?I give you praise... for although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned you have revealed them to the childlike.? ? Luke 10:21

Life is hard, no doubt about it. Just recently, I watched the movie Magnifico and it was great. The movie shows a young boy who, despite his family?s problems (grandma with cancer, younger sister with cerebral palsy, kuya?s scholarship taken away, and parents? money problems), decides to take upon himself to lift their lives out of misery, bringing not only their family but the whole town itself to become better.
      The movie teaches that with hope of a child, something can be done, if only done goodly and godly. It didn?t matter whether or not one gets rewarded, as long as one is able to help. While many are focused on gaining money and success and trying to complain on the different problems the world has, the movie makes us realize, that there is still hope and goodness, if only to change the world, should bee seen through the eyes of a child like Magnifico.
      God is working out His plan through the circumstances we encounter. We often know only the surface facts?problems, trials, failures, challenges, but what we need to do is just step back, and see and remember the larger picture. Paolo G. 

REFLECTION:
 Do you have child-like faith?

Let me hope in you knowing that it?s You who sees the bigger picture, O Lord.

G O S P E L

Luke 10:21-24

It will be those who are humble and willing to accept all that Jesus offers them who will be the first into the Kingdom of God. The arrogant and proud, the self sufficient and powerful, will more often than not resist the call to repent and humble themselves. They think they have the resources to get there on their own. This could be a fatal mistake that leaves them outside the Kingdom of God. Let us do our best not to be included with them!

21 At that very moment he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ?I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.? 23 Turning to the disciples in private he said, ?Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 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.?

my reflections
think: It will be those who are humble and willing to accept all that Jesus offers them who will be the first into the Kingdom of God.

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God?s special verse/thought for me today________________

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T O D A Y ? S BLESSING LIST

Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________

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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR 1Corinthians 15-16

The Messianic age is described to be a time when justice will flourish and complete peace will have no end. This is the psalmist?s and our prayer.
      We pray for justice because there is so much injustice in our lifetime. We seek peace because we live in troubled days. But the justice of God is not ?an eye for an eye?. His peace is not the absence of trials.
      God?s justice is mercy. This is totally absurd for the world because God?s justice takes the form of forgiving love. Love is justice-anticipated. Did not St. Paul write, ?After many transgressions came justification?? God?s justice does not demand the death of the sinner though it requires restitution. It does not deny the need to set aright what?s been rendered wrong, but doesn?t rationalize vengeful deeds.
      God?s peace is faith. It completely goes against the pull of the world to trust in one?s self, capacity, ability, knowledge, power. It is the peace the world does not know. It is the peace the world cannot give nor take away because it is the kind that does not depend on what happens to the world or what the world makes happen. It is the peace that resides only in the heart whose faith in God strong and deep.
      The justice and peace of the Messiah is mercy and faith. When we strive to be more merciful and live by faith, the Messianic age may be said to have truly already begun. When we treat one another with love and give witness to the strength and depth of our faith, we are blest indeed because many prophets and kings wanted to see what we see but did not see it and to hear what we hear but did not.
      Once, the abbot of a very troubled monastery consulted a guru. He asked the guru what could dissolve the discord among the monks. The guru whispered to the abbot, ?Know and believe that one of you is the Messiah!? The abbot went back to his monks with the astounding revelation: that one of them is the Messiah. Since then the monastery became a haven of true fraternal bonding. Every monk tried to treat one another as he would treat Jesus, the Messiah. But the Messiah lives not only in the monastery, right? Could you be messiah to me? Fr. Bobby T.

REFLECTION QUESTION:
Do I have mercy for others and faith in God?

Give us Your justice and grant us Your peace, O Jesus, our Messiah and Lord. As we wait for Your final coming, may we live according to the justice and peace of Your kingdom. May we be merciful to one another. May our faith in the Father be strong and deep. May we love one another as the proof of our love for You. Amen.

St. Sabas, abbot confessor, pray for us.