Sign of Repentance

"The only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah." Luke 11:29

Trying to test Jesus, the crowd asked Jesus for a miraculous sign from heaven, and Jesus replied that the only sign He would give them was the sign of the prophet Jonah. The sign of Jonah is the sign of repentance.

I was quite impressed with Angelina Jolie's movie "Unbroken". It is the true story of Louis Zamperini, an American prisoner of war, who survived horrible maltreatment at the hands of sadistic captors. During his 47 day ordeal at sea before he was captured by the Japanese, Louis vowed that if God would save them, he would devote his life to serving Him.

He forgot about this prayer, especially during his harrowing captivity, but remembered it when he and his wife joined a Billy Graham Crusade. After Louis accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he suddenly had respite from years of having nightly nightmares about strangling the "Bird", his especially sadistic and violent torturer. "It was a miracle!" he said.

In 1950, he went to Japan, and embraced and forgave some of the guards from his prison camp. Some even became Christians. In 1998, he attempted to meet with the "Bird", but Mutsuhiro Watanabe refused to see him.

How sad that Watanabe could not see God's gracious sign of forgiveness and His calling His son to return to Him and repent! No matter how black our heart is, no matter what evil we have done, God is ready and willing to accept us if we repent. Are there any signs we are missing? Or perhaps we need to be God's sign to someone badly in need of God's healing presence?

The Eye of the Needle

“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” Mark 10:25

There is an urban legend that this verse is about a small gate in Jerusalem called the "Needle's Eye" during the time of Jesus. It is so small that if a man on a camel were to pass through, he would have to get down, remove all the baggage from the camel and drag the camel through, kneeling on its haunches. So for a rich man to enter heaven, he would have to divest himself of his earthly goods, and kneel humbly before God. But there is no such gate in Jerusalem in Jesus' time and so Jesus did not mean this.

He literally meant it was impossible for a rich man to get to heaven on his own merit. Wealth was a sign of God's favor in Jesus' time, and even today. So the disciples were astonished, bewildered, exceedingly amazed, dumbfounded, when Jesus flat out said that the wealthy had no chance, zilch, of going to heaven. “So who can be saved?" they asked.

Jesus then says it is impossible for men. It is not only impossible for the rich, but also for the poor. It is impossible for any one. Because we would have to give up not only our wealth, but also our children, our parents, our spouses, our lands, our work. Everything. We would have to put God first. 

But Jesus does not leave us without hope. He said- "With God ALL things are possible." In Ephesians 2:8 we read, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this not of your own doing, it is the GIFT OF GOD!" Whew!!!! 

We shouldn't give up on ourselves just because we can't follow Jesus perfectly! Just because we can't give up everything and go to the ends of the earth and spread the Gospel. Just because we get impatient with little things and are ungrateful or cannot really forgive.  Jesus already paid the price for our salvation.  We just need to follow Him day after day, and He will change us slowly but surely. We should not be like the rich young man in Mark 10:17-22, who turned away from Jesus because he could not follow what Jesus said, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” He should have stayed beside Jesus, learned from Him, and perhaps one day, he would get that aha moment and be able to do what Jesus asked. 

Lord Jesus, teach me Your ways and make my heart like yours. 

Heirs According to the Promise

“…for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29

When we read the family tree of Christ in the first chapter of Matthew,  we will see that amazingly there are four women listed. It was unusual enough that women were included, but they were outsiders, they were women who did not fit in. There was twice widowed Tamar, discriminated against by her father in law. Then there is the Canaanite prostitute Rahab who becomes a heroine by hiding Israelite spies. The Moabite Ruth is famous for being a comfort to her mother-in-law by staying with her. “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God,” she promised. And then there is the infamous Bathsheba who entices King David by her beauty and is the reason the King has her husband murdered. 

Like a portion of a plant is grafted on to a branch of another such that they will continue to grow together, you and me, and Tamar, and Ruth, Rahab and Bathsheba, are grafted into Jesus’ royal lineage! In grafting, this added piece is called a “scion”, a young shoot or twig of a plant for rooting. Coincidentally, “scion” can also mean a descendant of a notable family. 

