SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES

 Is there anything more that God could have done for us that He has not done? After accepting freely, the most humiliating death on the cross more than 2000 years ago, this act of love has not lost its effect and continues to benefit us in the most amazing and unfathomable way. If only we fully accept what Paul is telling us in today's 1st reading then we are all saved. It is a consolation to know that though we are sinners God will always have mercy on us because He knows exactly what our hearts are made of and filled with. We may not be doing the right thing because we are totally unaware of the truth but God will never leave us in our ignorance. I remember one time when I attended a Catholicism Study and learned a lot of things that I thought I already know. I was shocked to find out that even though I was educated as a Catholic from Kinder to College there are still some things that I do not know of yet. Since the times are changing fast there are also other issues in the Churc...

  It is always for the best to consult scriptures and be guided by it.    Let us pray that we all find ourselves bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit as we commit to not only the duties and responsibilities we owe our families but to love them wholeheartedly. It is always for the best to consult scriptures and be guided by it.    Today's 1st reading gives us good instructions as to how we become better Christians every day. As we constantly do this and develop in ourselves a love for it we will just be surprised as to how we will see the words of God take its form through our experiences and come alive in us. It is through our total surrender and acceptance of God’s will in our lives that we can experience perfect peace. No amount of disturbance or chaos should ever push us to the brink of doubt and despair. We should always have the confidence that if God brings us to it, He will bring us through it. The will of God will never take us where the grace of God wi...

  The gift and promise of salvation should be directly proportional to the life we live here on earth. It is not like a seasonal diet that we follow for a specific period of time but one that we are willing to stick to for life. We should not set it aside once the season is over since it should be the kind of lifestyle we should be willing to commit throughout our lifetime. We are recipients of this great gift of salvation and thus we ought to make ourselves worthy and fitting for it. One thing we can be sure of, everything pays off immediately, later or in the end if we constantly seek God in all we do. No matter how tiring or discouraging the way or the road we are traveling which seems to pull us back down and want to give up, not go on or be tempted to take a different direction we simply must keep on going to the road where Jesus leads us. We should remain focused on Christ no matter how many distractions we encounter in our daily lives. I was suddenly reminded of this fr...

    St. Paul  in today’s 1st reading emphasized the importance of holding on to what we have been taught about Jesus our Savior. There are many things in this world that lure us away from Jesus. We’ve got to always focus and not allow ourselves to be carried away by it. We ought to know by now that only Jesus Christ can make us whole and satisfy our souls. The most important of human life is our relationship with God. But every other aspect like our relationship with other people, family, the way we are in the work place and all these things are governed by 7 virtues (faith, hope, love or charity, prudence or wisdom, justice, temperance and courage or fortitude). These virtues we can find in scriptures and see it in the life of saints. Even before God begin to reveal Himself to His people in  Israel , human nature is smart and wise enough to see some things on its own. We, Catholics believe that God gave human beings reason although it sometimes gets darkened by sin ...

     Micah is considered as a young contemporary of Isaiah and well known as the prophet of authentic worship/service to God and social justice. Today's 1st reading is taken from the Book of Micah which speaks of the coming Messiah, the future perfect King of Israel which was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Whenever I hear about people who are able to tell the future I have always been skeptical and never really believed them to be true. But in the case of the prophets like Micah, we can never be in doubt for their prophecies are all confirmed and supported by other prophets in the Old Testament even those who have not lived in the same era. This is what fascinates me most when I started to join the bible study in San Lorenzo especially when presented with the timeline of the bible from the time of Adam and Eve (2000BC), the Patriarchs (1900-1700BC,Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph), Moses (1300-1200BC), the time of the Judges (1100BC), Saul, David and Solomon (1000BC), e...

 One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we should all desire to have is discernment. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit that is being spoken of in today's 1st reading. Let us think about it and ask ourselves who would not like to know God's counsel and conceive what He intends. If we truly ask from the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul then He will surely not withhold it from us. The problem lies in our failure to realize the importance of this gift and tend to neglect and take it for granted. It is available for those who ask as it is written in Matthew 7:7, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Amen. Hallelujah!    Wisdom 9:13-18b 13 Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what our LORD intends? 14 For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans. 15 For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. 16 And sc...

 The understanding that a Creator made the world leads to a fundamental responsibility to it. If everything happened by chance there is a tendency for us to wane in our resolution and our responsibility is deemphasized. When we watch these movies about the end of the world it gives the impression that our world exists by random and we look upon the universe as a product of chance. Everything that exists comes through Jesus. Everything in the universe came through Christ. He is the foundation of all reality. Creation is existent and made through and for Him. It does not exist by chance and is ruled by God and His plan. Aren't we amazed at the love story telenovelas (soap operas) that we usually see on TV especially in the Filipino Channel (TFC). Sometimes we find it hard to believe that people in love could do things out of bounds. And all for the sake of the person he/she loves. But we can not deny the fact that we sometimes also see it happening around us. This kind of love that d...