Inspirations at your Fingertips!

On endurance Mark 4:26-34 The kingdom of God in today's gospel is attained by people who practice endurance in their Christian lives. There is endurance among Christians when they struggle to be faithful to God. Endurance is also felt in the consistency of the process of continued growth in the Lord.  Endurance is a process of perfection of Christian communities.

Do God's will Mark 3:31-35 The scriptures never emphasized it enough "Do God's will." Do God's will instead of focusing on offerings or holocausts.  "Do God's will" for us to be rightfully be called the mother, brothers, and sisters of Jesus.  What does it mean exactly to do God's will? Only one point - when we prioritize above all God's will and not our own.  The late Fr. Tom explained it with a parable.  Imagine a situation where the birthday celebrant was asked by a greeter, "Tell me what you want for your birthday and I will give it to you.  Do you want a land? Vacation? New car? Tell me." The celebrant says, "I want blue cheese." "But no one wants blue cheese for his birthday." "But that is what I want," is the response. Which one should we do? Work for God or doing God's work?  Grant that we may move away from ourselves so we can freely do God's work.

In the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the old Eve is replaced by the new Eve, the Blessed Virgin Mary. There are three attributes that separate the new Eve from the old Eve aside from the title "Blessed Virgin" which is the mark of the Immaculate Conception as well as the perfect holiness of God. First, learn us learn for her obedience and not from the disobedience of Eve. Second, learn from the responsibility of Mary vis-a-vis the irresponsibility of Eve.  Eve blamed the serpent while she was the one who was responsible for the choice she made.   Thirdly, Mary's fruit is Jesus while Eve became the mother of humankind.  What kind of fruits will we produce on this earth - weak or strong youth? Be strong to follow Jesus.

Homily for the bereaved I would like to see this world as pure gift and therefore, I am always thankful. If I have a thankful disposition, I have no time to complain or to worry, because I know, everything has been provided for by God who loves us. A thankful heart seeks to thank the many persons in one life.  He will always thank God for the gift of people. And for this one particular person, thankfulness comes in because of the innate goodness of someone who has been a gift to us.  I thank you for your presence in my life. Second, I thank the person for what he has made me become.  I'm sure I can be anyone else.  But with the loved one, my heart is transformed into something beautiful. Third, a real thankful heart is when the person passes away, but his memory will last a whole lifetime.  I will keep the loved one in my heart as long as I live because I am thankful. Eventually, a thankful heart opens oneself to God who is the author of all these...

The way of the Lord Luke 11:15-26 The basic defect of one relying on the law is he thinks that salvation is possible by just following the law and now the person or God who is the real spirit of the law. When can we say that we are under the influence of the devil?  When we are heading for division and not unity, the second is when we belittle the true and absolute power of God over our lives; third, when the Holy Spirit is not moving in us but laws. Let us strengthen our resolve to cause the unity of people in God, believe in Jesus Christ Christ, and walk in the way of the Spirit.

Ask the right questions about God Luke 11:5-13 St. Paul in today's reading reprimanded the Galatians about the Jews imposing the law upon the Christians.  He posed the question, "Are we justified by the law or by faith?" This was the prevalent issue of that time.  But what is the prevalent issue in our time? Is the faith still relevant?  Is the faith relevant now or in the time of our death? For us going to Church, with faith, no explanation is necessary.  But for those who do not believe, no explanation is possible. But sometimes, people do not need explanations because they are not asking. Let us imagine a world without faith: first, life would have no meaning - love, respect, justice ... all these will not have any meaning; good or evil, things would not have any sense at all (morality) second, people would have no meaning - there will be no sense of community, (relationships, commitment to serve); or what a community of goodwill can do; third, sa...

Rosary and the Church Lk. 1: 36 - 48 From the first reading alone, one can have a glimpse of the deeper meaning of the rosary, when mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles: "they devoted themselves to one accord to prayer, together with Mary and the women." The seems to be a picture of a community of praying people bonded together by love.  This seems to be the image of the Church.  To reflect on the rosary is to reflect the living Church praying and bonded together by ties of God's pure love. In the Gospel, we hear the story of the Annunciation.  But so is the Opening prayer when we hear the prayer of the Angelus, "... that we to whom the incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His passion and cross, be brought to the glory of the resurrection.."  The rosary orients us to the life of Christ. Third, our being Catholics is a journey through life with an invitation to proclaim the Good News to everyone; the Good Ne...