HE chose me.

Why does God choose the weak and poor of the world? Moses, David, Abraham Lincoln, Cyrus, Barack Obama, Popes Benedict and Francis?

"Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.

"Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

"Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.

"It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1: 26 - 31).

Sunday January 29th 2023 of the 4th week in Ordinary Time.

Brethren, our reflection this Sunday comes from First Corinthians 1: 26 - 31.

We know that as the Baptized, we are the Chosen, Called and Anointed. We are called to be the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. We are called to be priest, prince and prophet. From this same call, you become the salt and light of the world.

But who am I to be called and elevated to so high a pedestal? I have less than a great education. I have next to zero pedigree. I don't consider myself to be a physically strong person. Yet, Christ Jesus chose me, called me and anointed me and I was transformed. I believe and I know that I can do all things because of Jesus Christ who empowers me.
You too my dear friend can claim this truth without hesitation.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Rejoice and be glad; your reward will be great in heaven.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

Feast of St Thomas AQUINAS OP, PRIEST & DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH.

"The things that we love tell us what we are." (St Thomas Aquinas, OP. Doctor of the Church).

"On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him.

"A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.

"Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”

"The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

"They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” (Mark 4: 35 - 41).

Saturday January 28th 2023 in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of the Angelic Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas, OP. (1225 - 1274). Italian. Dominican Priest. Doctor of the Church. He wrote the Summa Theologica and other great books. Apart from being one of the greatest theologians in the Church, Thomas is noted for his humility and holiness.

“Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” This is the apparently exasperated rebuke of the disciples by Jesus.  The disciples had seen signs and wonders performed by Jesus.

Were are the storms in your life today? Family, Health, Finances, Job, Property or Tools?  Or have you nothing to worry about but your future?

All storms are sanctioned by God's mighty, merciful and mysterious Providence. Because the storms are sanctified, they are blessings and more often than not blessings in disguise.

"Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."  (James 1: 2 - 4)

Storm times are testing times.  Where do you place your trust? Who is your security? Who is the first person you call upon to help you?

"My foes treat me harshly all the day; yes, many are my attackers.
O Most High, when I am afraid,
in you I place my trust.
I praise the word of God;
I trust in God, I do not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?"  (Psalm 56: 3 - 5)

The whole of Sacred Scripture teaches one lesson:  Love God with all your heart and put Him first in everything.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil."  (Matthew 6: 33 -34)

When we put God and His interests first in our affairs, we experience a state that can be described as "No fear, No Worry, No Doubt."   Because Jesus Himself has promised that:
"Fear is useless; what is needed is trust."  (Luke 8: 50, Mark 5: 36)

As we open our hearts and minds to the word of God with confident trust, we experience the power of faith to rule and calm the furious storms that arise in our lives.

"Do not fear: I am with you;
do not be anxious: I am your God.
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."  (Isaiah 41: 10).

"They cried to the Lord in their distress; from their straits he rescued them, he hushed the storm to a gentle breeze, and the billows of the sea were stilled." (Psalm 107).

God works silent miracles all the time for us. Show appreciation like the sailors. God is very pleased by our gratitude.

"They rejoiced that they were calmed, and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness and his wondrous deeds to the children of men." (Psalm 107).

Such lessons from the Scriptures build up our faith. Don't miss them.

Daily Bible Verse @
Seekfirstcommunity.com

The Feast of St Angela Merici, Virgin and Foundress of the Ursulines.

"Do not lose heart, even if you should discover that you lack qualities necessary for the work to which you are called. He who called you will not desert you, but the moment you are in need he will stretch out his saving hand. Strive to be faithful to that which God has called you." (St Angela Merici).

"Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering. At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated. You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession.

"Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need ­endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.

"For, after just a brief moment, he who is to come shall come; he shall not delay. But my just one shall live by faith, and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him. We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life." (Hebrews 10: 32 - 39).

