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SEEKING SIGNS OF GOD'S WILL

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MONDAY, SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDERINARY TIME Micah 6:1-4,6-8; Ps 50:5-6,8-9,16-17,21,23; Mt 12:38-42de Something Greater than Jonah Before seeking a solution to a problem or an answer to a question, it is usually beneficial to verify that the question is well-posed or the problem is well-articulated. Attempting to answer a wrongly posed question or an ill-articulated problem is to look for what does not exist. The same applies to us when we search for the sign of God with us. We should think of the right indicators or signs to look out for when seeking to witness the presence of God in our lives or in the world. The major concern in our prayers and petitions to God is that of asking for what God is not willing to give. Put differently, it is the problem of asking for what is not good for us or seeking God in a manner that is not in conformity with his word or revelation to us. Again, we recall the command in the Garden of Eden and its implications for us. Adam and Eve were forbidden...
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THE JUDGMENT OF WHEAT AND DARNEL

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SUNDAY, SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDERINARY TIME Wis 12:16-19; Ps 86:5-6,9-10,15-16; Rom 8:26-27; Mt 13:24-43 The Justice of God and Our Corrupted Nature We often discuss the justice of God. But we usually consider or understand it through the lens of human justice, which is inadequate for understanding divine justice. God’s justice bears the identity of God, for it is also God. By this, we mean that the revelation of divine justice is also the revelation of God, who is infinite in all perfections. God’s justice is infinite and perfect because it reveals God. Therefore, we are unable to fully comprehend it because we do not fully understand the nature of God. Our knowing is imperfect in this mortal existence, which implies that we know the justice of God only imperfectly. Though divine justice is infinite and perfect, it is essentially good because God is essentially good. God judges us with full knowledge of who we are and what we have done. This knowledge is not given to us, which cau...
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PRESENCE AND ACTIONS OF THE UNSEEN GOD

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SATURDAY, FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Micah 2:1-5; Ps 10:1-4,7-8,14; Mt 12:14-21 God and the Plots of the Wicked Why does it seem to us that the wicked are having their way? Instigated and led by the demonic spirits who are principles of evil, they perpetrate suffering, pain, and sometimes even death on the good and upright souls. Is God truly concerned with protecting the good? These are the questions that have made many fledgling souls fall back into sinful states and decidedly offer themselves willingly to evil. God is the infinite Spirit and the source of all existence. The fact remains that we do not see him with our material eyes or perceive him with any of our senses. Unperceived by our senses, God seems very remote and abstract to us in our daily engagements, trials, and life in general. His absence is most felt by souls submerged in the deluge of sins and unbelief. Because they have abandoned reason and faith, they live like animals, following only the instinct and d...
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DESTRUCTION AND REBUILDING OF STRUCTURES

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FRIDAY, FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Isa 38:1-6,21-22,7-8; Isa 38:10-12,16; Mt 12:1-8 You Put All Things Under Him The renewal of our bodies follows the birth and development of the spiritual man. This renewal of what seems to be dying is a foretaste of the life of resurrection that is to follow when the Lord calls forth our bodies from the grave. The death of Christ that we experience in our bodies as we make the interior journey is the destruction of the structures of sin that our former lives, that is oriented away from God, has raised within us. When these old and sinful habits, which constitute the sinful structures in us, are destroyed and rooted out, a new self which truly bears the image of God and has likeness to Jesus Christ, for it is truly Christ living in us, arises and gains control of affairs. Concerning the breaking of the old structures and the rebuilding of new ones, David prays to God in Psalm 51:8-10, 17-19. “Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones whi...
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THE INTERIOR JOURNEY

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OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL (Optional Memorial) Isa 26:7-9,12,16-19; Ps 102:13-21; Mt 11:28-30 The Naure of Our Spiritual Journey In our quest for a spiritual or heavenly life, we struggle to gain knowledge of divine mysteries. They are mysteries because they are beyond what human minds or intellects can grasp in this our mortal existence; they are mysteries because the realities we seek are not completely conformable to our categories of knowledge in this present mortal life; they are mysteries because they constitute part of what we know of the absolute mystery we call God. These are the reasons why our interior journey is a journey into both light and darkness at the same time. The inner man journeys into brighter and brighter spiritual light, becoming livelier as he proceeds. At the same time, our outer man journeys deeper and deeper into darkness, for the senses are more and more bereft of their objects of sensation. While the spiritual journey drains the body, it energises the...
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JOURNEYING INTO GOD

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SAINT BONAVENTURE, BISHOP, DOCTOR Isa 10:5-7, 13-16; Ps 94:5-10,14-15; Mt 11:25-27 Treasure of Our Spiritual Life Our spiritual life is a gift from God. It is a life that the word of God caused to sprout in us, making us present to God. The word of God is the primary source of God's revelation. All the effects of the word in the world and in us individually are geared toward making the Father known. So, the new spiritual life it engenders in us is a revelation of God within each of us. Because it is a precious effect of our reception of God’s word within us, God the Father orders all things within and without to foster its growth, for it is the life of the Son within us. The growth of our interior life does not depend entirely on God, but also on our cooperation with the graces God sends to us daily. Without this cooperation, which faith fosters in us, our spiritual lives cannot grow. The needed cooperation is prompted and supported by a good prayer life. The reason is that p...
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STANDING BY FAITH IN THE WORD

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TUESDAY, FIFTENTH WEEK IN ORDERINARY TIME Isa 7:1-9; Ps 48:2-8; Mt 11:20-21 Defence of Our Spiritual Life   We cannot underestimate the corruptive influence of the devil, the ancient serpent, and its worldly minions. An example of its power to seduce, corrupt, and destroy the structure planted in us by the word of God is seen in the story of Israel during the time of Elijah the prophet. To imagine that the nation saved from slavery in Egypt and settled in the Promised Land of Canaan was corrupted by the forces of idolatry is unimaginable. They had the Commandments and the prophets ministering the will of God to them. Yet, the country and its people became so far removed from God that there were four hundred and fifty (450) prophets of Baal and only one prophet of God, Elijah the prophet. How did it happen that the people redeemed and called by God’s name ended up having more prophets of Baal than prophets of God? It was a gradual corruption and departure from God that started...
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