Guilty!

 “Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power...” Acts 6:8

Yesterday we celebrated the Immanuel, God with us, the baby born in a manger to a virgin, among animals, because there was no room for Him anywhere. Today in the Catholic Church's readings, the beautiful Christmas story is followed by St. Luke's account of Saint Stephen who was savagely dragged and stoned to death. It is his feast day today and he is venerated not only in the Roman Catholic but also the Anglican,  Lutheran, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Why the contrast? Why veer the focus from the sweet Christ Child’s birth to the brutal stoning of the church’ first martyr? Perhaps because most of the world embraces the palatable, pleasant, engaging Christmas story of a mother and child. After all who doesn't love a story with myriads of angels singing, a sign in the night sky, shepherds, cute sheep, and magnificent kings bearing wondrous gifts? Everyone has adopted the holiday, giving gifts, wishing everyone goodwill, baking cookies, drinking, and eating. It is so sad however that usually the Christ Child is forgotten and forlorn amidst the tinsel! 

How much more has the world forgotten that part and parcel of the beautiful Christmas story is the horrifying crucifixion? That the same baby born to an innocent virgin would be, after 33 years, beaten and bruised, his face unrecognizably swollen and bloodied,  his back lacerated by whips with bone fragments? Jesus told his disciples that they too would be brought to trial, and flogged. They too would be called to witness on His account (Matthew 10). We may never be flogged, beaten, or stoned to death, but we should at least witness on His account! If we are brought to trial for being a Christian, will our words and actions find us guilty just as Saint Stephen was found guilty? 

Start Today!

 

“Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!” 2 Samuel 7:3

Many archaeologists have tried to find the remains of King David’s palace. Excavations in Jerusalem have yielded ruins of fortified cities, stepped stone structures, elegant pottery and ivory which was not usually found in a regular house, dating from the time of King David. David lived in a magnificent palace, while the Ark of the Covenant was put in a lowly tent. David wanted to build God a more fitting place to dwell in and he said, 

“I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building. But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood” (1 Chron 28:2-3). 

Just as the Ark of the Covenant was perfectly content to be housed in a simple tent, so did the King of the Universe choose a humble servant girl to carry Him into the world. Inside the Ark of the Covenant were the stone tablets of the Law, the manna from the wilderness, and the rod of Aaron, the proof of true priesthood. Inside Mary’s womb was the Word made flesh, the Bread of Life, and the actual and Eternal High Priest. The Holy Spirit overshadowed and indwelled the Ark just as the Spirit overshadowed and indwelled Mary. 

Is it not amazing that the God who created the universe chose Mary, a peasant young girl of no prestige? This shows that God does not think like man at all! In Isaiah 55:8-9 we read, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

This tells me that no one, absolutely no one is too poor, too ignorant, too insignificant, to be a Christ-bearer. Each one of us can bring the good news to a world badly in need of good news! There is no better time to start than today! 

Faithful

 “The friendship, companionship, intimate fellowship, of the Lord, is with those who fear, revere and respect Him and His covenant..." Psalm 25:14

Saint Teresa of Avila, at one time, fell off her donkey and got hurt. She asked God why this happened as it could not have come at a worst time. He answered her that that was how He treated His friends. She then retorted that that was why He had so few!!! This was not the only time she complained as she was often the butt of gossip and hostility at the convent.

Indeed when we are friends with God, it does not guarantee a life free from suffering and hardship. A friend of mine who had undergone a heart operation a couple of years ago and almost died, now had to have a mastectomy a few days before Christmas because of a fast growing cancer. I know she is God's friend, and she can rightly ask God why!

One bible verse is particularly apt- "Faithful are the wounds of a friend..." Psalm 27:6. I can't help but relate this to grafting. Why does God allow us to get hurt? Perhaps it is the only way we can grow, and bloom and bear fruit. He is the vine and we are the branches. We are supposed to abide in Him, attach ourselves to Him, remain in Him, "No branch can bear fruit by itself." In grafting, the tissues of one plant are inserted into the tissues of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues are joined together. The "vine" contains the desired genes to be duplicated in the branch! But we can't get connected without the wounds on both the vine and the branch!

