What do you fear most?

"Jesus said to the Twelve: “Fear no one." (Matthew 10: 26).

Sunday 21st June 2020, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

What Jesus says to the Bishops this Sunday, He says to you and to me. Do not fear Caesar. Do not fear Napoleon. Rather be afraid of God who can destroy both your body and soul in hell fire. Fear of man is the clearest sign that you are not prepared to embrace the gracious and mysterious will of the Father always and everywhere.
Consider John the Baptist, Jeremiah, St Paul. They feared neither Caesar nor Napoleon.
Jeremiah exclaimed: "The Lord is with me like a mighty Champion."

Are you afraid of man? It may be a sign that you are not aware of the presence of the Lord with you.
David proclaimed in exultant faith:
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?
The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?" (Psalm 27: 1).

Brethren, know once and for all that fear, worry and doubt are never from God. They are from the Evil One who may still be controlling a part of your real estate. It is about time to give him the Quit Notice.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Jesus said to them,
“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2: 49).

Saturday 20th June 2020, 11th Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Gospel for today is from Luke 2: 41 - 51. It is a revealing incident in the Infancy Narrative of the Gospel. Although Jesus was 12 years old at this point, this story is still considered part of the Infancy Narrative. The story reveals a number of of things about the Boy Jesus and His mother Mary.

#1 Jesus manifested very early that His Father's business is a top priority. Later, we will see that this business is the Kingdom of God. We know that up to His Ascension, Jesus has magnificent obsession for this intention.

#2 We see too in this Gospel story a pleasing side of Mary. She was highly perturbed like any mother who has lost a child. Mary is not a goddess. She is a human being that is full of grace.

#3 "His mother [Mary] kept all these things in her heart." (Luke 2: 51). For me, this is the lesson, the takeaway from this incident. Mary pondered what happened and grew in her knowledge that God is a Mystery and His ways are not our ways. This incident prepared Mary to embrace God’s gracious and mysterious will every moment of her life. She remembers this lesson at Calvary.

After this nice story, life continues as usual for the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. "He [Jesus] went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them." (Luke 2: 51).

"My heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, who has been bountiful with me." (Psalm 12: 6).

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

"We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.(1 John 4: 16).

Friday 19th June 2020, 11th Week in Ordinary Time is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

What do we celebrate today? We celebrate the human fleshy Heart of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity whose name is Jesus. In His infinite wisdom, Jesus chose the symbol of the heart ♥ to make us reflect and believe in His love for us.

What does love demand? Very simple. If I love you, I want you to love me back. I don't want excuses, delays or postponement. St Mary Magdalene understands this dimension of love. When she became aware of the deep love of Jesus for her, she loved Him back. Heart talks to heart. So does St Margaret Mary Alacoque who brought us the private revelation of the Heart of Jesus crying for love.  Jesus gave Margaret Mary 12 Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to all those who shall respond to His message of love.
Today we celebrate the intense love of Jesus for you and for me and His plea that we become aware of this love and return love for love.

For the 12 Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, click the link below:

http://sfjweb.com/?q=content/sacred-heart-12-promises

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirstcommunity.com

This is how to pray.

"This is how you are to pray." (John 6 : 9).

Thursday 18th June 2020, 11th Week in Ordinary Time.

Jesus said to His disciples: "This is how you are to pray." (John 6 : 9).
This command makes what we call "Our Father" or "The Lord’s Prayer" normative. This means that Our Father becomes the most perfect of prayers and an example on how to pray. No prayer formulated by the Church or any saint rises to the lofty heights of the Lord's Prayer. This is why the Church has used it in its most sacred Liturgy from its beginning.

The Our Father contains all our desires and orders these desires according to a prescribed hierarchy of needs. Desire makes a man says St Ignatius Loyola. You can never be superior to the desires of your heart. So the Lord gives us the two things we are to desire most:

#1 The Holy Spirit.
#2 The Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

If you make the above two the constant and undying desires of your heart, not only will your request be satisfied but you will receive everything you need to live a holy, safe, secure and contented life.

Christians, let us believe the Gospel that declares that "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Matthew 6: 8).

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

I want a double portion.

“Request whatever I might do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.”

Wednesday 17th June 2020, 11th Week in Ordinary Time.

Pentecost Sunday is barely 17 days ago and we are talking about another outpouring of the Holy Spirit! That is right. In the Bible, there are multiple outpourings of the awesome Spirit. Sometimes, you receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and you still feel a certain hunger for more. Ask and you shall receive more.

One of the reasons I like and remember Prophet Elisha is because of his bold request:
“May I receive a double portion of your spirit.” This is how we should come to God in prayer:  With bold confidence! Did Jesus not say that the Father does not ration the Holy Spirit?

Elijah replied Elisha: “You have asked something that is not easy." (2 Kings 2: 9 - 10).
For God all things are easy and possible.

Ask and you will receive. I will ask for a double portion of the Holy Spirit. I will ask for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

How to love your enemies.

"Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5: 43 - 44).

Tuesday 16th June 2020, 11th Week in Ordinary Time.

Love your enemies. Embrace and pray for the Nazi tugs who perpetrated such unspeakable horrors on your parents and grandparents. This is humanly speaking impossible Jesus.  "I know. This is why my Holy Spirit lives in you and is with you always. He will help you accomplish impossible things."

The life and virtues of Jesus are found in the fruits of the Holy Spirit:
Charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity.

My friends, let us believe in the Gospel and not conform to the principles of this world. Let us conform to the model of Jesus in His life. He is our Way. The bridge we must walk through to eternal life is Jesus.

Daily Bible Verse
@ SeekFirstcommunity.com 

Give to the one who borrows and never pays back.

"Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow." (Matthew 5: 42).

Monday 15th June 2020, 11th Week in Ordinary Time.

Our Scripture verse today is one of the most challenging teachings of Jesus to me. I have avoided it in my Blogs for over 20 years. As a freshman in college some 40 years ago, I tried to live this teaching. Not because of any love of Jesus or His Gospel but because this was the way to friendships and easy popularity in a campus where I knew nobody. To make a long story short, I loaned money and books to guys that appeared honest and well-bred. They never paid back the money in time or returned the books. What pained me most was they did not seem to mind what their attitude was shouting loudly: We don't care for your friendship.

The habit of what I called wreckless lending cost me many valuable friendships I thought. Solution: My friend: "Buddy, do you have this book?" Answer: No. Another friend: "Lend me $20. I will pay you back on Friday." Me: "Buddy, I don't have a dime!"

Why did I decide to blog on this today? Two weeks ago was the Solemnity of Pentecost. I did the Novena and I learned something. I can't do any good in my strength. Not even the least. The Holy Spirit is promised us as a Friend, Paraclete, Advocate, the Voice that speaks in court for us. How do I activate this Dynamite Power to work for me? PRAYER! PRAYERS! Expectant PRAYER!

Since Pentecost 2020, I have read five books on the Holy Spirit. They all confirmed this word of knowledge. So if a difficult person is walking towards me with the intention of borrowing, I will pray quietly and quickly: Holy Spirit, tell me what to do.

Expectant prayer is based on the promise of Jesus: "Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find."

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com