"You wicked servant, I canceled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servants just as I had pity on you?" (Matthew 18: 32 – 33)
Forgive others as the Father forgives you.
Give to others as the Father gives to you.
Do for others as the Father does to you.
"Yahweh said to Joshua, 'This day, I shall begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel so that they will know that, as I was with Moses, so shall I be with you." (Joshua 3: 7)
God appointed Joshua to succeed Moses. In Joshua 3:7, we see God equipping Joshua for the job. He is made great in the eyes of the people to facilitate the work of his leadership. He was not made great for his sake. All gifts come from God. God is the source of all inspiration and power.
"If the Lord does not build the house, they labor in vain who builds it." (Psalm 27: 1)
"In truth I tell you once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them." (Matthew 18: 19 – 20)
When I meditated on the above scripture in 1999, I had a hot wish. Filled with faith, I called a number of friends to pray in agreement with me for an answer to that desire. Today, 2010, I am still waiting for an answer. What happened? What went wrong? Is Jesus unfaithful to His promises?
My understanding of prayer has grown since I responded to this scripture the way I did in 1999. Looking back at my frantic prayer and the apparent No Answer to that prayer, I feel like somebody who knows the mind of Jesus better today than I did in 1999. I feel that Jesus is saying to me: "I have heard your prayer. Just trust me completely with your life. You will have nothing to regret." I know and believe that Jesus is in control. I have come to see and believe that He knows what is best for me. I have peace and I surrender. Answer or no answer does not matter as much as knowing that Jesus is with me here and now. My devotion to Jesus has not lessened. On the contrary, it has increased.
"Joshua son Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him and him the Israelites obeyed, carrying out the order which Yahweh had given to Moses." (Deuteronomy 34: 9)
Where the Holy Spirit is, there is the power to perform great tasks. We see this in the lives of Moses, Joshua, David, the prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and Paul and so on. The Spirit is the source of inspiration and power for big tasks and big missions.
"All you need is the Holy Spirit." Dearest Mother of the Redeemer and Most Beautiful Spouse of the Holy Spirit, obtain for me great outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
"God of mercy, you inspired St. Clare with the love of poverty. By the help of her prayers may we follow Christ in poverty of spirit and come to the joyful vision of glory in the kingdom of heaven….."
St. Clare embraced the gift of God to love the poverty and simplicity of Jesus Christ.
What am I inspired to love?
God is the source of inspiration and power
"Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12: 25)
The world holds up for us models of people who love their lives and enjoy life. They have the following characteristics:
The Gospel on the other hand presents us with models of people who "hate" their lives in this world. They too have their characteristics:
If one lives and clings to his life in this world, he loses the real life. "It is the spirit that gives life. The flesh as nothing to give."
"God is perfectly able to enrich you with every grace, so that you always have enough for every conceivable need, and your resources overflow in every kind of good work." (2 Corinthians 9: 8)
Every good gift comes from God. Our time, talent and treasure all come from Him. Whenever God asks us to do something or give something, He wants us to remember the above promise. God is able to enrich us with every grace. He is able to provide all the resources we need for every kind of good work. Therefore let us respond to God with open and generous spirit. Can we ever outdo God in generosity? Never!
"Go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that rises, open its mouth and there you will find a shekel; take it and give it to them for me and for yourself." (Matthew 17: 27)
Jesus has shown before that He knows where all the fish are hiding. In the above scripture, He shows that He knows the particular fish that had swallowed a shekel. Now He commands the fish to release the shekel.
All things serve God. All things are possible for God. To know that my destiny is safely in the hands of God gives me a lot of comfort.
"The Lord, your God, shall you fear, and him shall you serve; hold fast to him and swear by his name." (Deuteronomy 10: 20)
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom do I fear?" (Psalm 27: 1)
What we fear:
The Lord wants us to fear Him alone. If we have fear of God in our hearts, we fear nothing. If we do not have the fear of God, we tend to fear everything.
"God of power, giver of the gifts we bring, accept the offering of your Church and make it the sacrament of our salvation……." (Offertory Prayer at Mass)
God is the giver of every gift. The offering we bring to Mass comes from Him. He inspires the work and gives the power that earns the money. Therefore, we should not be mean in offering Him our first fruits. We should remember that we can never outdo God in generosity.
