May we be E-vangelizers!

The Internet is a great medium for Evangelization. While many think that the cyberspace is an instrument of evil because of the availability of many and various materials that destroy the moral foundation of people, it is also an opportunity to transform the world through the work of committed and dedicated E-vangelizers. We do believe in objective truth, that there are things that are basically true, right and good and that there are also things that are fundamentally a lie, a wrong, and evil. But the Internet is one thing that can be used to promote the truth, what is right, and what is good. Everyone, particularly the youth who are the most active in the cyberspace, are challenged to become E-vangelizers!

Let us be -Evangelizers! Let us use the Internet to proclaim the Gospel of Holy Friendship!

The Call to Mission: Initiating new Friends

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Image from dominicancooperator.blogspot.com via google.com

Part of the mission ad gentes, that is to all the nations of the world, is to baptize those who will come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [see Matthew 28: 19]. Surely, we won't be doing online baptism, but we can do online preparation for baptism for those who would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ through our online efforts and for those who have already believed and have been baptized already, to deepen their relationship, their Holy Friendship, with the Lord.

As we have stated earlier, we were only hoping to provide an avenue for the establishment of a deeper relationship with God through the Internet. However, it is also imperative that we share the Gospel of Holy Friendship within the immediate surrounding where we are and animate this environment with the Spirit of God and His love and Friendship. That is why it is encouraged that those who can should start reviewing our PSALMinary in order to be equipped about starting their own Cenacle wherever they may be.

Just to be sure, those who are interested are encouraged to start reflecting and meditating on the Gospel of Holy Friendship, John 13: 34-35; 15: 12-17, and ask for and welcome the Holy Spirit to inspire and move their hearts and minds in order to be led to the proper response to the call to Holy Friendship. Remember that we are not promoting just any type of friendship, we are promoting and proclaiming the Holy Friendship: a friendship which is based on God's love and holiness. Therefore, as Friends of God, one must, as in one's preparation for sacramental Baptism, be ready and truly committed to respond in the affirmative with regards to the questions about our Faith.

Furthermore, one has to commit to the fulfillment of the PSALM in his or her daily life:

[1] To pray personally, with a small community like one's family, and with the whole Church especially on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

[2] To live in simplicity in accordance with Gospel values particularly of holiness, obedience to the will of the Father, and humility.

[3] To use available time for the deepening of Faith, the strengthening of Hope and the concrete application of Love.

[4] To live out a Sacramental life and be in love with Christian liturgy.

[5] To accept the mission to proclaim the Gospel of Holy Friendship to all and to make friends of all nations.

The cyberspace is a great medium for the proclamation of the Gospel. But we  must not be confined to the e-world. We must be able to concretely manifest what we do online in the particular realities of our actual life. For what profit can we gain if we inspire many through the Internet and yet be totally detached from the particular realities of our life?

The Lord is calling us to be His friends and He wants us to make friends of all nations. May we be inspired by His great manifestation of love and friendship by dying upon the cross that we may be redeemed from our bondage to sin and have the opportunity to be saved and gain eternal life. 

Let us truly love one another.

On Corpus Christi

THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR.
Image from ourcatholicprayers.com via google.com

It is Thursday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and it is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ or just Corpus Christi.

The universal Church celebrates today one of the important Holy Days of Obligation, that is, one has to attend the Holy Mass in honor of the celebration, and today it is the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is a celebration of one of the most important event in the history of our Christian Faith: the institution of the Holy Eucharist, which the Lord Jesus Christ himself established during the Last Supper, on Maundy Thursday, but which we cannot fully give much attention to due to the fact that our focus is on the great sacrifice which He also offered on Good Friday. 

