SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES

  Have you ever experienced feeling so down and out? It's like heading for doom and destruction. It seems so hopeless and discouraging, not wanting to go on with life and just succumb to depression and defeat. Today's 1st reading is a prophecy of the plot of trying to put Jesus to death and this is way before the incarnation took place. According to Bishop Sheen the spirit of enmity is not only present when Jesus lived but as long as time endured. There are people who were persecuted and forgotten when they died but the hatred of the world and against Jesus lives on. It is still happening today. This is because He is alive. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. We should never be discouraged and rather be strong as we are reminded how the only begotten Son of God, the Ruler, Creator and Majestic King of heaven and earth was put to the test, condemned unjustly, tortured, and    accepted a humiliating death on a cross all because of God's great love for all of us. W...

     We read in today’s 1 st  reading a reference to the stiff necked nature of the  Israel  people and the contrast as Moses displays a deep friendship with God as he speaks in behalf of his people. The  Israel  people thought he’s not coming back. Despite of the wonders that their very eyes have seen they had the nerve to complain, gripe and abandon God. They were grumbling against God. It is an apostasy, abandonment and rejection of the faith that they had been entrusted. They forgot the God who had saved them. Somehow this reminds us of ourselves, midway in this season of lent. Here we are in our own desert, we sometimes very quickly think that God has abandoned us. In the middle of fasting, penance and prayer we quickly forget God who has saved us, abandon and reject our faith in our living of life today. Sometimes we feel guilty about something that we didn't directly or indirectly cause. Or we feel responsible for the actions of other peopl...

   The love of God knows no limits. The song, “Hindi Kita Malilimutan” (“I will never forget you” in English) is taken from today’s 1st reading. I am a mother myself and I could not imagine forgetting my infants, (I had 2, now fully grown ) or be without tenderness for them and I couldn’t even come close to being perfect. So every time I hear it and basing from this love I have    for my sons, I just can’t help feeling that gush of emotion coming from the fact that even if a mother forgets and be without tenderness for her baby, God does not forget and does not cease to love us with an immeasurable love. This also reminded me of the dream I had about my mother. It happened many years ago but it is still clearly etched in my mind. I was in a hurry to leave and she just stopped me right there and gave me a tight embrace. It was so real I could almost feel her arms around me and my arms embracing her back. Once again I felt the love and care that my mother used to showe...

   If we stay connected to God then there is really nothing we should worry about. Today's 1st reading describes fruit trees of every kind growing with their leaves never fading nor their fruit ever failed. God provides for all our needs and this is a reality that most of us sometimes fail to realize. Whenever things do not turn out the way we expected it to happen we end up searching for other sources or worst decide to do things our way instead of staying within the sanctuary of God. We should not stray from the right path for God will not just provide for our needs but make us a source of blessing for others, too. When it is orange and lemon season we can harvest bags of these fruits from our backyard. We are so generous in giving them away because we have very productive fruit bearing trees and it seemed like it doesn't run out of fruits to harvest. We would fill up big garbage bags and harvest as much as 3-4 bags. Just imagine how many fruits our trees bear. It is so amaz...

  When we come to a situation when we are not getting any good advice as to what we should do next while the unpredictable turn of events made matters worse then we feel trapped.    This happens when our waiting period has been unusually long and delayed already for a very unreasonable time and some are already having doubts and speculations as to the outcome of our present situation. Despite all the negative things that are up coming we continue to hold on to God's word and promise. We may not have expected things to happen the way it did and as we try to look back and recall what we could have done or not, we have to come to the realization that if we have done what God has led us to do and decided then we can be at peace like the royal official in today's gospel who believed what was told of him. Due to the urgency of his request which is a matter of life and death since his child is dying, he was expecting Jesus to go with him. He could have insisted on it but instead...

  The Lord gives and the Lord takes. But if He takes something from us there is always a reason and it is always for the best. It doesn't matter whether we realize and understand this or not what matters is the truth that God gave up His only Son for our sake and there is nothing more that God could do for us that He wouldn't do. Amen. Hallelujah! Joshua 5:9a, 10-12 ...No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the  land  of  Canaan . The considered powerful and mighty of this world is what appear to be the blessed and favored ones as far as human logic and reason are concerned. The exact opposite of what Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount and Plain (Beatitudes) in the gospels. A lot of people find it difficult to really understand the beatitudes since it contradicts the values of this world we live in. The poor, weak, hungry and sorrowing are called blessed. This may not sound acceptable for everybody and would even go aro...