SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES

   Jeremiah in today's 1st reading cried out for help to God. Our confidence should also be like his as we call on God in our prayers. He reflects the same kind of trust of a lamb led to slaughter and ultimately that of Jesus on the cross. There will always be discord and chaos for as long as we live. But this is so that we can draw closer to God and learn the perfect act of entrusting everything to God. We can never find real security in this world. We may be rich, powerful and successful but these things can only amount to something if we have totally surrendered our lives to God. Only God can bring about true and lasting happiness and security in our lives. It may be true that these things can bring joy to one's life but only up to a certain point. One day we will find out that all these things will never suffice. The world we are in right now is being presented to us in a way that we almost consider it as the only real thing that exists since it is the one that we can trul...

     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...

        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 oth...

      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 ...

      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...