SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES

    Life is too short to waste on things that will only bring grief and trouble. We should be careful on how we live our life and be responsible for our every action. If we can not undo some things, we can certainly make things work for the better. We have been equipped by the Lord and let us no longer become ignorant of this. We are able to tap into the ever flowing stream of God's Holy Spirit which bears endless fruits of love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. Amen. Hallelujah! Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8 ...Ward off grief from your heart and put away trouble from your presence,... We are destined for much greater things than we can see right now. Thus we should set our goals higher than what people normally aim for in this life. Let us not reach the end of our lives regretting what we should have done or not and do what we have to do right now. We marvel at the capability of the human mind to function the way it was made to be but how

    We may be going through some kind of difficulty at this time and there seems to be no end to it. It may feel like everything has turned against us and there is no way out. When things are looking bad it is always good to focus on this very popular statement of Fr. Gerry Orbos from the  Philippines , "There is a reason and a mission and everything is in transition wag na makunsumisyon." The last 3 words in Tagalog can be translated as "do not fret."    God answers all our prayers and never ignores us. He will never leave us confused and groping in the dark. There may be days when we have been getting sure ball and direct messages from the Lord but we may also have a lot of things going on in our mind and we can't help having some regrets and think if we had not done what we've done, did otherwise then things may have been different. We start to doubt whether we did the right thing and it may even cross our    mind, we should have been better off if we did

   I have often heard a similar line from today's 1st reading in the movies, stories that I read and even from people in real life. These are words of desperation of a person after having worked and done everything and yet in the end nothing seems to amount to anything at all.    When we give in to despair, a defeatist attitude and forget the truth that God can always make everything work for good then we can also ask ourselves the same question. Why do we work so hard and for what is it all about. Is it just about the money, the fame, power, sense of self fulfillment or just for the sake of being useful and doing something. Nothing is wrong with all these things for as long as we keep the balance or not let it rule over us. As we go through our life we find that we live like most people do. Living a good and abundant life is what we ought to do. This is what God wants us to have so as to reflect His goodness. As in John 10:10, " ...I came so that they might have life and have

    The 1st reading today reminded me of the bible study we had in St. Lorenzo Ruiz with Fr. Tony Astudillo. He illustrated to us the ushering of Jesus Christ in the New Testament by establishing a time line from the time of Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, the time of Exile until the birth of our Lord Jesus. He also mentioned Ezra as one of the prophets after the exile who were considered as ministers who promote the rebuilding of the temple and obedience to the laws. There is a trend that follows the period of exile. Prophets before the exile were giving warnings or forth telling instead of foretelling so as to avoid the worst circumstances if they continue to disobey God. In exile, the prophets presented the existing situation as a product of their disobedience but gave hope to the people that God has not abandoned. True enough during the time after the exile, prophets like Ezra and Nehemiah who are considered as historical books in the bible, with a nationalistic tenden

    I am reminded once again of the vision I saw many years ago at St. Martha's Church. It was the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It appeared to me, as I looked at it a few meters away, like Jesus was extending his arm offering His heart on his hand. So I asked Tita Piling who was with me at that time if that is a statue of the Sacred Heart because I had never seen like one before with the heart of Jesus being offered in His hand, and she simply nodded her head.    To my surprise when I came close to the statue the day after that was when I realized that it was indeed the Sacred Heart of Jesus on His chest but not as I had seen. A lot of people may find it hard to believe that I had seen Jesus holding His heart on His extended hand but the eyes of my faith can not deny but proclaim God's miracle for His greater glory. I really felt God's love being offered to me as symbolized by His heart held on His extended hand. It is indeed very consoling. I felt so relieved to be

  What today's readings are telling us make perfect sense. They are simple and logical. It doesn't require anyone to be well educated and learned in order to understand them. It's just a matter of yes or no and do or don't. Everything is very clearly stated and no one can ever deny its applicability in all circumstances. If we say yes to it and do what it tells us then we can expect the blessings of God flowing to us freely and openly without any hindrances. Just imagine the sun and the rain, it shines and falls on anybody without fail unless we cover ourselves to prevent it from coming to us. The same is true with God's blessings. The things that are stopping it are the defenses that we put up for ourselves. It's like we want to stay away from the heat and warmth of the sun and avoid being drenched by the rain. We do not realize that allowing ourselves to bathe in the warmth of the sun and the rain drops is the best way to enjoy the goodness that they bring to

  I am reminded once again of this telenovela in The Filipino Channel (TFC) entitled "Tayong Dalawa" It was the part where a mother (Marlene, portrayed by Cherry Pie Picache) was kneeling before God and crying out loud because of the depressing events that are happening in her life one after another especially with her 3 sons. First was the death of her mother, then her good son almost beaten to death coupled with her 2 other sons shooting each other and left the other son good as dead. She was blaming God for all the bad things that are happening and was even challenging God to just get all her 3 sons. She was in a very depressed mood and though it was just a telenovela we can not deny the fact that we sometimes fall into the trap of the enemy by thinking that it is God causing all the bad things to happen in our life. We have this image of a punishing God who would inflict us pain whenever we did something wrong. Today's 1st reading is a kind of an eye opener for us tha

     I've been privileged to watch shows about our Blessed Mother Mary and almost all of the other shows in EWTN have always something about her. Mama Mary just celebrated her Feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows (Sept. 15). We have a mother in Mary who understands every single sorrow and anguish we are going through. There is nothing that she wouldn’t understand because she experienced the killing of her son. Mary accepted to become Mother of Jesus whom only a woman full of grace is highly honored and privileged to be called. When she responded "Yes" and obediently accepted the plan of God in her life she faithfully submitted to God's will like a handmaid to her master. She did not only accept the honor and privilege that goes with it but also the 7 sorrows which pierced her heart. She left us an example of how we should ponder in our hearts, the word of God that is being conveyed to us through our daily lives. We are God's children and He is calling us in the same w