So usually, Maundy or Holy Thursday, the night when the Lord gave us His body and blood by instituting the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, is mainly celebrated as some kind of a preparation for Good Friday without its own significance, except for the celebration of the Chrism Mass in memory of the institution of the Holy Orders which is directly connected with the institution of the Holy Eucharist for without priests, there would be no transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is why the Solemnity of Corpus Christi was established in 1246 in the Diocese of Belgina of Liege in Belgium after a synod called for the purpose by the Bishop, Robert de Thorete, at the suggestion of a nun, St Juliana of Liege.  who had a great veneration for the Blessed Sacrament ever since her childhood. In 1264, Pope Urban IV issued the Bull Transiturus which established the Feast of Corpus Christi as a universal feast of the Church to be celebrated on the Thursday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. However, at present, episcopal conferences are allowed to celebrate the Feast, which makes it already a Solemnity, on the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity Sunday. [That's why our reflection for today was based on the Gospel reading of Ordinary Thursday and not on the Feast of Corpus Christi.]

What is the significance of this Feast-Solemnity for us Christians? It is a celebration of one of the most important and most fundamental articles of Christian Faith: the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist - the enduring memorial of His great love for us all. We are not celebrating mere bread and wine, we are celebrating the Lord's real presence in the bread and wine which retain their accidental forms but possess changed substantial realities. Celebrating Corpus Christi is indeed a proclamation of the Holy Eucharist, of the Lord's being the Bread of Life, a teaching so hard to understand for many of His disciples that they left Him but which made manifest the deepening faith of the Apostles [see John 6].

The Jews ate manna in the desert and through that food they were sustained for days during their sojourn in the desert. But the Holy Eucharist is far greater than manna for the Lord himself told the Jews that though their ancestors ate manna, they died in the desert, that is, they were not able to enter the Promised Land. But we who worthily partake of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Eucharist, have been assured by the Lord a place in the Father's house [John 6; 14: 2-3].

May we always remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is always present in the Holy Eucharist, in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar. Hence when we enter a church or a chapel, we must look for the twinkling lamp that signifies that the Blessed Sacrament is being prominently kept in the tabernacle somewhere around the altar, the table where the sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated, and is usually attached to the altarpiece, also called reredo, that is, the wall behind the altar. When we see that lamp, which also symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ as the light of the world, we must offer our most solemn respect and adoration for we are in the presence of holy ground. But even if He is not presently kept there for some important reason, we must still give reverence to His temple. Usually, a single genuflection is required when the Blessed Sacrament is inside a closed tabernacle; while double genuflection is obligatory when the tabernacle is open or when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed through a monstance for public adoration. And when we go out of the church or chapel where adoration is taking place, it is irreverent to turn your back on the Lord! More about exposition of the Blessed Sacrament here.

So let us give the Lord who is present in the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament, the fullest respect and honor for it is a great source of blessing to be present where He is present! If we give due honor and respect to others who are superior to us in some manner, how much more with the Lord, our God?

A blessed Feast of Corpus Christi to you all, dear friends.

All Generations will Call Me Blessed: The Feast of the Visitation

THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.
Image from catholicfire.blogspot.com via google.com

"From this day 

all generations will call me blessed." 

- Luke 1:48b

On the Solemnity of the Annunciation we reflected on the FIAT of the Blessed Virgin Mary: her yes to the will of the Father, her obedience to the eternal design of God.

Today we shall reflect on her MAGNIFICAT: her song of praise for the Father who did wonderful things not only for her but also for her people, Israel. We shall focus our reflection on the words prophesying her being called blessed by all generations.

When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth declared, 

"Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb" [Luke 1:42].

Elizabeth considered it as a great honor to be visited by Mary, the mother of her Lord [v43] and told her cousin that the baby in her womb leaped upon her hearing of Mary's voice [v44] and once again she told Mary how blessed is she for having received the fulfillment of God's promise [v45]. And what follows was Mary's song of praise, also called the Canticle of Mary, the MAGNIFICAT, the first word of the Latin translation of the first line of the song, and which means GREATNESS.

And who would not be moved to be truly and sincerely grateful for the greatness of God? Of being singularly chosen to become the earthly mother of the only-begotten Son of the Father? Who is co-eternal with God and from beginning was with God and though whom God has created everything? Surely, for having been accorded with such singular honor for her simplicity, humility and obedience, she truly deserves to be called BLESSED by all the generations!