When God allows pain and suffering to enter our life, we are invited to join with Him. He sees we are strong enough to enter into a closer, covenantal relationship with Him. And He asks us during these times, "Do you still love Me? Do you still trust Me?"

Created to Be God’s Dwelling Place

 

“My soul glorifies the Lord...” Luke 1:46

In the 4th century Latin Vulgate translation, the opening word in this passage is Magnificat, which means “glorifies”. Jesus is still in Mary’s womb, yet already Mary is rejoicing. You can feel her excitement, her anticipation, her eagerness to receive all the good things God has in store for her. 

Like Mary, we too can carry Jesus in our hearts, our minds, in the very depths of our being. We can birth Him in our lives, if we but plant the seeds of His Word daily, by reading and pondering it. The Bible is a book of promises. It is filled with hope. There is nothing better the ancient enemy wants than for us to be deceived into thinking the Bible is irrelevant. 

We are all, whatever our station in life, created to be God’s dwelling place, an “inn” if you will, for the lowly babe who came to set us free. If we just get a glimpse of what an awesome God we serve, and His amazing plan for each one of us, we will leap and shout, and proclaim like Mary, “My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior!” 

Who?

 “Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? or who may stand in His holy place?” Psalm 24:3

Yes who? It seems as if the whole world is  filled with people who do not know right from wrong! The answer follows: “He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.” I’m sure that discounts me! It discounts Saint Peter as well, who claimed in Luke 5:1-11, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Peter realized his sinfulness and his need for Jesus. 

When we realize our sinfulness, see that our wisdom is foolishness in God’s eyes and become aware of our pressing need for Him, we can depend on God to redeem us just as He did Peter. He gave Peter many chances. He did not forsake Peter even when Peter abandoned Him in cowardice. We too can take courage that God will use us even in our frailty, make our hearts new, and cleanse our dirty hands. Let us always take the time to connect with the only One who can do the impossible and bring us into His holy place. 

What’s in My Cup?

“Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? or who may stand in his holy place? He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.” Psalm 24:3-4

I think all of us want a clean heart, all of us want to be that good person who is looked up to. We want to be wise, kind, generous and forgiving. I don’t think anyone sets out to be the bitter person who holds grudges, and spits out acid and tells lies, and thinks nothing of stealing and cheating other people. It’s just that people have a tendency to protect themselves, put on armor, and when they make a mistake, they prefer to stay on that path, rather than say, “I made a mistake, I am sorry, please forgive me.” 

I read this analogy somewhere. If you are cradling a cup of coffee and someone bumps you, you will spill the coffee on your clothes, the floor, everywhere. Ask yourself, why did you spill the coffee? 

The usual answer you would give is that someone bumped into you. But that’s a wrong answer in this analogy. The correct answer is you spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup. If you had a Caramel Frappuccino, you would have the Caramel Frap all over your shirt. “Whatever is inside the cup, will spill out.” 

Life is like that. We always get shaken up one way or another. We can’t escape it. And whatever is inside us, will come out. We can have a sort of shell, or image, but once we are jostled by circumstance, the truth will invariably come out. 

So let us ask ourselves, “What’s in my cup?” When life gets tough, what is going to spill out? Can we ascend the mountain of the Lord because we try to live our life with courage, humility, peace, gratefulness, and love? 

Or do we desire what is vain, what is of the world, do we see life with bitterness and envy? 

It is not too late to ask the Lord to fill us with His Holy Spirit and ask for a renewal, a restoration and revitalization. God is only too willing to open His arms wide in welcome! 

Legacy of Faith

 "O God, you have taught me from my youth, and till the present I proclaim Your wondrous deeds." Psalm 71:17

Thank you Lord for the legacy of faith my mother left me. More than anything she bequeathed, our business or any material thing, the most precious was how important God was to her.

