House on a Rock

How strong is your foundation? The readings today http://usccb.org/bible/readings/120111.cfm remind us how important having a strong foundation is.

The gospel says that a house built on a rock cannot be destroyed by rain, flood, and wind… Having a strong foundation enables us to withstand these challenges that could destroy others - like a house built on sand.

Who is our foundation? Who is the rock upon we should build our house? The first reading says that the Lord is an eternal Rock. Is it important to trust in Him? the psalm says that it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man… How do we build our foundation, The gospel says we should listen AND ACT upon God’s words. It is not enough to recognize God. Satan recognizes God as well – but he does not follow God. We should recognize God and follow His ways. Hindi pwedeng puro realizations. Hindi pwedeng puro lip service. We should act, follow God’s will in our lives.

May we work towards building our house on a rock, a solid foundation.

God bless!

Yes, Lord!

Today’s  gospel http://usccb.org/bible/readings/113011.cfm is a reminder to respond with a “yes” to God’s call.

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.

Peter, Andrew, James and John – the first four apostles, and Jesus’ closest ones, said yes to him when he called them. No questions asked. It might be hard to imagine this. They were fishermen, what do they know about being fishers of men? But when Jesus called them, they immediately left everything to follow Him. Yes, siguro iba talaga pag si Jesus physically, personally, ang tumawag sayo. Siguro hindi rin alam ng apostles bakit sila nag yes agad. But they did, and it changed their lives forever.

Jesus may not be with us physically right now, but he never ceases to call us. He always gives us a chance to serve Him, to follow Him. It’s just up to us how we would respond. There are so many reasons preventing us from giving God our Yes. Like a lady having qualifications or characteristics waiting to be met before giving her yes to a suitor, minsan ganun din tayo. We are sometimes waiting for the perfect time to serve or give our yes to God. Pag mas madami na akong time. Pag mas may pera na ako. Pag may na accomplish na ako sa career ko. Kapag mas magaling na ako… Unfortunately, these can easily trap us. It’s not easy to be contented, so sometimes we have the tendency not to realize that we have more than enough already. More importantly, Jesus doesn’t need these things. These self-imposed things are sometimes just our excuse for not serving Him. Jesus just wants our Yes to him. Again, Jesus just needs our availability, he will provide the ability.

IT would be easier to say Yes when we have great faith in God. How do we improve ours? The first reading tells us how. Thus faith comes from what is heard,
and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. May we continuously make an effort to build our faith by praying, by taking about Him, by getting to know Him more. Then it would definitely be a lot easier to say yes to Him.

Have a blessed day!

Peace

The readings today http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112911.cfm gives us a glimpse of how it will be in God's time...

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

The calf and the young lion shall browse together,

with a little child to guide them.

The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,

together their young shall rest;

the lion shall eat hay like the ox.

The baby shall play by the cobra's den,

and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair.

There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;

for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,

as water covers the sea.

What a peaceful world it will be.  All will live in harmony despite the differences. But we will not look forward to this, we will not believe it, if we are full of ourselves. If we are focused and too much engrossed on today, on the here and now. In the gospel, Jesus says the childlike will benefit from God. The childlike, which puts all his faith in God the father, fully relying on Him, will attain the fullness of life.

When things are gloomy, when life gets so stressful, let us take comfort in God’s word. His time will come. Peace will  come. Let’s have a childlike attitude and depend on Him fully.

God bless!

Only say the word, and I shall be healed..

Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."
He said to him, "I will come and cure him."
The centurion said in reply,"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112811.cfm

How inspiring! The centurion in today’s gospel is a role model. First, he cares about his servant. During those times, servants are treated as slaves. People don’t usually give much attention to them, much less care for them. They are sold, and given one of the lowest position in society. This is why the centurion is very inspiring. He comes to Jesus asking for healing for his servant – not for himself or his family. Cool.

The other thing, and most important thing for me, is this centurion’s faith. The centurion, though a roman, had great faith in Jesus. He knows that in his position of earthly power, words are powerful. How much more Jesus’ power. He knows that only a word from Jesus is enough to cure his servant. How powerful Jesus’ word is! How powerful that faith is. We echo this during the mass, when we say that “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and I shall be healed”

May we always be reminded of that centurion’s great faith in Jesus and His word. And may we work on improving our faith, hoping that one day, Jesus will say to us what he said to the centurion Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith”

i will serve you while im waiting...

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112711.cfm

The gospels have constantly been about being prepared, about readying ourselves for Christ's second coming. Yes,we have to be prepared and ready. Being awake, not physically, but spiritually. And being spiritually awake, being spiritually prepared is unfortunately one of the the things we often forget. Christmas is a time to remember God's great love for us, but unfortunately, we tend to forget that. We prepare gifts, we decorate our homes, we sing carols... But we dont always prepare spiritually to receive Him in our lives.

As we wait, as i wait, for His second coming, for his coming into my life everyday, for his great and perfect plan to come to fulfilment in my life, i am reminded of a long from john waller. I am reminded to wait patiently, to wait joyfully, and serve Him as i wait in faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH9LhNrXhFo


Reflection questions
how can i prepare spiritually for his second coming? If Jesus is to come in my life today, what will he see? am i waiting patiently? Am i excited to see him, or am i afraid?

Focused and Strong till the End

How easy it is to be tangled up with the demands and troubles of our daily lives. It's easy to be distracted from the things that really matter. We give up a lot of things for work, business, or things needed to make a living. We sacrifice our time with family, friends, and even time to rest for ourselves. Sadly, we may also tend to sacrifice time for God. We should make a living so we can live our lives, not live our lives to make a living.

Jesus warns us about this in the gospel. We should always be ready and prepared for his second coming. We should not allow the enemy to distract us from doing what we should, to distract us from serving our one true God. Our focus should remain on God, not on things of the world. These things, no matter how innocent and harmless they seem, should not prevent us from serving God, from working for God.

Given this, it will not be always easy. When you are working for God, you are not of the world, and the world will hate you like it did Jesus. As we see in the first reading, there were kingdoms, powerful yes, and they made war against the holy ones, the ones working for God. They were victorious only until the Ancient One arrived. Until we meet Christ again, life will not always be easy. However, we should have faith in Christ, and follow what Jesus said:

Be vigilant at all times

and pray that you have the strength

to escape the tribulations that are imminent

and to stand before the Son of Man

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112611.cfm

Our God is Greater

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112511.cfm

I watched, then, from the first of the arrogant words
which the horn spoke, until the beast was slain
and its body thrown into the fire to be burnt up.
The other beasts, which also lost their dominion,
were granted a prolongation of life for a time and a season.

One like a son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
When he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
He received dominion, glory, and kingship;
nations and peoples of every language serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed

The first reading shows us that no matter how scary or powerful the enemy is, they are no match to God's power. Unlike the power and dominion of the beasts which ended, Jesus' dominion is everlasting, his kingship shall not be destroyed. Let us not get distracted by the seemingly strong and undefeatable scary enemy, and trust that our God is greater, our God is stronger. Thus, he deserves only the best from us, let us give him glory and praise forever.

Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.

May the gospel today remind us what is eternal. May we always put our focus on God and his word, knowing that everything else is temporary. May we get strength from his promises to be able to go through life's challenges, no matter how seemingly impossible they are.