Losing faith...(reflection for August 27, 2006)

In today's Gospel, the disciples of Jesus finds his teachings to be very difficult. They won't accept the teachings so some of the disciples turned back on Him. Today, the disciples were faced with a decision, a decision to follow Jesus or not.

Many of us follows Jesus. In fact, majority of the people in this world are Catholics. Especially here in the Philippines, our country is most likely to be dominated my catholics yet if you would observe, very few are practicing it. My friends, in following Jesus, you must also follow his teachings and to do that we have the church. Some of us may say that we can follow Jesus without obeying the commandments and teachings of the church. People like that often loses their faith cause there's no one strenghtening it.

Similar to the Gospel today, many withdrew from Jesus because they lacked faith in Him. And up to now, many are still running away from Jesus. I remember an episode of the movie series "nip/tuck" where in the lead actor said that he last confessed 22 years ago when he was last raped by his foster father by that, he lost his faith and decided not to believe in Jesus anymore.

Many people walks away from Jesus because they blame Him for all the bad things that are happening to them, but they do not know that it was a consequece of his own freedom which is not clearly undertood by many.

Some aspects of our life may lack beliefs. Our soul is weary andf tired, rest in in the arms of God and you will believe

Quarreling at the back... (reflection for August 20, 2006)

Many did not believe in Jesus during his time but many followed him and treated him with respect; but the people who followed Jesus were the people who shouted, "crucify Him!". See the irony? until now, it is still happening.

Many people tend to follow Jesus these days. Christianity is the major religion in most countries yet very few are practicing the virtues that are being taught by the Church. We call ourselves catholics, it is written in our birth certificate that we are catholics but I have bearly seen anyone who acted like one.

This is similar to the reaction of the Pharisees in today's Gospel. After hearing Jesus speak, they quarrelled at the back, quarrelling about the teachings of Jesus. Pharisees say that they are wise and their teachings must be believed but they do not practice their own teachings.

We may be sometimes lilke that, the only difference is that we are not the one who is teaching but rather we are the ones who are listening. We go to mass and listen yet we do not practice the things that are being taught to us. Many Catholics are like that, and the worst scenario is that we do not go to Church. We tend to go to the mall or sleep in the house during sunday's rather than to go to church and pray. Then in the end, they will blame God for all their sufferings.

My friends, the Lord is only asking us to spend an hour every week. Why don't we offer that hour to Him?

Are you the kind of Catholic who doubts the teachings of Jesus and the Church and quarrels at the back, or are you the one saving souls for the greater Glory of His name?

Death as a gift... (reflection for August 13, 2006)

People usually fear death, they sometimes forget the fact that death is a part of life that needs preparation. The result of this problem is the over-advancement of medical technology that will soon affect the people and the society. Scientists are making technology that can improve life by making it longer and stable. By the time that this kind of technology will be finished, all will crave for it. Thus, builiding an immortal society.

My friends, life is not meant to be immortal. We will all die someday and when that moment comes, we must be ready for it. Ready not only to death, but also to the life after it, that is what being meant in today's Gospel when Jesus said that He is the bread of life. We must live our lives in following Christ so that we may have the grace in living with Him eternally in the next.

Death is a gift, people often look at death as the creepy black cloth with skeleton hands without a face while holding a black stick with a hooked thick blade on top. This is what I believe is a product of man's imagination that does not have a radical proof that it really exists. People who fear death are the people who have their lives sinful and uncleansed. If you have a holy and virtous life, why fear death when you can assure to yourself that you'll be happy in the next?

Life is short, don't you think it's about time to give credit to the one who lend it? you'll never know when will He take it back.

Missing the calls... (reflection for August 6, 2006)

Last Sunday was the feast of the transfiguration of Jesus. In the Gospel, Jesus asked Peter, James and John to accompany Him to a mountain where the transfiguration will take place. During that event, the 3 apostles were amazed on what they saw so they offered service to Elijah and Moses but a voice came out from the cloud, saying that Jesus is God's son and they must listen to Him.

The last entry I made about the event of the transfiguration was few months ago when the Gospel talks about the transfiguration. You can go to that link if you would like to read it again... http://iwillbecomeasaint.blogspot.com/2006/03/transfiguration-reflection-for-march.html

Some of you might ask if why did Jesus only asked Peter, James and John to accompany Him during the event of the transfiguration. In fact, some of you may think that Jesus has some "favorites" among the apostles. But I believe that it is not true that Jesus has some favorites. I believe that Jesus already predicted to the apostles, John, being the only apostle who is very loyal to Jesus, and was present up to the time when Jesus died on the cross. James as the 1st apostle to be killed in a martyr way and Peter as the one who holds the key to heaven.

Christ is transfigured, not by changing into something He never was before, but by revealing to His disciples what He truly was in opening their eyes. He did not only revealed what he truly was to his disciples, in this event, Jesus revealed himself to all of his children, us. All of us are called by Jesus to be a witness to his divinity, yet we just do not answer that call. There are many calls done by Jesus in our lives, but sad to say that only a decimal of a percent answers it.

If our soul is a cellphone, how many "missed calls" has Jesus done? what do you think? Start answering those calls, cause you'll never know when Jesus runs out of "load" or credit. Cherish those grace filled moments.

Give thanks to the small blessings... (reflection for July 30, 2006)

I apologize for not updating my blog lately. I've been very busy lately with some school work and I can't find time to update my blog anymore.

Today's Gospel is all about another miracle done by Jesus, the multiplication of the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. The food was given by a boy who wish to share the things he have. By sharing ones blessing, he has blessed others. When Jesus received the food, he gave thanks.

We may not know it but every second of our lives is a blessing that we must be thankful for. If we really value our lives, then we must give thanks and praise to the one who gave it. But sad to say, not everyone is doing it, and I believe that only a decimal of a percent of catholics do it.

I can hear people ask of why it takes time for God to give blessings, and even if he gives some, it would take a long time before one could notice it. These are the "big blessings" that people often expect, like I said, they forget the "small blessings" that are happening day by day, hour by hour and second by second.

See the small blessings that are happening, and you'll see that God really makes miracles.