Each Tree Is Known By The Fruit It Bears

Hello! and happy good weekend to all of us, GUYS.  Our "daily bread" this Saturday:

THE GOOD NEWS (10 September 2016)

"No healthy tree bears bad fruit, no poor tree bears good fruit.  And each tree is known by the fruit it bears: you don't gather figs from thorns, or grapes from brambles.  Similarly the good person draws good things from the good stored in the heart, and an evil person draws evil things from the evil stored in the heart.  For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart." - Luke 6:43-45 

(No healthy tree... These sayings were already mentioned in Matthew 7:15.  Here, however, Luke gives them a different meaning by referring to a pure conscience.  We must purify our mind and our spirit to become the tree that produces good fruits.)  

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Faith Demands Sacrifice

Hello! and happy TGIF to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" this Friday:

THE GOOD NEWS (09 September 2016)

"Have you not learned anything from the stadium?  Many run, but only one gets the prize.  Run, therefore, intending to win it, as athletes who impose upon themselves a rigorous discipline.  Yet for them the wreath is of laurels which wither, while for us, it does not wither.

So, then, I run knowing where I go.  I box but not aimlessly in the air.  I punish my body and control it, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be rejected." - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

(Paul is now ready to tell the Corinthians that they may not share the cult of idols.  To justify his position [for the Corinthians it was very strict], Paul presents two arguments:

- no racing contest is won without self-sacrifice;

- the Bible has many examples of how GOD punished those who practiced a cult of idols.

As athletes who impose upon themselves a rigorous discipline.  Like them, we must renounce many things that are not evil.  We need discipline to be really free, whether in the use of alcohol or tobacco, or not idly waste time in front of the television or reading magazines.  While the world lures us to be spectators and consumers, we must be agents of salvation, the salt of the earth.  The second paragraph recalls the example of Israel.)  

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Look And Listen To Me

Hi! and happy good Thursday to all of us, GUYS.  Our "daily bread" today:

THE GOOD NEWS (08 September 2016)

"But I put my trust in YOUR unfailing love,

my heart will rejoice on seeing YOUR salvation.

I will sing to the LORD,

for HE has been good to me!"

- Psalm 13:6

(Personal prayer, persevering prayer will surely be heard.

GOD does not forget HIS children: HE has resurrected CHRIST.)

  

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For The King's Wedding

Hello! and happy good mid-week to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" this Wednesday:

THE GOOD NEWS (07 September 2016)

"Listen, O daughter, pay attention;

forget your father's house and your nation,

and your beauty will charm the King,

for he is your lord.

The people of Tyre will bow before him.

The wealthiest nations will seek your favor.

All glorious as she enters

is the princess in her gold-woven robes.

She is led in royal attire to the king,

following behind is her train of virgins.

Amid cheers and general rejoicing,

they enter the palace of the king.

Forget your fathers and think of your sons,

you will make them princes throughout the land."

- Psalm 45:11-17

(This psalm could have been written on the occasion of the marriage of a king of Israel with a foreign princess, but perhaps it was a poetic call to the chosen people to fully enter into a covenant with its GOD, its spouse.  GOD made HIMSELF present through HIS King-Messiah, anointed by HIM.  Israel is party to the divine marriage, followed by all the nations who accept the revelation of GOD and salvation.

All this can apply to the Church and to each of us also.  Baptism was nothing less than a total gift to CHRIST.  For our part the gift remained with words and gestures, but we already belonged to HIM and a whole life is not too long for that to become a reality.

Listen, O daughter, pay attention; forget your father's house and your nation.  When marriage takes place, much has to be abandoned.  Here, it is the same: one day GOD will be all for all, but to reach that, one has to forget country and family, one must change one's way of thinking and one's habits for those of GOD.

Forget your fathers, and think of your sons.  We can see here JESUS' promises to those who leave all to serve HIM.

Human love is a mystery that touches the mystery of GOD HIMSELF.  GOD wishes to be united with humanity as a husband to his wife: HE has already done so in the person of CHRIST.)

