Clothe yourself with Love Col. 3:14

Follow me! As it turns out, following Jesus is not as easy as many people make it out to be. We discover that it sounds easy, but in real life we have so much going on in our lives that sort of prevent/ inhibit us from truly following Christ properly. That’s why our parish has been exploring the Benedictine spirituality: An ancient way of following Jesus. Today’s scriptures are giving us a preview on what it takes to follow God’s ways. I thought about Ruth. She staunchly followed her mother-in-law Naomi and promised to be her family till the end. It was a formidable sacrifice leaving her family behind. I also thought of Lot’s wife. She turned into a pillar of salt when she disobeyed God’s order not to look back. There are applicable lessons here: God’s instructions ought to be listened to/obeyed. In Hebrew, the word to listen is the same as to obey. True listening! Unfortunately, all our responses carry a price tag. For Lot’s wife, looking back was a choice with heavier consequences. ...

There is a miracle we live with, that is a real mystery: The miracle of Christ living in us. This is a reality of God’s Kingdom in our midst. Jesus said: “those who truly love me will be loved by me and my Father; we will come and make our home in you.” The tough part to realize as the antithesis is that: God loves us but he does not force it onto us! We are the ones who choose to love him back by our actions because we cannot fake-love Jesus. When we truly love Jesus, he takes our mortality and turns it into life. In Jesus Christ, we are able to keep his words, and produce fruits worthy of repentance. When God is at the very center of our lives, and in charge, everything is possible. I see this picture in the book of Revelation where God Almighty and the lamb are the temple of the new Jerusalem and the tree of life continue to produce fruits on the edges of the river. What I saw in that picture, is a place of perfect love and undisturbed order of heaven, leading to the restoration of...

Saul of Tarsus found himself on the ground after being hit by a flashing light from Jesus’ glory. The ground is a place we don’t really want to be at, but one that is a profound good teacher. We feel powerless there because in contrast, we want to stand tall/ feel powerful, enough to affect our own destiny. But we, (humans) have not done a good job leading ourselves. Time and time again we prove that without God, we are doomed to fail. Genesis 11 is such example for us. The tower of Babel was to be the most magnificent in the world, and it became a disaster after a massive confusion. They wanted to make a name for themselves so, God was not in it. At the height of his career, Saul experienced being on the ground, which seemed foreign to him as he had never been in such situation before. He was powerless on the ground and blind. Christ invites us to join him on the ground, because he humbled himself to the lowest level of a servant so we can learn the ways of his Kingdom. Jesus was d...

Many of us have experienced some kind of intense tragic event with such profound sadness/ devastation. This was mine: When the war began in my native home, we lost everything within just 3 months. So many lives were lost; some families were wiped out. The Kingdom of darkness was at work. Pure Devastation. I also thought of the recent devastation of the earthquake that left thousands dead and few survivors under the rubble, waiting for a miracle with a faint cry. In cases like these, survivors painfully wait and hope for rescue. These stories send us chills and put us on the edge, hoping for the rescue moment. And tonight is such! It is the night when the line between death and resurrection becomes thin! We have good reason to rejoice, even in the midst of our sorrow! On one hand, we heard the story of Israelites under the darkness of Egyptian slavery, crying out to God in desperation, prompting God to haste the rescue! Just like them, we also may have longed for God to rescue us in ou...

Our OT lesson in ISAIAH 43: 16-21 offers a window into the life of Israelites in Babylonian exile. It is hard not to imagine their spirits totally broken by the harsh realities of exile. God’s word in Isaiah assured them that God will be with them in their trials, and promised them protection no matter what they go through, be waters and rivers, or fire and flame. What is interesting is that God is saying that this new thing that He was about to do, will be an astonishing thing: His rescue will be spectacular in the same way that He rescued their ancestors by creating a way where there was no way. (They were reminded how their ancestors had crossed the Red Sea on dry land) That in itself should create peace and hope in their hearts. That is God’s way. He is our redeemer and rescuer. We are again here In the Gospel of John (12:1-8), introduced to God’s way in Jesus who was a week away from going to the cross to redeem humanity. We learn God’s way in everything he did and said in farewe...

It was a time of great upheaval in Israel. Pilate had faced Jewish opposition groups before and usually dealt with them swiftly. This time was no different but it was shocking because these Galilean victims were actually in the middle of worship when they were ambushed and killed. Somehow this tragic report got to Jesus and his response was unexpected. We would have expected him to say how sad the situation was, just like we would expect for the tragic events of 911 or the Sandy Hook tragedy. This, of course was a matter of lament, but Jesus took this lament on another level: “ Repent, otherwise you will perish like them .” This is the heart of the Gospel message! It is as if he was trying to say to us: “ Unfortunately, lives get cut short in this world: Make peace with God now, without delay, because sudden death comes to us all just like the 18 who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them. They didn’t die because they were the worst offenders than us, we are given just a little mo...

Amongst the most emotional passages in the Bible, is the one from Joseph in Genesis and it gets me every time. Joseph had become the Prime Minister of Egypt but not before years of real struggles, first as a trafficked young man into slavery and a prisoner for years. These are amazing lessons of grace and forgiveness that are just hard for a mere human like me. Joseph outdid us all. When it was time for him to reveal himself to his brothers, some of whom by the way were responsible for selling him into slavery. That level of forgiveness seems beyond our natural ability, but we can rise to the challenge like Joseph did and it is our calling as Christian believers to forgive. Jesus pronounced that same bid when He asked us to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us and to bless those who curse us and to pray for those who abuse us. That’s what is different about God’s Kingdom. I can speak for myself but listening to the news would raise anyone’s Blood Pressure and my frustr...