Peter and Judas: A Reflection

Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We also will come with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?" They answered him, "No."So he said to them, "Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something." So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish.

When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you just caught." So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come, have breakfast." And none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they realized it was the Lord.
(John 21: 3-12)

This was the gospel last May 17, and these lines are the ones that struck me, particularly the verse "When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea." Surely, Peter waited for this day to come after the terrible action he did while Jesus was with them.

But as we all know, it's not only Peter who failed the greatest but also Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

Given the facts that these two betrayed Him who is the Almighty, what was the thing that separated them?

From what we know, Peter was a fisherman. Therefore, not that learned. I guess he never went to school and just spent his life fishing. And during the course that he was with Jesus, we knew him more as someone who just says things that was on his head and not thinking about it first. Thus most of the time, he would be rebuked by Our Lord. I guess he was also teased and joked around by the other disciples.

On the other hand, Judas, for me, was a very learned person. He knew that through Him, Israel would be saved from the Romans. He knew that He can end their reign and live as free people. Moreover, I believe that he was a business man by nature (or I guess a tax collector) because he knew how much an item costs.

However, they had something in common during the Passion of Jesus: Despair and feeling of unworthy for forgiveness. This was felt by Peter when he denied Jesus three times. When His prophecy was fulfilled, he went away in despair. In the same manner, Judas felt the same way when he betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver. When he realized the wrong that he did, he returned the money back to the Pharisees.

You may ask this question: Why is it that Peter became a saint and Judas found himself in the mouth of Satan (according to Dante's Inferno)?

Here's my answer: Peter waited for the Lord's promise of resurrection while Judas gave in to his grief.

He allowed himself to be manipulated by Satan using his emotions.

He never focused on the Lord nor did he accepted the Lord's forgiveness and love.

On the other hand, Peter knew that by the time that he will meet the Risen Lord, he will ask for forgiveness. And this he did as mentioned in the Gospel above.

My friends, the Mercy of our Lord is so great that even the most unforgivable sin man can commit to his neighbor can be washed away if we allow to be submerged to His mercy and His love.

He is waiting for you.

Where is God? (from Didache)

As I was reading some of my unread messages, I came across this email. It's just timely because I've met a lot of people who felt that God is not with them or simply just a creation of a mind.

But I tell you, especially those who are reading this: God Exists, and is there in every point in your life.

“… the days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the son of Man, but you will not see it.” – Luke 17:22

When the 9/11 tragedy happened, a lot of people asked, “Where was God?” He seemed to have been absent for such a disaster to happen.

Similarly, many people ask the same question when personal tragedies happen to their lives. “Where is God when I am down?” But maybe we should also ask, “Where was God in my life when I was up?” when everything was doing well and great with my family, my business, my career. Couldn’t it be that, blinded by worldly success, we’ve stopped seeing God in our lives when He was supposedly so present blessing us generously and abundantly? But when terrible, dreadful and heartbreaking events strike us we start looking for Him again, even blaming Him for such misfortune.

God would never abandon us, especially in moments that we need Him the most. But for us to see Him clearly in our tragic moments we should train ourselves to see Him in our joyous times. In fact, we should be seeing Him every time and every moment so that never will there come a day in our lives that we could no longer see Him.Alvin Barcelona

Life in God, with God and for God

Every day should be a good day and you should live it like it's your last. Some people live a life of anger, frustration, pain, jealousy, and/or dishonesty, but all of these things will come to pass when your time here is over. Just take a moment to think, we will not be on this earth forever.

One day, we will not have to worry about going to work or how we will make our car payment. We will not have to worry where our next meal will come from, or how we can buy that beautiful house. At anytime, God could take us off of this earth, so you should appreciate today and not worry about tomorrow, for nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.

When you wake up each morning, thank the Lord for waking you up. When you lie down to sleep at night, thank the Lord for another day. If you have a job, thank the Lord for your place of employment. Ask that He may bless you in everything that you do. Ask Him to give you the knowledge and the wisdom to do your job. If you don't have a job, thank Him anyway. Ask him to direct you to the job that is right for you. When you are eating breakfast, lunch or dinner, say a prayer. Thank the Lord for providing food and nourishment to your body. If you are healthy, thank the Lord for the health and strength in your body. If you aren't, thank Him anyway for life, and ask Him to heal your body.