Even when she was very weak, she would still insist on going to daily mass at 6 am, and afterwards we would go to the Adoration chapel. I remember having to hold her for fear she would fall. I was the one who had to give up saying, "Mommy, I don't think we should  go to mass anymore.  We BOTH might fall down!"

Her iPad was filled with praise songs and bible verses she would listen to almost the whole day.

Yes, my siblings and I were very blessed to have a mom who taught us about God and His love for us, from when we were young. She didn't teach us to say memorized prayers but taught us to just talk to God. And I would talk to God about anything, even a lost ball pen (that I would find) and other little things that showed me that God was real and was watching over me. She taught me that God was love and that love surrounded me.

So I tried to do the same for my son. A home should be a little bit of heaven here on earth. The principles of God's Word should dominate the way a family lives. Children observe parents all the time and listen to us, and observe the way we relate to others. Being an example is the most effective way to teach! We may not have been successful all the time, but we will never be disappointed when we place our trust in Him who loves us most!

Have No Fear!

"Joseph, son of David, have no fear..." Matthew 1:20

I find it quite amazing that in the Bible, a book filled with the exploits of men, there is hardly anything said about Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. Only two of the Gospels mention him, Matthew and Luke. 

Ever since Pope Francis' visit to the Philippines, the statue of the sleeping Saint Joseph has been quite popular. Pope Francis revealed that he had one, and that when he had difficulties, he would write them on a piece of paper, place the paper underneath the figurine, and ask Saint Joseph to pray with him about it.

In the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Saint Joseph gets clear directions from God while he is asleep TWICE! In Matthew 1:20, Joseph is told by an angel in a dream, not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, as the child in her womb was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In chapter 2, verse 13, he is directed by an angel, while dreaming, to flee to Egypt for their safety.

God speaks to us in different ways, but we need discernment to know what comes from Him, and what comes from our own desires. Geza Vermes, a British scholar and noted authority on ancient Aramaic writings on the life of Jesus, stated that the term for "carpenter" and "son of a carpenter", used in the Jewish Talmud, signifies a very learned man. Learned man or not, what we know is Joseph was kind and compassionate, a man of faith who obeyed God wherever He led. How beautiful to be a man or woman, obeying God whether awake or asleep!!!

Rejoice!

 "It was of Mary that Jesus who is called the Messiah was born." Matthew 1:16

Going through the first part of Matthew can be tedious, and I tend to skip all the begats and son ofs. I am sure I can go through all of them and find some nugget of wisdom. That's what the Bible is, after all- a treasure chest of gems, precious jewels and pearls. 

I skip all that and reach Matthew 1:16, and find that instead of the son of the father, we see that Jesus is the son of the WIFE of Joseph. That is unusual in a genealogy. Women were not usually mentioned in Jewish genealogies. Nowhere in the Bible is the name of King David's poor mother mentioned! But all that changes with Jesus! 

Matthew lists Jesus' genealogy all the way from Abraham, showing His roots and His family. But He becomes part of that family through the Holy Spirit because Mary conceived by the power of the Spirit. Do we realize that we are part of that same family by the power of the same Spirit? 

From Anawim, I read, "We cannot choose our ancestors. As much as we might prefer to descend from a line of great and powerful kings, there is nothing we can do about it. But now, because of Jesus Christ, we can choose to be part of a greater and more powerful family that far surpasses our natural background. By faith, we are children of Abraham, we are children of David- we are children of God!" Now that is something to rejoice about! 

He is Not Finished with Us Yet

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.” Psalm 34:19

Nikki Cruz was one of the street-tough gang members from a ghetto in New York evangelized by Pastor David Wilkerson. Their story is told in the amazing book and movie, “The Cross and the Switchblade” starring Pat Boone. Nikki was saved from a life of drugs, violence, witchcraft, physical and emotional abuse, and a dangerous life as warlord and leader of the dreaded street gang, the Mau Maus. 

