Making Friends With The Lord Jesus

If we permit the blind to lead us who are blind already, then we simply would be courting trouble.

It is characteristic of Our Lord that He prays a lot. He dedicates time to pray even the entire evening in preparation for big decisions like the one He made today in the Gospel of today's mass, namely, He called His twelve apostles. We should do the same.

Instead of paying attention to something to criticize they should have prayed for the man with the withered hand. God identifies himself with those in need and in this particular case, He was in this man with the withered hand.

Today the Holy Catholic Church makes us review Our Lord's teaching about following Him. He requires that we carry His Cross and follow Him. Otherwise we cannot be His disciple.

Our Lord is made aware by the Pharisees and Scribes of the difference between His disciples and the others. The former do not fast while the latter practice fasting. Jesus reminds them that you cannot expect the bridegroom's attendants to fast when the bridegroom is around. This bridegroom refers to Jesus. Now that He was already ascended to Heaven Our Lord invites us to fast. Fasting does not ref...

When Our Lord enters our lives He does not need our permission. Likewise, we need to enter the lives of our friends, colleagues, officemates, etc in order to share with them the goodies we have received from the Lord. Minding our own business would be behaving like the devils. They don't mind anyone's business because they are all self-centered and concerned about their own excellence in oppositio...

Today Wednesday 31 August 2022 he hear that Jesus in the Gospel curing the mother-in-law of Simon. Interestingly after the sickness left her at the command of Christ, she began to attend to their needs. We need to get into this train of thought. We receive a blessing then we need to realize that God sends us to do something for Him. Remember the Blessed Virgin rushing to the side of her cousin Eli...

Jesus tells us today Tuesday the 30th of August 2022 that there are devils. He handled the possession of a man by an unclean spirit. He exorcised the poor man and the devil left him. However, what interests us now is how the devil reacted to the presence of God before him. He was so defensive. He considered and challenged God saying, "Have you come to destroy us?..." How in the world does a creatu...

Some people think that if they eliminate the person who corrects them from an error or malfeasance, they would be off the hook. They forget that it is not the other person who performs his duty to be of assistance to the person weighed down by sin but his very own conscience who condemns him. Herodias thought so. She wanted badly to kill the Baptist but Herod liked to protect him to listen to him....

The Lord exhorts us to humble ourselves instead of exalting ourselves in this life. His life and example is patent in this too. He who is divine did not disdain the chances to be humble. He actively submitted himself to torture, spit, insults, etc. Why don't we adopt that attitude too instead of looking for honors and privileges here on earth. He is clear that he who exalts himself will be humbled...

The parable of the talents is the subject of the Gospel for today. It is found in Chapter 25 of St. Matthew's Gospel. The same themes are set forth by the Lord. They similar to the previous parable in the same chapter, namely, that of the wise and foolish virgins. There is a time of reckoning. God has given us our lives to develop the talents he has distributed among us. The time of reckoning come...

Anyone of us could be classified either as wise or foolish. The foolish virgins did not bring more oil in case they would have to wait longer for the tardy bridegroom. The wise virgins are wise because made provisions for such eventualities. Likewise, we all need to think about the future. Not just the future in this world. More importantly we need to think of the future in eternity. Are we making...

The Lord warns us that we need to have some preparedness for when he comes the second time to our world. For that we need to examine ourselves to determine what we need to ask pardon for and for what we could still do better. For this to be done well we need to know well the life of Jesus Christ and to know his teachings. Otherwise, our standards to judge ourselves would be lacking and substandard...

We celebrate in the Church the feast of St. Bartholomew today, the 24th of August. The Lord tells us in the Gospel in the Holy Mass the story of the meeting of St. Bartholomew--then known as Nathanael--with Him for the first time. It was St. Philip who brought the topic of Jesus from Nazareth being the Messiah to his friend. He invited him to check Him out for himself. This is an example that we a...

Jesus teaches that the Jews should continue listening to the Scribes and Pharisees but cautions them not to follow their example. They teach but they do not practice what they preach. The reason they don't practice what they teach is that they lacked rectitude of intention. They only were after their fame and gain honors and recognition. They had another god!

Mary is our Queen! The Queen of Heaven and Earth! And she has an army. Let us be part of her army. The way to go is to always say yes to God. We can say Serviam! That means I will serve. Not like what Lucifer said to God Non serviam, or I will not serve. That is how he became Satan and Hell started to exist. 

Once again the Lord provides us another imagery for our consideration to teach us something important. This time he employs the narrow door or narrow gate. He tells us that to get to Heaven we need to struggle to get through that tight opening. We will not be alone in trying to make it through. It takes effort to struggle to get to Heaven. So the question is whether that is our attitude. Many time...

Jesus criticizes the scribes and pharisees for being teachers who do not practice what they preach. At the bottom here is the influence and succumbing to pride and selfishness by these teachers. They are not actually interested in teaching the people sincerely. They just mouth the teachings and do not give good example of living those principles.

Our Lord Jesus Christ replies to the questioner that the greatest and first is that of loving God above all with our entire heart, soul and mind. The second is similar to it. But the second is the test of veracity of how we are doing the first. We need to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Today we read another of Jesus' parables about the kingdom of Heaven. Our Lord compares it to a wedding feast of the Son. These symbolic realities refer to Heaven and the wedding is that of God's only begotten Son who is Jesus. Jesus is set to marry His Bride, the Church. The invitations were sent but nobody accepted the invite. They had their excuses. Isn't this what we do as well when we are ins...

The Gospel today draws us to recall that parable about a landowner who hires workers to work in his vineyard. We are represented by these workers who are hired at different times of the day. We are characterized by differences of our conversion to the Lord. There are those who give themselves to God early in life. Others when they are middle aged while yet others go to the Lord towards the end of...

Essential to our struggle to reach Heaven is detachment from creatures like material possessions. Our Lord is not against owning property. We need material means to attain our purposes here on Earth. However, what he emphasizes is that we cannot be slaves of these creatures. Otherwise, it will be most difficult to see Him for eternity. The Apostles express their exasperation and frustration in thi...

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Heaven. The Blessed Trinity wants to bring Mary body and soul to Heaven. It was fitting because Jesus her Son is also in Heaven Body and Soul. The source of His Flesh and Blood was Mary. It would not do that her flesh see corruption. She was united with Jesus all the time, especially in Calvary. It was fitting that sh...

In following Christ we need to realize that He wants to have us spread what He came to tell us. It is not enough to be a follower of Christ, knowing him and living like Him. This should include an enterprising spirit to let others know about Him. St. Josemaria Escriva mentioned about a lighted charcoal that did not give off heat or light. What a strange sight, right? What is normal for a follower...

People noticed that Jesus was passing by. There were children in the street. Their parents prodded them to go to greet the Master. The Apostles tried to stop them from bothering our dear Lord so intensely set to spread his saving teachings. Our Lord saw the intent of his disciples and he corrected them. He asked them to permit the children to come to him. He revealed that the kingdom of Heaven is...