So the next time that you get mad, think twice. The next time you complain about something at your job, think twice. The next time you say you wish you had steak instead of chicken, think twice. Be thankful for what you have, and the life that God has given you. Pray and ask the Lord for guidance. Be sincere, as God knows whether or not we mean it from the heart.

Help those in need as a gift from your heart, and not so you can get a pat on the back. Put forth the extra effort in everything that you do.

Go after what you want in life, and do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. No matter how perfect you think you are, there is always room for improvement, and an opportunity for you to do better. If you are depressed, don't cry just hold your head up and the Lord will help you through.

Pray and ask the Lord to deliver you from your state of depression. Whatever it is that you are depressed about, God will take that pain from your heart. It may not be at that moment, or that next hour, or maybe not even the next day, but He WILL do it if you just believe in Him. God may not show up when YOU want Him to, but He's ALWAYS right in time. God will not give us more than we can bear. Sometimes He will present us with issues that will test our faith, but you have to be strong enough to believe that God will do exactly what He says. In the end, only three things matter, how much you loved, how gently you lived and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

Beautiful Reasons for praying the rosary

Here's a nice email I got from a friend a few months ago.

Father Gabriel Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican
writes:

One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism, "Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end."

The secret that makes this prayer so effective is that the Rosary is both prayer and meditation. It is addressed to the Father, to the Blessed Virgin, and to the Holy Trinity, and is a meditation centered on Christ. I write in addition to the above: Please enunciate each word of the Rosary clearly and distinctly. Do not trample on the heels of the words of anyone with your words.

Do not speak over the leader if you are following or the respondent if you are leading the Rosary.
Remember that they also are having a conversation with Mary Our Mother and it is not polite to speak when someone else is speaking.

In the case of the public Rosary there are only two people speaking: the Leader and the respondents. Each is speaking to the Blessed Mother and listening carefully to her response within their hearts as they meditate on the scene before them in their consideration of the mystery being spoken of and interpreted and translated into their lives.

Spread this powerful prayer of exorcism, the Rosary, which contains the Our Father, the Perfect Prayer, prayed five times in the recitation of each set of the Rosary's Mysteries, backed up by the powerful prayers of Our Mother who prays with us as we pray 53 Hail Mary's.

The Eternal Father described to a group of us, through a Visionary Friend of mine, what happens
when we pray the Rosary, saying, "When you pray Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now..., the Blessed Mother comes instantly to your side to pray with you. And she does not come alone. She brings angels with her. And not just one or two for she is the Queen of Angels, so choirs of angels come with her. And she and Jesus are joined at the heart and cannot be separated so she brings Jesus with her. And Jesus cannot be separated from the Trinity so He brings the Father and the Holy Spirit with Him. And where the Holy Trinity is, all of creation is, and you are surrounded by such beauty and light as you cannot imagine in this life.

Your Mother comes as Our Lady of Grace with her hands outstretched. Rays of light emit from her hands piercing your body, healing you and filling you with graces.. This is your inheritance which was poured out from the heart of Jesus on the Cross, when the centurion pierced His Heart with the spear, into the only pure vessel ready to receive such graces at that time, Your Mother. Now as you pray the Rosary, or even just recite one Hail Mary, you receive your portion of these graces. He also said at this time, "Anyone who goes to Mary and prays the Rosary cannot be touched by Satan." Is it any wonder that anyone who prays the Rosary from the heart is so blessed and protected and powerful in their prayers for others?

Dominus Franciscus "Per ferreus opus adveho remuneror of maiestas"

"May the LORD KEEP and BLESS YOU!!!"

Keep on praying the rosary and see what God has in store for you.

The Legend of the Banana Que

Minsan nagtalo-talo ang mga saging kung sino sa kanila ang pinakamasarap. Ang sabi ni Latundan, small but sweet siya. Hirit naman ni Lakatan, big but sweeter siya.

