God longs for our embrace and wants us to love Him back so that we can be the people He calls His own. Just think of how parents used to say all the nice things to their children as if no one else compares and what this famous saying implies “the face only a mother could love” or if not yet a parent then think of a student who is an alma mater of a school and this famous cliché, “love your own”. This is the kind of affection which could probably describe how God feels for us, no matter how imperfect we are. Amen. Hallelujah!
Jeremiah 13: 1-11
...I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD; to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty...
We have unforgettable experiences in life which remains etched in our memories no matter how long it may have been. These experiences whenever we remember them may cause us to recall too, the emotions and feelings that go with it and elicit from us a smile, laughter or tears. If we are to dwell on the truth that Jesus gave up His life for our sake, His Father suffered His only Son to serve as ransom for our deliverance and His Holy Spirit descended from Heaven, dwelt in us and always with us then we will never forget and will always remember. Today's psalm reading is taken from Deuteronomy and could have been written thousand of years ago even before the time of Jesus Christ. But its message still resounds to this very day. People nowadays are acting as if there is no God with the way they go about with their lives. This reminds me of the Catholicism talk of Fr. Barron in EWTN. He said that there are 4 things that Jesus despised on the cross. These are the things which we typically seek. It is sad to see how we sometimes put our loyalty in such things without realizing that everything comes from God and He should be first. The main point is detachment. We should look to our Lord on the cross and despise what He despised on the cross, wealth, pleasure, power and honor. Wealth, He has none of it, He was stripped naked even of His clothes. Pleasure, He was at the limit of physical and psychological suffering. Power, he was nailed on the cross. Honor, he was mocked as he was publicly displayed and crucified. On the cross, he is the ultimate peace maker and the bringer of divine mercy. If Thomas Aquinas is right then Jesus on the cross is a picture of a happy man. He is the personification of the beatitudes. In order to be truly happy then we have to despise what He despised on the cross and love what He loved on the cross, to do the will of His Father. We should never take God for granted and start to think of all the good things He has done for us. Let us not become like Israel and Judah who turned their backs on God. It is sad to see how they put their loyalty in fame, honor, power and riches without realizing that everything comes from God and He should be first. Amen. Hallelujah!
Deuteronomy 32:18-19, 20, 21
R: You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, You forgot the God who gave you birth. 19 When the LORD saw this, he was filled with loathing and anger toward his sons and daughters...What a fickle race they are, sons with no loyalty in them!” (R) 21 “Since they have provoked me with their ‘no-god’ and angered me with their vain idols, I will provoke them with a ‘no-people’; with a foolish nation I will anger them.”
Today is the feast day of St. Martha and I must admit that she is one of the saints who is close to my heart. First and foremost because of the fact that St. Martha's Church has become my official parish since I arrived here in the US. It is where I have gone for daily masses the most. She is a hardworking prayer intercessor who never stops in her labor for the service of God. Just like St. Martha we should all be firm believers that God answers all our prayers no matter how impossible it may be. Although the qualities of St. Martha depicted in a certain bible passage where she complained to the Lord that she is the one doing all the work does not speak very well of her we could still learn something from it. We should look at the example of the industrious and service oriented attitude of St. Martha especially when our lazy and careless sides get the better of us. It happens to the best of us when we sometimes run away from work and hesitate to be involved. As we make ourselves available for God's work we too like St. Martha in today's gospel can eventually transcend from that worried and anxious woman to a person of faith. When we are totally surrendered to the will of God nothing or no one should drive us to fear not even death itself. This is because we are confident of the saving power of God. He will never lead us to where His love can not reach us. We can always be assured of the loving arms of our Savior. Amen. Hallelujah!
John 11:19-27
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 [But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”...
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