Now he goes around preaching God’s wonderful news of love and salvation around the world. In his book, “One Holy Fire”, and many other best selling books, he shares about how God can change our lives in amazing ways. One day he was so down and depressed because he witnessed a terrible accident in Jerez Zacatecas, Mexico. He and two of his ministry coworkers tried to help but all their efforts failed. The people in the crushed remains of the jeep had just come from their very successful evangelistic meeting at a nearby stadium and tattered Bibles and crusade leaflets were littered on the street along with broken bodies. 

“Why, God, why?” Nicky cried out weeping, helpless and frustrated. After the exhilaration of a successful crusade at a 3000-seat stadium filled to capacity, Nicky was brought to despair. He continued to wrestle with God until morning, thinking it was time to quit. At 6 am, he went out for a run. He ran and ran until he got lost. A pickup stopped, and the man inside said, “Nicky Cruz! You’re lost! Get in!” 

Nicky got in, a little wary, but the man continued to talk to him. “Don’t be afraid. What happened last night was not your fault. Things happen that we don’t always understand, but we have to trust that God is in control, in spite of how it may seem. God knows you’re hurting and confused. He knows you’re tired and ready to quit. But I’m here to tell you He isn’t finished with you yet.” The stranger said much more and even prayed for Nicky. Before he knew it, he was at the entrance of his hotel. When Nicky looked back, the truck was gone. 

Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by what life throws at us. We should always be confident that God is looking out for us. Whatever it is we are facing, know that He just isn’t finished with us yet! 

He Teaches the Humble His Way

 

"He guides the humble to justice, He teaches the humble his way." Psalm 25:9

I think most people are a complicated mixture of humility and pride. Sometimes we have this humility that makes us not step up because we think we can't do something, we are not capable, we don't have what it takes. We prefer to watch as other people "take the limelight". But I think being humble means that we know the truth about ourselves. C. S. Lewis in his remarkable book, "Mere Christianity", wrote, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself: it is thinking of yourself less."

I enjoy listening to the preacher, Francis Chan, because he tells funny stories about himself. He told of one of the first times he did a conference and John MacArthur, the famous author-preacher etc. was in the audience. While he was speaking, Francis kept looking at John MacArthur. When they were driving home, Francis Chan's wife asked him, "What was that all about? You weren't yourself!" And Francis Chan said, "John MacArthur was in the audience!" "Let me get this straight," his wife said," You were preaching about the presence of God, and you were worried about the presence of John MacArthur????" 

How many times do we refuse to use our gifts, the gifts God has given us, because we are afraid of what OTHER PEOPLE will think? Humility is knowing that we are nothing without Christ. We can do nothing without God's presence and power. "Few of us are big enough to become little enough to be used of God," Vance Havner wrote. Lord, help me to become little enough so You can teach me Your ways, and You can accomplish what You want to accomplish through me!

God’s Ultimate Goal

“Do not grumble or complain about each other...” James 5:9

I like to train my mind to see the good in people and situations. I do not always succeed, but if I practice all the time, I know I will improve. I got very good advice from one of my godparents in marriage. She said always see your husband through God’s eyes. Today when marriage and family are under constant attack, we need to see our spouses through God’s loving and faithful perspective. God did not give us our spouses so that they will provide everything to make us happy. No man or woman on earth can ever fulfill all our emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental needs. And we will never be able to do the same for any one either, no matter how much we love them. 

I like to think of people as God’s sandpaper. If anyone aggravates me, annoys me, infuriates me, they are just smoothening my rough edges. We all have our rough edges. We are diamonds inside coal. Only heat and pressure, and lots and lots of time and patience can turn carbon into coal, and coal into a diamond. 

God’s ultimate goal for us is we enter His eternal Kingdom and join Him in His love. We obviously can’t get near Him right now with all our sin and imperfections. He’s working on that right now! Every time we say ouch! We need to see all our trials and challenges as opportunities for God to transform us. The stumbling blocks are actually stepping stones to becoming more and more the person we have the potential to be. 