So when we call Mary BLESSED, we are not only acknowledging her important role as Mother of the Savior, who is also God and so making her the Mother of God too. We are also praising God and ultimately recognizing Him for the wonders that He did through someone like this humble young girl. And whenever we call Mary BLESSED, she doesn't keep to herself the honor but returns the praise to God and says, MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD!

Like Mary, we are all blessed, because we received God's grace upon baptism. We are further blessed when we receive the other Sacraments along our pilgrimage particularly the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation. We are blessed because the Holy Spirit has made our bodies His dwelling place, His temple. We are blessed when we obey the will of God in our lives. And so like Mary we should also proclaim the greatness of the Lord, we ought to give Him glory, magnify Him in our lives: in everything we do, say and think.

By the way, many people, especially anti-Catholics, abhor our way of giving honor and praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary. But if they only listen to their own words when they proclaim the so-called Sola Scriptura and repeatedly say, IT'S IN THE BIBLE, IT'S IN THE BIBLE, then they will surely see and read it in the Bible: Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, calls Mary blessed [vv 43, 45] and the Blessed Virgin Mary, rejoicing in God her savior, gives praise to the Father and prophesies that all generations will call her Blessed [v48] and we must not forget, during the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel calls her full of grace [28] and that she had earned God's favor [v30]. Here's an inspiring story about a Protestant boy who became a Catholic priest later in life because of the Hail Mary, a prayer he heard from his Catholic friends. Initially prohibited by her mother from saying the prayer telling him that it's a superstitious prayer of Catholics and given the Holy Bible to read instead, he found out that said prayer was indeed IN THE BIBLE. 

We must also be true Catholics, Christians, in order to lead others to know more about the truths of our Faith, like the friends of this Protestant boy who recited the Hail Mary which moved the boy's soul to seek for the truth. For if we, Catholics, won't be faithful to the Blessed Virgin, how can we be exemplars to non-Catholics about giving her the proper honor in recognition of God's greatness? 

These people who doesn't understand how to properly honor her are afraid that she might take our attention off the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man. In this case, rest assured that she doesn't take us away from the Lord; instead, she leads us to Him and tells us the right thing to do which is,

"Do whatever He tells you."

- John 2:5

The Holy Mass: Liturgical Celebration of the Holy Eucharist

JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE.
Image via google.com

Having discussed the Seven Sacraments and how we can live them out in our daily lives as Christians, we shall focus now on the liturgical celebration of the Holy Eucharist, the Source and Summit of Christian life [CCC 1324] so that we may be able to know and live out fully this celebration in the actual and daily lives that we live as Christians.

During the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus Christ told His Apostles, Do this in memory of me. Do what?

According to the Catechism on the Catholic Church,

The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words "until he comes" does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what he did. It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their successors, of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection, and of his intercession in the presence of the Father [1341].

As to one of the earliest evidence of the celebration of the Holy Mass, the Catechism quotes St Justin Martyr's letter to the pagan Emperor Antoninus Pius [138-161] around the year 165, explaining what Christians did [1345],

On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city or country gather in the same place. The memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read, as much as time permits. When the reader has finished, he who presides over those gathered admonishes and challenges them to imitate these beautiful things. Then we all rise together and offer prayers for ourselves ... and for all others, wherever they may be, so that we may be found righteous by our life and actions, and faithful to the commandments, so as to obtain eternal salvation. When the prayers are concluded we exchange the kiss. Then someone brings bread and a cup of water and wine mixed together to him who presides over the brethren. He takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and for a considerable time he gives thanks [in Greek: eucharestein] that we have been judged worthy of these gifts. When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgiving, all present give voice to an acclamation by saying: 'Amen'. When he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded, those whom we call deacons give to those present the "eucharisted" bread, wine and water and take them to those who are absent.

In the above quotation, we can see the presence of the two important parts of the Holy Mass, our Eucharistic celebration: the liturgy of the Word, the reading of the memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets with homily, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, offering of the bread and wine and the Eucharistic prayer [1346]. Remember the road to Emmaus episode when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to two disciples and explained to them all that the Scriptures say about Him and then making himself known to the two by the breaking of bread? The same structure of the Eucharistic celebration is already present there [1347].

