GRATITUDE IN PRAYER

Philippians 1:3-4

I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you, praying always with joy in my every prayer for all of you…

Praying with gratitude has increased my faith. Focusing on the "thanks" part of prayer has helped me to feel that I am really talking with God. Instead of just listing thanks for this or that, I've realized that I am thanking Heavenly Father for His role in the things for which I am thankful. This has caused me to think about what His roles have really been in each of those things.

This last week I've had some challenges in my both personal and work lives. And I can only turn to prayer to banish all those problems, difficulties and seek strength to face the challenges ahead. I think that praying with more gratitude has helped me to be better at not focusing on those things. I can thank Him for doing whatever He has needed to do all these years to keep us relatively safe, and that reminds me that He does that for a reason, and that I need to make that work worthwhile by helping to build His kingdom.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we again get a glimpse of the prayer life of the apostle that is evident in all of his epistles. Paul always begin with either thanksgiving or with praise to God. His prayer life clearly demonstrated a God-dependent attitude and a perspective that formed the foundation and source of the apostle’s ministry for the Gentiles.

We really do have so many things and people for which we can give thanks, do you not agree? We are blessed in so many ways, and it is only right that we express our thanks to God for those blessings. Paul’s example of gratitude is one that we would all do well to emulate.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, blessed are we, because we have known You! Blessed are we, because we have believed in You! Blessed are we, because we bear Your wounds and the sign of Your Blood on our contenances! Blessed are we, because You are our great hope! Blessed are we, because You are our God forever!

Amen +

Great are the works of the LORD, exquisite in all their delights.

ARMOR OF GOD

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness…

Our enemies are our sins.

All sin is the devil's work, though he usually uses the flesh and the world as his instruments. Sin means inviting the devil in. We are first tempted and then we give in, and we do it.

So, how can we win against our enemies? Knowing we are at war is the first requirement for winning it. The next thing we must do to win a war is to know our enemy. St. Paul says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Our true battle is not against our political opponents or co-workers or neighbors or any other human agencies. The battle is not against people, but against unseen spiritual powers. In fact, the entire human race is under a vicious assault by certain principalities and powers, world rulers of darkness, wicked spirits in high places. Every man, every woman, every child, everywhere is a target of the enemy.

God has issued to each of us a call to war. It is a call to us to be men and women of God, to fight the good fight, to stand fast in the faith, to be strong in the Lord in the midst of the battle, in the midst of this dark and evil world. Our weapons are through God’s power and might. Put on the whole armor of God through prayer and living our lives daily by faith, shielding ourselves with the truth and righteousness.

The army of darkness is real, active and working day and night. The devil is our enemy. This is war. Are you ready to fight for the army of the Light?

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, strengthen in our hearts the certainty that final victory is reserved not for other acts of hatred but for acts of love. Teach me to bow in humility before Your Word and to say to the Holy Spirit, "O great Teacher of God, open these Scriptures and make them real to me today."

Amen +

O God, I will sing a new song to You; with a ten‑stringed lyre I will chant Your praise…

FAMILY WORSHIP

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up with the training and instruction of the Lord.

As we grow up, we always look at our parents, especially our father, dearly and follow their examples. I would not say, like most of us, that my father is a perfect one. Actually, he may not be an average one. But still, he was my father. He was the one who imparted to me the importance of worshipping God and attending the Sunday mass. I may have forgotten it in my teenage years, still, maybe he was hoping that someday, I would go back to that path and finally choose the right one – the path towards the Lord. I am still struggling going through that path, but I know in my heart that he is still guiding me, slowly but consistently.

How can a Christian family be maintained? By proper family worship of God. If the father and mother conduct family worship as the Bible teaches, they need not fear that their family will go the way of the majority of families and marriages. Worshipping together as a family will often require discipline. It must be consistent and never wavering. Discipline requires consistency. Our discipline must always be in love and never unrighteous anger.