At the start, we are like the ugliest lump of gold in God’s eyes. Full of imperfections and impurities. Then He starts His work in us, like a refiner using heat again and again and again to force our impurities to the surface. Ouch! The refiner knows His work is done when He can see His face reflected in the gold! 

In Romans 8:29, Saint Paul writes that God chose us to be like His Son, that we would all be brothers and sisters. Let us thank God for His patience, and stop grumbling and complaining about our brothers and sisters. Let us view each and everyone, and every situation as our stairway to heaven. 

Refresh Us! Revive Us!

 

“Revive us so we can call on Your name once more." Psalm 80:18

There is nothing I want more than a cool refreshing bath after a whole day in Divisoria, jostling crowds of people, dodging carts, haggling with shop vendors, being touched and prodded by the old and young begging for money. The dust mixed with perspiration and the heat make it unbearable sometimes. But what a treat to scrape off all the grime! It makes you feel like a new person! 

Spiritually we can accumulate filth too. If only we could physically feel the dirt that piles up in our hearts when we are envious, impatient, unloving, stingy, angry, uncharitable or merciless. If only we couldn't sleep at night when we have anything in our spirit that does not please our Heavenly Father! 

Lord, this Advent, may we look deep within our hearts and minds and see ourselves as You see us. It may dismay and disgust us, but only You Lord, can refresh us, revive us, make us new creatures with a new heart! Nothing is impossible with You! 

A Great Sign

“A great sign appeared in the sky...a woman clothed with the sun...she was with child...” Revelation 12:1-2

How important was it to Jesus that we see Mary as our mother? So important that even when He was in pain, barely hanging on to life, Jesus says to Mary, “Woman, behold your son.” Then He assigned His mother to John, His beloved disciple. “Behold, your mother,” and the disciple took her with him into his home. 

Mary has a unique role in our salvation history. She is our mother, the mother of all the faithful. She is our example, a true and faithful disciple of the Lord, who obeyed God and embraced her calling, no matter how difficult and painful. When Jesus told the crowd, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother,” (Mat.12:49-50), I am sure He meant her to be at the top of the list of those who followed God’s will. She never took a step away from obedience to the Father, no matter how much sacrifice was required. 

She is the “woman” foreshadowed in the first Messianic prophecy in the Book of Genesis: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.” (Genesis 3:15) She is the “woman clothed with the sun” in Revelation 12, who is victorious over the evil dragon who waits to devour her son who is destined to rule over all the nations. She is also the “woman” who asked Jesus to perform His first miracle even when He said it was not yet time. (John 2:1-11) 

Always, always, Mary will point us to Jesus. As our mother, she will always say, just as she told the servants at Cana, “Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5) 

We Can Conquer, We Can Win!

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.” Matthew 11:12

For years, I could not understand this passage. Can violent men take God’s Kingdom by force? Multitudes followed John the Baptist to hear his message, and we can imagine that these were not refined, gentle crowds. These were the rough and ready, the eager, the zealous. They wanted in, and they would do anything to get in! Are we like that, spiritually aggressive, eager to take hold of all that God has for us, all His blessings of peace beyond understanding, joy, healing, love? Or are we content going to church, and not doing what a Christian shouldn’t do? 

If it was easy to get into heaven, why does Jesus say in Luke 13:24, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able”? The word “strive” in the original Greek is agonizomai, which means an agonizing, intense, purposeful struggle. We find the same word in 1 Corinthians 9:25, and 1 Timothy 6:12. How interesting is it that in our modern day, it seems so easy to be a Christian? Just say the sinner’s prayer! But in all these verses we see there is much effort involved. We have to fight the good fight of faith. There’s a battle we have to win against the ancient enemy. 

