“Ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” – John 15:7

       A year ago, I was restless. There were many doors before me, and though I knew my destination — towards God — the paths that lead to that door varied. I was waiting for something that lay beyond my control. I was waiting for the answer to a question that I couldn’t even voice out.

       But God’s voice was clear: “Love. Just love. Just work. Do your work with love. I can see everything. I know everything. I know what you do, and I know what you have to do. So just go do what you do best.”

      So I just loved. And I served. The answer came when I least expected it. It actually felt like a sudden blow that took my breath away. Just when I’d already let go of the very thing I was praying for, it was handed to me on a golden platter.

       God answers our prayers when we least expect Him to. Sometimes He answers immediately, but in some cases, He answers when the dream has died down, or when the heart has settled, or when we’ve learned to let go. God thinks He’s funny like that. We wait and wait for our own version of His answer. But His version is so awesome, it blows our mind away. Karren Renz Seña (karren.s@shepherdsvoice.com.ph)

Reflection: Are you waiting for answers? Just love while you wait.

Dear God, we wait in joyful hope for Your best version of the answers to our prayers. We are ready to receive, Lord! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

St. Paschal Baylon, pray for us.

The world will concoct lies to discredit the Gospel. Sometimes it is better to wait and see before disproving the lies. Sometimes it is best to just ignore them. At times the conflict may come from within the Church. This is harder to deal with since relationships will be affected. There will always be conflicts because of the effects of sin.

1 Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.” 2 Because there arose no little dissension and debate by Paul and Barnabas with them, it was decided that Paul, Barnabas and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and presbyters about this question. 3 They were sent on their journey by the Church, and passed through Phoenicia and Samaria telling of the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brethren. 4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the Church, as well as by the Apostles and the presbyters, and they reported what God had done with them. 5 But some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Mosaic law.” 6 The Apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter.

R: Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

1 I rejoiced because they said to me, “We will go up to the house of the Lord.” 2 And now we have set foot within your gates, O Jerusalem. (R) 3 Jerusalem, built as a city with compact unity. 4 To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord. (R) According to the decree for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. 5 In it are set up judgment seats, seats for the house of David. (R)

The fruit we bear for God’s Kingdom will show others that we are “of the vine of the Lord.” We must keep in touch with God through prayer and the Eucharist. Groups that try to stand separately from the Body of Christ will have a hard time because they will lack support from the Church. This can cause a group to go astray.

Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord; whoever remains in me will bear much fruit.

1 Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. 2 He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. 3 You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. 4 Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

think: Have you experienced being pruned? What resulted from the pruning?

Read the Bible in one year Joshua 21-24

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

PRUNED BUT REMAINING

STEADFAST

Pruning was something I am quite familiar with. My father used to take us boys to his coffee farm on weekends to make us work. That work, apart from harvesting coffee, meant pruning the trees of superfluous shoots.

       I preferred the pruning to the harvesting work. Pruning was easy, as all we needed was a well-sharpened pair of shears. Harvesting was another matter altogether as we had to deal with hordes of black ants that were not too happy to be deprived of their sweet berries to nibble on.

      Back in those days, I had always fancied the thought that coffee trees (actually pruned to be kept more as shrubs) did find joy giving during the harvest season. When harvested, they looked very light, and the once-limping branches would spring back to sprightliness, ready for the next fruit-bearing season.

       But it sort of felt different pruning them. While I enjoyed the task, I fancied the thought of how they suffered and shed tears of milky white sap when I sheared the tender buds that sprouted everywhere in the main trunk of the tree. But allowing them to grow would mean coffee trees that abounded in branches and leaves, producing a lot of fragrant flowers, but actually producing little fruit.

       Pruning might appear like cutting off life, or punishing the giver, but pruning actually serves a life-giving purpose. What may look like partially killing the tree actually made it bear more fruit.

       Older now, and hopefully wiser, I hold on to memories that went beyond the pruning and shearing tasks I did. For I, too, have been pruned myself and sheared, even seared, by seemingly painful events in my life. But I hold on to the best part of the memory bank that transforms pain from possibility to promise: “He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

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

What recent pruning have you gone through that is making you a better person?

Lord, thank You for the various pruning that You’ve allowed me to undergo. I believe You are making me more like You through them. Amen.