put out into the deep

"Behold I make all things new!" - Revelations 21:5

In the beginning of time, there was darkness and this enveloped all of what was yet unseen - the creation of life.

God then in the garden of old, in the beginning of time, made man in His own image. That man, Adam, received all the goodness of life including the best companion in life, Eve. They lived in perfect harmony, unity and joy as a family. This was all God said, "very good".

And yet despite the perfection of God's gifts, man in his quest to be like God grasped at what he knew to be the opposite of God's will. The tree of knowledge was too tempting for man and he fell. The garment of righteousness was torn from him and inevitably death would take him from the earth and he was naked. The night swooped upon humanity in the cloak of sin and death.

I wonder how God must have felt at that point?

“Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old." - Isaiah 43:18

But God in His mercy, on a dark night, let another bright star come upon Bethlehem. The Light of the World came to us, to save us from ourselves.

God came down to us, not to lord it over us, despite His total right to do so, for He is God. But He came to serve us and to be the Good Shepherd. God became man so that man's dignity destroyed by sin may be restored at the sons and daughters of God.

Jesus, the new Adam, instead of spurning God's will, embraced it. He embraced the tree of the cross. He hung on the tree of our redemption and set us free! The new Eve, our Blessed Mother Mary as well accepted her Son's death as a sword piercing her soul without complaint. Both of their fiat voluntas tua enables us to once again reach God and don the garment of righteousness and of sanctifying grace.

He was buried in the new garden meant for death. But the empty tomb is the sign of new life for us!

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth

and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind. - Isaiah 65:17

The blood of the new Adam dripped down onto the earth and into the burial place of the old Adam traditionally known as in Golgotha.

The blood of Christ has redeemed all of mankind, from Adam down to the last of us in the history of the world. In this we rejoice! In this we receive our hope - that He is alive and He is risen! We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!

Wishing you a most blessed celebration of New Life on this Easter like no other!

“Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.” ― Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Whenever your internet connection starts to dwindle and buffer, you might want to ask the help of St. Isidore of Seville, the Patron Saint of the Internet.

Though he was born in 560, his life and work is still beneficial for us today. Despite the lack of funds for his education and his great difficulty learning, he persevered in his studies and became known as one the Doctors of the Church and is known as the "last scholar of the ancient world".

The Spanish saint came from a holy family with all his siblings declared saints by the Catholic Church. He is responsible for coining the word "etymology" and this was the title of his 20 books.

So the story goes one day that Isidore's education was given over to his older brother Leander due to their parents' early demise. Leander was so strict in tutoring Isidore that he ran away. While resting near a rock, he noticed drops of water pouring one by one on the rock. Despite having no effect on the surface, through time, the water created little holes thereby encouraging him to go back and continue his studies.

He and his brother eventually worked together. Leander became the Bishop of Seville and Isidore became his successor.

Today, April 4th is his feast day. Since the internet can be a place of great good as well as great evil, let us say a prayer that it bear only good fruit in our lives. Here is a prayer before we start surfing the web.

Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thy image and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful, especially in the divine person of Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that, through the intercession of Saint Isidore, bishop and doctor, during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

P.S. Thanking God for an unexpected blessing. Yesterday we got a letter in the mail and couldn't be precisely sure what it meant (being in Japanese and all). Our friend translated it for us. Our housing wants to give us free high power internet and wants to install it right away! Thank You Lord and pray for us Saint Isidore!

posts you might like

Fab Followers