If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? – 1 John 3:17

       I’ve heard many stories of how children of wealthy families would quarrel among themselves when splitting the inheritance. Successful entrepreneurs eventually closed shop and let go of decades of hard work because their kids couldn’t compromise or refused to sustain operations together. After one of my favorite restaurants shut its doors for the same reason, I asked my dad, “Why can’t they just divide the assets equally between themselves?” He shook his head and said, “There’s no such thing as equal. What is equal for one will never be equal for the other when greed and pride are involved.”

       I was confused. “So being equal isn’t the solution?” I probed. My dad then gave me one of the best pieces of advice that I have carried with me in the years I’ve spent working with my two brothers, both of whom I love and highly respect. “It’s never worth sacrificing harmony within your family for money. But you need to be willing to sacrifice your own personal interests to protect that of your siblings. Kindness starts at home. If one chooses to give way and give more, then we can build and sustain great things — not just great businesses but great families — which matter more.” Eleanore Teo (elyo.lee@gmail.com)

Father, teach me to be selfless especially to members of my family.

St. John Neumann, bishop, pray for us.

Love is at the heart of the Christian Gospel. The Gospel is nothing without love. Do we allow God’s love to penetrate our inmost being? Are we open and self-sacrificing with one another? Imagine how powerful our Christian witness would be if we all loved as Jesus loved.

11 Beloved: This is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another, 12 unlike Cain who belonged to the Evil One and slaughtered his brother. Why did he slaughter him? Because his own works were evil, and those of his brother righteous. 13 Do not be amazed, then, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. 16 The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? 18 Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. 19 Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him 20 in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not  condemn us, we have confidence in God.

R: Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

1 Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; 2 serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful song. (R) 3 Know that the Lord is God; he made us, his we are; his people, the flock he tends. (R) 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise; give thanks to him; bless his name. (R) 5 The Lord is good: the Lord, whose kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness, to all generations. (R)

We are invited to “come and see” what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Let us open our lives to Him and discover what being in a relationship with Jesus means. Will you accept God’s invitation to a relationship with Him?

A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, and adore the Lord. Today a great light has come upon the earth.

43 Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the  prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” 46 But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51 And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Read the Bible in one year  John 13-15

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

SEARCHERS, KEEPERS

Pepe is a young man who grew up in the province. His family manages a farm and from a very young age, he has always been in contact with the earth. One time, his cousin invited him to spend the Christmas season in the city. He enjoyed the bright lights, the busy crowd, the hurly burly of the city life. But something in him still pines for the countryside.

       While on a night stroll in the city with his cousin, he suddenly stopped and said, “Did you hear that?” “Hear what?” his cousin asked. Pepe walked towards the garden area, bent down, lifted a leaf and pointed to a cricket sheltering underneath. “Wow, you must have bionic ears to find that cricket,” his cousin mused. Pepe smiled and said, “I guess you find what your heart is looking for.”

       Today, we hear Philip jubilantly declaring to Nathanael, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45).

       Was it just a lucky find on the part of Philip? I want to believe otherwise. I want to believe it was a case of “you find what your heart is looking for.” Look at John the Baptist, amidst the throng of people, it was only he who recognized Jesus at His first appearance, “Look there! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He did not have bionic ears or eyes. He found Jesus because it is He his heart was looking for. Actually, John the Baptist did not just “find” Jesus, as if it was an accidental find on his part. He was searching for Jesus. Jesus rewards those who search for Him. Jesus does not play hard to get.

       One who expects to find is waiting for chance. One who searches is propelled by choice. Are you a “finder” or a “searcher”? If you are just a “finder,” most probably you will not be searching. And if you are searching for nothing, you will surely find nothing. Fr. Joel Jason

----------- REFLECTION QUESTION ----------

The Bible says, “Seek and you shall find…” (see Matthew 7:7). Finders, keepers? That’s not biblical. Searchers, keepers. That’s biblical.