Friday 27th January 2023 in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Angela Merici, (1474 - 1540), Virgin.  Italian. She founded the Ursuline Order, the first women teaching order in the Church. St Angela believed that the formation and education of Christian women is society's greatest investment.
Convinced of this truth, St. Angela Merici founded the Company of St. Ursula,  [Ursulines] a secular institute devoted to educating young women to be Christian wives, mothers, teachers, and catechists. The Ursulines are flourishing today in their teaching ministry.

Our key Scripture for today is from Hebrews 10: 32 - 39. Specifically, we focus on this injunction:

"Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need ­endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised."

The Christian life is a warfare. A daily battle with the forces of evil. In this battle like real life battles, there are mountain-top moments and there may be plenty of valleys. How can you fight to win?

#1. Your confidence of victory comes from the word of God. Forget it and you are doomed.
#2. The soldier of Jesus Christ must be imbued with a hardened spirit of endurance. Nothing worthwhile has ever been achieved without peserverance. The enemy will be coming at you again and again. As one battle ends, he may begin another without pulse.
But your persistence will break the resistance.
#3. Remember that your brethren all over the world are fighting the same battle. (1 Peter 5: 9; 1 Corinthians 10: 23).

You will emerge from the valley stronger and renewed with deeper conviction in:

#1. The just person lives by faith. Faith in the promise of God which can never fail.
#2. A firm conviction that the gracious and mysterious will of God is the best thing for you always, everywhere and in everything.

Armed with this new knowledge, you resolve never again to neglect daily prayer, daily nourishment from the word of God. You commit yourself never to slacken in doing good to your neighbor.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

Feast of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops.

Saints Timothy and Titus fanned into huge flame the gift of the Holy Spirit they received on their ordination.

“Jesus said to his disciples:
“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?
For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.”

"He also told them, “Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.

"To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4: 21 - 25).

Thursday 26th January 2023 in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of Saints Timothy and Titus. Bishops.
Timothy (+ 97). Jewish mother and a Greek father. He was ordained by St Paul as Bishop of Ephesus. He was a disciple of Paul and traveled with Paul in some of his missionary journeys.

Titus (+ 96 or 107). A native of the island of Crete. Ordained Bishop of Crete by St Paul. Both Timothy and Titus had very difficult churches to oversee in Ephesus and Crete respectively.

Brethren, let us consider the last paragraph of today's Gospel:
"To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

I know this teaching is absolutely true because I have experienced it personally in my life and as a catechist. The greatest gift of God to us is the Precious Holy Spirit. Once you activate the Gift in your life, you start to grow in all manner of ways in everything, everywhere, all at once. Beautiful experience.

What if you reject the Holy Spirit by a life of sin without any effort to reconcile with God through the Sacrament of Penance? You start shrinking in  the divine life within you. You will be like a dying 230 pound man who shrunk to about 80 pounds in his last weeks on earth.
The good news is that if you come back to your senses and seek God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, you recover your life.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

The Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, the Apostle.

“Paul’s conversion matured in his encounter with the Risen Christ, it was this encounter that radically changed his life. What happened to him on the road to Damascus is what Jesus asks in today’s Gospel, Saul is converted because, thanks to the divine light, “he has believed in the Gospel.... ”  (Pope Benedict XVI).

"Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.

"These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16: 15 - 18).

Wednesday 25th January 2023 in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time is the important feast of the Conversion of St Paul.

Why is the feast of the Conversion of the Apostle Paul a very important feast in the Church?

#1. Christ Jesus undertook the conversion of St Paul Himself. No delegation of duty. No intermediary. Like all the other Apostles, it was a personal choice, call and anointing.
#2. Paul is the greatest missionary and evangelist in the Church.
#3. Paul wrote most of the New Testament.

What do we learn from the Conversion of St Paul?
#1. We share a vocation with the great Apostle: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16: 15).
#2. People are converted through hearing the testimonies of converted people. Testimony also means witnessing.  This is why autobiographies and biographies are powerful genre of literature. They leverage the power of example and testimony.

