Guarantee of Truth

Christ's promise to St. Peter was a guarantee of the truth. Now this is important because the devil being "a murderer and the father of lies" (Jn. 8:44) keeps on campaigning to bring as many as he could to eternal fire and perdition in Hell. That promise written in Mt. 16:18 runs like this: "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: Whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven" (Mt. 16:18-19).

The original name of Peter was Simon, then was changed by Jesus to Peter, which means "rock" since as the first Pope he was to lead the Church. Till the present there have been already more than 250 popes. You can even read in the Guinness book of records, year 2001 that the Roman Catholic Church is the biggest religious denomination united under one head, the Pope, presently Pope Benedict XVI. It has continued throughout the centuries, inspite of enemies from within and without. The amazing thing is that none of its members are Catholics by force but are members of the Catholic fold in their free search and quest for truth. You can check for yourself, down through history and amid so many trials and difficulties, how the Lord has supported His Church by so many attestations of miraculous events and cures that serve to prove the truth of its existence as God's Church. This fact is narrated in the Bible when the Lord shows His approval by accompanying His closest servvants with extraordinary signs from heaven. "These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs' (Mk. 16:17-20).

Our main purpose in the search for the guarantee of truth is for the sake of reaching our final and true goal: heaven. Our enemy, the devil, and his agents (humans and co-devils) continue their campaign of lies with the purpose of bringing as many to the eternal fires and punishment of hell. Since our main objective is always to reach our goal of happiness with God, let's do what we can to avoid the deceptive lies of the devil and help one another, by God's grace and mercy to reach our true goal: heaven with the Triune God, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, together with our Blessed Mother the Virgin Mary and all the angels and saints. Those to be admitted to the kingdom of heaven according to the book of Revelation 21:29 "Nothing unclean may come into it: no one who does what is loathsome or false, but only those who are listed in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev. 21:29).

RH Bill Controversies

Because of an overpopulation myth, several legislators intend to push the anti-life RH Bill. I would say it is anti-life because it intends to stifle life or potential life via abortion and abortifacients or contraceptives. A noted Catholic layman of Davao City, Mr. Al Barretto, member of a Catholic group Samahang Laiko ng Pilipinas, proves precisely the contrary to that over-emphasized overpopulation aspect. His authoritrative sources come from the web page http://en.wikipedia.org.

We must therefore act from reason and reality, not just be influenced by money offers or other lucrative sources. The article of Mr. Al Barretto shows, from statistics, that the ten richest nations in the world are actually densely populated, while the ten poorest nations are sparsely populated. He concluded his research saying: "Life is sacred. It should not be subjugated to economic goals." Of course, you develop and educate people and they are the assets for a new world. St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle had said: "Education is the equalizer."

Path to Sanctity

Jesus and the saints assure us that the path to salvation and sanctity is a call and possibility for each and every human person. But this needs our cooperation. The great St. Augustine had said: "Deus qui creavit te sine te, non potest te salvare sine te." (translate: God who created you without you, cannot save you without you). That means our cooperation.

God does not make it impossible since it is yours for the asking,seeking or knocking at the door of His heart,in all sincerity and faith. In the Gospels when He cured or forgave people He would say: "Your faith has been your salvation or your faith has restored you to health" (see Mt. 9:22; Mk. 5:34;Lk. 7: 50). That cooperation of ours means asking or petitioning, as the Lord's prayer clearly expresses. Loud and clear are the words of Jesus: "the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one one who knocks will always have the door opened to him" (Mt.7:7).

This means of course seeking the Lord in all diligence and sincerity. "When you seek me you shall find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jr. 29: 13). Those saintly people all showed some spirit of sacrifice and sincerity in their humble faith and quest for God. If you fall into disgrace, sin and perdition you might have only yourself to blame for not believing in God's own words who in all truth taught the people:"If you, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Mt. 7:11).

Children's Laughter

(Towards deeper analysis of violence)

We miss children's laughter when violence and confusion and evacuation reign all around. That's what the song refers to in: One More Gift. "If there's one more gift I'd ask of you, Lord, it would be peace here on earth, as gentle as your children's laughter all around, all around. Your people have grown weary from living in confusion; when will we realize that neither heaven is at peace when we live not in peace."

We keep on blaming others for all these displacements, anguish and distress. Yet the main fault is within us. A Spanish proverb says: "Tu enemigo peor eres tu" (You are your own worse enemy). Jesus also wants to drive home such point when He says: "Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own? How dare you say to your brother, 'Let me take the splinter out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye" (Mt. 7:3).

We know that Jesus, as king of peace, is our example of love. He has taught us that what makes a man unclean is not what enters through the mouth, but rather what comes out of the mouth. The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart. Those evil intentions are what make a man unclean, which are murder, adultery, impurity, fornication, theft, perjury, slander" (cf. Mt. 15:15). As we see the acts of violence happening in the world of today, let's ask ourselves, Why? Why the ambition for power that kills people. It must come from the devil and his false teachings. Jesus tells us that: "The devil is a murderer and the father of lies" (cf. Jn. 8:44). Those savage acts of rape and impurity and murder also are the fruits of immodesty in pornographic media of the internet and indecent or lustful shows that incite to lewd feelings and violent acts. Immodest dress is part to blame.

Conversion

(here and now)

After all the fumbling and blunders in life, people begin to think of the needed change. That's what we may call a conversion, that comes by God's grace and our cooperation. As St. Augustine once said: "God who created you without your intervention cannot save you without your cooperation." That's because salvation by God's grace respects man's free nature.

You must therefore begin your conversion here and now. The infallible word of God says so: "Man does not live on bread alone but by the words that come from the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4). Even the little you can do here and now is vital and important since "the man that can be trusted in little can also be trusted in greater things" (Lk. 16:9). The Chinese sages used to say that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

Don't postpone or procrastinate. Begin the step here and now, however little it might be. God is pleased with humility that appreciates doing even little acts of love. "Seek Yahweh while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near" (Is. 55:6). Do it, here and now. People successful in the world of business also make their proposals and plans in similar wise. We should also do so in our battles for God's kingdom.