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Do Not Bring Another Christian To Court

Hello! and happy good Tuesday to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" today:

THE GOOD NEWS (06 September 2016)

"When you have a complaint against a brother, how dare you bring it before pagan judges instead of bringing it before GOD's people?  Do you not know that you shall one day judge the world?  And if you are to judge the world, are you incapable of judging such simple problems?

Do you not know that we will even judge the angels?  And could you not decide every day affairs?  But when you have ordinary cases to be judged, you bring them before those who are of no account in the Church!  Shame on you!  Is there not even one among you wise enough to be the arbiter among believers?

But no.  One of you brings a suit against another one, and files that suit before unbelievers.  It is already a failure that you have suits against each other.  Why do you not rather suffer wrong and receive some damage?  But no.  You wrong and injure others, and those are your brothers and sisters.  Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of GOD?

Make no mistake about it: those who lead sexually immoral lives, or worship idols, or who are adulterers, perverts, sodomites, or thieves, exploiters, drunkards, gossips or embezzlers will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.  Some of you were like that, but you have been cleansed and consecrated to GOD and have been set right with GOD by the Name of the LORD JESUS and the Spirit of our GOD." - 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 

("We carry treasures from GOD in vessels of clay" [2 Corinthians 4:7].  How far is our daily life from what we pretend it is: children of GOD reborn in the Spirit!  What do the members of our own family think about this!  What do our near neighbors think of us!

Paul points out the contradiction between the contempt of believers for the false "justice" of the world, and the fact of lawsuits among them.  What should they do?  Settle their differences in the way indicated by the Gospel [Matthew 18:15], in so far as there is a real community.  How beautiful it would be to follow the letter of the Gospel [Matthew 5:40]!)

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You Should Be Unleavened Bread!

Hello! and happy good first day of the week to all of us, GUYS.  Our "daily bread" this Monday:

THE GOOD NEWS (05 September 2016)

"You have become news with a case of immorality, and such a case that is not even found among pagans.  Yes, one of you has taken as wife his own stepmother.  And you feel proud!  Should you not be in mourning instead and expel the one who did such a thing.  For my part, although I am physically absent, my spirit is with you and, as if present, I have already passed sentence on the man who committed such a sin.  Let us meet together, you and my spirit, and in the name of our LORD JESUS and with HIS power, you shall deliver him to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit be saved in the day of Judgment.

This is not the time to praise yourselves.  Do you not know that a little yeast makes the whole mass of dough rise?  Throw out, then, the old yeast and be new dough.  If CHRIST became our Passover, you should be unleavened bread.  Let us celebrate, therefore, the Passover, no longer with old yeast, which is sin and perversity; let us have unleavened bread, that is purity and sincerity." - 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 

(Paul knows that such a sinner cannot be brought to repentance unless he experiences the bitterness of his treachery.  So the community must ask that he suffer in health and belongings [Paul says "delivered to Satan for the ruin of the flesh:" see in Job 1:12 and 2:6 the meaning of delivered to Satan].  This excommunication is not merely a human gesture.  What the Church binds on earth is bound in heaven [Matthew 18:18].  GOD is committed to send trials that may be at the same time a warning to the Church and a way of repentance for the sinner.

You should be unleavened bread.  The believers have been spiritually raised with CHRIST.  As the Jews used unleavened bread to celebrate the Passover, in the same way the Christians have to be, in a figurative sense unleavened bread, that is, they must lead a sinless life before GOD, and so worthily celebrate their Passover, which is the Resurrection of CHRIST.  JESUS compared the kingdom of heaven to yeast that leavens the whole mass.  Here Paul uses the same comparison to show how evil spreads everywhere.)

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Give Me YOUR Wisdom

Hello! and happy holy and family day to all of us, GUYS.  Our first-thing-first this Sunday:

THE GOOD NEWS (04 September 2016)

"Indeed, what man can know the intentions of GOD?  Who can discern the plan of the LORD?

For human reasoning is timid, our notions misleading; a perishable body is a burden for the soul and our tent of clay weighs down the active mind.

We are barely able to know about the things of earth and it is a struggle to understand what is close to us; who then may hope to understand heavenly things?

