What a Glorious Mystery!

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"He is risen!" How good must have this sounded in the ears of Christ's disciples.  Suddenly all Christ said made sense.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,* and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. (John 2:19-22)


All hope is restored, fear is replaced by love.

What are the things that Christ wants us to do today that doesn't seem to make any sense? 

When I was 22, being a fresh engineering graduate, it did not make sense to "give it all up" to be a fulltime missionary.  Then when I got married, it did not seem to make sense to continue fulltime mission work.  Yet here I am, despite all the things that should have made sense in other people's minds, I continue to trust the peace that Christ gives me.  Yes, I still am a missionary, and mysteriously He continues to provide.  I believe one day with His grace, when in Heaven, it will all make perfect sense.  For what are our thoughts compared to His thoughts? 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways—oracle of the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
my thoughts higher than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9)

We are all called to serve a greater purpose.  It might not make sense now why you should use your profession or circumstance to spread and build God's kingdom. You might be laughed at, even persecuted. Buy hey, that's always been the story of Christians through history.  What has been consistent all through out the life of the Church are the persecutions. It did not make sense to the world why Christians were willing to be eaten by lions or be stoned to death for the sake of Christ. But through this, Christianity even spread more.  These are God's ways, wierd and mysterious as it may seem to us, but to the All Knowing and All Powerful it does not only make sense but it is The Way.  As we faithfully endure in carrying our daily cross (often struggling and rationalizing why this cross), there is always the promise of resurrection, of heaven, of eternal life in the Lord.  As shown by Jesus, the Resurrection will always be a Glorious Mystery!

Let the grace of peace in our hearts to do God's work satisfy our senses and bring us to the hope in partaking in the Glorious Mystery of His Resurrection. Happy Easter!

A New Way in Christ

While in Batanes, I was introduced to a new way of eating, using the "Kabaya." It's a leaf of a breadfruit tree. It is thick enough to even hold water and use it as a cup. Folding the leaf in the manner shown in the picture makes it easy to handle while eating. It was new to me but it proved to be a useful and effective plate substitute.

When was the last time that we tried something new? When Christ taught the disciples about "loving your enemies (Mt 5:44)" it was a new concept since they were raised to believe that it should be "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (Mt 5:38)."

How open are we to change our old ways and embrace the new ways of the Lord? How can we start to adapt the new things our Lord is teaching us?

1. Pray for Renewal from the Holy Spirit.
Through His power, "be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self (Eph 4:23-24)." Only by desiring God's transforming love can we become new in our ways. It will help to join a Christian Life Program.

2. Form a New Habit
Making God's ways as a part of our lifestyle will not be easy. We will have to make it a habit to say no to the things that destroy our souls and say yes to the things which leads us closer to Him. Like food, the more we eat cholesterol and fat, the more probable that we will get sick. But if we are in the habit of eating nutritious food, then we will become stronger. Let us have the habit of nourishing our souls with God's daily bread for us, the The Word of Life.

3. Teach others about the New things you have learned.
One of the best ways to imbibe a new way is to try teaching it to another. In community, I fully understood and internalized the talks I received, when I started giving them. It's like Math, when we tutor others, we bring it upon ourselves to fully understand it so we can be effective teachers. Giving is a way of mastering the new things we have learned.

Praying for renewal, forming a new habit, and teaching others can help us to be transformed in Christ and to embrace His new ways. Let us be open to the new things our Lord is teaching us today.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Cor 5:17

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