NO TURNING BACK

   What a mighty God we serve! Whenever God reminds us of who He really is and the kind of God we should choose to follow, obey, serve, praise and love then all our doubts are erased. Our God is greater, stronger and higher than any other. He is awesome in power. Amen. Hallelujah! 

Job 9: 1-12 , 14-16

...4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed? 5 He removes the mountains before they know it; he overturns them in his anger. 6 He shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars beneath it tremble. 7 He commands the sun, and it rises not; he seals up the stars. 8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea. 9 He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south; 10 he does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning.

Sometimes we are tempted not to say our prayers nor make any special effort to be good. It would have been easy to fall into sin and stop befriending God.  We know deep down that it is not a good thought since faith is friendship with God. It is never right to just aim for the bare minimum because that is not what friends do. It is not true that we don't need God. One way to make sure that we don't forget how much we need God is to always ask Him to bless us in all we do. We can do this by offering everything to God. Our works, joys and suffering at the beginning of the day. We must not neglect this and always practice hope. There are many things that we don't understand especially with the things that happen to us. We can always trust that it comes from God. We can turn to God in times of trouble and not run away from our problems. We should rely on our friend Jesus in both good and bad times. No matter what happens we should always lift everything to God in prayers. Day in and day out we should call upon the Lord. We know in our heart that in His great and unequaled love for us we can never outdo what God is doing and can do for us. We have to persevere in our prayers and never get tired nor stop in calling out to God for help. Amen. Hallelujah! 

Psalm 88: 10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15

R: Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

9 [10] Daily I call upon you, O LORD; to you I stretch out my hands...13 [14] But I, O LORD, cry out to you; with my morning prayer I wait upon you. 14 [15] Why, O LORD, do you reject me; why hide from me your face?

If we are just going to look back and recall all the things that have happened in our life then we can never deny the presence of guardian angels as spoken of in today's gospel. God always makes His messages known to us in various ways but He confirms them to us too. God is assuring us that there is no need to be afraid because He directs us always to the right path and if ever we are led astray He constantly searches for us to lead us back to Him. We should remain eternally trusting in our faith in God as a child is with his/her parents. It is faith that must become the foundation of all that we do. If we are just going to look back and recall all the things that have happened in our life then we can never deny the presence of guardian angels as spoken of in today's gospel. There is this very interesting detail I read with regards to the instinctual behavior of oriental breed sheep whenever they get lost. According to this study, upon sensing such a misfortune, they stop their frantic wandering and just stay still. Instead of searching the right way on their own, they prefer to sit still and just wait instead until they are found by the shepherd. This somehow explains how Jesus in today's parable left the 99 in search of the astray. In our own lives we, too experience being lost and led astray. Sometimes we are too wrapped up in our problems and miseries that we just kept on searching for ways and means to get out of it. The more we do this the more exhausted we become and the less likely we find a solution. God our Father and Good Shepherd knows exactly what we are going through and He already figured out what to do. Instead of relying on our own efforts which are obviously no match for God's plan and design we might as well stop our frantic wandering and just stay still if we want God to find us. Another interesting message in today's gospel reading is the fact that the quantity is irrelevant and looks after every person for God cares for each one of us. God wants to put emphasis on this point that He is always with us and knows our deepest thoughts and concerns. Jesus makes all things possible for we are adopted sons and daughters of God.

Amen. Hallelujah!

Matthew 18:1-5. 10.

The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”