Who  has ever known YOUR will unless YOU first gave him Wisdom and sent down YOUR holy spirit to him?  In this way YOU directed the human race on the right path; they learned what pleases YOU and were saved by Wisdom." - Wisdom 9:13-18 

King Solomon Asking GOD For Wisdom

(The necessary condition for acquiring wisdom consists in having a humble and simple heart. To those who cooperate with HIM, GOD grants uprightness, prudence and even the authority to lead GOD's people.  Abraham and Moses were called to do great things.

This prayer refers to the event related in 1 Kings 3:6: the dream in which Solomon asked GOD for wisdom.)  

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Comforted Christians And Harassed Apostles

Hello! and happy good weekend to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" today:

THE GOOD NEWS (03 September 2016)

"So, then, you are already rich and satisfied, and feel like kings without us!  I wish you really were kings, so that we might enjoy the kingship with you!

It seems to me that GOD has placed us, the apostles, in the last place, as if condemned to death, and as spectacles for the whole world, for the angels as well as for mortals.

We are fools for CHRIST, while you show forth the wisdom of CHRIST.  We are weak, you are strong.  You are honored, while we are despised.  Until now we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and badly treated, while moving from place to place.  We labor, working with our hands.  People insult us and we bless them, they persecute us  and we endure everything; they speak evil against us, and ours are works of peace.  We have become like the scum of the earth, like the garbage of humankind until now.

I do not write this to shame you, but to warn you as very dear children.  Because even though you may have ten thousand guardians in the Christian life, you have only one FATHER; and it was I who gave you life  in CHRIST through the Gospel." - 1 Corinthians 4:8-15 

Apostle Paul At Corinth

(The Corinthians feel rich in their faith, rich in their spiritual gifts.  They have made fair progress in the road of knowledge, and as people expert in the matter, they charitably look down on Paul, the poor Jewish preacher. 

The Apostle knows that his own culture and strong personality would have given him a bright future.  He sees at the same time the narrow-mindedness of his adversaries but allows them to make fun of him.  They think he is a fool, and in a way he is.  However, even if taken for a fool he brought them to CHRIST.)     

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Do Not Judge Before The Time, Until The Coming Of The LORD!

Hi! and happy TGIF to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" this Friday:

THE GOOD NEWS (02 September 2016)

"Let everyone then see us as the servants of CHRIST and stewards of the secret works of GOD.  Being stewards, faithfulness shall be demanded of us; but I do not mind if you or any human court judges me.  I do not even judge myself; my conscience indeed does not accuse me of anything, but that is not enough for me to be set right with GOD: the LORD is the one who judges me. 

Therefore, do not judge before the time, until the coming of the LORD.  HE will bring to light whatever was hidden in darkness and will disclose the secret intentions of the hearts.  Then each one will receive praise from GOD." - 1 Corinthians 4:1-5  

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Do Not Divide The Church

Hi! and happy good first day of the month of September 2016 to all of us, GUYS.  Our first-thing-first this Thursday:

THE GOOD NEWS (01 September 2016)

"Do not deceive yourselves. If anyone of you considers himself wise in the ways of the world, let him become a fool, so that he may become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in GOD's eyes.  To this, Scripture says: GOD catches the wise in their own wisdom.  It also says: The LORD knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is useless.

Because of this, let no one become an admirer of humans, for everything belongs to you, Paul, Apollos, Cephas - life, death, the present and the future.  Everything is yours, and you, you belong to CHRIST, and CHRIST is of GOD." - 1 Corinthians 3:18-23 

(Everything is yours and you belong to CHRIST.  We have here a decisive word on Christian freedom.

On the other hand, remember what non-believing philosophers have said: People created GOD out of their own misery.  Whatever was lacking in order for them to feel great and happy, they attributed to a superior being, who had everything.  In worshipping him, they felt identified with him and forgot their own misery.  This theory is not completely false: in fact people make idols for themselves, be they singers, athletes or politicians; and they feel happy when their idols have and do everything they themselves cannot do or have.  They die for causes not their own and they feel proud of people and institutions that exploit them.  A Christian is wary of authority becoming idols: he exists and thinks for himself.   Even in the Church he is face to face with GOD with no other intermediary but CHRIST, and he does not indulge in the cult of personalities.) 

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