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. 

CIT on the Old Testament - Prophets I Minor Prophets

WHO IS THIS PROPHET
WHO WAS SENT TO NINEVEH?
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The Prophets are messengers of God, they proclaim God's message to those to whom these messages are intended to be delivered even if it would mean trouble or death for them. The Old Testament tells us about these holy servants of God and some of them have been immortalized through the various Books of the Scriptures that bear their name. Of the Prophets whose names are used as titles of the Books they, their followers or some scribe or writer, have written, there are four [4] who are considered as major prophets and twelve [12] called minor prophets according to the length of the Books that bear their names. 

Below are ten [10] information about these Prophets. Try looking up the actual passages that support these information in order also to know the Prophet being described or talked about. You may share your answers on the comment box below:

[1] He wrote that Yahweh hates divorce!

[2] He foretold about the day when Yahweh's Temple Mountain shall tower above the mountains and rise higher than the hills.

[3] He wrote that what pleases God are: faithful love more than sacrifice and knowledge of God than burnt offerings.

[4] He wrote this passage: Saving justice is the Lord's; we and our ancestors have only the look of shame we bear today.

[5] He was quoted after the Holy Spirit descended and he also wrote 'My people will never be humiliated again!'

[6] He wrote 'As you have done, so will it be done to you' as part of a very short work.

[7] He wrote to tell Judah to celebrate his feasts again for Belial has been destroyed already hence won't be passing through him anymore.

[8] He was sent to Zerubbabel, Governor of Judah, to tell him that God will shake the heavens and the earth.

[9] He also wrote that Ethiopians will be run through by God's sword.

[10] He had visions of four horns and four smiths.

Now, do you know the name of the prophet depicted in our picture?

ACTS: A for Adoration - Most Important Reason of Prayer

POPE FRANCIS I AND
POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI PRAYING.
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via google.com

Adoration is [i]n the strict sense, an act of religion offered to God in acknowledgement of His supreme perfection and dominion, and of the creature's dependence upon Him; in a looser sense, the reverence shown to any person or object possessing, inherently or by association, a sacred character or a high degree of moral excellence.(1) It is therefore defined also as the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator.(2) It is also intended to exalt the greatness of the Lord who made us and the almighty power of the savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is homage of the spirit to the "King of Glory."(3) It also blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications.(4)

The First Commandment states that there is but one God and only Him should we adore. This Commandment already sets the limits of true adoration: adoration is due only to God. That is why the prohibition against idolatry is already an integral part of this Commandment - it speaks already of exclusivity. And the prohibition against idolatry comprises every activity, ideology and even mere triviality which divert our full attention from true adoration to God.(5) 

We adore God alone by praying because of our humble acceptance of our being creatures and our sincere submission to His being the Creator. We show our adoration through prayers not merely by words by action and gestures also such as lifting up our hands, kneeling down, bowing down, etc. But we must remember that in order to adore God, we must intend to adore Him and when we use words, gestures and other elements to accompany such adoration, these must also be used with such intention. For God knows what is in the heart of every man and cannot be deceived by mere words and gestures.

Intention - willing - is truly important in adoration for even if one's body may be chained so that one may not offer gestures of worship to God, the mind can still praise God. On the other hand, even if the body is in the midst of worshipers and at the center of the temple, his or her  mind maybe somewhere else: thinking about that movie which he or she wishes to watch after the Church service, or about that sumptuous meal that awaits after the celebration of the Mass; etc.

Hence it is also true that actions and gestures which we usually use to accompany adoration doesn't actually translate to acts of worship especially when used outside of the formal act of adoration. Bowing for example is one of the actions which non-Catholics use to charge Catholics as a manner by which Catholics perform idolatrous acts such as bowing to images of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints. But bowing in itself it generally an act of respect which many people use even in secular settings: the Japanese way of greeting, which is equivalent to handshakes, is by bowing to one another. When a Japanese bows to another, he doesn't mean adoring that person. Catholics too bow down to images not in order to worship them but to honor the Saints represented by the images and ultimately, to honor God who has given those Saints memorialized by the images, the graces and blessings which inspired them to live their lives according to His will.(6) 

Some might say also that Catholics pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints when prayer must only be directed to God. Of course all prayers are directed to God but Catholics believe and acknowledge God's great generosity of giving His faithful followers the opportunity to intercede for others.(7)

So when we pray to adore God, we must be totally focused. One doesn't even have to say so much. Holy silence is in fact more acceptable to God than the babble of words - and when we say babble of words it means speaking without putting our personal intentions on the words that we speak but merely speak them in some sort of compliance thinking that when we finish reciting them we have already done our obligation to God. 

Meditation and contemplation are actually wordless prayers of adoration, and one who attains this level of prayer actually attains union with God and experiences the joy of being in His presence. Many Saints have been given the grace of truly and fully enjoying God's presence and we call them mystics. 

To adore God by praying is the best manifestation of the virtue of religion. By adoring God we acknowledge His dominion over us and manifest our humble submission to His will. This also means that we recognize that He knows everything that we say, think or do and we therefore commit to never cause Him any dishonor so we perform our normal activities with more honesty and sincerity for we put them under God's hands.

(1) Catholic Encyclopedia

(2) Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2628

(3) CCC, 2628

(4) CCC2628

(5) On the First Commandment. You are My Friends. April 21, 2013.

(6) Catholic Encyclopedia. looser sense of adoration.

(7) Jesus is the Only 'Mediator" but God allows Intercessors. You are My Friends, April 26, 2013.