Thank You, Father, Your plan for Your family is more than amazing, more than miraculous. You take us, broken as we are, unfaithful, messed up people, and graft us into Your family, into Your heart.

The Finger of God

I had a great time painting my crosses yesterday afternoon. 

I have about thirty crosses, and after drawing on each one with a white pen, I am covering the underpainting with white acrylic paint. 

“...by the finger of God..." Luke 11:20

Can we say we have been touched by the finger of God? Have we seen God's power at work in our lives? Or perhaps we see God intervening in someone's life and wonder why He has not done the same for ourselves. We live in a skeptical world, very much the same as the time when Jesus lived. Back then, they thought that when Jesus cast a demon out of a deaf and dumb person, He did it with power from Satan! Today, we prefer to be sophisticated skeptics, always questioning whether God is present or if He exists at all! I saw this picture on Facebook of a big sign "GODISNOWHERE". How would we read it? God is nowhere? Or God is now here?

When we start with faith, we will see signs of God's being "now here" everywhere! I see it in every answered prayer. I see it in every encouragement and smile I receive. I see it in the miracle of our business that thrives in spite of many mistakes and failures. I see it in the perseverance and faith of my countrymen who have good humor in the midst of trying times. 

Sometimes we need bigger signs that God is present. Marion Brown, a court reporter, grew away from her faith as she got older. She became skeptical that God was listening when she talked to Him. It took a big fire, the 2003 wildfire that destroyed over 700 thousand acres and more than 3000 homes, to make her believe again. Her family's home was razed to the ground. When she went back to the site with her husband and kids to find if there was anything of value that was left, they looked around and everything was just ashes. There were even holes on the ground because the roots of the trees were burned. She started to pray for words to say that would help her sons heal. She could see her younger son Erik quietly going around with tears falling down his cheeks. He suddenly got excited when he found a book but when he picked it up, it disintegrated in his hands. 

"Wait! Look!" he shouted. In his hand, was left a most fragile piece of ash. It was a picture of a family holding hands, with the words, "Count your blessings."  

Lord, may I always remember to be grateful for Your presence in my life. May I remember to count my blessings and not wait for big signs before I believe You are working in my life! 

Ask and You Will Receive

‘And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.’  Luke 11:9-10

Like most people, I lift up many prayers to God, mostly for healing, for I know many who are sick. I also pray for our Church, our country, people who are unjustly incarcerated, the terrible war in Ukraine, Israel fighting against terrorism in seven fronts, Christian brothers and sisters in Lebanon, etc. etc. The list is so absurdly long. Many of my prayers have not been answered in the way I want them to be answered. So this verse found in Luke 11 needs an explanation. It reads that everyone who asks, receives, the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. 

We know that God is good, and we can trust Him. But sometimes we question why He does not answer our prayers? He promised, after all! Does the answer to prayer depend on our heart, or does it depend on God’s heart? In Exodus chapters 7-12, we read the story of the ten plagues inflicted on Egypt because the Pharaoh did not let the Jews go free. In Exodus 7:13 and repeated in many other verses, we read, “Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard”. In Ex 9:12, it says, “But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh…”. I would say that was not fair at all if God hardened the heart of Pharaoh so as to show His power and thus inflict suffering on untold numbers. But first before we become too adamant about that, let us compare God to the sun. 

“Let it never be forgotten that, although we may do nothing about the Word we hear, the Word will do something to us. The same sun melts ice and hardens clay, and the Word of God humbles or hardens the human heart” (Vance Havner). It is certainly true that the Gospel can bring people down to their knees in repentance but can also make another dig his heels to do the opposite of what God wants, can make us stubborn and resentful even. So when we pray, we need to pray with a grateful and open heart, ready to accept God’s will, trusting that He will answer in the best time and place and circumstance. When we start with that premise, I have no doubt we will see God work in His mercy, infinite wisdom and power.

Lord, Teach Us to Pray

“Lord, teach us to pray..." Luke 11:1

Jews are supposed to pray three times a day and they have a special prayer book called a Siddur which contains the set orders of daily prayers. Readings from the Torah, the  writings of Moses and the Nevi'im, writings of the Prophets, form part of their prayer book. So I think it is natural to conclude that the disciples had a reasonable idea of how to pray to God. But they saw something in how Jesus prayed that made them long to pray the way He did. 

