Pure Conscience

Hi! and good TGIF day to all of us; and, it's just 105 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  Our today's "food for the soul":

 

THE GOOD NEWS (11 September 2015)

"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 

 

(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.) 

 

 

On Obedience

Hello! and happy Thursday to all of us; and, it's just 106 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  As usual, first-thing-first:

 

THE GOOD NEWS  (10 September 2015)

"Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as you should do in the LORD.  Husbands, love your wives and do not get angry with them.  Children, obey your parents in everything, because that pleases the LORD.  Parents, do not be too demanding of your children, lest they become discouraged." - Colossians 3:18-21 

(The brief counsel given to spouses.  Paul would not accept the attitude of many Christians who say:  "Religion has nothing to do with what I do in my home, my work, my leisure, or in politics."  On the contrary, Paul insists that Christians live all of these before the LORD, for the LORD, and in the LORD.)    

 

Seek The Things That Are Above!

Hi! and happy mid-week to all of us; and, it's just 107 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  Today's "daily bread" of our lives:

 

THE GOOD NEWS (09 September 2015)

"So then, if you are risen with CHRIST, seek the things that are above, where CHRIST is seated at the right hand of GOD.  Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the earthly things.  For you have died and your life is now hidden with CHRIST in GOD.  When CHRIST, who is your life, reveals HIMSELF, you also will be revealed with HIM in glory.

Therefore, put to death what is earthly in your life, that is immorality, impurity, inordinate passions, wicked desires and greed which is a way of worshiping idols.  These are the things that arouse the wrath of GOD. 

For a time you followed this way and lived in such disorders.  Well then, reject all that:  anger, evil intentions, malice, and let no abusive words be heard from your lips." - Colossians 3:1-8

 

 

 

(Here we have what was said about baptism which joins us to CHRIST and makes us share in all HIS wealth.  Since CHRIST left this earth, we leave it too:  what is best in our lives, what motivates us to do things in neither visible, nor is it of the earth.  GOD alone knows the riches of the believer's heart, even when her/his life seems tarnished by various faults and weaknesses:  one day GOD will manifest the goodness, the "glory" which we do not yet see.

 

 

Put to death what is earthly in your life.  It is not that we have to kill ourselves, but to destroy egoism, wickedness, envy, excessive confidence in self, for sin is there.  Being free of a religion of commandments should not make us less aware of what is required in a new life:  it means being still more perfect.)

Persevering Prayer

Hello! and good Tuesday morning; and, it's just 108 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.   As usual, first-thing-first:

 

THE GOOD NEWS (08 September 2015)

"How long, O LORD, will you forget me and hide YOUR face from me?  How long must I suffer pain in my soul and grief in my heart all the day long?  How long shall my enemy triumph over me?

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 13:2-3, 6

(Personal prayer, persevering prayer will surely be heard.  GOD does not forget HIS children:  HE has resurrected CHRIST.)

 

 

My Soul Rests In GOD Alone!

Hi! and good 1st day of  the week; and, it's just 109 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  Our today's opener:

THE GOOD NEWS (07 September 2015)

"How long will you assail with your threats, all of you, to bring someone down - as you would pull a wall or smash a fence?  Indeed they plan to topple me.  They take pleasure in telling lies; with their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.

GOD has spoken one word, and I have heard two things:  that power belongs to GOD, and yours, O GOD, is also mercy:  you reward each one according to his deeds." - Psalm 62:4-5, 12-13

(Still another psalm that seems far removed from believers in peaceful countries. The psalms are the prayer of a people struggling and suffering violence.  Look at the televised news, and the violence of the world will be sufficiently present for us to pray, the prayer of the real world that struggles to survive.

 

GOD has revealed two of HIS dominant qualities:  power and goodness.  Would we like them to be active?  Let us believe and open our hearts.)

 

1st Sunday, September 2015

Hi! and happy 1st Sunday of the month; and, it's just 110 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  Today's "food for the soul":

          1st Reading  :  Isiah 35:4-7
          Psalm           :  Psalm 146:7-10
          2nd Reading:  James 2:1-5
          Gospel         :  Mark 7:31-37

(Whoever makes a distinction between persons is not Christian!)



