DISCOURSE ON TEMPTATIONS (Part I – The Unsatisfied Flesh)

DISCOURSE ON TEMPTATIONS (Part I – The Unsatisfied Flesh)

The temptations of our Lord Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11) are a wellspring of teachings on regarding how the devil tempts and to what extent is his temptations and how we can trample him down just as what Christ did against his enticements.

Although this scripture reading is not lengthy so as to show how the devil operates, all the same, I believe, that this reading is so great and so enough so as to sense temptations and how are we to do in overcoming them.

To begin, let us background ourselves on what a temptation is and what it is not. Temptation is an attack of the devil against us humans in order to keep us away from God and to cut-off our relationship with Him by sinning. It is a test for us to sin against God or not, so, temptation in itself is not a sin but it may lead us to sin or it may lead us to be more attached to God.

Moving forward to the first temptation, the devil is accustomed to tempt Christ in a manner which basically lies on the primary need of all human beings to sustain their life and that is bread, or food for the body. What can we draw out from this temptation?

The devil knows our need for the good of our body and he also knows that humans are inclined of course to look after food. God also knows this. But in Jesus Christ, He silenced the enemy by saying that “man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Because Christ is indeed hungry after a fast of forty days and forty nights, in Him, in His hunger, we found strength and what are we ought to look after which is the Word of God both in scripture and in Mass more than bread for the body. This temptation is so great for the enemy is after the satisfaction of the stomach that never satisfies. In Christ, we found that what satisfy are the words that come forth from God’s mouth. The excitement of the devil is so strong that even stones were to be turned by Christ into bread as what he said for Christ to do. It is evident here that this temptation goes to the extent that Christ was seen by the devil as a God who is desperate for bread. But our Lord's greatness was revealed for what really satisfies and what is most important to Him are the “words that come forth from the mouth of God.”

The devil as we must see here is an enemy that sees humans as people desperate for food. He just knows that we humans cannot live without becoming desperate for what satisfies the stomach. And we see the effect of this temptation even today. People crave in desperation for what satisfies the stomach. The problem is that the stomach was never satisfied and so are the humans who are after food alone. This temptation of the devil measures humans in these points: What are humans after? What makes humans desperate and what must make them desperate? What things can satisfy a human flesh? Another point I want to emphasize is that this temptation is not all about food, it can also pertains to what are humans after more than food, that in desperation of us humans, we are going to turn stones into cell phones, laptops, etc.

In this first discourse of the three-fold discourse I am in to, it is a valuable lesson for us what must make us really satisfied, and that is the Word of God in scripture and in Mass. Of course we need things such as food, shelter, clothing (and any other necessities connected to these), nevertheless, what we must be after is what really satisfies and it is God alone. For if Christ is after the food that really satisfies the soul, what then are we supposed to be after? Are we after the stones that we must turn into bread showing to the devil how desperate and pathetic we humans are? Then let us follow the footsteps of Christ into settlement of the soul in what satisfies us truly, the Word of God. Then the bread for the body will definitely follow according to our need.

Mary H. Distributist

TO BE WITH ST. PETER IS TO BE WITH THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST

TO BE WITH ST. PETER IS TO BE WITH THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST

St. Peter is one of the many persons I’m so thrilled to know about. It is because he is the second disregarded person next to the Blessed Virgin Mary by many protestants or simply people who were not in communion with the Catholic Church on the truth about the Blessed Virgin Mary and others that the Catholic Church believes about them.

Due to my ineptness, I just now start to have strength to stand up for this poor man who is controversial next to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I am also mystified by this person why on earth he is blessed by Jesus Christ to become the prince of the apostles of our Lord. So, I present to you why to have this poor man is to have the Church, and to have Jesus Christ as well.

Let’s take a look on the sacred scriptures on Matthew 16: 13-20 (I suggest you open a Bible what you got).

Jesus Christ’s identity was known to the disciples and to the people just by what they see with their eyes. The fact that Christ is a man and a prophet is answered for He is the Son of Man. Bad thing to know is He is widely known not as Jesus but by other names of prophets.

Then here goes a very mysterious question from Jesus which will show that He is also the Son of God.