The Eucharist is a great exchange of gifts. We bring our offering. God accepts it and in exchange gives us the Body and Blood of His Son, Jesus.
"Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was, he became frightened; and beginning to sink, he cried out, 'Lord, save me!" (Matthew 14: 29 – 30)
How we become frightened in projects when we take our eyes off Jesus to focus on strong wind, earthquake and fire. But all is not lost, if we recover our senses and cry out like Peter, 'Lord, save me!"
"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you, in God, whose word I praise, in God I put my trust and have no fear, what power has human strength over me?" (Psalm 56: 3 – 4)
"After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave." (1 Kings 19: 12 – 13)
Notice how God chose to reveal Himself to Elijah – "a tiny whispering sound."
"Be still and know that I am God."
"My salvation is in tranquility, my strength in confidence."
"My ways are not your ways."
Elijah first perceived loud wind, earthquake and fire. But when he heard the tiny whispering sound, he knew the difference. He probably knew the difference by the application of the gift of discernment. The servant of God knew the attributes of his Master.
"Almighty and ever-living God, your Spirit made us your children, confident to call you Father. Increase your Spirit within us and bring us to our promised inheritance….." (Opening Prayer at Sunday Mass)
The Spirit makes us God's children. We rejoice to call God Father. We are confident that God is our Father. God our Father is not inferior to our human father in any way. If our human father can provide us bread when we ask for it, God our Father can provide us much more.
We also pray that God increase His Spirit within us. Jesus promises that this is a prayer that the Father will grant as a matter of priority and urgency. How do we recognize n increase in the Holy Spirit within us? If we notice an increase in faith, patience, humility, wisdom, courage, we know the source is the Holy Spirit. By His fruits, we shall know Him.
"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?
One thing I ask of the LORD
this I seek:
To dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD
and contemplate his temple.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD"
Two consoling truths from the Responsorial Psalm of today:
"Fear is useless; what is needed is trust." (Luke 8: 50; Mark 5: 36)
"Wait for the Lord with courage." (Psalm 27: 14)
"I, the Lord, am with you always, until the end of the world, alleluia." (See Matthew 28: 20)
If the Lord is with me, it is accomplished."
Emmanuel!
"The Lord says, 'I have chosen you from the world to go and bear fruit that will last, alleluia." (See John 15: 16, 19)
"I will be a witness to you in the world, O Lord. I will spread the knowledge of your name among my brothers, alleluia." (Psalm 17: 50; 21: 23)
"In truth I tell you, if your faith is the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there, and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17: 20)
Faith is simply believing that God's word is true; that God will do what He promises. In the Gospels, the evangelists emphasize again and again that things turn out exactly as Jesus had said. I am delighted when I read this. God's faithfulness to His promises is one of His attributes that I love very much. We cannot live a victorious life without faith. This is the message of the whole of Chapter 11 of Hebrews. The author gives a list of all the Old Testament giants that overcame daunting odds through faith. The message is clear. If they overcame by faith, we too can overcome by faith.
"When Yahweh has brought you into the country which he swore to your ancestors …. That he would give you, ..... be careful you do not forget Yahweh who has brought you out of Egypt, out of the place of slave labor." (Deuteronomy 6: 10 – 13)
Is it possible to forget Yahweh when He brings us into our Promised Land? The answer is an unequivocal Yes. If this is impossibility, scripture would not have warned us of it.
My God, your word is true. I know you will lead me to the PL. I know too that I can forget you in the PL. Father of mercies, may your grace forbid this from happening.
"Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by themselves." (Matthew 17: 1)
The gang of three, Peter, James and John are representatives of the Church who became witnesses to the Transfiguration of the Christ. Jesus Christ strengthened their faith through this experience.
Lord Jesus, open our eyes to see your glory and give us the grace to bear witness to it in our lives.
"So we have confirmation of the words of the prophets; and you will be right to pay attention to it as to a lamp for lighting a way through the dark, until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds." (2 Peter 1: 19)
What is the evidence that the word of God in scripture is true?
The Church as the Body of Christ is the visible sign and confirmation of the words of scripture. The Church is what scriptures foretold it would be:
Trust the word of God.
