Joy of Quotes

If you want to be truly great, be great in the eyes of a child.

Do not exasperate your children; instead,
bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4

Food for Our Soul

The Power of the Body and Blood

1 Corinthians 11:26
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

Some time ago, one of our church members developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) while on a flight to Israel. As she was disembarking from the plane, she collapsed. She was rushed to the hospital. But on the way there, her heart stopped beating. Apparently, the blood clot in her leg had gone to her heart, causing it to stop beating. The doctors managed to revive her heart after a few attempts, but she remained unconscious. 

When I arrived at the hospital with some of my church leaders a few days later, I was told that her condition had worsened. She was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). My leaders and I decided to partake of the Holy Communion in the ICU, proclaiming that Jesus had borne all her diseases, including DVT, and that His blood had already redeemed her from all curses, including diseases and death. 

The next day, she regained consciousness! Her recovery was so supernatural that after a week of observation, she was discharged and was soon touring Israel with the next tour group that arrived there. 

In another case, a church member’s elderly mother underwent a series of operations and her condition deteriorated to the point where the doctor told the family to prepare for the worst. The family took Holy Communion in the ICU. They even put a small crumb in their mother’s mouth and poured a little grape juice in. On the third day, something miraculous happened — their mother regained consciousness, got well and was discharged not too long after! 

You see, each time you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death for you. You discern that the Lord’s body was broken so that your body can be whole. You discern that His healthy body has borne your diseases and pains, so that your body can be well. So when you eat the bread, you say that by His stripes you are healed. And when you drink the cup, you are drinking the life of Jesus which is in His blood. 

Beloved, the life of Jesus is pain-free, disease-free and poverty-free. It attracts the favor and blessings of God. And because you have that life in you, it causes good things to happen to you!

Joy of Quotes

The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed.

There is a right time for everything … A time to laugh.
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 TLB

Gospel Reflection

September 11, 2012

Tuesday – Weekday

by Msgr. Bong Lo (Chaplain, Chapel of Eucharistic Lord)

Lunch Mass at Megamall, Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord

First Reading:               1 Corinthians 6:1-11
Psalm:                         Psalm 149:1-6, 9

Gospel:                        Luke 6:12-19    

12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles; 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. 17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; 18 and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all.

HOMILY

In our Gospel Reading for today, we have heard that before Jesus chose His 12 Apostles, He spent the whole night praying. He spent time praying for guidance. Was Jesus mistaken in his selection of his Apostles ? Peter denied Him, not once, not twice, but three times; Judas betrayed Him. Nagkamali ba si Jesus sa kanyang discernment? No. Hindi nagkamali si Hesus. But Jesus' disciples had the free will. They had the choice whether to listen to God or not. Jesus' disciples were free to obey Him or not.

Just like the disciples, we are free to choose the direction we want to take.  We can choose to be free and lead our own lives, or for better or for worse, to follow the will of God, to stand up for God, no matter how hard it is. Sometimes, our hearts have the spirit of revenge, the spirit of selfishness. Pero sa kabila ng ating kahinaan at kasalanan, God is always there to welcome us, to give us the chance to reform, to come to His presence, and allow God to bless us, to touch our spiritual being, and heal us of our sicknesses, our sins.

As we relate the Gospel to St. Paul's reading today, it tells us to learn to settle matters among ourselves, and to be instruments of reconciliation. Like Jesus' disciples, kung pag-uusapan lang nang sana natin nang maayos, if we can listen to one another, to forgive one another - although we may not be able to always satisfy what we want - we welcome God's peace, and we welcome God's joy, blessings and graces.