Since the beginning, Christians, particularly Catholics and many others, fulfill the command of the Lord to do what He did in His memory, not just to reminisce but to celebrate and live out the things that He did. Mere reminiscing would be a shallow reason to gather around His altar. It is specifically called celebration because it is a live memorial of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

In the next weeks we shall discuss the parts of the Holy Mass so that we could understand more deeply this celebration which remind us of the Lord's life, death and resurrection and so fulfill more meaningfully His command to do this in memory of me.

The Challenge to Care for Blind Bartimaeus [Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time]

JESUS MAKING BLIND BARTIMAEUS SEE.
Image from catholicmom.com via google.com

"And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. 

But he kept calling out all the more, '

Son of David, have pity on me'". 

- Mark 10:48

Remember the Transfiguration? Peter, James and John were so overcome by the glory of the Lord that they did not want to come down of the mountain anymore. Today we read this passage about the Lord leaving Jericho and the people were accompanying Him on His way and probably were too focused on having their last view of Him before He is finally gone that they didn't want to be distracted by someone like blind Bartimaeus. So they tried to stop him but he cried the more until he gets the Lord Jesus' attention. 

Many times we are like that, we focus too much on the Lord's glory and forget that He also told us to wash each other's feet. We busy ourselves about rites and celebrations forgetting that these rites and celebrations ought to overflow  into concrete applications by carrying one another's burdens. When rites and celebrations are over, our Christianity seems to be over already also. 

St James tells us that true religion can be identified by the way we take care of widows and orphans, that is, the marginalized and the weakest members of society and to keep ourselves free from sin. But many times we limit our religion to worship and adoration thinking through these things that God will be happy with us already. But we forget that He declared that He expects mercy more than sacrifice.

There are many blind Bartimaeuses around us. People who are not only blind, but are also weak, ignorant, hungry, sorrowful, rejected, marginalized, thirsting for justice, in need of guidance and consolation, etc. What are we doing in order to show them that we are Christians? Are we other Christs to them who ask about what they want us to do for them? Are we other Christs willing to wash their feet, carry their burden, and ready to die for them? Or are we among the crowd who tells them to shut up and stop bothering our Christianity for we are already enjoying God's presence and they are merely disruptive of our attention?

The next time we meet a blind Bartimaeus, let us consider our proper role: a Christian who cares or a mere bystander who sneers. 

Jesus, Our Lord and Our God

THOMAS DOUBTED NO MORE.
Image from en.wikipedia.org via google.com

Thomas exclaimed, 

"My LORD and my GOD."

- John 20:28

In Psalm 110:1, King David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote,

The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right until I have made all your enemies your footstool.

The Lord Jesus Christ therefore asked this question: how can the Messiah be the son of David if David himself calls him Lord? [see Matthew 22: 42-46].

About the Lord being the Messiah, we have discussed here. About His being the Son of God we also treated here. As Messiah, He is identified by King David as his Lord. Being God, all the passages pointing to His being the Son of God also help us know and understand His being God for the Jewish themselves - who are supposed to be experts of the Law of Moses especially with regards to giving due respect to the name and being of God - reacted violently when He answered affirmatively when asked during His trial at the Sanhedrin whether He was the Son of God,

Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" Jesus answered, "I AM" [Mark 14: 61-62].

The high priest didn't even mention the word God instead plainly referred to Him as the Blessed One because they so highly respected the word and mentioning it would be tantamount to disrespect and here someone fearlessly claims to be the Son of the Blessed One, of God. And so their reaction was to hand Him down the only punishment due to such blasphemy: death.

The high priest tore his robes and said, "What need of witnesses have we now? You have heard the blasphemy. What is your finding? Their verdict was unanimous: he deserved to die. [Mark 14: 63-64].

Earlier they also wanted to stone Him for making himself equal with God when He said that before Abraham was, I AM [see John 8: 56-59], and when He said that the He and the Father are One [see John 10: 30-33]. The Jews clearly understand and fully respect the words I AM for it is what the Lord our God introduced himself when asked by Moses and by which He was to be known by the Israelites [see Exodus 3:14] for they only know Him to be the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob-Israel [see Exodus 3: 6-16].

