SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES

    I am suddenly reminded of the time when we attended the Bible Study in  San Lorenzo  and it was the last of the series of talks about the Book of Mark. It focused on the 4th and last pillar of Mark's gospel which is the Markan Community (Communal/Sod) It is like any other community, human, broken and shared. A story of failed discipleship which can be found in Peter who denied Jesus 3x, Judas, the betrayer, James and John who were so ambitious and insensitive and so many others that can be found in the bible. A community of all and not dictated by race whether Jew or Gentile. The community gives special attention to the weak and helpless. There is strength in the community in spite of its brokenness. It tells us that the apostasy of Peter was committed when he was alone which tells us that it is not good for man to be alone. I guess we can learn from these famous lines, "I am at my best when I'm in a relationship." "Suffering is the best teacher." "...

 The 1st reading for today contains one of my most cherished and favorite bible passages. This is also found in the lyrics of a Christian song entitled, "Dios ay Pag-ibig" meaning God is love which is also the favorite song of my nanay (mother). She already passed away and her birthday was last Oct. 21. Every time I encounter this bible passage I am always reminded of how strong the faith of my mother was. It is one of the reasons why I grew up with the same kind of conviction that she has in the kind of love that God has for us. There is nothing to fear as we travel the road leading us to the path to Jesus. We are safe and secure in the promises of God our Savior. Amen. Hallelujah! Romans 8:31b-39 What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who acquits us… For...

   God's daily assurance to us is written in the 1 st  reading today. We should be thankful to God that with each passing day He never fail to remind us of His love and mercy    that no matter what happens we should continue to be hopeful in the promises of God our Savior. I would like to share with you these words of wisdom in Sabbath magazine which I am fully convinced and agree with 100%. THE PROMISES OF GOD FOR US Romans Chapter 8 is the centerpiece of Pauline theology on the nature of Christian life as we should live it. Verses 28-30, talks about the promises that God made long ago to make us all as it were the eldest of many brothers — that is, we receive the fullness of the inheritance that God has for us. (Under Jewish Law, the eldest son inherited virtually everything and it was his responsibility to provide for his siblings.) Paul tells us that for those who have faith in God, whatever situations we encounter in life will turn to our good. This may be ...

      I love this song. "God's got an army. It's marching through this land. Deliverance is their song. There's healing in their hands. There's everlasting joy and gladness in their hearts. And in this army I've got a part!" When I first heard it I felt like I really want to belong. Well, it is our mission and call. We should really belong. It is nice to know that we are part of a family whom we can call our own and get support from. All of us want to belong to a family which can be a source of inspiration, love and strength. Today's 1st reading tells us that we are blessed that aside from the family that we have been born with we also have a holy family in which we become members of the household of God. It can be told, we are God's children and dwelling place. Thus we ought to do everything in our power to make ourselves pleasing and holy before the Lord. When we speak of physically constructing something like a temple we've got to have all t...

      We are engaged in a battle that has been won but does not stop there since we have to always put on our guard for the enemy does not rest. The whole process of being saved is "justification".  Man is saved by God's grace alone based on Catechism of the Cathollic Church (CCC )1996. Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. The 1 st  reading for today clearly speaks of God's tremendous power manifested in the Spirit that dwells in us. Wow, we are heirs of God, it makes me think of rich families who leave vast properties to their heirs and people will always say how fortunate those people are being left with such an inheritance. In the same way we should realize the inheritance being handed over to us by God our Father. Every inheritance has its conditions and with God's we are...

 Sometimes we encounter disappointments in life in the form of favoritisms when we turn out to be the person who is not the favorite. It is so disheartening for all of us especially if it is very obvious and puts us in a humiliating way that hurts our ego. It is already a big deal in itself but to love and care for a person who does not reciprocate our feelings and disregards it in favor of another person is much worse. We can't help but feel bad about it. We know that feeling this way does not make things better nor would it change how others should feel about us in a genuine kind of way. This should not put us down. God knows our heartaches and longings. By knowing that He knows no favorites because we are all God’s favorites should make all the difference and what matter most. I am an orphan but I have always been reminded by nanay when she was still living that orphans and widows are special to God. I have never felt in want although my father died when I was just 3 yrs old and...

   We associate a lot of things to places where we live. How about associating things to ourselves by examining closely who lives in us. We are without a trace of any doubt as proclaimed in today's 1st reading a dwelling place of God. Just like any other places where we can live, if the conditions are no longer favorable, or we are forced to relocate due to work reasons, buy a new house and move to a place where we can call our own and other reasons we can all think about when transferring to a new place to live.  Lately I have been reading about the importance of our gut microbiome and how it can affect our health. Depending on these residents/gut microbes that live in our gut, studies show that all diseases start in the gut or good health flourish when we have good microbiome. What we feed grow so there’s a need to eat healthy to keep these good microbiome in our gut.  Sometimes we can use this analogy to ourselves as God's dwelling place. Are we trying our best to...