It is not an accident that the Conversion of St Paul is repeated three times in the Acts of the Apostles in considerable length. The Holy Spirit is teaching the Church the best practice in Evangelization. Do not hide the blessings of God. Shout them.

"They [converts] only kept hearing that “the one who once was persecuting us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” So they glorified God because of me." (Galatians 1: 23 - 24).
This powerful example of Paul encouraged the faith of all.

The Church exists for only One Thing: Evangelization. Jesus is appealing to us:

"Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16: 15).
How do you start?
"You will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses..." (Acts 1: 8).
No Holy Spirit, No power. Ask the Lord Jesus with confident boldness for the Gift of the Holy Spirit for Evangelization. And you can start evangelizing right away with your smart phone. Do you have a phone with Internet connection? Do you  have an address book on your phone? Start sharing Scriptures and the blogs you like.

"If there are so few priests in certain places, it is above all because those that are there have forsaken Me in the Sacrament of My love and no longer live in My friendship. Let every priest present himself as a friend of Jesus, and his ministry will soon take on the efficacy and fruitfulness that characterized that of Saint John, of Saint Paul, and of My first apostles. The friend speaks with the authority that only experience can confer." (IN SINU JESU, March 30, 2008 Sunday of Divine Mercy).

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

The Feast of St Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.

How do you make important decisions in life? According to Pope Francis in a letter celebrating 400th anniversary of St Francis de Sales whose feast day is today: "Where the greatest love is to be found?"

“The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.

"A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.”

"But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

"And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3: 31 - 35).

Tuesday 24th January 2023 in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Francis de Sales (1567 - 1622), Bishop and Doctor of the Church. Born in France, he was the Bishop of Geneva where he combatted Calvinism. He founded with St Jane Frances de Chantal the Order of the Visitation Nuns. St Francis de Sales is an accomplished author and the patron saint of authors and journalists.

"Then I said, As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God."  (Cf Hebrews10:1-10). Mary too lives by the Will of God. So should we her children.
If knowing this truth, you bend to any other will but the Will of God, you are a little lapping dog. Sorry, I am not yet as gentle as St Francis de Sales. I say it as I see it.
Wake up now brethren and let us ask the grace to conform our will to the Will of God. (Cf Romans 12: 2).

Not my will but Thy Will be done O Most Loving and Adorable Father.

St Francis de Sales is patron saint of writers and journalists. He is one of my patron saints. St Francis de Sales pray for us.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

Let us celebrate life.

As we pray for the legal protection of all life, let us remember that the battle belongs to Jesus. The victory is ours to enjoy.

"The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”

"Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him.

"But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.

"Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3: 22 - 30).

Monday 23rd January 2023 is  the 3rd Week of Ordinary Time and the Day of Prayer for the legal Protection of Life in the United States.

The scribes filled with envy accused Jesus of being insane. (Mark 3: 30).  Jesus used the opportunity of this drama to teach us the reality of two kingdoms in constant war with each other. Jesus came to usher in the Kingdom of God. 

Brethren, it is clear that a divided kingdom cannot stand. Can a divided Church stand? NO! Now let us listen to Jesus:
"No one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house."  (Mark 3: 27).

Who has tied up the Church?
The Church tied up itself in nuts when the Church departed from the supreme law of the Kingdom:
"SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND EVERYTHING ELSE WILL BE GIVEN YOU BESIDES." (Cf Matthew 6: 33).

Now the remedy:
Let Bishops seek first the kingdom.
Let priests seek first the kingdom.
Let moms seek first the kingdom.
Let politicians seek first the kingdom.
Let the youth seek first the kingdom.

The Church shall then be united organically. United we stand. Divided we shall surely fall.

The evil of Abortion will be dealt with by Jesus Christ at His own time and manner. The battle is His. We shall enjoy the victory.

To read the irrefutable proof of the Church as the Pillar and Foundation of truth, click the link below:

http://seekfirst.blogspot.com/2022/01/presenting-truth-of-catholic-church.html?m=1

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirstcommunity.com