So for the Jewish leaders, many Jews, and the first Christian followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was clear to them that He is both Lord and God. There is no doubt in this for the Lord himself did not correct them if He wasn't really Lord and God indeed. If He was a mere Servant of God or Prophet, He would have made the proper corrections just like what the Old Testament messengers of God and the New Testament Apostles and disciples do when people acknowledge the wonderful deeds God does through them. Doubting Thomas was not merely carried away by his emotions when he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!" for it was a true expression of faith and acknowledgment of the true nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if He wasn't God, He would surely have corrected him at that very moment. But He did not. 

Remember also when Peter confessed Him to be the Christ-Messiah, Son of the Living God and the Lord even congratulated him for having received that revelation about Him from the Father himself [see Matthew 16: 16-18]. Jesus Christ our Lord himself said that the Father and He are one and that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father [see John 14: 9-13; 20-21; 17:21]. We say that God alone should be worshiped: see Revelation 5 and you'll read that the Lamb is also worshiped together with God and do we not know who is the Lamb?  

Hence the Catechism of the Catholic Church states,

The title "Lord" indicates divine sovereignty. To confess or invoke Jesus as Lord is to believe in his divinity. "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" [1 Corinthians 12:3]. [CCC 455].

Therefore with sincere hearts and true faith let us join St Thomas in acknowledging that Jesus Christ is indeed our Lord and our God.

It is God's Call, not Ours [Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time]

JESUS WITH THE SONS OF THUNDER,
THE BROTHERS JAMES AND JOHN.
Image from ocarm.org

"... but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give 

but is for those for whom it has been prepared." 

- Mark 10:40

Today's reading is about the request of the Sons of Thunder, the brothers James and John, sons of Zebedee, to be given the privilege of sitting on the Lord Jesus Christ's right and left sides when He assumes His rule. They were thinking about earthly reign and possibly thought that it would be important that they ask Him before everyone else do so that they could get prioritized among the choices.

We do know that the brothers were among the three closest to the Lord among the Apostles, together with Peter. As a matter of fact, only the three of them were with the Lord in some important events recorded in the Bible such as the Transfiguration [see Matthew 17:1] and the raising of the daughter of Jairus [see Mark 5:37]. They were also the ones whom the Lord called to stay closer to Him during His agony at the garden of Gethsemane [see Matthew 26:37]. There are even scholars who say that the two brothers were the Lord's cousins, their mother being possibly a sister of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

However, they didn't get a positive response. The Lord told them that they would surely taste trials and sufferings just like Him, but to give them the positions they were asking for was not His to give. Actually, the Lord told them, the positions have already been allocated. The brothers were still thinking on the level of the world, not yet as followers who have acquired the Holy Spirit. For as we have read again and again, only after the descent of the Holy Spirit did they fully understand the things that the Lord have been telling them and were infused with zeal to proclaim these things to the world [see Acts 2]. By then, they knew that the Lord was not an earthly ruler but a heavenly king and they were already prepared to give their own lives to give Him glory.

Now, the other ten were of course indignant because the brothers seemed to have betrayed them, not that they abhorred what the brothers did for the reason that they should not have done it for it was wrong, but because the brothers got to request the Lord about those positions ahead of them! Remember, all of them were still thinking on the level of the world and no one among them has yet received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the One who guides to all truth [see John 14:26].

So the Lord gathered them and told them that they were all wrong. He told them that His kingship is very much different from that of earthly rulers. He told them that if they want to be first and the greatest in His kingdom, they must be the servant and slave of all. He actually made an example of this by washing their feet during the Last Supper where He told them afterwards to wash each other's feet [see John 13: 1-14].

The Christian leader doesn't lord it over those God has entrusted to him to take care of. Instead, he is expected to even lay down his life for their sake [see John 10:11], not the other way around. Giving glory to the Father by being obedient to His will is what matters most for him [see Luke 22:42]. He doesn't expect to be given the coveted left or right side places, important thing is that he gets a place in the Father's house [see John 14: 2-3].

