You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter, and you stopped those trying to enter. – Luke 11:52

       Will the attributes — dangerous, desperate and devoted — bring success?

       The difficulty comes from their negative or passive connotations. Dangerous means unsafe. Hazardous. Risky. Treacherous. Perilous. Threatening. Desperate means frantic. Anxious. Despairing. Worried. Distressed. Distracted. Devoted means keen. Dedicated. Dutiful. Diligent yet non-aggressive. Then how did I come up with this success equation? Success = Dangerous + Desperate + Devoted.

          These negative and passive words also have positive connotations. Dangerous can mean risk-taking. Daring. Courageous. Brave. Valiant. Fearless. Desperate can mean surrendered. All-out. Total self-giving. Thorough. Devoted can mean tenacious. Decisive. Religiously focused.

     Dangerously courageous, desperately self-giving and devotedly faithful. I think I am right in my equation!

       Friends, wisdom is knowledge applied to our life. Don’t imitate the selfish and stingy Pharisees and experts of the law who kept the key to knowledge to themselves. Be generous, share wisdom and give life. Obet Cabrillas (kpreacherobet@gmail.com)

Reflection:Are you keeping your life skills to yourself? Will you take on being dangerous, desperate and devoted and bring success to your life?

Lord, let me grow wise by applying the knowledge I gain to build Your Kingdom.

All good things in life come from God. He wants us to have good lives. Because of sin, we disrupted the order of His creation and we suffer the consequences every day. What can we do about this? We must follow what God asks us to do as His disciple, then gradually emerge from the chaos of sin and rediscover the order of God’s original intention for creation.

1 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the holy ones who are in Ephesus faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, 4 as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love 5 he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, 6 for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. 7 In Christ we have redemption by his Blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him 10 as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6

R: The Lord has made known his salvation.

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds; His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm. (R) 2 The Lord has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice. 3 He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. (R) All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. 4 Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise. (R) 5 Sing praise to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and melodious song. 6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn sing joyfully before the King, the Lord. (R)

Jesus complains about the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders. We must practice what we preach to avoid being hypocrites ourselves. It will help to reflect daily and examine how we can love our neighbors more and recognize our weaknesses and faults as we strive to be Jesus’ disciples.

I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.

47 The Lord said: “Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building. 49 Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute’ 50 in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood! 52 Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.” 53 When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, 54 for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.

think: All good things in life come from God.

Thank You Lord for: __________________

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Micah 1-3

DESTINED IN LOVE

In pop music culture, the word “destiny” crops up incessantly. Although it refers more often to a computer game now, the word has always been associated with romantic love, as in Jim Brickman’s “Destiny.”

       Levity aside, destiny is associated with love, whether of the human or romantic kind, or the divine or sublime type. Even St. Paul clearly links the two together: “In love He destined us for adoption to Himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of His will, for the praise of the glory of His grace that He granted us in the beloved.”

    Without delving into the complicated theological issue of predestina-tion, what I read in this is more of the idea of predilection. The word is defined as a special liking for something or someone, a feeling of fondness and favor accorded to someone, albeit undeserved or unmerited.

       That is the reality as far as God is concerned.

       From our end, however, the story is a little different. We are fickle and sinful. We are a rebellious people. Against this backdrop, the words of the Lord in today’s passage from Luke ought to be understood. Like the Jews of old, we repeatedly reject His love. Like the scholars of the law, we all may have been instrumental in misleading others away from the true path. In truth, oftentimes, we may even act “with hostility toward the Lord.”

   But I digress from my original point. Sinful or not, rebellious or obedience, worthy or unworthy, the Lord’s predilection for us, His beloved creatures, never changes, never wanes, never fades.

       I submit I am a sinful man. I acknowledge I have transgressed His will more than I can count. But today, there is one more important truth that I learned from the Lord that I need to keep holding on to, and proclaiming for everyone’s edification: “In love He destined us for adoption to Himself.” Blessed be God forever! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do you believe that God has predestined you for Himself? How do you respond to this truth?

Dearest God, I feel unworthy of Your love, but I thank You that Your love for me never changes. I need Your grace to return that love with love. Amen.