As we continually instruct them and discipline them and teach them in the ways of the Lord they will grow to enjoy the presence of God as they renew their heart and brings them to faith in Jesus Christ. They will no longer see the Sunday mass or service as boring, but rather the opportunity to walk in the presence of God. When we honor God in our family worship, He honors and blesses us. There is no other influence so great upon children than the home. The Lord will bless families who worship Him. Children will be brought to faith and godliness. God will be praised.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, grant to all of us fathers to lead our children ever more faithfully to love Christ above all. Grant us the wisdom to guide our children’s words and ways by God’s word, and depend on God’s wisdom and strength to apply them, and make everything serve the glory of Christ.

Amen +

The Lord is faithful in all His words.

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN

Luke 6:12

In those days, [Jesus] departed to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God.

I would sometime withdraw from the world and live in silence for a moment – away from it all - from people, noise, cell phones, emails, calls – and experience stimulation of life to be with God. I get away from all of the problems and wants in my life - I get away from all of that to just be alone with God and try to understand what He really wants from me. I would climb each mountain of despair just to be with Him and allow Him to talk to me.

As you may have observed, there were days when Christ was getting ready to appoint his chosen Apostles, in the days before he turned his face to Jerusalem to die and take us with Himself to God. Or before He was tempted by the devil. Before he did all of those courageous things, he took time to turn to the Father by going to the mountain and spending the day or night in prayer. This mountain-climbing prayer belongs not only to Christ but to all of His true followers. Not all those who pray climb the mountain but those who pray well, who rise up and triumph over sins and into higher goods. Climb onto the summit of watchfulness and experience the love from on high.

Which mountains are you facing today? Mountains of decision? Mountains of work? Mountains of despair? Mountains of temptations? There's another mountain which you need to climb before dealing with these other mountains. It's the mountain of prayer to the Lord.

Not by physical exploits but by high-spirited actions will you scale this mountain. Follow Christ and search the Gospel. You will find that only His disciples climbed up the mountain with the Lord.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, I realize that I have a Life. It is way bigger than what I do. It is way higher than any mountain. It is way bigger than what anybody thinks of me. I have this Life with You.

Amen +

Through all the earth their voice resounds… to the ends of the world, their message.

CHILDREN OF LIGHT

Ephesians 5:8

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

During brownouts, me and my playmates would go out of the house and play one of our favorite games – hide and seek. In our place, there were a lot of places where one can hide – inside a jeepney, behind or inside a trash can (yes, one of us tried hiding inside it once, that is why in the next round, we were able to identify his location by his smelly scent), garage, on top of trees, behind the fences, and yes, inside a drum filled with water.

Everyone is quietly hiding until a scream would fill the air, “Pung, taya!” (meaning “I have found you!”). Sometimes, I would got scared of the dark that I would have myself seen by the seeker or say, “andito ako!” (“I am here”) so I could finally get out of the dark. It doesn’t matter if I would be the next seeker, for sometimes it is better to be the hunter, than the hunted.

Through our lives, we have been constantly seeking for God - in the hope that we might feel Him and find Him. But we do not have to go far and look in the darkness. If we can only open our hearts, we can hear Him saying, “I am here”, yes, in our hearts. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

We are now the children of light, having been saved through our Savior, Jesus Christ. Seek His mercy and be obedient to His words, totally ignoring the calls of darkness. And there should always this longing in our hearts for Him. For wouldn't be complete unless He is with us, loving Him and being glad to have found Him. We are the children of Light now. Let Him shine brightly in our hearts so others may get out of the dark.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, we realize that everything in the world is meaningless unless we obey Your will. We can gain money and possession, but they don't satisfy our needs. In our death, those will all fall away and mean nothing. So, we look up to the heavens as You call upon us, exclaiming, “Here I am.”

Amen +

Behave like God as his very dear children.