It is not ours to ask God for the choice seats in His kingdom. For it is not us who tells Him what we will do in order to give Him glory - it is He who calls us in accordance with what we can do not in accordance with what we want to do. It is He who provides the mission, we only fulfill it. It is He who gives the necessary help, we only pray for them.

May we be faithful followers and not ambitious adventurers.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Image from familyatthefootofthecross.blogspot.com
via google.com

According to the online Catholic Encyclopedia, there are two kinds of Gifts of the Holy Spirit: 

[T]he first are specially intended for the sanctification of the person who receives them; the second properly called charismata, are extraordinary favors granted for the help of another, favors, too, which do not sanctify by themselves, and may even be separated from sanctifying grace.

For our discussions we shall focus on the first class, those that are identified with virtues though some believe they are perfections of a higher order than virtues. These Seven Gifts are traditionally taken from this passage of Isaiah 11: 2-3,

On him will rest the spirit of Yahweh, the spirit of wisdom and insight, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and fear of Yahweh: his inspiration will lie in fearing Yahweh. His judgment will not be by appearances, his verdict not given on hearsay.

The Seven Gifts are Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord. They are fully present in the Lord Jesus Christ, the One whom Isaiah describes as the shoot that will spring from the stock of Jesse [Isaiah 11:1], but can be found in every Christian who is in the state of grace. That is why we can easily follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit because of the infusion of these gifts, the way Christ Himself would. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states,

They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations [1831].

We shall discuss each one more deeply in the next seven weeks. However, as some form of introduction, we shall state a little about these Seven as follows:

[1] Wisdom. Called to be the perfection of faith. It is through wisdom that we properly value the things that we believe through faith.

[2] Understanding. Helps us penetrate to the very core of the revealed truths. It doesn't provide us the same clarity as understanding a mathematical equation but it leads us to be more certain about an article of faith, say the Holy Trinity, beyond what faith provides.

[3] Counsel. Called the perfection of the cardinal virtue of prudence. Prudence can be practiced by anyone even those who are not in the state of grace but when one is in the state of grace, prudence can take on a supernatural dimension and its fruit is what we call counsel.

[4] Fortitude. Is also a cardinal virtue and very different from foolhardiness or rashness. It is even a curbing of recklessness, that is, putting ourselves in danger unnecessarily.

[5] Knowledge. It also perfects faith. But while wisdom helps us penetrate divine truths and prepares us to judge things in accordance with that truth, knowledge gives us that ability to judge.

[6] Piety. This gift perfects religion. It is the instinctive affection for God that makes us desire to render worship to Him.

[7] Fear of the Lord. This confirms the virtue of hope. It is the desire not to offend God and the certainty of Him giving us the necessary help to fulfill it.

The simpler we are, the more responsive we are to receiving these gifts. For the Spirit is simple and these gifts are best expressed in simplicity. 

Next Tuesday: THE GIFT OF WISDOM

A Junior Set of Happiness

Happy are those who defend life,
they shall have its fullness.

Happy are those who defend the innocent, 
they shall see God face to face.

Happy are those who defend the family, 
they shall be part of the household of God.

Happy are those who defend God's messengers, 
they shall be embraced by God.

Happy are those who acknowledge God, 
they shall never be overcome by evil.

Happy are those who sow God's peace, 
they shall never worry in the midst of trouble.

Happy are those who obey God, 
they shall be considered His friends.

Happy are those who remain steadfast in their faith in God, 
the Lord shall have a place reserved for them in heaven.

Happy are we if we have God, 
for no one can succeed against us.

Originally composed and posted at the Page on August 10, 2011

Be among the First [Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time]

CHINESE VERSION OF JESUS AND THE RICH YOUNG MAN.
Image from en.wikipedia.org via google.com

"But many that are first will be last, 

and the last will be first." 

- Mark 10:31

The Jews had the mentality that since they were the Chosen People they would automatically go to heaven. After all, it was to their forefathers that God has given the Promise, not to any one else.

Many of us, Christians, think also in that manner. Just because we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ we think that we already are saved, that is, assured of a place in the Father's house. 