“But who do you say that I am?”

Of course the disciples knew that He is Jesus. The only thing they don’t know is what Jesus is besides His identity as the Son of Man to which, only Peter had an answer:

“You are the Anointed One, the Son of the living God.”

Peter knew what Jesus is and his answer to Jesus’ question did not come from what Peter sees or what is apparent to him but by what is revealed by no other than the heavenly Father. What a blessing it is indeed to reply to Christ with the help of the Father of Christ! Peter’s answer is not from flesh and blood but by the spirit. I am 100% sure that it is the Holy Spirit who manifested Himself to Peter in order for Peter to had the answer. For it is God’s will that it is Peter. No wonder Jesus Christ blesses Peter where here, Christ is giving an office to him.

So because the heavenly Father willed that it is Peter, what can Jesus Christ do? Of course Jesus Christ will not act against the will of the Father. Here, the Anointed One of God appoints Peter as His Church.

But what is a Church? A Church is a Temple of the Holy Spirit and the Body of Christ. Here, Jesus Christ is saying, “And I say to you, you are Peter and upon you I will build my Body, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” That is what I call appointment. Jesus Christ appoints Peter as His deputy, representative, or vicar. That is the office of Peter. He is the Vicar of Christ. The question now is this: why it is Peter?

It is because Peter is a weak human being, and that’s it. God made perfect sense when He chose Peter to become the deputy of Christ when Christ will not be physically present as a human being is. Peter is a weak human being and this includes the fact that he can make errors and can sin against God but Peter cannot in no way be wrong when it come to the matters that the Holy Spirit manifests through him, of course I say that this applies to Peter’s power to act in behalf of Christ where Peter is infallible only on the matters of the faith or matters of revelation where he acts by means of the Holy Spirit as God wills.

Peter can make a mistake while making coffee and uses an iodized salt instead of white sugar but he cannot be wrong when he is speaking about abortion; that abortion cannot be in any way good and right. As I said, the Pope cannot be wrong when it comes to the matters of Divine revelation but can get wrong in making his own coffee.

Going back to the appointment, Jesus Christ chose Peter because he is a very perfect example of a weak human being. Peter is weak in the sense that he is human and he can sin. The only difference between Peter and Judas is that Peter sought God’s forgiveness. Peter is a perfect example of a weak human being whose strength is God. Peter shows that to become a weak human being, one must have God as ones’ strength. It is very shameful to deny God three times. And what a grave sin Peter had done. Yet, the rest is history.

Peter has the Church for God placed the Church above Peter. He is living in behalf of Christ and he does not own his body anymore but Christ for he is supposed to be. The Spirit of God is much more superior than the flesh of Peter. So to have the Pope and to be in communion with him is to have the Church, the Body of Christ.

Mary H. Distributist

THE TWO JOHNS: BAPTISM OF GUILT AND COMMITMENT TO BAPTISMAL VOWS

THE TWO JOHNS: BAPTISM OF GUILT AND COMMITMENT TO BAPTISMAL VOWS

“To remain in Truth and sanctifying grace is to remain in God. To remain in falsehood and sin is to remain in the devil.”

(1 John 2:22-28; Psalm 98; John 1:19-28)

St. John the Baptist was questioned on who he is and why he is baptizing. St. John told the truth saying, “I am ‘the voice of the one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord,”’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

The Gospel is very fitting for this second day of the year for it invites us to know who we are and what are we doing for God. St. John know what is his commitment and that is to preach and baptize in the desert of penance and suffering to all people as they acknowledge their sins. St. John is baptizing water for the admission of guilt or contrition while our Lord gives the Holy Spirit bestowing forgiveness of sins and adoption.

Just so, let us ask ourselves: in these first days of the year, does my ways made straight for this new year of the Lord? Do I know now what it means to be a Christian? Do I know now myself? Do I know now my obligations for God? For just as St. John the Baptist knows who he is and what is his obligation, so also must we. And as we acknowledge our sins, may we know or recognize that our Lord is the one who can forgive sins and the one who is offended and is wounded by our sins. The Gospel also teaches and reminds us to become prudent always, all throughout the year. Prudence is the habit of proper decision-making. This day, we must have a bird’s-eye view of what we must do this year. To be prudent is to have “the knowledge of what to seek and what to avoid” as St. Augustine had taught. So this second day of the year, we must be prudent always so as to be committed to our “New Year’s resolutions” for God and as children of God.

