9 | December Thursday |
GREAT ADVENTURE For I am the Lord, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, “Fear not, I will help you.” – Isaiah 41:13 I once joined a 12-hour Amazing Race-type competition where we circled Bohol. At one point, we were required to go up a high bridge in Loboc and go through a zip line to the other side. A zip line is a pulley suspended on a cable mounted on an incline. The most scary part was that after they strapped me to the pulley, I had to let go. Looking at the height I could fall, I felt so weak I could hardly speak. My eyes pleaded for time while I weakly said, “Wait…” Finally, I gained enough courage to say yes and I let go. Gravity pulled me down and I got zipped down wonderfully to the other side. I felt so exhilarated I wanted to do it again. There are fearful and painful “things” in life. Things that make us lose our appetite and make us sob deep into the night. Things that make us curl up like a baby in pain, or keep us on our knees time and again. It is a great relief to hear God’s Word to us today, “Fear not, I will help you.” We might even be able to say afterwards, “It wasn’t as bad as I thought, Lord. With you, life is a great adventure.”Joy Sosoban (jsosoban@gmail.com) REFLECTION: Let’s follow our Leader / into the great unknown / This is the life like no other / This is the great adventure. (Steven Curtis Chapman) Lord, hold my hand and don’t ever let me forget that You are always with me. Until the end of time. |
1st READING As tough as life may be and as tough as it will get at times, there is no reason to lose faith in God. He is there and He will be the one to see us through all our trials. Isaiah preaches to a people returning from exile and finding it difficult to reestablish their lives. It is important that we see this text as encouragement to persevere and take it to heart. Isaiah 41:13-20 13 I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I will help you.” 14 Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the LORD; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15 I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, to thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff. 16 When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the LORD, and glory in the Holy One of Israel. 17 The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water. 19 I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive; I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree and the pine, 20 That all may see and know, observe and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it. P S A L M Psalm 145:1, 9, 10-11, 12-13ab R: The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness. 1 I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. 9 The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. (R) 10 Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD, and let your faithful ones bless you. 11 Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might. (R) 12 Let them make known to men your might and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages, and your dominion endures through all generations. (R) G O S P E L If we want to be a disciple of Jesus and survive we will have to be willing to fight for what we believe. If we are not, then we have already lost. We have to be willing to give all we are in His service and hold nothing back from Him. God is interested in us being “all out” for Him. If we are, all things will be possible. Matthew 11:11-15 11 Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. 13 All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. 15 Whoever has ears ought to hear.” my reflections think: We have to be willing to give all that we are in God’s service and hold nothing back from Him. God’s special verse/thought for me today________________ _________________________________________________________ T O D A Y ’ S BLESSING LIST Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________ _______________________________________________________ READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Daniel 4-6 |
“FEAR NOT , I WILL HELP YOU ” This year we are not celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (since it falls on a Sunday, December 12). Nevertheless we are still blessed, because today is the feast of St. Juan Diego. He is, of course, no other than the man to whom the Blessed Mother appeared on December 9, 1531, on the Tepeyac Hill. And as if that wasn’t yet enough, a miraculous image of Mary was imprinted on a mantle brought by Juan Diego — Mary’s image now known throughout the world as Our Lady of Guadalupe. There is indeed something miraculous, something baffling in the whole thing. So it is somehow with the person of John the Baptizer, our designated Advent guide. In fact, the statement of Jesus about him in the Gospel today is paradoxical: “History has not known a man born of a woman greater than John the Baptizer. Yet the least born into the kingdom of God is greater than he.” This apparently contradictory statement is true, because Jesus was making not so much a comparison of persons, as one of eras in Salvation History. Still, Jesus also put it more clearly and categorically for his listeners: “[John the Baptizer] is Elijah, the one who was certain to come.” We need not end up confused. Even poor Juan Diego received an assurance from Mary when his bishop doubted and asked him for proof of the apparition. Isaiah in our First Reading serves for us as God’s mouthpiece, “I am the Lord, your God, who grasp[s] your right hand; It is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’” Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB Reflection Question: In times of trouble and confusion, do you rely on God? Or do you proudly try to figure things out by yourself? You have made perfect plans for my life, O God. May I be brave enough to face trials, knowing that You are constantly there to help me. St. Balda, pray for us. |
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