SAFE IN HiS ARMS

You see, we lived beside a creek. The rainy season always brought the threat of floods. The stress and damage to a lot of our things had already taken its toll on my mom’s health. I was desperate. So on that fateful night, I prayed like I had never prayed before. The good Lord honored our faith and answered our prayer.

Since then and until the time we moved out of there, not a single drop of oodwater entered our house again. Indeed, we are always safe in His arms. Marisa Aguas (jojangaguas@yahoo.com)

Reflect: Are you concerned about something right now? Offer it to the Lord and believe that He will make a miracle in your life.

Make a miracle in my life, Lord. I believe that I am always safe in Your arms.

 

St. Joseph Cafasso, pray for us.

God chooses servants according to His wisdom and principles. Often, His choice is an unexpected one that baffles us. God is unpredictable and this is a good thing. It reminds us that His ways are not our ways – we cannot second-guess how He thinks. God often seems to be an “out of the blue,” effective approach to a problem or situation.

Ezekiel 17:22-24

22 Thus says the Lord God: I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; 23 on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it. It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom. As I, the Lord, have spoken, so will I do.

P S A L M 

Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16

R: Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

1 [2] It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise to your name, Most High, 2 [3] to proclaim your kindness at dawn and your faithfulness throughout the night. (R) 12 [13] The just one shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow. 13 [14] They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. (R) 14 [15] They shall bear fruit even in old age; vigorous and sturdy shall they be, 15 [16] declaring how just is the Lord, my Rock, in whom there is no wrong. (R)

2ND READING

Our earthly life is a preparation for eternity. Our life here gives us the opportunity to develop our talents and gifts in the service of God’s Kingdom. Our humanity tells us who we are – persons in the midst of a community of faith. One day, our bodies will be transformed — though it is not yet clear how — and this will be for us a great joy. Let us look forward to eternal life with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

6 Brothers and sisters: We are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord. 9 Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.

Every farmer’s heart would beat in-step with every word and phrase of today’s Gospel passage. Even in English translation, one notices a certain rhythm. A man “scatters seeds abroad,” “sleeps it off night and day,” “and through it all the seed would sprout and grow,” “he knows not how.” The rhythm is consistent; the imagery insistent. It follows a predictable pattern that happens like clockwork. The pattern followed by nature is according to how God Himself has ordained. Things are bound to happen, not by happenstance but according to a pattern ordained by God the Creator.

I generally love animals, especially dogs. Like us humans, dogs and other domesticated animals are creatures of habit. They follow a pattern. They can be “house broken” into adopting certain patterns that make them worthy of being kept as house pets. Like seeds scattered on the ground, they grow and develop even if you sleep it off night and day, if provided the right conditions.

There was a time in my life when we did real gardening. We planted pechay and mustasa seeds. We did our own version of scattering seeds, and our own version, too, of waiting for them to sprout and grow over nights and days. But we needed to provide the right conditions. Think daily weeding, twice daily watering, daily cultivating, and so on.

Like the lowly pechay and mustasa, the Kingdom of God starts small, but designed to become great and all-encompassing. It grows as sure as day follows night, for it is God’s work, not ours. But even so, God needs all the help He can get — from Christ’s disciples, from us, from everyone, from all women and men willing to walk in-step with Him and do according to His bidding.

Are you uncertain as to what to do? Let today’s Gospel passage show you the way. Here’s three such biddings that are eminently doable: “ The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.” “So ask the Master to send out laborers.”

Pray. Go. Proclaim. “ The Kingdom of God is at hand.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

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

When discipling someone, do you wait for the fulfillment of God-ordained pattern of things?

Dearest God, may I learn to always depend on Your wisdom on how things should go. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ____________________________________