In St. John the Apostle’s first letter, we see here that to deny Christ is to be a liar and not to have the truth. To admit that our Lord is Christ is to have the truth and to have Jesus Christ who is the Truth Himself. If we are in mortal sin, we do not love the Lord for we denied Him when we acted on what is sinful and what will hurt God. It is not enough to admit the truth and to admit that Jesus is Christ who came to forgive sins and to sanctify us of His Holy Spirit. It is not enough for to admit the truth, it requires us to act on what we admit by our mouths. If we admit the truth by mouth but we act sinfully living in mortal sin, then we are lying and denying Christ and the truth is not in us. If we are in mortal sin, we do not have the Holy Spirit, and what we have in us is the spirit of the devil which is falsehood, deception, and sin. And for those who are in mortal sin, they are the antichrist. For to live in mortal sin is to be against Christ and to be against the Holy Spirit of Christ.

So what is St. John’s teaching as resolution? He wrote that we must have the truth in us so as to remain in God. In our anointing that we received from the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, we received the Teacher of Truth and empowered in the Truth respectively. To remain in Truth is to live in sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit and God.

What we heard in preaching is the Truth, and what we received in the said Sacraments sanctifies the Truth that we have heard. If we have the Holy Spirit that we received in the two said Sacraments, we will know if the preaching is the Truth and if the preaching is falsehood. For the Holy Spirit is the Teacher of Truth. The anointing we received in the two said sacraments will remain in us even if we sinned. But if we fell into mortal sin, the Holy Spirit in us will leave us, but will return if we recourse to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Sacrament of Confession. Again, to live in mortal sin is to cut-off oneself to the promised eternal life and to be admitted to eternal damnation. St. John instructs us to remain in sanctifying grace and Truth so as to be evident that we are prepared for the coming of the Lord.

“Jesus, I trust in You “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”

Mary H. Distributist

THE SHEPHERDS MET THE SHEPHERD OF ALL THE SHEPHERDS!

THE SHEPHERDS MET THE SHEPHERD OF ALL THE SHEPHERDS!

“Mary kept all these things she had contemplated, and meditated on them in her heart.”

(Numbers 6:22-27; Psalm 67; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)

The Gospel for this first day of the year of the Lord which is also the day of the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, shows us the visitation of the shepherds to our Lord who is the Shepherd of all, but cared first by His parents. The story in the manger tells us that the God and Shepherd of all chose to be laid in a poor box-like container where the animals eat. This scene is referring indirectly to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we have. Our Lord sacrificed or compromised His Divinity in order to become a human for our salvation. These shepherds who visited the Lord are our witnesses to the acknowledgement of the truth that God came here on earth as a poor creature like any other babies but preferred to be laid in a poor box where animals eat. The shepherds are our examples in finding who God is and what God is in order for us to know and understood that God humbled Himself for us and we must know and understand this, for God preferred to be laid as a baby in a place where animals are fed, as if God is a food for the animals.

And as the shepherds preach the message that was preached by the angel they had seen who was with the heavenly host, all were amazed at their preaching. The shepherds testify that the poor baby is not an ordinary baby but Christ and God as what the angel said to them. The angel and the heavenly host praised God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to His people who have God’s will.”

And Mary, the Mother of God, transforms in love on all the she had contemplated by meditating in her heart. This is what we must know about the Blessed Virgin Mary! She kept all of these things in her heart or she knows everything by heart yet she reflects on all of these things! This is a proof that Mama Mary is a humble Queen and Mother of God for she does not say to herself that, “Oh! I am the Mother of God! All ages will call me blessed! I know all these things already!” Mama Mary kept all these things in her heart and still reflecting on all of these things.

