0573 OUT OF HARDSHIPS POUR BLESSINGS (2nd Sunday of Lent. Cycle A. Ref. Rdgs. 1st. From the Book of Genesis 12:1-4. 2nd. From the 2nd Letter of St. Paul to Timothy 1:8-10. 3rd/Gospel. From the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 17:1-9. Responsorial Psalm. Ps. 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22) I always think back about all these difficulties, these sufferings, these pains, these hurdles, this singular trek that we are all going through on this forbidding earth, this life of manifesting, of proving that we deserve a place in the kingdom of God --- why all these hardships, these tempests that bombard us, seemingly relentlessly – is it worth it, is our sacrifice, is our endurance, patience, tolerance of each other, worth having at all? What does God have in mind in making us pass through these obstacles, tribulations, these hurdles? We get our answers when we realize the truth -- that God respects our WILL. What do we want to do really? What are our tendencies and inclinations? He wants to make sure about what we have in mind: do we really want a place in God’s kingdom, a REAL DESIRE FOR IT FROM THE HEART? Not under duress, but that we REALLY WANT THIS? And so this test: like gold through fire, we endure and prove to Him that WE WILL TO DO THIS FOR THE SAKE OF A PLACE IN OUR FINAL HOME WITH HIM. WE WANT TO DO THIS BECAUSE WE WANT TO BE WITH THE FATHER, THE ALMIGHTY ONE IN OUR FINAL HOME, IN JOY AND GLADNESS IN ETERNITY. The patriarchs of old have seen this system of God: FROM HARDSHIPS POUR BLESSINGS. Abraham has been sent out into the wilderness, the forbidding desert and promised a land for himself and his descendants. The travel to WHEREVER has been difficult and Abraham, has been promised, for obeying God, innumerable descendants, as numberless as the sands of the seashore or the myriads of stars in the sky. ‘’I will bless you and make your name famous that it will be used as a blessing.’’ Again, we see this as the Israelites, the chosen ones of God, pass through slavery in Egypt. Through the show of God’s ‘’strong arms’’, through Moses, takes them out in that famous EXODUS, a journey through the desert, as such, by going through these, they have become, in a covenant with the Almighty One, the people of God; and the Father, their God, a most awesome blessing indeed. The TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS was, to Peter, James and John, an inkling of the DIVINE beyond that awaits them on a higher plane than earth, this human world. It was more than just proof to them that Jesus was and is indeed, God, the Son of the Most High One. What they saw there was the BLESSING, if you may, that awaits them, the faithful followers of Jesus that they were. Jesus opted to put on the persona of a ‘’slave’’, a human being, one of us, subject to the same pains and sufferings, humiliations and insults that we go through and feel, despite His divinity. He ransomed humanity out of our slavery, our own ‘’deaths’’ to sin. He then had to undergo His passion, death and resurrection which effectively set aside the power of death over Him; reconciled us to His Father; that with repentance, we gain forgiveness for our sins, making the kingdom of heaven reachable to us – TRULY A BLESSING OF LOVE. Again, the hardships, sufferings and pains of Jesus gained for us an awesome BLESSING, OUR SALVATION; THE POWERLESSNESS OF DEATH ON A BELEAGUERED HUMANITY. And so it goes. Our trek in this world will be bombarded with all sorts of hurdles, tempests that are more than forbidding, part of our test, to show our resolve to gain a slice of the kingdom of heaven no matter what and how; a well-deserved recognition that we are children of God, heirs to His kingdom. We needed a MOTHER who will help us blunt the scratches and slashes of these varied ‘’agonies’’ on earth. The Blessed Trinity tasked the Blseed Mother of Jesus to prepare us for the second coming of her Son, in His ‘’Parousia’’ (msg. 438,To The Priests, Our Lady’s Beloved Sons). And this was something ONLY A MOTHER COULD DO. Regarding our difficulties, the Blessed Mother admonishes us, (msg. 105, ‘’Your Difficulties’’, To The Priests, Our Lady’s Beloved Sons): ‘’And you, how are you to respond (to these difficulties)? As Jesus did: by silence, by prayer, by living in intimate union with the Father...in the light of the Father, all that is not true, all that is not good, all deceit and all calumny dissolve of themselves like mist in the sun...’’ Remember, we are being monitored by God, with the help of the Blessed Mother in our midst, as we do as Jesus tells us, as we hold on to the righteous paths, at all costs, despite the tempests and the pains; for as nomads, we seek out our final homeland at the end of this debilitating trek, and the finish line is in sight. Let us pray: O FATHER, ALMIGHTY AND LIVING GOD, I CANNOT HIDE THE TEARS SOMETIMES, FOR THE PAIN AND SUFFERINGS ARE TOO MUCH TO BEAR. BUT MY DESIRE FOR THOSE THAT GIVE JOY AND GLADNESS, PEACE AND TRANQUILITY IN ETERNITY IS MUCH GREATER THAT IT OVERWHELMS THE ODDS AND OBSCURES THE FORBIDDING TEMPESTS. I REMEMBER THE LORD JESUS, YOUR SON’S DIVINITY WHICH OFFERS MUCH MORE COMFORT IN MY MIND THAN ANYTHING ELSE. GIVE ME THE GRACE TO PERSIST, TO ENDURE, TO BE PATIENT, IN LOWLINESS AND HUMILITY, THROUGH CHRIST, OUR LORD, WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, IN YOUR HIGHEST GLORY, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN...mcnol.031614.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 05:07:14 +0000
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