Seekfirst
"33But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness,* and
all these things will be given you besides” (Matthew 6: 33)
Matthew 6:33 is my key scripture par excellence. This is the scripture that gave me my
business name: Seekfirstweb. Seekfirstweb has today three domains,
seekfirstweb.com, seekfirstweb.org and Seekfirstwb.net. It has one Blog, Seekfirst Blog. The idea went back to a journal entry in
1996. I reproduce below this journal
entry:
SeekFirst
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given you besides.”
(Matthew 6:33)
On the 1st of November 1996, I confided the
following to my journal:
[Yesterday at Mass, I made the resolution to attend daily
Eucharist as from 11/01/96. I regard
this development as a big grace and I thank the Blessed Virgin Mary for
it. I see it as the first fruit of the
October devotion. My prayer to God is
that since I am not capable of carrying out such a lofty resolution on my own,
that he should provide me with all the physical and spiritual strength I need
to carry it out.
I recall the miracle of my friend, Carrena who told me in
1992 that for over 10 years, he had attended Mass everyday without missing one
day. May God give me the same blessing
not just for 10 years but for the rest of my life.
The October devotion was concluded yesterday with the Mass
novena in the last 9 days and the extra Rosary during the month. How do I feel now about my prayer request? Very confident. For one thing, I have come to know more about
the Blessed Virgin Mary form the book of Fr. Francis Ripley, “Mary, Mother of
the Church”, which I bought on October 25th. I came to realize as I never did before that
it is God’s will that all graces come to us through Mary. I also learned of the constant teaching of
the Church articulated so well by many pontiffs that Mary is very powerful in
her intercession on our behalf.
I started the devotion this October asking for one favor and
one favor only: the total success of the
Enterprise. In the concrete, I seek for
the following graces:
·
A burning zeal to see the will of God
accomplished in my life with regard to the Enterprise.
·
To seek God’s will and not mine in every detail
of the Enterprise.
·
Faith that is firm, unwavering and constant that
God is for me and with me in this project and therefore success is guaranteed.
·
Patience to wait for God’s time, realizing that
everything that happens takes place when God chooses.
·
Wisdom to know what to do and when in every step
in this project.
·
Humility to totally depend on God for everything
vis-à-vis the Enterprise.
I have sought for these graces through the intercession of
the Blessed Virgin Mary. I believe I
will get everything I asked for and more.
I feel deeply encouraged by the grace for the daily
Eucharist. To me it is like “seeking
first the kingdom of God and all that he requires of me” and then
challenging God to fulfill his promise to supply all my needs.
Today marks two weeks since the commencement of the
Enterprise. Looking back at everything
that has happened so far, I thank God that I am benefitting from the
preparation I made. I am following my
scripts closely. Considering how things
have gone so far, it appears as if the Holy Spirit is in a hurry to establish
for me his priority in the Enterprise.
The thrust and emphasis of my effort have been spiritual
development. Although I have spent time
thinking of money and security, these thoughts are clearly secondary.
With the blessing of the daily Eucharist, I know for certain
that I am heading in the right direction.
God will fulfill his word to me at the right time. “All other things shall be mine without the
asking. For the Father knows that I need
them. And indeed, for this reason, he
has placed me here.” This is my
belief. Praise the Lord. Alleluia!]
It has been 10 years since I wrote the above
reflection. Reading this again today in
2006, I marvel at God’s faithfulness.
Today, September 12, 2011, I reread this journal entry with
great emotion. Matthew 6:33 is still my
key scripture. I am growing in seeing
that this scripture contains everything I need in life. If I believe what I read and teach what I believe
and practice what I teach, all will be well with me. Help me Jesus.