But even the Apostle Paul taught that we should keep on doing what is necessary in order to keep ourselves on the right track so that we ourselves might not fail after all the work of proclaiming the Gospel [1 Corinthians 9: 24-27]. 

For it is not being first in accordance with being called that is required but being the one to remain responding until the end. The Jews surely had the blessing of being the first to hear the Word of God but only a small percentage of them listened and became the foundation of the New Israel which is the Church. 

There are more than a billion Christians in the world but how many truly follow the Lord Jesus Christ? How many fully conform to His Person? How many are His friends who love one another [John 13:34], wash each other's feet [John 13:14] and carry one another's burden [Galatians 6:2]?

How many of us, Christians numbering nearly 2 billion in the world, would surely go to heaven? Or would hundreds of millions of non-Christians enter heaven ahead of us because they had the so-called baptism of desire and had lived their lives in what could be considered as Christian way without them having a personal knowledge of the Lord just because we failed to do our mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth?

We, Christians, have been called first but we may not enter heaven ahead of others if we do not fulfill what we are commanded to do: love one another [John 13:34; 15: 12-17] and lead others who do not yet belong into the Fold for the Lord desires that there should be just one Fold and one Shepherd [John 10:16].

We must not take for granted the opportunity that we have been given by the Lord to be among those who will enter the kingdom ahead of others. For if we consider ourselves being important for having been redeemed and disregard our mission to the world we shall be merely deceiving ourselves [see Galatians 6:2].

Let us do our best to be among the first to enter heaven even if we have to be the last in many other things.

The Significance of 1593!

Our Page Likes are at 1593!

It has been there for more than a week. So I just thought of looking up for what might be significant about the number 1593 and as usual, coordinated with Google.com :-)

My search took me to the year 1593 and the Wikipedia. There I saw important events and not-so important ones. Some of the events that have been listed by this Free Online Encyclopedia are the following:

[1] The Siege of Pyongyang where the Japanese invaders lost to the combined Korean and Ming [Chinese] Troops.

[2] The Battle of Sisak [June 22] in Croatia where the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Habsburgs, also spelled Hapsburgs.

[3] The Long War broke out [July 29] in Hungary between, guess what? The Habsburgs and the Ottomans again.

Of course there were other more important things than wars that took place in 1593. You can just click Wikipedia and see more but one important thing that is listed there is this: St Robert Bellarmine published on that year the third volume, which is about the Sacraments, of his work, Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei, also known as De controversiis or Controversies, and called to be the definitive defence of papal power. The work was an attempt to systematize the various controversies of the time and provided arguments against them, particularly Protestantism. The success of the work was felt especially in Germany and England that many scholars on the Protestant side provided counter-arguments against it.

Why did I focus on the significance of the publication or printing of this work?

It is because locally, here in the Philippines, 1593 is the year when the first printing took place in the country. And what was the very first book ever printed in these islands which the Spanish named after then Prince Philip, the future King Philip II? No other than the Doctrina Christiana which is of course about Christian Doctrine, an important book indeed when the proclamation of the Gospel on this part of the world was just beginning!

So here we have two important things for the Church and the Faith related to 1593! 

Never mind the wars. We might not even give importance to the fact that in 1593, a common year, that is, not a leap year, the Gregorian calendar started on a Friday, while the Julian calendar started on a Monday.

ACTS: The Essential Components of Prayer

JESUS PRAYING.
Image via google.com

Prayer is our way of communicating with the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. When we pray, usually ask something but asking for blessings is just one of the essential elements or components of prayer - it is actually the last in the hierarchy of the elements of prayer. These elements or components of prayer have the acronym ACTS though the C and the T can be exchanged in the actual act of praying.

ACTS stand for Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving and Supplication. We have introduced these when we discussed Prayer as the First Pillar of the Holy Friendship. In the next four weeks we shall discuss each one more deeply and somewhat more detailed manner.

