STRAIGHT INTO THE EYE

 No figure of speech can actually depict the beauty and glory contained in the Word of God. You may have read numerous stories and poems, or even watched lots of movies with very inspiring and beautiful content but all of them is just part and parcel of, a glimpse of or just a tiny bit of the real message which is the enormous love in God's Word. Is there a promise or word of God that holds a special place in our hearts? If we do then we can always be assured that what it says it will surely deliver and fulfill. Sometimes things do not appear and happen the way we expect it to be. It should not discourage us but rather be firm in our convictions that God's word and promise remains forever. Amen. Hallelujah!

1 Peter 1:18-25
...“All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the field; the grass withers, and the flower wilts; 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”...

If we claim to be true followers and believers of our Lord Jesus Christ then we can put a claim on these same blessings and privileges bestowed on the chosen people of God. No poet, writer or artist can ever describe in words or paint in canvass the love of God. For the immensity of its beauty and glory is immeasurable and beyond understanding.
Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
R: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
...For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. (R) 14 He has granted peace in your borders; with the best of wheat he fills you. 15 He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs his word! (R) 19 He has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. 20 He has not done thus for any other nation; his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia...

Today's gospel makes it clear to us that we have to purify our motives and intentions before we do something. Sometimes we fall into the trap of doing something in exchange of something or we are driven to action by the fact that there is a catch to it. These things should only come as a result of our action but not the main driving force of our action. What should keep as going is the truth that Jesus, the Son of God, King of all kings and Lord of all lords came to earth to serve and became ransom for our sins. God's greatest expression of love is a masterpiece. He suffered His only Son for our sake. Is there anything more that God could do for us that He has not done? The least we can do right now is to look into the life model and example that Jesus left for us. Know everything there is to know about our God who stripped Himself of His Kingship and Royalty to become like us. Fr. Mitch Pacwa said that what God did for us was like that of a big tall man who knelt down on the floor so as to look into the eye of a small baby crawling on the floor. God wanted to be able to be with us and look at us straight into the eye while He says, "I love you" which is directly aimed at our hearts. Once we've realized this and done everything with the best of our efforts then there's nothing else that could stop us from adoring and praising our One, True God who gave His all for us. In the gospel, we find that it is the 3^rd time in Mark’s that Jesus mentioned about His prediction of His Cross. This one being the strongest as He said, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.” The whole point here is that Jesus saves the world through His passion, death and resurrection and the disciples are to share with Him in this Paschal Mystery. This is the point that we miss, James and John are no different for they did not understand. They wanted to be seated in the right and left or be in a position of authority and power. We recall in Luke 9:54, When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?" We can see from here that they want success and domination. Somehow we can not blame them for thinking this way. They have been obedient servants and had witnessed the transfiguration. They are especially close to Jesus that they had aspired for these great things. There was a misunderstanding of Jesus’ teachings. In this particular scene, James and John only saw the glory but failed to see the Calvary. Aren't we all guilty of the same attitude sometimes? We only want the fame, glory and power but dismiss the hardships that go with it. When Jesus came from heaven to earth to show the way He did not bypass or made a short cut he went through it all, the passion, death and resurrection. We should not want Jesus just because of our own personal agenda. The Kingdom of God must be viewed through the lens of Jesus as Prophet, Priest and King but not one seated on the throne but hanging on the cross. Pope Benedict XVI said in his book that we are to aspire for one thing that is the sharing in His Passion without expecting anything in return. We should not think of what we can get out of it and search for power and success. It is not about dominating and wielding authority like what most people look for in the world. The heart of Christianity is in giving of ourselves. When we do things in our life like providing for our children, sometimes the routine of it all becomes so tiring. We have to realize that it’s the path to holiness. Our service done in a disinterested way without expecting anything in return should be the mindset of Christians. We follow the example of Jesus who drunk the cup filled by our sins. As in Isaiah 53:4-5, “Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.” The way of the cross that we experience in our lives is determined by God. It is the Father’s will that we follow as we abandon ourselves to God. We conform ourselves to His will because our path is not something we engineered but something that we follow in accordance to God’s will. We can glory in our infirmities in bearing our daily cross in union with our Lord Jesus Christ. Although there were conflicts among the people in the Church, as it usually does, they were able to go past it and built the Church. These things as I’ve mentioned earlier, can be considered as the agitation in the grain of sand in the clam which eventually turned into a priceless pearl. This anxiety among these people of God brought about the spread of the Church in various places for they were divided into 2 groups and were able to evangelize in 2 different places at one time. God saw to it that everything turned out for the good. Mark’s gospel emphasizes this truth that despite the brokenness of the people the Church of God, the community still survived which is evident to this very day.  Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 10:32-45

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 He replied, “What do you wish [me] to do for you?” 37 They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" ...whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; 44 whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”