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IN THIS ISSUE:

Cover Page

LENT: A TIME FOR REFLECTION

by Bro. Pete Lapid

Our Faith

THE GOLDEN PLEASANT

By Fr. KJ Veeger, MSC

Place of Refuge

PRAYER AND FAITH

By Philip Yuson

Sharing

THE BLIND SPOT

By Raul Loria

Surabaya Corner

LISTEN TO HIM

By Ramon Martillano

Sharing

HEAVENLY BANQUET

By Nenette Dizon

Here's the Latest

MONTH OF LOVE

By Pinky Torres

Reflection

ASH WEDNESDAY

Homily Sermon

by Fr. Florianus Wudjon, PR

Survey

WHAT LENT MEANS TO ME?

Catholic News

By Dolreich Fernandes

God Answers Prayers

THE GLORY OF GOD THROUGH INTERCESSION

By Beth Manibog

Saint for the Month

SAINT BLAISE


Meet the Staff
Catholic Links

Previous Issues


PROFILE OF THE
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THIS WEBSITE IS A PROUD RECIPIENT OF THE


PLACE OF REFUGE

And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:22-24)

In the passage above, we read Jesus telling His disciples to have faith in God. So what does it mean to have faith? Is faith believing in God? As St. James said, "even demons believe in God - and they shudder". So faith is more than believing in God.

Is faith then believing that God can do and will do what we ask? Clearly, again, the answer is no. We have very often experienced that in our lives where the Lord would not give us what we ask. This is not because God does not have the power to give what we ask for. God can do anything He wants!

But, some will argue that Jesus Himself said that if we say to the mountain to move, and IF WE DO NOT DOUBT IN OUR HEARTS, then it will be done. So if I think something is good, I can tell the Lord to bless it and it will be done. If that is their argument, then they want God to obey them just because they say so. They become the lord of the relationship - always dictating THEIR terms and doing what THEY believe to be the best. And of course, because to them it is good, this is from God. All because they think they have a monopoly of the grace of God. This kind of reasoning is very shallow and very arrogant. Yet, sadly, many 'mature' Christians think this way - and I tell them bluntly - that they are wrong!

So what then is faith?

Before we continue, there has to be some basic things that we have to accept. First is that God is Lord and He can do what He wants and He does what He wants. No one can tell God what to do and He is not bound to obey us just because we say so. We have to be very clear about this, otherwise the following discussion will not have any sense.

If God can do what He wants and if God does what He wants, then we cannot dictate anything to God. But Jesus clearly states that things will happen if we say so - if we do not doubt. Is there a conflict? Yes there is, unless we look at what Jesus really meant when He said this.

Jesus said, "have faith in God". Faith is the result of our union with God. Please say it aloud: faith is the result of our union with God. We have faith, not because we say so, neither do we have faith just because we attended a seminar or lead a ministry. We have faith because we know God. Knowing is more than intellectual knowledge - it is UNION OF OUR WILL WITH HIS WILL. If there is no union of will with God, there is no faith. If there is union with God, we are able to get a sense of what God wants to do. And if God wants to move a mountain and He chose us to move that mountain, then we can tell the mountain to move - and then it will move. It will not move because we say so - it moves because God wants it to move!

The end of this passage is a conclusion and a command: THEREFORE - conclusion, I tell you - you better listen - "whatever you ask in prayer, (now, this is the command) believe that you have received it, (result) and it will be yours."

We are commanded to believe that we have received what we have asked in prayer. Now, what is prayer? Is it a way of worship? Is prayer a set of gestures? Prayer is the process where we can be united with God. It is the process of uniting our will with God. It is bending our will to God's will rather than convincing the Lord to bend to ours. Once our will is united with God and we get a sense of what He wants, then - we can ask what God wants us to ask - and it will be given to us!

Lent is a time for prayer. As we have said, prayer is uniting our will with God's will. It is only through prayer that we can bear the fruit of faith. Without prayer - there is no union. Without union, there is no faith. Without faith - we cannot see miracles in our lives.

Do you want to see a miracle in the coming months? Take time to pray.

May we all have a prayerful season so that we may be able to celebrate our victory with the power and glory of our Lord, Amen.

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