Never Doubt Just Because You Don't Understand

 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Matthew 10:26-33

Sometimes we keep on doubting just because we do not understand! 

Sometimes too, somebody has to eventually leave before we would understand the sacrifices accorded to us.

In today's Gospel, Jesus is telling us: "DO NOT BE AFRAID!" 

Why?

Because even if He had to leave, God is sending the Holy Spirit to be our inner voice or conscience, to guide us in all of our endeavours.  

According to Rev. Fr. Dondon Adona in his homily on the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time,  Jesus is telling us NOT TO FEAR because of these three good reasons:  

1.  "Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known." 

      If only we will stand for the truth, nothing will go against us. 

      "Magsabi ka lang ng totoo. Di ka ililigaw nito!"

      The morality will always be the  standard! 

       Never keep secrets that would steal your peace of mind!

2. "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, 

      be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body.

      Do not be afraid of those who will physically pain us

  Be afraid of that which will kill us both physically & spirituality.

       

      It takes some sort of sacrifice being a Christian! We should not conform with the worldly things which

      makes us suffer physically and hinder us from attending to worthwhile things that would nourish our soul. 

3.  "Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? 

     Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.

     Even all the hairs of your head are counted..."

    We are worthy more than anything else because we are created in the image & likeness of God. 

    Our God have given us all the freedom from that time life arise in us. 

    All that He expects of us is that we too should make ourselves a valuable person. 

At the end of it all, IT WILL ALWAYS BE A MATTER OF CHOICE!

We can always choose to let go of our apprehensions and proclaim God's greatness when even if He had to leave, He still thought of us and sent His Holy Spirit so that we may not go astray -- despite our doubts at first.

photo credits : http://jonathanpearson.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/do-not-fear.png

"True Character is who you are and what you do -- even when no one is watching you!"

Shall we not have the “mind of Christ” when Carpentry Matters?

Have you ever heard or came across this story “Work Like You Don’t Need the Money”?

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire.

He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business & live a more leisurely life with his wife& his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go & asked if he could build just one more house 

as a personal favor.

The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work anymore. He resorted to shoddy workmanship & used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career.

When the carpenter finished his work , the employer came to inspect the house. He handed the front-door key to the carpenter & said, "This is your house, my gift to you."

The carpenter was shocked!! What a shame!!  

If he had only known he was building his own house,                                                        he would have done it all so much differently.

Many times, life would bring us to situation/s which we do not understand as it happens. At times, we feel that situations would ask us to do things which we cannot determine “what it is for”.  Sometimes too, we would give that denying reaction: “why me”?

Sometimes, we are like this carpenter in real life. Because we feel that what we are asked to do is quite immaterial with what we want, we would resort to careless actions, putting less than our best into what we are doing; not minding much to strive to understand the things which we should value. The reactions that we give, just like Peter’s reaction in the Gospel Mark 8:27-35.

“The miracle of God requires the action of man!”, let us be pre-cautioned by the carpenter’s tendency in this story where his substandard actions brought him the shock that he will have to live in the house which he built so carelessly.

When as of yet, we do not understand what things are for, let us instead have “the mind of Christ”  while we are in the carpentry process: carry what it is that life is asking us to carry,  deny our self-intentions while DISCERNing what the Holy Spirit is urging us to do, and just keep on giving out our best while we hammer each nail to build the house that we want to enjoy living-in.

We might be carrying the cross which Jesus wants us to carry while denying ourselves of our human desires; yet, if we will set our mind to that of Christ’s, we will soon enjoy the abundance that has been reserved for us as “a gift”!  -- sunset

credits to thinkexist.com & heartwarmingstories.net for the lines                                                “Work like you don’t need the Money”

"True Character is who you are and what you do -- even when no one is watching you!"

Sometimes, we have to “keep distance…”

“I want to pick you up each time you fall, I want to cheer you up each time you frown, I want to ease you each time you’re stressed, I want to calm you down each time you flare up, I want to clear out your mind from bugs when you think that people are against you…”

“I intend to teach you the wisdom that you need when loads are heavy, I intend to make you feel that I am just here in support of the good things that you do, I intend to save you from committing mistakes when you think you seem so right…”

“…BUT, your reactions, your ways of thinking and ways of feeling never allow me. Your justifications keep on pushing me away.  Your self-centered beliefs has created the wall that hinders you from seeing and from realizing -- that all that I intended, and all that I wanted is to help you become the person that God wants you to be.”

“Nevertheless, how I still wanted to give you a hug just for you to know that things will soon be fine and for you to feel that despite the pain that you’ve inflicted in me because most of the time you misunderstood me, still, I will keep on searching for ways ‘till you eventually understand, because I know, deep within my heart that YOU ARE A WORK IN PROGRESS.”

“There may be times when I will have to keep distance, to give you the chance to listen to my silence and make you look within, hoping that you would grab the opportunity to reflect on things and to see the difference when you decide to also look up and ask if I would still be back so that you could cope and make up.”

“This is never easy, but because the Holy Spirit keeps on working in me, I will also never give up on you, my child…’till that day you’ll eventually let go of your pride and let your FAITH in God lead you closer to Him  .”

These lines, I have personally composed for my kids and for the youths of today’s time. I am pretty sure that most parents would also want to boost these lines to their kids, specially those who feel the intensity of manifesting the love when we forgive despite the pain and in never giving up, notwithstanding the difficulty through the force of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of building a “church” in every child.

In recollection, I have several times told my students that such “church” is actually our “personal relationship with Jesus”. I personally feel that we should be channels of this personal relationship which we could sample-out to our kids so that they may witness for themselves the difference of a life in God.#

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