A New Start

 

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It's Friday and it's Sacred Heart of Jesus day. We remember His great love that even in His death He gave everything up - including the blood and water which flowed from His side that the soldier pierced with a lance. How great the love of God and the Son is for us! God gave us His only begotten Son and the Son gave everything up even to the last drop of blood and water from His dead body! 

As your humble servant starts the new proclamation of the Gospel of the Holy Friendship (see john 15: 12 - 17), may we be inspired by this great love of the Father and of the Son. For it is through the manifestation of love that we can only be true friends of the Lord. He says that we can only be His friends of we love one another and that the greatest manifestation of friendship is giving up one's life for one's friends. He was true to His word: He gave up His life for us all even if we have not yet accepted the offer of His friendship. 

It is now our turn to show Him how much we love Him and how sincere are we in accepting His offer of Holy Friendship. For more about the Holy Friendship, visit our Facebook Page the Gospel of Holy Friendship and join our Community/Group at Society of the Holy Friendship.

Have a blessed Friday in the 13th week of the Ordinary Time!

 

Journey to a Half-Century of Living: Day 141

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Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Beloved Friends, we are being taught by the Lord today that internal cleanliness is much more important than outward or external cleanliness. Fr Paul J Glenn wrote in an Ethics book that a wife and mother has to be dirty because she has to clean the house while a prostitute has to be beautiful and clean because she has to entice customers. Many people abhor Catholics for eating swine, but the Lord said nothing can pollute a person from the outside. Rather, what pollutes a person are the things that come from his or her selfish, greedy and sinful heart. All the troubles of the world comes from an evil heart and not from eating swine!

May we focus on forming -and if necessary, reforming - our hearts so that we may never be overcome by selfishness, greed and sinfulness which lead us to have evil thoughts, desires, words and actions.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may always guide us so that whatever we think, say or do may may only be for the glory of the Father and the salvation of other people!

May "SC" stand up for Sacred Choice - for Life!

On July 9, 2013 at 9:00 AM, the Supreme Court of the Philippines will be hearing the sides of the anti- and the pro-RH Law. 

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may descend upon the discussants and the Justices that the letters S and C may not just stand for Supreme Court but for Sacred Choice - for LIFE!

And that the Justices may live up to their title and give full justice to the Sanctity and Primacy of Life from conception to natural death!

Let "SC" mean Sacred Choice

This coming June 18, 2013 the Supreme Court [Philippines] will be hearing the pros and the antis on the RH Law. Calling all true pro-Lifers to pray and support the case against the RH Law. Those who support this law may not admit or may not be aware of it but this law is truly anti-Life. For if one supports life, even the smallest manner of endangering life wouldn't be entertained by him or her. It may not yet endorse abortion but the provision which says that those who procure abortion should be treated humanely opens an avenue toward abortion. Moreover, contraceptives  in themselves are evil for they block the opportunity to have life, that's the very meaning of their being called contraceptives [contra = against, ceptives = production of life, therefore contraceptives = against the production of life].

For those who can be physically present, please go to the Supreme Court where a big pro-life rally will be staged to manifest support to the anti-RH law panel. For those who cannot, let us pry hard for the success of this endeavor for the greater glory of God and the protection of life from conception to natural death!

May the Holy Spirit descend upon the Supreme Court on that day so that the SC may mean Sacred Choice! 

God is God of the Living [Memorial of Saint Boniface]

GOD VISITS ABRAHAM.
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"He is not God of the dead 

but of the living."

- Mark 12:27

We have read how the Pharisees and the Herodians have been silenced by the Lord Jesus Christ from asking more questions due to his wise answers. This time the Sadducees attempts to test the Lord and they asked Him a question which focuses on the resurrection - something they do not believe in.

In the Jewish tradition, a woman whose husband dies without leaving an heir should be married to the next of kin in order to sire a child in the name of the kinsman who died. The Sadducees illustrated an example of a woman who have been married to seven brothers not one of them sired a child. Hence no one was able to open her womb she is considered married to each and everyone of the brothers. So the Sadducees' question now was that when they are all resurrected, who will be the rightful husband of the woman?

Jesus our Lord pointed out their error at once: at the resurrection no one gets married anymore for everyone are like the angels already, not given to marriage: every one is a child of God and each one is a brother or a sister to each other. Next He tells them they err in their belief that there is no resurrection for in God everything is alive for God is God of the living, not of the dead. 

God is God of the living and not of the dead. Sometimes even among those who believe, there are those who fail to sustain such belief when they encounter the reality of death. It is understandable that people would be saddened by the death of a loved one but then we must be consoled by the fact of the resurrection. Jesus our Lord said to Martha before raising Lazarus back from the dead, I am the resurrection and the life [see John 11:25] and asked her, Do you believe? [see John 11:26]. Moreover, death is not the end of everything but our passage to heaven where we shall enjoy being in the Father's house if die without sin.

Let us face it: death is certain. But we must also hold on to this: we shall be resurrected. The Lord Jesus Christ said that anyone who believes though he might die, will live, and whoever lives and believes in him will never die [John 11: 25-26]. We should never forget that God is God of the living. Therefore He shall not leave us to rot somewhere but raise us up to live forever.