GREATEST COMMANDMENTS

Matthew 22:37-40

"You shall love the Lord, your God… You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

Yes, we go to mass or Sunday service. Yes, we pray the rosary and sing worship songs. Yes, we praise and glorify the Lord through prayers. Yes, we read the Bible and even memorize verses out of it. We do all of these for the glory of God. Then what? We curse that first beggar that would approach us as soon as we leave the church. We would tell green jokes because people would laugh more. We would have secret dealings, praying that we get more money out of it. We would hurt our loved ones because we don’t like them anymore. We do all of these for the glory of our own selves!

In today’s gospel, Jesus is very clear in His commandment. First is love the Lord, your God. And the second “IS LIKE IT” – love your neighbor as yourself. We all love ourselves… every one of us. This isn’t something that we need to work at. It comes naturally. When we are hungry, we feed ourselves, because we love ourselves. When we are cold, we warm ourselves, because we love ourselves. Similarly, if we love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves, then we will do the same for them. We will look out for their needs – feed them when they are hungry; clothe them when they are cold. I know that we can’t always meet everyone’s needs, just as we cannot always meet our own needs. But we should demonstrate the same commitment to meeting the needs of others as we do for ourselves.

A person who genuinely loves God also loves his fellows because he realizes that they are his brothers and sisters, children of the same Father, redeemed by the same blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Self-love of the right kind, based on God's love for man, necessarily involves forgetting oneself in order to love God and our neighbor for God. Christian life is not about being perfect. It is about perfecting our love for God and others through our Savior.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, teach us to love You with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. And teach us to love the people around us… as much as we love ourselves. You expect both from all of us, no more, no less.

Amen +

I love You, Lord, my strength.

BEAR FRUIT

Luke 13:9

…it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.

I still remember the pine tree near our house that really belongs to our neighbor. That pine tree is a home to sparrows. In the morning, I would wake up to the singing and chirping of these small birds. But one day, our neighbor has to extend their house. They have to cut down the pine tree. I even overheard them saying, “Let’s cut it down. It doesn’t even bear fruits!” Well, hello, it is a pine tree! And since then, I no longer hear the chirping and I wonder where have those little birds has gone.

Bearing fruits is just one benefit we gain from a tree. And there are more like providing shade during summer, home for birds, “playground” where we can climb and lie down on its mighty branches. Similarly, as Christians, it is important that in whatever time is given to us that we are fruitful and fragrant for the world in which we live in. Hopefully, God isn’t chopping us down yet, for he loves the trees too much. But nevertheless life is short: sometimes shorter than we think it will be. And the need for fruit becomes urgent!

Are you bearing fruits now? You should examine your own lives and look for fruit. There are many types of fruit that could be examined: giving, praying, righteousness, forgiveness, tithing, ministering, leading others to Christ, missionary support. Each is different, but each is from the same Lord. Each of us is different with different gifts and fruits, but we are all of the same body, grafted on to the best rootsoil the world has ever known: Jesus Christ himself. Use what God has given you for His glory, to bear fruit, and to further His Kingdom. Start bearing fruits, or be cut down!

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, You are a patient and merciful God. With the life I am living now, You should have cut me down long time ago. And yet, I am still here, struggling to serve You. Teach me to respond with great reverence to You so I may bear good fruits and be a blessing to others. Teach me to use this time of grace in proclaiming Your words so others may bear fruit also, all for Your glory and praise.

Amen +

Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

BEARING ANOTHER’S BURDEN

Ephesians 4:1-2

I urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness… bearing with one another through love.

Every morning, we would see them. Vendors carrying their wares as they go and jump through buses and jeepneys. People carrying sacks or bags on their shoulder. We want to help but we have better things to do, or so we think.

Still, we see people walking down the street with nothing to carry. We see each other in church on Sunday mornings, and we don't know what loads the other person may be carrying. They don't have armloads of firewood, but their human spirits are hunched over from carrying heavy loads that are invisible. Some are carrying loads of grief, from recent losses. Some are weighed down by financial worries, by unemployment or failing businesses. Some are facing serious illness or divorce or children who have turned away.