Lord Of The Sabbath

Hello! and happy weekend to all of us; and, it's just 111 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  As usual, first-thing-first:

"On another Sabbath, JESUS entered the synagogue and began teaching. there was a man with a paralyzed right hand and  the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees watched HIM:  Would JESUS heal the man on the Sabbath?  If HE did, they could accuse HIM.

But JESUS knew their thoughts and said to the man, 'Get up and stand in the middle.'  Then HE spoke to them, 'I want to ask you:  what is allowed by the Law on the Sabbath, to do good or to do harm, to save life or destroy it?'  And JESUS looked around at them all.

Then HE said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.'  He stretched it out and his hand was restored, becoming as whole as the other.  But they were furious and began to discuss with one another how they could deal with JESUS." - Luke 5:6-11

(JESUS could have said to the man:  'Why do you ask me to do something forbidden on the Sabbath?  Come back tomorrow to be healed.'  JESUS does not avoid the confrontation because Gospel means liberation and we become free when we admit that there is nothing sacred in a society that attempts to impose its own standards.  The law of rest (Sabbath) is one of the fundamental laws of the Bible but that does not prevent the possibility of this law causing oppression and for that reason it must at times be dispensed with.

 

Let us not forget that the word Sabbath means rest.  GOD requested that one day be made holy each week, not primarily for religious assemblies, but to allow everyone to rest.  GOD is glorified  when people are not enslaved in order to gain their daily sustenance because of their work.

 

It is the same for the most sacred laws of the Church:  at a given moment they might be an obstacle to the Gospel and, if that be the case, Christian conscience, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, must find a solution for the time being.  As long as people are subject to an order, to laws and authorities which are considered sacred and which no one thinks of criticizing, those people are neither free nor true sons and daughters of GOD.

 

A respect for GOD that would destroy our critical sense would not be in keeping with the Gospel; a religion preventing us from seeking the truth and from questioning every area of human restlessness would not be the true one.  To study the Bible without daring to know and take into account the contributions of modern science for fear that our very naïve vision of sacred history would fall apart would be to sin against the Spirit.)

New Wine, New Skin!

Hello! and good Thursday to all of us; and, it's just 112 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  Our today's first-thing-first:

 

"JESUS also told the Pharisees this parable, 'No one tears a piece from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new will be torn and the piece taken from the new will not match the old.  No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed as well.  But new wine must be put into fresh skins.  Yet no one who has tasted old wine is eager to get new wine, but says:  The old is good'." - Luke 5:36-39

 

(What is the new wine?  It is of course the Gospel, and the enthusiasm because of the Holy Spirit that leads the disciples to every kind of madness to manifest the love of the FATHER and the freedom that they have acquired.  In order to understand this, let us read the Acts of the Apostles and the lives of the saints, who have marked Church history.

 

Old skins:  Gospel does not fit into the molds of religion and likewise does not enter into those persons who hold onto them at all costs.  In the Gospel of Mark, he wants us to catch Gospel's novelty.  We have just seen JESUS welcoming sinners, now we wonder that HE doesn't come like religious groups with prayers and fasting.)

 

The Way To Liberation And Salvation

Hi! and happy 2nd day of "Family Week in the Philippines"; and, it's just 113 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  Here is our today's "food for the soul":

 

THE GOOD NEWS (03 September 2015)

 

"Let rivers clap their hands, hills and mountains sing with joy before the LORD, for HE comes to rule the earth.  HE will judge the world with justice and the people with fairness." - Psalm 98:8-9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Humanity has found the way to liberation and salvation:  in the coming of CHIST, GOD-made-man; and, in HIS resurrection.)

The 3 Theological Virtues

Hello! and happy mid-week to all of us; and, it is just 114 days to go before Christmas, GUYS.  Our today's "daily bread":

 

THE GOOD NEWS (02 September 2015)

"Thanks be to GOD, the Father of CHRIST JESUS, our Lord!

We constantly pray for you, for we have known your faith in CHRIST JESUS and of your love for all the saints.  Indeed you await in hope the inheritance reserved for you in heaven, of which you have heard through the word of truth." - Colossians 1:3-5

 

(Paul constantly regroups these three Christian powers: believe, love and hope.  In the Christian world, they are called theological virtues (i.e., powers that go straight to GOD).  The three go together, otherwise they do not exist.  In a sense hope is the first:  if it is no longer alive, faith and love remain powerless.)