For us to ponder...

Luke 18: 1 - 8
1	And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
2	He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man;
3	and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, `Vindicate me against my adversary.'
4	For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, `Though I neither fear God nor regard man,
5	yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.'"
6	And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says.
7	And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
8	I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

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a moment to ponder....

Another week is here, and the struggle continues.

You know friends, sometimes the challenges of life seem very overwhelming and we feel we cannot just make it.

With Jesus I say,

"The devil is a liar and the father of lies" (Jn 8:44).

You were created for success and for happiness.

So, you shall fulfill your destiny, and the difficulties you face in life-race will not stop you.

When the waves of challenges rise to swallow you up -

in your study, family, work, relationships or whatever it may be,

proclaim with St Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil4:13);

do the best you can, and hold on to Christ in faith.

One thing you have to always remember is that without challenges,

there would be no great achievement.

So, take your stand for victory as you begin the week,

and tell that problem to better give way for you shall reach your destination.

I pray for God's peace on you. It is well. See you next week.

Fun Facts!!

Agape & Phillia

Shalom to my dear sisters and brothers. Today is the 3rd Easter Sunday. The Gospel for today is,

After this Jesus revealed himself to the disciples by the lake of Tiberias. He appeared to them in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas who was called the Twin, Nathanael of Cna in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two other diciples were together; and Simon Peter said to them, "I'm going fishing." They replied, " We will come with you" and they went out and got into the boat. But they caught nothing that night. When day had already broken, Jesus was standing on the shore, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus called them," Have you anything to eat?" They answered, "Nothing." Then he said to them, " Throw the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When thay had lowerd the net, they were not able to pull it in because of the great number of fish. Then the dicisple Jesus loved said to Peter,"It's Lord!" At these words,"It's Lord," Simon Peter put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and jumped into water. The other disciples came in the boat dragging the net full of fish, they were not far from land, about a hundred meters. When they landed, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some fish you've just caught." Simon Peter climbed into the boat and pulled the net to shore. It was full of big fish-one hundred and fifty-three-but, in spite of this, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them," Come and have breakfast," and not one of the disciples dared to ask him,"Who are you?" for they know it was Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and give it to them, and he did the same with the fish. This was the third time Jesus revealed himself to his disciples after rising form the dead. After they had finished breakfast, Jeus saif to Simon Peter," Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He answered," Yes,Lord,you know that I love you." And Jesus said,"Feed my lambs." A second time Jesus said to him," Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter answered," Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jeus said to jim, "Look after my sheep." And a third time he said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was saddened because Jesus asked him the third time, " Do you love me?" and he said," Lord,you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus then said," Feed my sheep. Truly, I said to you, when you are young you put your belt and walked where you liked. But when you grow old, you will stretch your hands and another will put a belt on you and lead you where you does not wish to go." Jesus said this to make known the kind of death by which Peter was to glorify God. And he added," Follow me."

After listened to this gospel,I was wondering why Jesus had to ask Simon Peter the same question for three times? Was Simon Peter not paying attention during the conversation and simply, he just gave Jesus an answer. It is always not that easy to get the full meaning by looking at the scripture superfcially and I was amazed when the priest explained it to us by linking back to the terms used in Hebrews. The first two times, Jesus asked Peter, John(the author) used “agape” in Jesus’ question and “philos” in Peter’s answer. During the third time, Jesus used “philos” and Peter uses “phillia.” This question was repeated again but Peter got annoyed when he was asked by Jesus "do you love(filial) me?" at the third time. And he said," Lord,you know everything; you know that I love you." Peter had grown up in faith. He became more humble and mature. When the time came, he died a matyr's death in Rome in the year 66 or 67. From here, we can see that Jesus accept the love that we offer despite its level.

Analogically, if a dog is well treated by its owner, it'll think:"the owner treats me so good as he feeds me.He is my owner.He must be my God.". If a cat is well treated by its owner, it'll think :"oh, I must be his God." Note the difference?The love of a dog to his owner is "phillia",is the love of admiration and friendship; whereas the love from God to us is "agape",love that requires sacrifices.

Let us pray to the God that He may accept our love and lack of love.

A little of my thoughts

As catholics, we always pray to God because that's what our parents taught us to do so since we were young...Erm, perhaps it is because we love God. Aha, "LOVE" is a big word to be emphasized here. There are many types of love...for examples, the love of mother towards her kids, the love between husband and wife, the love between you and your partner, the love within best friends and bla bla bla~~ They are so many people and reasons for us to love. Others than that, there are many non-living objects that we love too, for examples, the apples i-phone, the branded watch and so on....We would like to have them if we could. See, sometimes, our loves are towards something that we could see or touch. How about our love to Jesus?

"Thomas, the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he replied, " Untill I have seen his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the mark of the nail and my hand in his side, I will not believe." Eight days later, the disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors Jesus came and stood in their midst and said," Peace be upon to you." The he said to Thomas, " Put your finger here and see my hands; stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Don't be an unbeliever! Believe!" Thomas then said, "You are my Lord and my God." Jesus replied," You belive because you see me, don't you? Happy are those who have not seen and belive." John20:24-29

As catholics, when we are being asked by people if we believe in Jesus, we will not answer:" Yes, because I have seen him before." No one dare to answer this way.  Instead, our faith in God tells us to "Believe!" St. Thomas was not believe to what other disciples told him that they had seen Jesus, but after he saw Him  through his own eyes, he believed. To be more exact, he believed that the merciful of God had pardoned all his disbelief. He believed in the Power of Forgiveness by Jesus, our God. Yes, we did wonder about Jesus. However, no worry because Jesus is always willing to forgive us and lead us to the right path. Remember, Jesus always GIVE and FOGIVE.

Let us learn to see Jesus from the needy, form our friends, our family members and everywhere as well as in everyone. When you are shouting at the person that you angry or annoy with, remember that you are just one step more to let him or her know Jesus if you stop your shouting.So, why don't just stop it and say"Shalom". Jesus didn't even scold those disciples for not helping him when he met them and his first word is "SHALOM". We do our best and let the Lord do the rest! From our deeds, people will see Jesus in us and they will BELIEVE.

See him?

Helped her?

He is there!

Shalom.

~Happy Easter Day~