Bearing one another's bur­dens is not limited to helping to carry the burden of sin or weakness. There are many kinds of burdens we have to bear. The key to compassion is understanding just how heavy other people's burdens are. That is why we pray for one another and visit one another in times of sickness and loss. And that’s why we come alongside one another in times of moral failure and say, “Brother, sister, I want to see you become the healthy person Jesus intends you to be. I can see that you’re struggling under a burden. I am a fellow struggler. How can I help you with that burden?”

So, what is your burden today? Can I share with your burden? We have a responsibility in this life to help each other with our burdens for no Christian should ever have to carry a burden alone.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, You keep together those You have united. Look kindly on all who follow Jesus your Son. We are all consecrated to you by our common baptism. Teach us to bear the burden of one another, doing it through love of You. Make us one in the fullness of faith, and keep us one in the fellowship of love. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen +

He whose hands are sinless… heart is clean… desires not what is vain.

FULL OF SPIRIT

Ephesians 3:16-17

…be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…

When we are full of joy and very happy, our friends would always remark that we are “full of spirit”. And this is a correct assessment. For happiness, gladness and joy is one proof that the spirit of the Lord is in us and lives within us. The Holy Spirit promises are in alignment with a holy and just God. Our bad habits begin to get cleaned up as we permit the Holy Spirit to show us how to overcome our self indulgent thinking, behaviors and bad habits. Our pride gets smaller and presence of God begins to manifest in our lives.

Walking in the Spirit leads to a sense of peace and joy, as we partner with God in His glorious plans. Disobedience lead to a loss of filling by the Holy Spirit, which takes away our joy and peace. Although God will not take the Holy Spirit away from a disciple of Jesus Christ, the continual practice of sin and a lack of spiritual activities will lead to a life that is no different than the life of a non-believer.

Let the Holy Spirit lives inside us let Him guide our actions and of those who desire His presence. Let the Spirit empowers us and every believers to step outside of our comfort zone and do extraordinary acts of faith for God. Being filled with the Spirit involves transforming our minds to the mind of Christ as we engage in spiritual activities of prayer and giving glory to God. And as we let the Spirit dwells in us, the God of hope will fill us with joy and peace in believing, so that we will abound in hope by the Spirit’s power.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, we thank You for Your Word and pray that as we think about it together our eyes and our hearts would be open to what you want to teach us through the Holy Spirit. Teach us to have life changing power in other people's lives and protect them. For it is in Jesus name that we pray.

Amen +

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

MORE WILL BE DEMANDED

Luke 12:48

Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

When I was a child, I would dream of earning a lot of money, having a big house for myself and driving different cars based on the color of my clothes on that day. Most of us may have the same dream, and as a child, no one can take that away from us. But as we grow up, reality would start kicking in. All that we want and need becomes relative to what we really want in life. And as I start to earn more, responsibility also increases. And today’s gospel summarizes it more succinctly - more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

We are all just stewards of everything that we have. Therefore, we must properly manage what we have in our possession. We should aspire to be worthy stewards and should put to good use whatever talents that God has given us. Always doing good for the well-being of the people under our care.

If we will not be up to the task that God has given us by being irresponsible, then, eventually everything that we have will be taken from us as we are not worthy anymore of the blessings that God has bestowed on us. It is an understandable temptation to claim all the benefits of our position or talents and make light of the responsibilities. Yet we are not owners even of ourselves, but stewards, and all that we are is for the service of the kingdom. If we don’t serve, what we have will be taken from us.

Are we ready to give Him what He wants and needs – our time, our talent, even perhaps our lives? Are we prepared to face Him knowing that we have given more than what was entrusted to us?

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, I have been very selfish, even keeping to myself all the things You have given to me. Teach me to be a sharer of these blessings to others. I know that You have entrusted more to me, not for me, but so I may share with others so they may truly believe that You are the only Lord.

Amen +

My strength and my courage is the LORD, and He has been my savior.

BEING VIGILANT

Luke 12:37

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.

