APRIL FOOLS DAY

April Fools’ Day, sometimes called All Fools’ Day, is one of the most lighthearted days of the year. The day is marked by hoaxes, practical jokes or fools’ errands. Its origins are uncertain. Some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it stems from the adoption of a new calendar. Nevertheless, to fool people, a lot of lies are told today — just for fun, of course. And those who are used to telling lies will be more successful than those who tend to adhere to the truth. Maybe it is good that in today’s gospel passage the Lord says the important words, “The truth will set you free!”
Jesus was not very successful with His appeal. A few minutes later, the Jews thought He was fooling them and wanted to kill Him (as we will read in tomorrow’s continuation of today’s gospel) because He told them that God is His Father. Truth is so difficult to speak and to accept! But for Jesus, truth is so important that at one point He said, “I am the Truth.” Again, in His dialogue with Pontius Pilate He stressed, “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”
These clear and strong words of Jesus invite us to reflect today about our attitude towards the truth. A sad thing is that we are surrounded by untruthfulness — in the media, among politicians, between friends and even in ourselves. There are so many reasons for lack of truthfulness in daily life. But Jesus tells us today that through the truth we grow in freedom from sin. Sin is caused by the devil who is called the “father of lies.” Have you realized that a lie often leads to another lie until in the end we don’t know clearly what we have said in the beginning? Lies make us slaves of the web we have spun. Yes, we can only thank Jesus for reminding us today that through the truth we grow in freedom from sin. The more we allow the words of Jesus to penetrate our hearts, the freer we become and the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth, will dwell in us. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

Reflection Question:
How truthful am I in daily life? Am I aware that I am a temple of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth?

Lord, You are the Truth and You want me to be truthful. You want me to be free. Remind me more often of this, especially when I am about to fall again into the trap of the “father of lies.”

-by Bo Sanchez

WORRY KILLS

Yesterday morning when I woke up, I prayed. I asked God to help me have the faith I had when I started my life back after Eric’s death. The night before, I couldn’t sleep and spent the whole night crying. My past was constantly flashing back. Somehow my mind was full of worries from my personal troubles and very complicated family problems.

I have been worrying a lot these past few months. Economic crisis could let me lose my job anytime, my siblings are clashing, my daughter’s future, my moms health, my youngest brother schooling, all the enormous expenses including my siblings own kids (in which two of them are AGAIN PREGNANT -my sister and my brothers wife) and unbelievably all of them (as in all) are not working, NO JOB at all and they are all living in one roof except for my youngest brother who is studying in Manila.

After my brief prayer, I prepared for work. Usually, before I start my usual task I would surf the internet. And my officemate had mention Kerygma magazine by Mr. Bo Sanchez. I red this magazine a few years ago and I attended one of his preaching about 9 years ago and he is so great. I surf the internet and read Kerygma Jan 09 edition. There is column in the magazine entitled DON’T WORRY and it stricken me.

Part of the column has a story about a man who has seen the angel of death and was told that the angel will get 10 people. He was terrified and texted all his relatives and friends and the news spread all over. That night a thousand people die. The angel of death made it clear again to this man that he only got 10 persons and doesn’t know why they died. And why they died? They worried too much! They thought they could be one of the 10. Worry kills.

Two things happen when you trust God

1. You are not afraid of uncertainties. You have no worries.
When Eric was bed ridden for six months before he died, I was 5 months pregnant. I slowly lose all the savings we had and sold all the things I could sell and I had to borrow money. I was afraid for my daughter’s future and family’s situation but I never stop praying. While I was in deep pain of losing everything, I knew that I have to do something. I surrender to God and trust Him. I had an incredibly soaring faith in Him during that time. After two weeks of giving birth, I send my resume to different company and in three weeks I got a new job.

2. Your leaf stays green. You keep bearing fruit.
When you trust God, you remain young.

Well, of course… I still worry about everything. I invented the word worry hehehe!. But I realized that I only worry when I forget that God is always in control. Nobody’s perfect. I still fall short in His eyes of course. I sometimes feel lazy of being in touch with Him through prayers, that’s why He sometimes allow me to worry and be anxious to remind me that He’s always there. Kailangan nga ba naman nia ako pinabayaan? We just have to trust Him. But as Bo says, “Don’t just pray. God also wants you to act. Maybe He wants you to fail a bit too” I know i have to do something on my family's situation and trust God for everyhting.

For what is worth, its never too late. We can make the best of our life by trusting God. If you find that somehow everything tumbles at some point in your life, have the strength to start all over again… Let go. Let God

When you have nothing left but God, then you become aware that God is enough.
- Rayden

Life's Adversities

Maybe some of you have heard the phrase “You’ll never know that God is all you need until God is all you’ve got.”I’m a single mom to my little girl who just turned 1 last December. She was seven months old when I decided to accept a job opportunity here in Dubai and I had to leave her to my mom. It was such a difficult decision for me to make since we have recently lost Eric, her dad that same year. Eric died due to Pneumonia last February 2008. Pneumonia is one of the causes of death for bed ridden patients. I was 5 months pregnant when he had a heart attack following a severe brain damage and was bed ridden for 6 months before he died. Six months ….. Six months of torture of pain and uncertainty. Just when I thought everything is nearly perfect, suddenly in just a blink of an eye everything has changed, everything was gone …he’s gone… all of our savings, apartment, car, business ….. and believe it or not some of our friends. Moreover, what breaks my heart was the fact that he didn’t even have a glimpse of our daughter, and the reality that my little girl will never see her daddy ever. To say that I was devastated would be an understatement. I wanted to die first. It was so hard. God, It was so …. hard.

I’ve been through a lot since childhood. But if you look around, you’ll know that there are people who had worst. Life is difficult…..we all know that. All the dealings and connections in our life must be considered as a kind of a passing phase and as they say “this too shall pass”. God has reasons. Being the eldest among 5 siblings, God, has developed me to become a strong person and I understand that I had to go through terrible pains in life to become a better person. Acceptance together with extreme courage and faith has helped me go through life’s adversities. God’s ways aren’t always easy and painless.

So I guess we should pray for Him not to take away the pain but to give us the strength, courage and faith to win through all life’s difficulty.