If we want to win, we have to train. No one gets to the Olympics by deciding one day to join. There are years of training, times when you want to give up and relax. Runners run in the cold, the heat, eat well, work on their attitudes, and we need to do the same. Our trainer’s manual is the Bible, and to claim the Kingdom blessings, we need to aggressively, even violently go after it. Faith isn’t passive, it’s aggressive. We fight a spiritual battle against a wily enemy who wants us complacent. God has given us the full armor, and powerful weapons to win, as described in Ephesians 6:10-18. The good news is we can stand our ground, we can conquer, we can win! 

Love Trumps Evil

 “Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” Isaiah 40:30-31

I love these verses. If we put them together with another of my favorite verses, Isaiah 40:8, we can be unstoppable. “Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the Word of our God stands forever.” Forever. How many times have I heard, “Walang forever” (There is no such thing as forever)??? No wonder our world is in such a mess! If we don’t believe in forever, we think everything will pass away, we will live day to day with no thought of tomorrow. Without an eternal perspective, the world is doomed to selfishness, entitlement, consumerism, running after fleeting joys, one-upmanship, despair, hopelessness and aimlessness. What is the antidote? God and God alone. 

When we believe in God, His Word and His promises, we are well able to handle what life throws at us. We will be able to accomplish the impossible just as a humble man like Enrico Dipazzio was able to be an overcomer. He was an evangelist who believed in God and His Word and that’s why he was able to love even those who stole from him and those who persecuted him. Once, he saw thieves stealing his lumber and he helped the thieves load the lumber into their truck. Then he asked them if they would share a bottle of wine with him. They laughed and said he was such a good thief! He said no, no, no, that was his lumber and his wine! He told them not to be afraid, that he loved them, and invited them to a meeting that he and his wife led every week. They came again and again and became followers of Christ. 

During World War II, when France was occupied by the Nazis, a small family of terrified Jews knocked on Enrico’s door. Without hesitation, he took them in and helped them for two years. But one of his neighbors told the Nazis and Enrico was arrested and sent to a concentration camp in Germany. During the remainder of the war, Enrico’s wife would send packages and food to him. The camp commander never gave Enrico the food but would eat it himself. One night as he was preparing to eat the meal Enrico’s wife prepared, the commander told the guard, “Go get Dipazzio!” 

When the guard brought a weak, emaciated Enrico into the commander’s presence, the commander said, “Herr Dipazzio, your wife is an excellent cook.” Enrico asked, “That’s true, how do you know?” 

“The whole time you have been here, she has been sending food and I have been enjoying it! This is your Christmas Eve dinner!” The heartless man proceeded to eat the meal in front of Enrico with no intention of sharing. “Herr Dipazzio, aren’t you going to get angry?” 

“No.”

“Why?”

Full of the love of God, Enrico joyfully answered, “Because I love you.”

“Why should you love me?”

“Because Jesus first loved me, and gave Himself for me, and so I love everybody.”

“Take him away! He’s a religious fanatic!” the commander shouted to the guard.

Finally the war ended, Enrico was nursed back to health by his wife, and he and his wife went back to Germany to thank God for his deliverance from the ordeal. When they found out the commandant lived in that beautiful village, they decided to buy food and prepare a meal in a kitchen they borrowed. They brought two baskets of food and knocked on the commandant’s door. 

When Enrico reminded the commandant of who he was, the man got startled and afraid. But Enrico said he was there to share a meal his wife had prepared. “Peace. Be at peace. Didn’t I tell you that night that I loved you and that Jesus Christ loved you?”

“Come to think of it, you did,” said the Commander.

“Look, I still love you,” said Enrico, “and I want you to know that I hold no bitterness in my heart toward you. I forgive you for anything you did to me, because Christ first forgave me.”

Before eating, Enrico bowed his head, thanked God for His goodness, and blessed the meal. They began to eat, but it wasn't long before the commander set down his knife and fork with a clatter. He buried his face in his hands and he wept. “Why are you doing this to me?” 

The late evangelist Harry Conn didn’t finish this story in the audio recording of his sharing, but it’s easy to see where it will end. Love trumps evil all the time.