They watched Jesus pray many times. They saw how close He was to the Father, and they wanted that for themselves. WE should want that for ourselves! We should always want to grow in our relationship with our Father. Brother Lawrence wrote in "The Practice of the Presence of God" that he was united with God during the day as he went about his work of cleaning the floor and washing the dishes. There are many ways to practice the presence of God in the course of our day. We just have to 'mind' He is there, and not just there during our morning or evening prayers. 

Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to grow closer to You. Teach us not to forget You when we are busy. Teach us to carve some time out of our day to be with You, and only You. “You have made us for Yourself, Lord. Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” (St. Augustine) You are the Governor of Galaxies, but You are also our Father. We long to be with You in heaven one day, our one true home. 

God’s Love

I have been busy painting crosses. I hope to finish these in time to give it away for Christmas. 

“Truly You have formed my inmost being; You knit me in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13

I was 38 years old when Joshua was in my womb. I was so anxious, I just kept praying and praying. God in His mercy and love, spoke to my heart, and said, “You will know how much I love you, when you hold your child in your arms.” This reassured me immensely. True to His Word, when I held Josh in my arms for the first time, I knew His perfect love.

The whole Bible is about God’s love for us. It’s all about how He calls an imperfect people to Himself, to have a relationship with Him- an intimate loving relationship with a God who gave His all to save us and claim us for His very own. Our destiny is to love Him and to allow Him to love us!

To love is to treat a person with intrinsic worth, for himself, and not just when they serve your purpose. I can’t imagine God needing me to do anything for Him. I am sure there are other people who could do a better job for Him! But He fashioned me, He “formed my inmost being; He knit me in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13)

He is the One who gives me my worth. He is the One who gives each of us our worth, by loving us! God loved us first, love precedes human life. 

Thank you Lord for Your love which is simply amazing!!!!

Who is My Neighbor?

"Who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:29

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” The scholar answered, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But he had a further question which we all need to ask ourself, he asked, “And who is my neighbor?” And Jesus told him the parable of the Good Samaritan. 

The movie Elysium offers us a look at the year 2154, where the very wealthy live on a man-made very comfortable space habitat where any sickness can be healed by just entering into a Med-bay. The other people still inhabited a ruined and ravaged over populated earth. We may ask how can people live happily knowing there are others who live in poverty and despair? But that is exactly what is happening all around us. 

Just outside our gated subdivision, across the street, people live in shanties, have problems with water and electricity and deal with fires now and again because of overcrowding. Do I do anything about it? No, I have never set foot inside the area. I prefer to donate to foundations, or organizations or the parish who do the hard job of procuring the food, and distributing it, organizing tutors for the children, etc. 

But Mother Teresa was not like that. I listened to an interview she gave in Ireland a long time ago. She really got her hands “dirty”, one person at a time. She was able to wash the wounds oozing with pus because that person was Jesus. She was able to touch lepers because those poor souls were Jesus in disguise. She and her thousands of soldier nuns were able to hold the hands of the dying because they saw beyond the physical ravages of diseased bodies. 

Mother Teresa need not have asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” She knew. 

1Corinthians 13 Love

“What therefore God has joined together, no human being must separate." Mark 10:9

While I was painting this many years ago, I was pondering about two things. One is that the marriage covenant was a symbol of our covenant with God. We are His bride, His precious one, His beloved. He gave His life so we may have fullness of life. He is faithful and even if we are unfaithful and betray Him, He will not divorce us! 

The second thing was that marriage was like sandpaper. Marriages fail because two people, a man and a woman, so dissimilar by nature,  coming from different environments and backgrounds, expect to live happily ever after. But I think God instituted marriage as a way to "perfect" people, to smoothen our rough edges. In marriage, we have to practice the lessons in the Bible, loving, forgiving, forgiving again and again and again. The way God forgives us!!!! 

Father, thank You for Your love which is eternal and will not fade even when I turn my back on You. Help me to love and persevere in loving. Help me to practice the 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love!