  

The Gift of Wisdom

WISDOM: GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
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Wisdom is considered the perfection of faith and the highest of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Where faith is a simple knowledge of the articles of Christian belief, wisdom goes on to a certain divine penetration of the truths themselves.(1) Wisdom helps us focus on God and the things of God for by detaching us from the world, makes us relish and love only the things of heaven.(2) Through wisdom, we judge the things of the world in light of the highest end of man - the contemplation of God.(3) 

Wisdom, though it helps us focus on God and the things of God by detaching us from the world, does not take us out of the world. Even the Lord Jesus Christ did not ask the Father that we may be taken out of the world; rather, He prayed that we may get the necessary helps in order to transform the world [see John 17: 11, 15-19]. This transformation of the world can only be through the Holy Spirit and His gifts [see John 14:26; 16: 8-11; Acts 2]. With the gift of Wisdom, the Holy Spirit leads us to the proper ordering of the material and spiritual worlds so that we can more easily bear the burdens of this life and respond to our fellow man with charity and patience.(4) Therefore, even while still in the world, our minds and hearts are already joyfully set towards that hopeful expectation of that blissful union with the Father in heaven. 

Through wisdom, we see the world in a completely different light already and consider it as a mere instrument in attaining perfection in accordance with the will of the Father. Because of this, we can fully accept and live out the virtue of simplicity for we already know that our lives are not only meant to be lived here in the world but are destined to a better dwelling place, which is the Father's house [see John 14: 2-3]. A person who has wisdom lives in full simplicity because wisdom enlightens him or her that the things of the world are merely burdens that weigh heavily against the soul.

With the help of wisdom, we can also understand more the Lord's admonition to seek first the kingdom of God [see Matthew 6:33]. For wisdom will lead us to the realization that only by acknowledging God first in our lives and in everything we say, think or do, that we can successfully transform not only ourselves but the community that we belong to. When that transformation takes place, there would be a lot of changes within one's self in particular and in the society in general.

Let us then pray for openness that the Holy Spirit may infuse in us this gift of wisdom that we may live in simplicity some more and see that there are may things in this life that we allocate to ourselves unnecessarily to the detriment of others who need them more than we do. 

(1) Quoted from Fr John A Hardon, SJ. Modern Catholic Dictionary.

(2) Quoted from Catholic Encyclopedia.

(3) About Catholicism. Wisdom: A Gift of the Holy Spirit.

(4) About Catholicism. Wisdom: A Gift of the Holy Spirit.

Give Back What is Due to Whom It is Due [Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time]

AN ANCIENT ROMAN COIN.
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So Jesus said to them, 

"Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar 

and to God what belongs to God." 

They were utterly amazed at him. 

- Mark 12:17

The Pharisees and the Herodians tried once again to pin down the Lord Jesus Christ, this time through the issue on taxation. The Jews abhorred paying taxes to the Romans for it reminded them of being subjects to other powers when in fact they still consider themselves free [see John 8:33]. Hence they tried to trap the Lord hoping He gets the wrong answer this time. Instead they got the surprise of their lives! Not only was the Lord able to evade their trap, they had a lesson in life which hit them to the bones.

When they asked Him about whether it was right to pay census tax to the Roman Emperor or not, they were hoping He would either answer: No, which would make Him a rebel in the eyes of the Herodians, and consequently to the the Romans; but if He says, Yes, He might hurt the sentiments of the Jewish people and so appear insensitive to their plight as a proud nation whose only Master and Lord is God, never a foreign ruler.

But the Lord knew what they were thinking and so He asked for a coin. Then He asked them as to whose image was inscribed in the coin and they all agreed it was the Emperor's image. So the Lord simply answered them to give back to the Emperor what is due to him, and to God what is due to God. They were amazed with the answer.

Perhaps we are amazed too by the wise response that the Lord gave to those trying to ensnare Him with a double-edged question. But it would amaze us more if we could see the deeper meaning of the answer. It was not simply a reply to silence the Pharisees and the Herodians. It was a reply that is directed to each and everyone of us even today.

Maybe we could ask the Lord: is it right for the Church to meddle in politics? Maybe He would then ask us too before making His answer: who are the people involved in politics? Do you know the answer? Whether you would honestly accept it or not, the people involved in politics are the same people that the Church ought to serve in the religious, spiritual and moral spheres. Maybe you'd say that not everyone is a Christian, more particularly, not all Catholics. But this is what makes the Catholic Church different from others, she serves not only her members but all those who are in need of being provided with service, and that means everyone!

Since the Church serves everybody and not just her members, she cannot but be involved in politics - not necessarily direct political participation such as fielding it's own candidates for elective government posts but - at least in the general operations of politics for this field also needs to be sanctified just like any other aspect of life! Here comes the need to understand deeply the Lord's response to give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. As citizens, people have to defend, protect and do everything to make the country truly developed, progressive and prosperous. But they must do these in accordance with what belongs to the sphere of God: in accordance with truth, goodness, righteousness, propriety.

Many times even among us Catholics there are those who shut the Church out of the political field by repeating and again and again the principle of the separation of the Church and the State. Unfortunately, they think that the principle is an absolute prohibition from one meddling in the other's business, and vice versa. Does the State have no obligation to deal with Churchmen who are accused of pedophilia? The laws of the State surely doesn't allow exemptions to the law just because one is a member of the Church! 

So we must never forget that we must give back to the Emperor, or to the State, what belongs to the Emperor, or to the State; and to God, and to the Church, what belongs to God, and the Church. It is foolishness to think that we can absolutely separate the temporal and spiritual aspects of our lives for our bodies are composed of body and soul and we know what happens when the soul leaves the body.