miracle works of Jesus

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Sunday, 12 January 2014 : Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 10 : 34-38

Peter then spoke to them, “Truly, I realise that God does not show partiality, but in all nations He listens to everyone who fears God and does good. And this is the message He has sent to the children of Israel, the Good News of peace He has proclaimed through Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of all.

No doubt you have heard of the event that occured throughout the whole country of the Jews, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism John preached. You know how God anointed Jesus the Nazarean with Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all who were under the devil’s power, because God was with Him.

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Friday, 10 January 2014 : Friday after the Epiphany (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we see the power and authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and Saviour of the world. Jesus needs no fame or human praise, because in Him lies all the glory and all praise, as the Lord of all. He sought not popularity or human praise, by doing His miracles, but He did them because of His love for us all, for all mankind.

Yes, brethren, in the past few days we have heard from the Scriptures how Jesus fed the multitudes of more than five thousand men not counting women and children, and how Jesus healed the sick, the lepers and those with illness, restoring them to full health and show the love that God has for them all. He did these to show mankind that He cared for them, and wanting them to be perfectly cured of their maladies, most important of which, is the malady of the soul.

Yes, sin, the malady of the soul. Sin tainted mankind with impurity and unworthiness, which separated us from God. Sin made us unable to comprehend God’s love for us. And it is sin that our Lord came down to us, in order to correct and address this problem, this darkness that prevented us from seeing and living in the Light of God.

The Lord had no need of advertisement to promote Himself, for the Holy Spirit testified for Him, and the people could see that He is One with authority and power. It is clear enough that no one is like Him, and He is not a mere man or a mere prophet of God, for He is the Son of God Most High endowed with power, and with the authority over all diseases and illnesses, as well as over all the forces of this world.

Yet many people continued to refuse to believe in Him or doubt in His presence. They put their trust more in human and worldly powers rather than in the Lord. The devil is hard at work everyday to convince the people that his way is better and more appealing than that of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

And yet, the path of the evil one is death and destruction, while the path of the Lord is life and true joy. Only in the Lord can we find the source of life, just as St. John the Evangelist told us in his letter. True life and hope for life is not in us if we do not believe in God and His Son, or put our trust in Him, the Lord of life. Jesus made it plainly enough throughout His teachings.

Jesus repeated the words eternal life very often in His ministry, and a lot of His teachings revolved on, and focused on the fact that whoever believes in Him and has Him in themselves, shall not suffer death or the consequences of death, but will gain the eternal reward of life with God. He did not make this promise lightly, for He truly imparted to all of us, as He had promised, with His own Body and Blood, sacrificed for our sake and offered freely to us.

Yes, those of us who receive the Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist and believe in Him wholeheartedly, is assured of life in God. Brethren in Christ, it is important that while we live in this world, that we do not get too engrossed with the world and forget what the Lord had asked of us. Yes, because believing in God is not merely just making promises or empty proclamation of the faith. If we believe in God, we must show it concretely through our actions, words and deeds.

Therefore brethren, let us now truly profess our faith in the Lord, that we show Him true faith and dedication, not just in words but also in action. Let the Lord see that we are truly His faithful and loving children, and that we reject the lies of the evil one. May the Lord therefore, then bless us with the abundance of blessings and graces, that in Him, we may find the joy of eternal life in true happiness. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 10 January 2014 : Friday after the Epiphany (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 5 : 12-16

One day, in another town, a man came to Jesus covered with leprosy. On seeing Jesus, the man bowed down to the ground, and said, “Lord, if You want to, You can make me clean.”

Stretching out His hand, Jesus touched the man and said, “Yes, I want to. Be clean.” In an instant the leprosy left him. Then Jesus instructed him, “Tell this to no one. But go and show yourself to the priest. Make an offering for your healing, as Moses prescribed; that will serve as evidence for them.”

But the news about Jesus spread all the more, and large crowds came to Him, to listen and to be healed of their sickness. As for Jesus, He would often withdraw to solitary places and pray.

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Tuesday, 7 January 2014 : Tuesday after the Epiphany, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

God is Love, and He is the embodiment of Love, and in Him is the purest form of love as ever existed in this universe. That is what today’s readings try to bring to us, as we continue to learn more and more about the Lord and what His plans are for us.

God loved us so much that He was willing to come down, in the form of man like us, His own Word, the divine becoming a humble and mortal man, so that through Him, the world may know love, understand love, and most importantly, be saved in the love of God.

Jesus brought the love of God into reality and complete in concreteness. The love of God was made real through Jesus, whose very presence was the ultimate proof of God’s undying love for us, even though we often reject and spurn His love for us. Despite of that, He still came offering His love to all mankind, even to those who rejected Him and persecuted Him and those who followed Him.

God showed His love even by feeding His people, when they followed Him to hear His teachings even for days. He miraculously multiplied loaves of bread and fishes, to feed them until there were even great excess and leftovers. In His love for us, He showed it through concrete action, and in the end, He gave none other than Himself, offering Himself to all of us, in the form of His own Body and Blood.

We who receive these Body and Blood of our Lord, that is in the Eucharist, receive the Lord, and indeed, the fullness of His love. We can indeed say that as the Lord loves us, His love is now inside each one of us. That is the message that St. John the Evangelist in his letter tried to convey to us, that because we belong to the Lord and the Lord is in us, we have love and we know what is love. And therefore, with that love, we ought to love one another.

Love cannot just remain within us or it will be dormant, wither and die. This is because love is meant to be shared with one another. There is no love or real love if we selfishly keep it to ourselves. Certainly our Lord who is love did not keep the love He has for us, from us. He was moved with compassion and love every time He saw His children, that is us, in pain, sorrow or difficulties. The proof of which could be found throughout the Scriptures, including what Jesus had done in the multiplication of the bread and fish to feed His beloved ones.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Raymond of Penyafort, a religious who lived during the time of the Medieval era Europe. St. Raymond was a major figure in the faith in that era, having numerous contributions to the cause of the Church, by his numerous writings and works, in particular related to the Church laws and regulations, meant to regulate and maintain purity in the faith of the people of God.

But besides this, St. Raymond was also very renowned for his missionary zeal, that is to spread the word of God and the truth about God to those who lacked faith in Him. St. Raymond was particularly aiming at the conversion of the Jews and the Muslims. The first group of people was the people first chosen by God to be His people, but many rejected Him when He came to His people in Jesus. They rejected the One who had fed them with food, as well as with His own Body and Blood.

And the second one was a group of people who were misled by heresy instigated by the false prophets in what is now modern day Arabia. They were misled by falsehood spread by the evil one in purpose to confuse the people of God, that they would reject the very One who is the true and complete manifestation of God’s love in this world, that is Jesus Christ. They rejected Him and His divinity, rejecting that their Lord came into this world to save them, being led into the lies that it was unimaginable for their Lord to lower Himself to be a humble man.

These are the people whom St. Raymond wanted to convert to the cause of the Lord, to show them the truth of the love our God has for everyone, including these misled and rebellious children of His. We too should take part in delivering the truth to everyone and have the same aspiration as St. Raymond of Penyafort. We have to show the love of God to them, just as we should also show the same love to one another. We do this through our own actions, deeds, and words, that they too may believe.

May the Lord our God who loves us with all of His heart, also enkindle in our hearts His love, that we may love one another just as He asked of us, as well loving Him as our God and our Father. Amen.