Clothe yourself with Love Col. 3:14

TUE EP Reflection 011822 God’s message to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:4-11) Hearing God’s message to Ezekiel brought some mixed feelings for me. Have you ever felt powerless ahead of a cumbersome task? Not because you are procrastinating but because the task in question has an inbuilt series of obstacles to dodge or resolve? Really when one is not looking forward to it. I wonder if that’s how the prophet Ezekiel felt when God’s message came to him asking him to go and deliver his message to his own people the Jews. We know that a prophet’s own people are not always his fans. Jesus said this once: “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” Like Ezekiel, we sense that things will not turn out well judging from a possible adversarial response from the prophet’s own people. This triggers a reflection that since God is the message’s sender, there is no need to worry about how the message will be received. Prophets are brave people who obey God’s instructions by t

The exciting thing about the Epiphany season is the manifestation of the glory of God as revealed in Jesus. Who wouldn’t like to discover where and when God has been revealing himself to you personally? For some it may be in your dreams (Samuel or Joseph’s dream), for others it may be in a friend’s best advice you could ever hope for. God has myriads of ways he could use to reach out to us. Today we have striking evidence of that, in the sign that Jesus performed at the wedding of Cana. It doesn’t surprise us that the wedding wine would finish early which Jesus responded to, by turning water in wine. This sign is not as simple as we imagine it to be, the sign points to a much greater meaning that relates to the purposes of God. We actually get to discover through it, that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life as we contemplate on the sign that he performed. We see how God expresses himself in His desire to have a close relationship with us. In a way, we discover that God reveals h

WED EP Reflection 011222 (Gen. 4:1-16; John 1: 29-42) I find myself learning a lot as I immerse myself in the stories of the Old Testament. This story of the very first human children Cain and Abel is fascinating to say the least. First, the mother was overjoyed when Cain was born and she gave him a great name Cain, meaning possession. She had so much joy, thankfulness, and great expectation, she said: “I have gotten a man from the Lord.” When Abel came, he was given a name that signifies vanity. This seems to indicate that she had high hopes for her first-born son. It appears that the Lord was pleased with Abel more than Cain with regards to their offerings, but the way things turned out Abel was murdered by his brother Cain. Instead of channeling his anger to the appropriate place, Cain misdirected it to his brother Abel. I can’t imagine how shocked Abel must have been after being hit by his brother. God asked Cain about it: “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?”

WED EP Reflection 010522 (Fighting the Battle Against Powers of Darkness) Our lives are constantly in a state of warfare… we struggle with opposition against the powers of darkness. The powers of darkness are operated by a spirit of rebellion. Rebellion against God’s design and purposes. If we consider the events in Genesis 1 Adam and Eve had boundaries established by God. If they had obeyed, God’s order would have continued to reign. The spirit of rebellion is crafty, he did not let Adam and Eve read the fine print that displays all the consequences related to the newly presented rebellious choice. It’s like being given a medication for which we have not clearly reviewed its side effects. Adam and Eve faced the same. They were promised something by the spirit of rebellion, which had heavier consequences that they didn’t consider. Adam and Eve were convinced that crossing God’s boundaries would not be harmful to them in any way, in fact the spirit of rebellion insisted that things wi

TUE EP Reflection 010422 New Beginnings (John 9: 1-41) Today I would like to talk about New Beginnings. Many Bible stories show new beginnings like the story of Creation in Genesis, the story of the birth of Twins: Esau and Jacob which characterized their lives and many more…Some verses also point us to new beginnings: 1 Peter 1:3 “ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead .” 2 Cor 5: 17: “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ” Today’s Gospel lesson also pointed us to a new kind of beginning of a man born blind. It is hard for us to fully appreciate the depth of gratitude from a man who has never been able to see anything and who finally was able to see for the first time. What’s such beginning like? Can we imagine it? The sheer exercise of discovery; to figure out what’s what, who is who a