|
God's Wonderful Love
Friday September 1, 2006
Jesus told his disciples this parable:"The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps." Matthew 25:1-4
Reflection:
We have ten virgins, five who are ready, and five who are not. Jesus tells us the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Does it mean that half will be ready and half will not. That, I would say is quite a lot to not be allowed in heaven.
That doesn't say much for the other half either. It always made me wonder, am I one of those that waits until the last minute to make sure I am prepared for the bridegroom's coming. Have I made sure I stored up my virtues, filled up my graces.
Then I wonder that while living my life, I didn't prepare as I should, so at the last second when the bridegroom comes, am I the one in the confessional hoping to fill up with graces so I can enter after the bridegroom arrives.
We do know what we are to do, yet we don't do it. As I look back in my life, and to now, then I can say, Yes Lord I am ready. I have prepared myself for the coming of the bridegroom. As with the reading of yesterday, we are told to stay awake, today we are told to be ready. Are we?
| | | |
|
|
Thursday August 31, 2006
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."
Matthew 24:42-44
Reflection:
I read somewhere that this pertains to when we die, for we know not when we will be called home. And not necessarily about the second coming of Christ. But I can actually tell you this is true. This may have to do with how well we keep our hearts clean from sin.
Should God decide to come and pay your heart a visit at any given moment, what will he encounter? I know there is this other, that God dwells within us always, but what happens when we push him out, or crowd him out of his home within us. What happens when he tries to reenter into the dwelling that pushed him out, what will he find. Room to live, or far more clutter than before.
What about those who never knew him at all, and he comes to pay your heart a visit, so he can make his home within, will he find it empty or full. There are so many scenarios to envision how well we keep our hearts clean.
Since I did have the grace to encounter the Spirit of God, walk through and feel his presence on my eyes and know of the most beautiful voice ever to hear, in the early morning hours. Then I can say for a fact He did come and found my heart empty of sin. What Jesus tells us in this reading is so true, will he find our hearts empty and ready for him. Or are we busy keeping it cluttered, instead of sweeping out the useless junk we have collected.
As Jesus puts it, stay awake, be vigilant, "So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." And this is so very true.
| | | |
|
|
Wednesday August 30, 2006
Jesus said,"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing."Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets' blood."Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;now fill up what your ancestors measured out!" Matthw 23:27-32
Reflection:
For a long time when I was asked what Religion I was, I was ashamed to say. The reactions were anything but pleasant. They ranged from, oh, Catholic! To, so your in that religion full of hypocritical priest spouting off God's word and then doing a great evil by harming children and initiating them in the ways of evil. There were many that voiced their dislike of the Catholics. At one point I would avoid even answering, just so I would not have to get the brunt of their dislike.
But then, when God took charge of my life, I began to see His Word in a new light. And I also began to see where I, as a Catholic didn't measure up either. One thing, it was a brief period that I went through. One I am deeply sorry for, for not speaking my mind too. But that was not God's purpose in my life.
So in today's reading, those moments of embarassment at others dislike for my faith, I see through their eyes, what they saw of a Church filled with filth. And this is not just Catholics, it's other religions also. Because each one claims they are the right religion, yet they all fight among themselves, pointing the finger at each other. Or doing something that is unholy.
But we tolerate it, don't we? We try to voice our concerns, and say hey, no one is perfect, we are all sinners.It's just very sad when our Church leaders are the sinners and speak out against sin, yet they are the role models of Christ, while behind closed doors they do a great evil.
By and far these are the opinions of many religions, but we are to keep it hush, lest it come to light.
| | | |
|
|
Tuesday August 29, 2006
She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the Baptist."The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, "I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist." Mark 6:24-25
Reflection:
No one likes being reminded by anyone about our sins. It pricks the conscience too much. Such was the case for John the Baptist, except he lost his head, to silence the conscience of another.
She didn't want to be reminded of what she was doing and how she was living, that would have repercussions on her family. But in the end, her choice to do away with the voice that rang loud and clear her sins, put her in the book as an example of wrong, not of right.
We have been given two examples, one by John and his declaration of the commandment to another of how they chose to live their life in sin. And the other by Jesus, who went one step further and forgave the adulterous woman her sins. Exhorting her to go and sin no more.
Out of these two examples, one chose to continue to live the sin, while the other, knowing she was forgiven, went on to live a holier life.
John the Baptist was martyrd for the kingdom of God, for speaking the truth about God's Word. What do we do to silence the voice of our conscience when we sin against God's kingdom? Do we silence the nigling thoughts of knowing what we do is wrong. Do we kill our thoughts by doing other things to silence it, so we won't feel guilty for our own actions? We are a people who do not like to be reminded from anyone, that to live the commandments is how we should live. Does that mean we are like Herodias, we refuse to listen, but instead silence the voice crying in the wilderness to repent of our sins.
| | | |
|
|
Monday August 28, 2006
Matthew 23:13-22
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.You traverse sea and land to make one convert,and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.
What on earth was Jesus getting at in this reading? He wasn't telling us today about our locked Churches was he? Or how even our Priest do not enter once the doors are closed for the day. But what does this reading have to do with us then?
We have our Masses, we are allowed to pay visits, when the doors are not locked. Is it their heart's then that are locked. We can not love others, as those of the world love. We are to give it only and without fail to God. We lock ourselves in, so no one can get near and disturb us and our prayers. Is this then what Jesus means about the Pharisees. Their hearts are closed to those who come near them with love from their hearts.
I have noticed on many occasions, the solitude and and the feeling of do not approach one of the cloth. Many times I always had the impression, of do not come near, from both sides. Is this what we have come to then, where only a select few are able to approach, particularly those who can offer greater assistance.
Is this what Jesus was warning us about, and how we ourselves do not enter and do not let others enter either. How can we enter the kingdom of heaven when we actually shut out many from seeing the kingdom of heaven within us. After all are we not the temple that God dwells in.
| | | |
|
|
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119
| |
Have you checked out the
new Blogstream site,
Question Stream.com?
Many Blogstream members are there
already! Quotes from members: "It's like blog lite!" -- "I like the instant
gratification!" -- "Stop spectating, get in the game!"
If you have not joined in, you are really missing out!
|
|
2375 Visitors
|