Eyes That See

 "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” Luke 10:23-24

I always marvel at how much knowledge, entertainment and news are at our fingertips if we have a computer or a phone with an internet connection. The first computers were huge, some occupying 1,800 square feet, consisted of about 750,000 parts, with vacuum tubes that weighed almost 50 tons. The first hard disk drive was the size of a cupboard! And now, my phone has more power than those monster computers powered by steam!!!

Before, news had to carried by people on horseback. Now, a glance at my x or Telegram feed can bring me news faster than CNN! What an amazing world we have!

We often take for granted that we can actually worship and fellowship with other believers without fear of getting caught, stoned, burned at the stake, or carted off to be killed by animals in the middle of an arena like the Hunger Games. I so enjoy listening to Oxford Professor John Lennox, an Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist, debate with atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. I can even ask hard questions of Sean McDowell if I tune in to one of his live shows. 

Just two months ago I listened to the speeches of Bishop Barron, Father Mike Schmitz  and company at the National Eucharistic Congress held in Indianapolis via EWTN on YouTube. Imagine joining 60,000 Catholics gathered in the stadium and many more listening in via livestream! These are amazing awesome  times!

But are we just as amazed at how awesome it is, that the Messiah that "kings and prophets" longed and waited for, is here with us today? That we can actually have a relationship with Him? We can talk to Him. We can read His words, we can know His story. 

The Jews are still waiting for their Messiah. Have we "found" Him for ourselves?

Of Little Account

“Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you?” Job 40:3

I have been reading from the Book of Job since Monday. I don’t know if there is any verse in Job that we would cross stitch and put on our walls. Job lost his sons and daughters, his sheep, his shepherds, his camels, his servants, even his health. He was only left with his grumpy wife who advised him, “Curse God and die!” 

Job replied, “You talk like a godless woman. Should we accept only good things from God and never anything bad?” Indeed, we never know what a day brings. Last month, my husband Luigi ended up in the ER as he was feeling like he was going to have a heart attack. It was a good thing he was with brothers from his men’s group. He asked God what to do, and God said, “Go and ask the brothers to pray over you.” After the prayers, the guys took him to the hospital where they had him undergo some tests. While this was happening at the other side of the city, I asked family and brothers and sisters in our community to pray. Thank God, the tests showed nothing amiss, but I realize the situation could easily have ended differently. 

Job’s friends tried to comfort and guide him. “My advice to you is this: Go to God and present your case to Him. For He does great works too marvelous to understand. He performs miracles without number...For though He wounds, He also bandages. He strikes, but His hands also heal.” Job didn’t understand and he had many questions. He was so desperate and devastated like us when we are in a dark place. 

But God stooped to Job’s level and answered his questions from a whirlwind: “Brace yourself for I have some questions for you!” Of course, Job could not answer God’s timeless and profound questions! We too cannot answer our own questions, much less God’s. We just need to get to a place where we can trust in Him and hide under His wings.

My Vindicator Lives!

“But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives…” Job 19: 25

Lyle C Rollings III, 2008 wrote this in 2008: “The Greatest Man in History… Jesus; Had no servants, yet they called Him Master. Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He did not live in a castle, yet they called Him Lord, He ruled no nations, yet they called Him King, He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.”

I was looking for the writer who penned the quote as I saw it in several blogs and posts without any credit. And in one Instagram reel, they tagged this on to it:

“His Kingdom is not of this world, yet it lies within the hearts of those who believe. He spoke of love and forgiveness, and his words have transformed billions of lives worldwide. He offers no material wealth, yet we consider him the treasure of our lives. He promises no earthly power, yet in His name, the powerless have found strength. Though He left no written words, His message has filled countless pages.

In His weakness, we find our strength. In His  suffering on the cross, we find our salvation.”

Yes indeed, our vindicator, our defender, our advocate lives! 

Marvelous Things!

“He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea. He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south; He does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning.” Job 9:8-10

More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of, Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote. But more marvelous things has God worked into shape even before He made man, the apex of His creation. There is so much to be in awe of in how finely-tuned the universe is, in support of our existence. If we ever think we are unimportant, we just need to ponder on these amazing facts. There are just too many life-friendly constants, laws, and conditions, in the vast universe to dismiss as accidents. 