Sa gitna ng kanilang pagtatalo, nalungkot si Saba kasi hindi siya sweet at kailangan pa niyang mailuto, atpb. kaya nag-walk out siya.

Nakasalubong niya si Brown Sugar at kinuwento niya ang nangyari. Tumawa si Brown Sugar at sinabi, "It doesn't matter how sweet you are. What matters is how you make others special because of you. And you made me special."

Friends, never feel that you are not important. Each one of us has its place under the sun and each of us has its own mission in this world. Each of us is created in a unique way in order to bless the world and place its mark on it.

God placed you where you are because of a reason. God created you that way because of a reason. The question is: Have you discovered that reason?

When my parents bought me a new cellphone, I thought that it was Nokia. It was then that I found out that it was Asus. I asked myself, "How do I use this?" It was then that I referred and studied the Instruction Manual for a week.

So it is with our life, especially in knowing our purpose in life.

How do we know what our purpose is in this world?

Look up, read and study the Holy Bible. Or you may have a good, intimate and intense relationship with God because He is the one who created you.

I pray that you discover your unique purpose here on earth. In that way, we may together praise God uniquely in our way.

Talk to your beloved regularly

Rrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggg!!!!!!!!!

Rrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggg!!!!!!!!!

Rrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggg!!!!!!!!!

It was really early morning and I woke up from a very good sleep.

Rrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggg!!!!!!!!!

Rrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggg!!!!!!!!!

Rrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggg!!!!!!!!!

I searched in my bed where my cell phone was, and when I found it, I answered it like someone who came out from a very good experience.

“Hello?” I said.

“Good morning baby ko! Mwuah!!!”

“Hi there bossing! Mwuah!!!”

This is happens every morning, and it really energizes my soul and my body to hear my beloved over the phone. I would tell her how my sleep was, talk to her about my plans for the day about my job, talk to her about some of my experiences that I haven’t shared to her last night. And she does the same way too.

We would talk for around 10 to 20 minutes every morning, sometimes while I am on my way to work. This does not stop just in the morning because we also talk in the evening when we arrive home and there we would talk for about an hour or more. Thank God that I bought a Sun Cellular phone so that we can talk for this long.

I always look forward to this time where we can discuss anything that we want: our plans, our obligations, about us, about our funny moments. I always look forward to this because every day I learn a lot more about her. And we do this with a commitment that we must not miss any single moment without talking about these things.

This goes the same with our prayer time. We need to talk to our beloved God regularly. It may be in the morning, evening, or at noontime.

I remember one speaker during our Christian Life Program where he shared about one story in The Little Prince.

A little boy saw a fox and he became attracted to him that he wanted to befriend him. The fox was happy with the boy’s intention and said, “Ok! I will be your friend only with one condition. You must come to this place every day at this time. I will be ahead of you always and I will always look forward to seeing and talking with you every day.”

Just like the fox, God is inviting you to talk to him every day at a certain time in a day. It may be just for 5 minutes or more. But what is important is that you are able to share to Him your life and He in you. Through that you are able to grow in Him much more than you ever imagined.

El Papa Y La Virgen: A Reflection

Here's an article which was sent to me by my dad.

We don’t know why John Paul II wanted to hide this picture for years. The Vatican published this picture recently, for first time. This picture was taken by one of his security guards just when the Pope was attacked and was falling down in his Papalmobil. You can see the pain in his face.

Joaquin Navarro Valls, who is the one spokesman from The Vatican, said that they made a lot of studies for years of this incredible picture and of course about the quality of the developing of the picture because when it was developed nobody could see very well because the image was not clear. Finally, and after so many controls and being looking and checking by all the experts in photography (around the world), they decided that there were no tricks in it and today they give us this beautiful gift from our Mother of God.

You can see the Mother of God holding John Paul II in her arms. Beautiful right?

How many times have we thought that God had left us during our trying times?

How many times have we thought that God was never there during the times when we needed Him? During the times when we never felt God's presence in our lives?

I felt the same way too... many, many times.

But through this picture, it reminded me of how He never forget His promise when He left us:

"And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Matthew 28: 20)