that we have invested our love wisely and will surely not lose. We are called to a response to love God and be an instrument of this love to the world and build a civilization of love. We should enthrone Christ as the king of our homes and daily live out the beating of the sacred heart of Jesus. It is not just a call but a command to commit to consecrate our lives to higher goals for our salvation. We enthrone the sacred heart of Jesus in our homes because He is king of our homes.  Everything that we do should have reference to Him. We make an effort to love His holy name, His sacred heart and speak of His sacred love. We have to keep on believing and always on fire. When we look at the world we can easily fall into despair but we can do otherwise and bring hope and build a civilization of love through the sacred heart of Jesus. Souls on fire are ignited through the experience of our love for the Lord. We need to be always aware of who we receive especially during Holy Communion so we can grow and be instruments of His love, that’s our mission. We need to be part of the Christian revolution and be a builder of a civilization of love. Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 12:28-34

28 One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” 29 Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ 33 And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.