SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES

   These past few days the 1st readings were all about the prophecies of the birth of Jesus Christ and what never ceases to amaze me is the uniformity of the messages of these prophets from the Old Testament and how they were all fulfilled in the New Testament and is now continuously being celebrated year after year as we all say "Merry Christmas". I have always said this and will never ever get tired of saying this. We have a God who never fail and will always fulfill what He said He would do. This prophecy of Samuel explains why Jesus was often referred to in the scriptures as Son of David. The long history of the chosen people of God speaks of a Messiah whom they have long waited for. The more we get familiar with the scriptures the better our understanding of the prophecies from the Old Testament in connection with the New Testament. The deeper we know more about them the better our amazement and appreciation of how God works in mysterious, wonderful and miraculous ways. ...

     Life is never easy and fair at times.    If we go through trials and hardships and sometimes lose heart when confronted by our doubting and questioning minds then we should always stand firm in our principles and convictions anchored in Jesus. No matter how difficult it may seem we must not lose sight of what kind of suffering Jesus had to go through    and all our problems will fade in the background. Nothing we do in our entire lifetime will ever seem fit for a God who is perfect in countless ways and will always fall short of His glory. We just have to be thankful that God never gives up on anyone of us for He looks not on our sins but on our faithfulness. We always have a choice to improve, move forward and not lag behind. After all the years and experiences God is continuously at work in us and will always look forward to that day when we will come to be with Him, perfected through Jesus and united with Him in His wonderful kingdom in heaven....

      Hannah reminds me a lot of myself when I was pregnant with my son, Jude. And in the same way, Eli reminds me of St. Jude Thaddeus. Just like Hannah I was weeping and praying before the Lord for the life of my unborn son. I religiously attended the novenas of St Jude in Mendiola near  Malacanang   Palace . And again just like Hannah I also made a promise. I prayed to God that if he will be gracious to me through my child I will name him after St. Jude if he will come out as male, since I have asked him to intercede for me in prayers.  God indeed answered my prayer since I gave birth to a healthy and normal baby boy. What's most interesting is that I went past my due date for several days and his birth fell on a Thursday which is the day of devotion for St. Jude in the  Philippines . There was a foreword in Companion written about today's 1st reading which says: "Hannah places her situation before the Lord and Eli also prays for her. She ultimately...

    Sometimes we feel like God is so far away because we do not see Him but today’s 1 st  reading tells us that it is like peeping through the lattices. We don’t see God but by faith we see Him in the midst of the difficulties of life that seem to be like lattices. God invites us like a lover to His beloved.    This is God’s relation to our souls. God’s love for us knows no boundaries. We may acquire for ourselves everything that the world offers but it can not satisfy the immortal soul. It is set on God and we are made to love God. There is this story of a father travelling across the water with his children. They were playing too close to the edge so their father warned them to stay away from the edge. The children ignored him and continued playing until they were knocked over to the side and fell in the water. As any loving father would do, he dived into the water and rescued them despite of their disobedience. This is what Christmas is all about. God dived i...

   Trials, hardships and tribulations are all part of a Christian's life. As gold is tested through fire and so must we if we are indeed true followers of Christ. We may be at a time of difficulty in life when one failure and one disappointment come after another like an endless stream of misfortunes as a person of this world may view it. There are times when we resort to ungodly practices and get carried away by the lure of the extraordinary that arouses our curiosity and wonder. Sometimes we justify our acts by saying that it's just for the fun of it. We do not realize that we are exposing ourselves to danger and allowing the power of the dark side to get a hold of us. We simply take these things for granted and it's a pity that we fail to grasp more than anything else the wonderful and awesome truth of a God who became man for His great love for us. There is nothing more exciting, fun filled and awesome than the truth in this song that says that we have a God who is mind...