Daily Reflections Feb 25, 2018

Genesis 22: 1 - 2. 9a.10 - 13.15 - 18; Romans 8: 31b - 34; Mark 9: 2 - 10.

“Thou have loved me righteously and though I am a struggling sinner, Thy love leads me to Salvation. I beseech Thee to teach me wisdom, so that I may grow more in faith trusting Thee at all times. Teach me to obey as Abraham did,so that I may find Joy as I continue to follow in Thy Words for all times”

It was love that empowered Abraham to believe God as much as he did. It was love that allowed Abraham to trust that God would have an alternate plan. It was love that allowed Abraham to understand that God is not a capable of evil. God loves mankind; every human being is a beloved of God and every human soul is precious to the Lord. However, in His wisdom God knows that He must not force the human to love Him that is Divine. Because if God did force the human being to follow His commands then God’s gifts of eyes to see, ears to hear, mind to rationalise, heart to desire, mouth to speak and senses to feel would all be in vain. God gave us all these senses so that we would use our hearts, minds, memory and knowledge to process the situations and the opportunities before us to make a decision that is righteous instead of hideous.Nevertheless, God allows us to make whatever choice we want. By making a choice, we define what we want, by choosing what we want, we define how we want to live and by choosing how we want to live, we choose what and who we want to become. The criteria of wealth and comforts is totally unimportant once we have chosen what and who we want to become. Because it does not really take wealth to define the power and capability of a human being. There are plenty of very wealthy people who are incapable of influencing change even around themselves because they aren’t capable of commanding respect from those around themselves nor make decisions that influence change. And yet, some people have revolutionised nations with little and almost no money. Because all peoples are in search of visionaries and leaders.In such, most people invest their time, life and wealth.God chose to make a Priestly nation out of the descendants of Abraham because the Lord found a man of conviction who loved God with all his heart and showed it through his faith, trust and obedience. Abraham had wonderful qualities and as explained in the Book of Genesis 22:1-2.9a.10-13.15-18, those wonderful qualities would strongly persist in Abraham’s descendants and such quality of seed would surely allow God’s blessings to shower upon the whole world for many ages to come.

Even before Abraham was born, God had already revealed through His prophets that He would send a Messiah, who would save all mankind from their sins. It was the Lord’s wisdom to purge all the sin of the world with a single act of righteousness. It is only clean water that can cleanse an object of dirt and hence it is only the Righteous Blood of Jesus Christ that can cleanse a human soul of all unworthiness and sin. It is extremely easy for God to purge all sin from the world with a half blink of His all-seeing eye. But that would render the Lord’s act as frivolous and erode the Lord’s Glory. It is a human’s solemn duty to Honour and Glorify God. Thus, to maintain righteousness in the human, God had to make a great sacrifice of sending His Only Son Jesus Christ to suffer excruciating pain and die for our sins. Christ needed to make that sacrifice just once and now God allows mankind to partake in the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church to make amends for our errors and be worthy of forgiveness and spiritual cleansing after sincere repentance. God is willing to help us improve our spiritual life because He knows that we have weakness in the flesh. However, the sincere repentance from our part is critically needed,because if we partake in the Sacraments without sincere repentance, we bring condemnation upon ourselves instead of forgiveness and hope. This is the desire of God and these Sacraments are instituted by the Holy Catholic Church through the Words of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Thus St. Paul correctly states in his Epistle to the Romans 8: 31b-34; who can condemn an act of God? Thus, we must also attest to the great truth that, who can condemn those who obey God’s commandments and sincerely partake in the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church of Jesus Christ? In the end of all generations, we will all be judged by God and we can only bank on Jesus Christ to deliver us before that day comes.

It was God’s wisdom that allowed only St. Peter, St. James and St. John to witness the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. God had already chosen St. Peter to be the first Pontiff of the Catholic Church. St. James and St. John were his close aides, from the inner circle of three whom Jesus nicknamed as the ‘sons of Thunder’. Jesus abided in God’s plan and He had a definite and crucial reason for everything He said and everything He did. Eventually, St. James was the first apostle to be martyred and St. John was the last Apostle to die. But the Lord’s Glory is understood through the ‘Marvellous Acts; that Jesus displayed, that His intent and deed in His sacrificial death was intentionally carried out and it was part of God’ Divine plan. In the Gospel of Mark 9: 2 - 10, God the Father allows these three apostles who were destined members of the group of the inner three to see God’s Glory as Moses had seen on Mount Sinai and God spoke to the three apostles as God had spoken to the Israelites gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai. Hence, just as God chose Moses to lead the Israelite people through the desert to the promised land, these three apostles who formed the inner group of three among the twelve apostles, were solemnly anointed to lead the rest of the Apostles and all the rest of the Christian disciples, through the Great Christian Evangelization, after Christ would institute the New Covenant between God and His people namely the Christians at the last supper. The Apostles did not understand the significance of anything they saw and heard at that moment, because the vision was needed for the significance of preparing these three men to lead the Great Christian Evangelization after Jesus Christ’s Resurrection. In instituting the Church, God has a divine and selfless intention to save all the people who put their faith, trust and hope in His Son Jesus Christ and who follow in His Commands of partaking in the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church. Henceforth we must continue in the Great Christian Evangelization through our actions, our deeds and our lives; thus, attesting to the Words of Jesus Christ as living testaments. We must emulate Jesus' lifestyle and make His Word come alive in our lifestyle our deeds and our actions, because through such a sanctified lifestyle, God will purge our sins, purify us and prepare us for Eternal Life.

- By Bro Maryo