In our household, when we know that visitors are coming, it causes us to straighten up the house to a state of readiness. We make sure that the floor is spanking clean and the receiving room smells good.

But have you ever had visitors drop by unexpectedly? Perhaps there were dirty dishes in the kitchen or the laundry was out or the ironing board was in the middle of the living room or the toilet is a mess. That would be the true measure of our readiness. The point that Jesus is going to make in today’s gospel is that Jesus is coming back unexpectedly. And we have to be at constant watch. Because of this, we are to live lives of readiness.

Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing— it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God’s plans may be, we are there and ready. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just as His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father.

The important point is that we do not know when Christ is going to return. We are assured that it will take us by surprise. People who speculate on the nearness or remoteness of the date of His return are lessons on futility. What is important is that you always be ready. A ready person never needs to get ready— he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called! Are you?

Let us pray +

Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in Jesus' precious and holy name.

Amen +

The Lord speaks of peace to His people.

REAL RICHES

Luke 12:15

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

GREED. It exist in many forms – greed for money, power, wealth, possessions. And it becomes a selfish desire especially when this denies the same goods to others. Essential to the concept of greed is the awareness that the needs of others are denied. Greed also often involves using wealth to gain power over others, sometimes by denying others wealth or power.

The Scriptures are filled with examples of greed and its consequences. Jesus warned against greed. In one of His parables, He told us about a very greedy man who accumulated so much harvest that instead of sharing them with others, he built a bigger barn to keep them for himself. Then, he would just rest, eat, drink and be merry. Little does he know that by the next day, he will die. So who would benefit from all of those harvest he kept? Surely, it will not be him for he cannot bring them to afterlife.

Greed for money… greed for power. The good life has nothing to do with being wealthy, being in power or having more possessions. In fact, greed is harmful to spiritual well-being. Greed's rewards are anxiety and pressure. Greed sets a person to scheming how to increase what they already have, instead of thanking God for what he has given them. Greed is totally self-serving to the point of denying another person of what is due him so you can stay in power.

Are you content with what you have or do you insist on much more? Is wealth and holding on to power your only reality? Real riches are a free gift. We have the assurance of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. With that promise firmly in our purses, what more could we possibly need or ask for.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, You are our only hope. It is my prayer that, in spite of living in the world around us, we all will learn to put You and Your kingdom first so that one day, we will inherit the kingdom which was prepared for us from the foundation of the world. This is my prayer in Jesus name.

Amen +

The Lord made us, we belong to Him.

ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD

Matthew 22:21

"…repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

I would frown whenever I see my income tax return. 33% of my annual pay would be deducted to pay taxes to the government. It is not that I don’t really want to pay taxes, but my thinking, like most of us, is that the government is not really putting these into proper use to service us, Filipinos, better.

But, we cannot live by these thoughts alone. There is still this 67% of our salary that we can use into proper use – for ourselves, our families and hopefully, in service of others. The 33% belongs to “Ceasar”, and how the government will use that, they would be accountable to God in the end. The 67% does not belong to us. It belongs to God. How we are going to use them, we would be accountable also to God in the end.

We yearn for more – more money, more knowledge, more wealth. There is nothing wrong with that. But make sure, that we pay the proper taxes. And bring all the glory back to Him. Go and seek a successful career, not as an end in itself, but as a means to bring others closer to Jesus. Go and work abroad, not as an end in itself, but to be a more effective disciple on a mission. Go and seek a life partner and raise a wonderful family, not as an end in itself, but also to witness to others what it means to be an instrument of God’s love.

You and I are the things of God. By His grace, mercy, and love, we bear the image and the inscription of God. Therefore, when Jesus says to render unto God the things of God, He is talking to all of us, He is talking about us. He is talking about how we can be big in His eyes, forever trusting in Him and giving Him all the glory, honor and praise He truly deserves.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on Your powerful name. I will pay my vows to the You in the presence of all Your people, for we all belong to You and You alone.

Amen +

Give the Lord glory and honor.