There I was, hanging on to dear life as I climbed a tall tree. I desperately pulled myself toward the platform set atop some branches. It was a team challenge, which was part of a leadership training course. At first, I was confident that I could readily accomplish the task of climbing toward the platform. But as I held the ropes and took the steps, I slowly but surely lost energy. And when I looked down, I realized I was high above the ground!  

Aside from fear, failure came to mind. I was inches away from the platform but I couldn’t go further. Then I heard my teammates shouting at the top of their lungs, “You can do it!” 

Their words empowered me and I said, “I can do this!” Like magic, I found a second wind of strength that propelled me up to the designated platform. Their encouragement gave me the energy and courage I needed to go higher and get to the next level.

Friend, maybe it’s time you surround yourself with encouraging people. Better still, be the encouragement people need wherever God has planted you. We all need each other to be better. 

J Yogawin (coachj@jyogawin.com)

reflect

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” (Winston Churchill)

O Holy Spirit, lead me to the persons You want me to encourage.

St. John Nepomuceno, pray for us.

This scriptural presentation of the two baptisms makes us realize that having our sins forgiven (through the baptism of John) is not enough for salvation. We have to live the life of the Holy Spirit (the baptism of Jesus, as the Church teaches it); otherwise, it is all just “window-dressing,” so to speak. Forgiveness of our sins is a good start, but there is so much more that God offers us in the life of the Holy Spirit.

²³ After staying in Antioch some time, Paul left and traveled in orderly sequence through the Galatian country and Phrygia, bringing strength to all the disciples. ²⁴ A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus. He was an authority on the scriptures. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶ He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way of God more accurately. ²⁷ And when he wanted to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. After his arrival he gave great assistance to those who had come to believe through grace. ²⁸ He vigorously refuted the Jews in public, establishing from the scriptures that the Christ is Jesus.  

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 47:2-3, 8-9, 10

R: God is king of all the earth.

² All you peoples, clap your hands, shout to God with cries of gladness. ³ For the Lord, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth. (R) ⁸ For the king of all the earth is God; sing hymns of praise. ⁹ Godreigns over the nations, God sits upon his holy throne. (R) ¹⁰ The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham. For God’s are the guardians of the earth; He is supreme. (R)  

Gospel | John 16:23-28

The example of Jesus’ life tells us what His words really mean. We cannot ask God for the winning numbers in a lottery draw. We can ask for anything within His will for us, and we will receive it. Jesus’ words call us to conform our lives to God’s will, and not attempt to conform His will to ours. This distinction helps us reject the prosperity Gospel which teaches that we are in charge of what happens, and instead understand that God works all things for good, including our suffering.

Gospel Acclamation

I came from the Father and have come into the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.

²³ Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. ²⁵ “I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. ²⁶ On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. ²⁷ For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Reflect

What have you recently asked from the Lord in prayer? 

How do you know that what you have asked for is His will for you?

Read the Bible in one year! Read JUDGES 5 - 8 today.

Today’s First Reading is an account of Paul’s missionary journey. This journey took him to the churches in Asia Minor, which he had founded himself and was now revisiting after 10 years. Specifically, we read that Paul spent time in Antioch, then set out again through the Galatian country and Phyrgia.

I wonder if the words “missionary journey” evoke in us, modern readers, what it demanded of Paul and his companions back then. Let us not forget that they mostly travelled on foot for long hours, exposed to the harsh elements and even robbers. At night, there were no inns where Paul could pay for a warm bed and bath. He did not have the advantage of modern technology for accurate navigation and even entertainment during the boring stretches of his journey. A journey then was in no sense a vacation or an adventure trip. It was literally life-threatening.

And this is already Paul’s third missionary journey. Each journey did not become easier, but rather grew more and more demanding. Eventually, in his own personal account, he would narrate how he was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, insulted, plotted against, famished by hunger and thirst, left cold and naked. Through it all, he would express his confidence in the “God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever.” 

Truly, in the missionary journeys of Paul, we see that God doesn’t always give us what we can handle. But He surely helps us handle what we have been given—if only we can trust the Lord and boldly ask Him for what we need.

Jesus’ words in the Gospel give us assurance and insurance: “Very truly, I tell 

you, if you ask anything of the Father in My name, He will give it to you. Until 

now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so 

that your joy may be complete” (John 16:23). 

Fr. Joel O. Jason

reflection question

Like in bodybuilding, muscles do not grow when it is only given a weight it can handle; otherwise, they weaken and atrophy.

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Today, I pray for: _________________________________________