Right now, let us review what we have stated about ACTS in our entry of Prayer as the First Pillar of the Holy friendship,

To easily remember these purposes of prayer, we can use the word ACTS to mean A = adoration or praise, C = contrition of being sorry for our sins, T = thanksgiving or gratitude, and S = supplication or asking for grace and blessings. When we pray we also usually do it in that sequence: we first offer our praises to God, then tell Him how sorry are we for the sins, mistakes and wrongdoings that we commit and the good deeds that have omitted, thank Him for the graces and blessings received, and ask for more blessings and graces not only for us but for others also. Contrition and Thanksgiving can be interchanged.

In an article at For Catholic Teens, Jerrome Placido wrote about ACTS in the following words,

That's why the common format for prayer is A.C.T.S. [Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication]. We first make and act of adoration, that is acknowledge that it is God who we speak to, who deserves reverence, awe and adoration. Then we make an act of contrition, understanding that no one can remain blameless in His sight and so we recognize before God that we have offended Him and express sorrow for doing so. Thanksgiving is then needed because He gives us so much already and before we can ask for more it is right and just that we thank Him for all He has already given us. Then we pray in supplication, that is, we ask God to supply for us all that we need materially and spiritually and have faith that we are heard and He will give us what is best for us.

So let us learn more about Prayer through the ACTS and while learning let us also actually pray. For it is true that practice makes perfect and the one sure way of learning how to pray is to pray. We may not be able to do it perfectly at once but we must never forget what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, that the Holy Spirit, being our Advocate, will help us express even just through groans what we cannot say in words [see Romans 8:26]. 

God's Goodness: The Only Measure of Goodness [Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time]

JESUS AND THE RICH YOUNG MAN.
Image from thecatholicpriesthood.blogspot.com
via google.com

"No one is good but God alone."

- Mark 10:18

There were negative reactions to Pope Francis I's statement about atheists being capable of going to heaven. Commenting on the Gospel of last Wednesday which was about the Apostles trying the stop someone who does not belong to their group of followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, he said that the disciples "were a little intolerant" and that they had the mentality that "those who do not have the truth, cannot do good" and says that, "This was wrong ... Jesus broadens the horizon" continuing with, "The root of this possibility of doing good - that we all have - is in creation." 

So his challenge to atheists,

"Just do good and we'll find a meeting point."

Doing good is easy until we ask ourselves, what is Good? The rich young man calls the Lord Jesus Christ good and receives this reply, 

"Why call me good? God alone is good!"

Of course the Lord Jesus Christ just wanted to emphasize that the only true measure of goodness is God for He knew beforehand what the rich young man wanted to ask and get confirmation about: whether he, the rich young man, was good enough for as he told the Lord, he had fulfilled every one of the Commandments since his childhood. So the Lord says he lacks one thing and challenges him to sell all his possessions and give to the poor so that he could have treasures in heaven and tells him to follow Him afterwards. At this point we read that he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Here lies the difference between divine goodness and earthly goodness. Earthly goodness seem to set as maximum the enumerated commandments to the letter such as not killing, not committing adultery, not stealing, not bearing false witness, not defrauding, and honoring father and mother. But divine goodness goes beyond what the letter states but what the spirit of the commandments truly and fully demands and the Lord Jesus Christ gave us some insights with regards to this, for example the Fifth and Sixth Commandments: killing is not merely taking the life of another but even cursing a person would make someone guilty of violating the commandment prohibiting killing; while adultery is not just having an affair with someone other than one's spouse but even just the malicious look upon a woman could already make a man guilty of adultery.

To be good in the measure of the world would most often than not reject the ideas of washing each other's feet [John 13;14] and carrying one another's burden [Galatians 6:2]. How much more the giving up of one's many possessions, sharing them with the poor and then following someone who ended up dying upon a cross! Some kind of foolishness, many people might say: someone doing good on earth doesn't have to go that far!

So the Pope challenges atheists to do good. That's a perfect first step toward becoming candidates to citizenship in heaven. But would they be willing to accept the next step, that of giving up their possessions and sharing with the poor and then the most important step of all, following the Lord Jesus Christ?

But I guess this challenge is not only posted for atheists. Even most of us who claim to be Christians have to rethink if we could be true citizens of heaven looking at the way we live our lives, the manner we treat each other, and the preparations we make in order to achieve that citizenship.

For it is not enough to be just good because we have to be really good according to the goodness of God.