If gravity and electromagnetism had been just one billionth of a gram slightly stronger or slightly weaker, planets, stars, and galaxies could not have formed. What is man that God made the sun the exact temperature we need to exist? Scientists have long been in awe of how the laws of physics, and biology have such finely tuned constants. Mathematical physicists and cosmologists Frank Tipler and John Barrow wrote in their 1986 study that a world with less than three dimensions would produce an aberration where the digestive tract of any higher animal would separate into disjoint upper and lower parts. Nerves and blood vessels and our other parts depend on the number of dimensions. In other words, so many things could go wrong! 

Theologian and scientist Alexander McGrath said that if the ratio of the mass of the proton to the mass of the electron changed by only a small amount from 1,836.15267389 times, this would arrest the formation of many molecules, including DNA, the building blocks of life. 

To Christians it is obvious that our biological fine-tuning is evidence of God’s masterful design, but many scientists prefer to see it as a product of evolution. The arguments go on and on, but let us think as Biochemist Michael Behe does- the flagellum, a microscopic thread line structure that allows a bacteria to swim, is so complex that “it cannot be the outcome of consecutive small-scale evolutionary steps”.  There has to be an intelligent designer! 

How marvelous are Your works, O mighty God! I ponder in awe at what Your hands have made, including me! You know how many strands of hair I have on my head! You mind my tears and rejoice when I rejoice! Thank You for revealing Your love for us in the workings of the universe and in our human bodies! There is no God like You! 

Brought Low

“I am numbered with those who go down into the pit…” Psalm 88:5

“The good news is that God has made provision for our waywardness. He has given us the great gift of repentance.” I took note of this from the meditation booklet, “The Word Among Us”. I don't know why, but I like the word “waywardness". Somehow it does not sound so bad! But the truth of the matter is that sin is sin, whether it is serious or not. Mostly because small sins lead to big sins. Take David’s idleness which led him to murder the husband of the woman he lusted after. Then there's Saul, whose impatience progressed to rebellion against God! 

It is good to look at our ways honestly and see if there are little sins (sometimes we don't even  consider them as sins!) like telling white lies, unkindness, inconsideration, unmindfulness, impatience, lack of generosity, etc., and then repent and try to do better.

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church. We visited her comfortable home, Les Buissonnets, in Lisieux several years ago during a pilgrimage. Her life became more vivid to me as I stared at her bed where she lay sick of a mysterious illness when she was just 10 years old. My impression of Saint Thérèse was that she was quite spoiled. She got into temper tantrums frequently and even unreasonableness, but she entered the Carmelite Convent at the age of 15. While there, she confessed that she had a difficult nature and always struggled with even the small things. Through God’s grace, she shared with the Church her “Little Way”, the “the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute surrender” and humility before God. She had learned to offer to God even her mundane chores like folding napkins, and doing it with great love for Him. Indeed, we may be brought very low when we think of our many sins. But when we repent, God’s compassion can lift us up the same way He did with Saint Thérèse.

To Fish or Not to Fish

“For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.” Luke 9:48

When Taal Volcano acted up, many people gave clothes, shoes, food and other things. But it was so sad because some of the things donated were very old, and could not be used anymore. And winter clothes and snow boots were obviously useless to the refugees. 

Mother Teresa always said do not give our left overs to the poor, that we should not treat the poor like a garbage bag and give what we have no use for. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we gave Jesus, the King of Kings, an old rag to clothe Himself!

Sometimes I have to grapple with my conscience because there are so many in need. And, I have to admit, there are those I am willing to help more than others. What if someone continually asks from you because she or he says their family is hungry, but you see that they are all getting fatter and fatter? What if you’ve given money already because they promised they would find a way to start a business? What if others have already given and provided a way for livelihood, and still nothing has happened? In 2 Thessalonians 3:10-13, we can read, “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” In all good conscience, I believe we should also help others not to continually beg. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said 'give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’. 

After all, Jesus said that what we do for the least of our brothers, we do for Him (Matthew 25:40). What are we doing for the least of our brothers? Let us definitely not give them rags but as much as possible, if we can, help them find a way to support themselves. 

How wonderful that there is a record of Jesus’ instructions and stories that we can read and read again. If we want to obey God, to learn about Him and His ways, we can do nothing better than to ponder His words and follow them.