This great day invites us to imitate our Queen and Mother Mary in her contemplation in everything and on meditating on what she had contemplated. What Mama Mary contemplated by the senses, she bears all of these again by meditation. Mama Mary teaches us today how to pray!

In St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he tells us that God’s Son was born under the law of nature where His Son was born of a woman and did not came here on earth in an instant. And under the law of God which was cared by God’s people, God’s Son subjected Himself to the law like everybody else. Just so, all of us must be born of the Blessed Virgin Mary to become like Jesus Christ, who subjected Himself in the womb of Mary to become human. If we have Mary as our Mother, we will be born under the law just like His Son, Jesus Christ, for Mama Mary will care for us for we are vulnerable to danger of living against the law. For it is against the law of spiritual grace not to be born first of the Blessed Virgin Mary before becoming like Jesus Christ, who have the Holy Spirit that God sent into our hearts and cries out, “Abba Father!” For just as Jesus Christ subjected His spiritual nature as God and humanity to the Blessed Virgin Mary, so also must we who are humans only.

This first day of the year of the Lord is very perfectly matched with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and the Gospel for today. This day invites us to imitate Mama Mary to be always reflective on everything especially for us humans who do not know all these things already. This day teaches us not to be arrogant for we do not know everything at all. It just shows that we must always be humble in everything by looking – again on all of these things. Our Queen and Mother Mary teach us here to be contemplative, meditative, humble, discerning, and to be prudent! Let’s go back again to January of last year up to now in order to see all these things if we followed God’s will, and will still ready us for this new year. Amen. Let us come to our Shepherd as an animal and let us preach on all of what we have witnessed as poor shepherds of the Shepherd!

Our Lord in this Gospel is not only a cared Shepherd cared by Joseph and Mary, He is also the Lamb of God laid in a manger. The shepherd’s who visited the Lamb of God were shown here doing their work at night watching their flock before the angel spoke to them. This scene refers indirectly to God as a Shepherd who watches His people day and night. These shepherds are our priests who care for us – we who are God’s flock. As they heard the word from the angel, they went in haste to where the Lamb of God is laid. And as these shepherds contemplated Him, they made known the words of the angel that they meditated on. Just so, it is the principal task of the priests to contemplate the Lamb of God before they go on their mission, glorifying and praising God. 

“Jesus, I trust in You” “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”

Mary H. Distributist

MY COMMENTARY ON THE VISITATION, LUKE 1:39-45

First, it is very mysterious that St. Elizabeth knew, without given knowledge beforehand, that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God and the person she carries in her womb is God. Mama Mary’s every word that comes from her mouth indeed contains Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit who is in St. John and who filled St. Elizabeth is the Spirit that recognizes the Mother of God and the Son of the Most High faster than the speed of light. St. John’s jumping for joy the moment he heard Mama Mary’s greeting is a sure sign that the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ is inseparable to one another and Mary is indeed the cause of our joy. This is also a great proof for us that Mama Mary is our Co – Redemptrix for this is the honor she got from St. John the Baptist. St. John jumped for joy for “God is with us” and Jesus whose name means “God saves” can be heard in Mary’s words. For every word that comes from the Blessed Virgin’s mouth proclaims “God is with us” and “God saves”. Mary’s Advent and words that St. John heard and caused him to jump for joy, says “Redemption is here!” and “God is with us!” We had been redeemed through Mama Mary who carried the God who will redeem us in her womb. Indeed, the Blessed Virgin Mary is our Co – Redemptrix.

Second, those persons who have the Holy Spirit in themselves honors and blesses the Mother of God and God Himself. For those who do not honor nor bless the Mother of God but honors and blesses Jesus Christ do not have the Holy Spirit in themselves. A man who has the Holy Spirit in him blesses, honors, and loves the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Mary H. Distributist

MY COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11:28-30

The Gospels and the whole sacred scriptures itself are the instructions of God for all "angels" who lives in human flesh. These words for us are our angelic wings so that we can still fly around God our Creator and the Lord of Angels even we are "angels" who are still living on this earth. These words of God for us serves as our instruction that even if we are "angels" but in human flesh, we may go beyond our earthly conditions and take these not too seriously but to take these more lightly.

Mary H. Distributist